Monthly Archives

January 2016

Breakfast/Brunch

Overnight Baked Blueberry French Toast

Breakfast. They say it is the most important meal of the day. I, sadly, am never talented enough to pull off a big breakfast, and there are lots of people who need something on the table quickly. That is where this Overnight Baked Blueberry French Toast comes it. With a little planning, you can actually have this on the table in a little over half an hour. Basically, you just have to spend 10 minutes the evening before whisking the milk and eggs together and cutting bread, and in the morning, just place it in the oven (you don’t even need to preheat, though I preheated to about 200F before I put it in — my oven is from 1954; it needs to “think about things” before moving). Voila, on the table 35 minutes later.

A note: the recipe is for a full 9 x 13 inch (like the size of a brownie pan), but the picture is actually of a much smaller version (I halved the recipe). I’m single and didn’t want to be eating French Toast for three days.
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20. January 2016
Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Variations of Shortbread Bars:
Raspberry Almond and Lemon Oatmeal

Here’s a quick and easy recipe that I threw together… ok, I actually threw it together twice, because I made both a raspberry version and a lemon curd version. These two shortbread bars are actually very similar — identical until the top part, actually. I wanted to show how versatile this recipe is, and that it is super super easy to make. Start to finish in under an hour, though they do take a while to cool. I made 12 oblong bars out of each (4 x 3 cut), but you could do 4 x 4 so they are almost cookie-sized.
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14. January 2016
Candy, Sweet Snacks

Peanut Butter Cup Fudge with Salted Bourbon Sugar

Full disclosure: This recipe used pretty much exactly from HalfBaked Harvest because it sounded so good!

Second peanut butter recipe in as many weeks, which is really unusual for me, as I am not really a PB fan. Well, ok, not a peanut butter on bread with jam (or anything else for that matter) fan, but once you pair it with chocolate … well, I am all over that, which is why I like this recipe. Super yummy. It is, however, really rich, so maybe just eat one piece at a time. OK, maybe two.
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5. January 2016
Appetizers/Starters, Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Savory Snacks

Zwiebelkuchen (Onion Tart)

The atypical traditional German Zwiebelkuchen (Onion Tart). OK, that sounds rather contradictory, eh? Here is the thing: the recipe is traditional. Onions, Speck, Paprika and Nutmeg. And yes, while it looks a little like a quiche, it only has one egg in it. In Swabia (the Southwestern part of Germany nearest to the French and Swiss borders), this Zwiebelkuchen is often eaten in the fall and is a great accompaniment to new wines.

But why atypical? Well, my presentation, actually. While it certainly is possible that a cast iron pan was used at some point in the history of Zwiebelkuchen-making, it is more often made in a tart pan with a removable bottom or even as a square on a regular Backblech. Also, I am quite sure that no one bothers to cut out many little leaves, cut patterns in them and then glue them to the edge. So there. Typical German recipe. Typical me presentation. All good. Well, would have been better if that one side of the crust didn’t decide to take a nose dive into the filling, but imperfection is perfection.
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5. January 2016