Mixing up the usual … these are gloriously delish 🤤
The slight crunch of the cornmeal make a perfect backdrop for blueberries, which burst as they bake, creating pockets of juice that keep the muffins tender. Serve warm with a pat of butter 💥
Ingredients: 3/4 cup milk 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal 3/4 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries 2 large eggs 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 stick or 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
Set oven to 350, 325 for convection bake.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Place the blueberries in a small bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon of the flour mixture. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients, along with the melted butter. Stir until just blended; and then stir in the blueberries. Do not overmix. The batter comes together in about 5 minutes.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup very full and please use liners as the blueberries will make everything very sticky. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are set and golden around the edges. Cool the muffins for a few minutes in the pan, then serve warm with butter or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
This homemade version of vanilla bean scones is so easy to make. Great for kids and quick snacks.
Prep Time 30 minutes – Cook Time 16 minutes
Makes 16 mini scones
INGREDIENTS
SCONES:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated white sugar or vanilla bean sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, grated into pieces
1/2 to 2/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream (depends on the moisture in your flour and house)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
GLAZE:
1 cup powdered sugar
seeds scraped from one vanilla bean or 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (I swear by this stuff!)
1½ tablespoons milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (I did 350 degrees for convection bake) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the grated butter and rub butter and flour together with your hands. Continue until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Then mix in the cream and the vanilla extract.
When the dough has gathered itself into a ball and divide the dough into 2 equal portions. I had to add more cream to make this happen… keep that in mind. Flatten each portion of dough into a disc shape, about 1 1/2-inches thick. Score each disc into 8 triangles with a knife, and pull the triangles slightly away from one another (allowing about 1/2-inch in between).
Brush with cream on top and bake the scones for 16 to 20 minutes, until set in the centers and slightly golden on the bottoms.
ADD THE GLAZE:
In a small bowl, stir the powdered sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and milk together until smooth. Spread a small amount of glaze on top of each scone.
NOTES
These are delish, you can’t eat just one. The recipe makes 16 mini scones, 2 hours after baking I have 8 left. They got a 12/10 for taste. 🙌
Continuing my pandemic weigh gain I deciding to dabble in bagel making. They are crazy easy to make and even easier to eat. Make these today!
NEW YORK-STYLE BAGEL RECIPE Makes: 8 medium-sized bagels Total Time: ~2 hours
Optional Toppings: Everything seasoning, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds. (Everyone in my house prefers plain bagels, so I went with 3 Everything and 5 plain) 😉
Preparation:1. In ½ cup /120ml of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 ½ tablespoons (4 ½ teaspoons) granulated sugar 1 ¼ cups / 300ml warm water 3 ½ cups (500g) bread flour or AP flour what I used (you will need extra for kneading) 1 ½ teaspoons salt
2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and sugar mixture.
3. Pour 1/2 cup / 90ml of the remaining warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed. Depending on where you live, you may need to add anywhere from a couple tablespoons to about ¼ cup/60ml of water. You want a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it. I had to use all the water.
4. On a floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Try working in as much flour as possible to form a firm and stiff dough.
5. Lightly brush a large bowl with oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
6. Carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces (I did not have a scale so I made a ball and cut it in half and half again and again until I had 8 pieces). Shape each piece into a round. Now, take a dough ball, and press it gently against the countertop (or whatever work surface you’re using) moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion pulling the dough into itself while reducing the pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball forms. Repeat with 7 other dough rounds.
7. Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.
8. After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet or granite or wooden board, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425ºF.
9. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top (a couple seconds). Let them sit there for 1 minute, and them flip them over to boil for another minute.
10. If you want to top your bagels with stuff, do so as you take them out of the water. I didn’t brush them with egg wash I just sprinkled on and voila!
11. Once all the bagels have boiled (and have been topped with your choice of toppings), transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet or in my case I oiled the parchment paper on my baking sheet.
12. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. I rotated the pan 1/2 way through.
13. Cool on a wire rack… or if you are my kids tear one open slather it with butter orschmear it with cheese cream and devour it.
These Best Ever Vanilla Bean Scones are the perfect homemade coffee shop treat for vanilla lovers! Follow all my pro tips for making the best flaky scones!
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean or you can use 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter COLD and grated
3/4 cup cream – I used heavy but you can use coffee cream
1 egg
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Start by sifting the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a clean, dry bowl using a sieve or sifter. Tap the sieve against the palm of your hand until all the dry ingredients have passed through it and you’re left with the lumps. Push the lumps through the sieve with your finger tips.
Next, slice a vanilla bean down the centre lengthwise using a paring knife. Skip this step if you are using vanilla bean paste or extract
Open it up and scrape out as many of the teeny tiny vanilla bean seeds as you can using the back edge of your knife.
Even after you’ve scraped out all the vanilla seeds you can, don’t throw away the rest of the bean! Put it in your sugar container for vanilla sugar.
Add the vanilla bean seeds to the flour mixture and blend in using a whisk. Try your best to break up the clumps of vanilla bean seeds, but if there are a few tiny clumps left that’s ok. The vanilla bean seeds will probably disappear into the flour mixture, but don’t worry. They’ll become visible again once the wet ingredients are added.
In a liquid measuring cup, measure the cream and add the egg. Whisk together using a fork and set aside.
The next few steps should be done quickly, as you’re working with cold butter and you want the butter to be as cold as possible when it hits the heat of the oven. This will result in a flaky scone, rather than a heavy and dense one.
Grate your butter, right from the fridge, into little pieces and dump it into the flour mixture.
Using your hands (wash them well first and remove any rings), pick up handfuls of the butter and flour mixture, rubbing the pieces of butter and the flour between the heels of your hands to create “sheets” of butter. You should act quickly here, and don’t allow the pieces of butter to sit in your hands for any length of time as the heat from your hands will cause it to soften. The goal is to create paper-thin pieces of butter, small and large throughout the mixture. Once there are no thick chunks of butter remaining, only thin sheets, remove your hands from the mixture. Hands equal heat, so handle the mixture as little as possible.
Pour in the wet ingredients and mix roughly with a fork. Do not over mix, or the result will be heavy and dense. Once the wet ingredients have been incorporated but there are still several streaks of flour, turn the dough out onto a clean and floured counter surface. Press the dough down into the counter and then fold one half over the other half like you are folding a piece of paper. Press down again and make another fold. Repeat this 2 or 3 more times, gathering any outlying dough bits and flour into your folds. Don’t knead the dough like you would if you were making bread, and don’t stir or mix the dough like you would if you were making muffins. Scones are technically a pastry, so the goal is flaky layers that are created by the thin sheets of butter and all the folding.
Once your dough is formed after folding several times, shape it into a 10-inch rectangle (approximately).
Again, be careful not to handle the dough too much, so a few little cracks here and there are fine. I sometimes sneak in a few mini chocolate chips for Holly into 1/2 the batch. 😉
Cut the rectangle into 12 squares with a very sharp knife
Arrange the squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about 18-22 minutes. I usually set the timer and start watching them after about 16 minutes. You want them to stay nice and white and not get too brown, especially on the narrow end of the triangle.
Remove them from the oven when they’re just barely golden brown on the bottom and the surface of the scones lose their shine. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Eat and enjoy !
I have to admit I was very skeptical of this overnight oatmeal when I read about it, but I am now obsessed with it now and I make it a few times a week.
There are however a few things you need to keep in mind. Here are my tips.
1. Use old fashioned rolled oats (not instant, quick, or steel-cut).
2. Greek yogurt is the best to use as it is full of protein.
3. You can use almond milk or water.
4. Use spices not sugar to change the flavors of your oatmeal.
The recipe is easy peasy!
Step 1. The ingredients
1/3 cup of dry old fashioned rolled oats (not instant, quick, or steel-cut)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt 0% fat (I used vanilla)
1/4 cup almond milk or water
1 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cut strawberries
mason jars
Step 2. Assembly Time
Take a mason jar, add yogurt, almond milk, and vanilla. Put the lid on and shake. Add oatmeal and chia seeds and put the lid on and shake. Remove lid and add cut strawberries, put lid back on a shake. Put it in the fridge and let it sit overnight. Grab it in the morning and go!
I have also done 1/2 apple diced finely and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. Also delish!
I usually make 2 or 3 mason jars on Sunday so I have them for breakfast from Monday to Wednesday. Try this today…trust me it is delicious.
I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com
One of the fondest memories I have of my grandma was when she used to visit with us and make us breakfast in the mornings. Her specialty was boiled eggs and toast soldiers. Just thinking about it makes me smile. I am sure most people share similar memories.
I felt so special getting this “fancy” breakfast.
Toast and Eggs
I have a take on this breakfast that is great for kids and adults. It is super easy to make. If you include boiling the water the entire recipe takes 9 minutes to make. Perfect for before school or on the weekend.
Grown up Eggs and Soldiers
1 egg
1 slice of your favorite bread ( I used ciabatta)
Butter
Salt and pepper
Take a pot of water and boil it. Add the egg to the water for 6 minutes. Toast your favorite bread and butter it. Dice it up into cubes and put into a bowl. Remove egg, run it quickly under cold water and peel. Place the peeled egg on the toast cubes and slice it open. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!
Just like grandma used to make only more grown up.
Boil the egg for 6 minutes
Toast and butter your bread. Dice is put it in a bowl.
Run the 6 minute egg under cold water for 30 seconds
Place peeled egg onto of toast cubes and season with S & P.
Slice and eat!
I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com
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