Category Archives: Brunch

Bakery-Worthy Blueberry Muffins

November 18, 2016

I have been on a total blueberry kick lately. A friend brought some blueberries over a couple weeks ago when her daughter came over to play with Prim and I haven’t been able to get enough since. Never mind that it’s not exactly blueberry season and they certainly aren’t the cheapest item in the produce department right now — this pregnant belly doesn’t care. Just give me all the blueberries.

The recipe below is a slight adaption of the America’s Test Kitchen recipe for blueberry muffins, and I will tell you right now — it’s the only blueberry muffin recipe you’ll ever need. These muffins are straight-up bakery status. They are soft and moist on the inside and crispy and full on top — everything you could want out of a blueberry muffin.

If you need an impressive contribution to a breakfast or brunch spread, or simply something delicious to have with your afternoon coffee — these muffins are it. And I really wish these photographs did these muffins justice, but they don’t — they look amazing in person and taste even better.

Blueberry Muffins

makes 12 muffins

For the muffins:

2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

For the quick jam:

1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over
1 tsp sugar

For the topping:

1/3 cup sugar
grated zest of one lemon (about 1 1/2 tsp)

Stir together lemon zest and sugar for topping and set aside.
Preheat oven to 425°.
Make a quick blueberry jam by combining 1 cup of blueberries with 1 tsp sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir and smash the berries along the side of the pan until they have reduced by about half and become syrupy — about 4-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Whisk together eggs and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Whisk in oil and melted butter, followed by milk, yogurt and vanilla extract, then fold in blueberries with a spatula. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, then add dry ingredients to wet, stirring just to combine. (Do not over mix — batter should be slightly lumpy.)
Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin cups, filling to the top. Add 1 tsp of the quick blueberry jam to the top of each muffin and use a skewer or knife to swirl it into the muffin. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with lemon sugar until well-covered.
Bake 15-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

You will probably only need about half the of the sugar topping for these, so feel free to scale that down. Add more sugar to the top of the muffins that you think you should, though — it makes for a great crispy top!
These are really best the day that you make them, so I would suggest making them the day you plan on consuming them, to the extent possible. They will keep overnight wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container.

Brunch / Fall / Sweet

Olive Oil Apple Snack Cake

October 18, 2016

After seeing this cake on another blog, an immediate craving for fall baked goods set in. Baking here in Amsterdam is tricky, as I don’t have a mixer or a lot of bakeware, plus the Dutch seem to lack a lot of common baking items in readily available places like the grocery store. Not to mention that brown sugar doesn’t exist here. Instead they have something called basterdsuiker, which is not the same thing (and I’m just gonna go ahead and hold my thoughts on the name).

This cake, luckily, uses really common ingredients, and even though the recipe calls for a 10″ cake pan, I thought my casserole dish would work fine for the size, which it did.

This cake is as perfect for breakfast as it is for a mid-afternoon snack, so if you have a brunch coming up — this might just be the perfect thing. It keeps well overnight covered in foil as well, so feel free to make it ahead — it’s fairly sturdy. It’s also pretty foolproof, so it’s a great one to get little hands involved in if you have some kiddos who want to join in the baking process.

Olive Oil Apple Snack Cake

from Sunday Suppers via Wit & Delight

2 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole milk
zest of one lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 medium apples
juice of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 10″ cake pan, springform pan, or 12″ x 8″ casserole pan.
Whisk together eggs and sugar, then stir in olive oil, milk and lemon zest until combined.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, then add dry ingredients to the wet, stirring just to combine (don’t overmix).
Peel apples and slice thinly, then toss in lemon juice to keep them from browning.
Pour batter into your prepared pan and top with sliced apples.
Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Tent with foil if top is browning too quickly (check it at about 30 minutes — you’ll likely need to add the foil then.) Let cool completely in the pan before serving. Cover with foil or plastic wrap to store.

Baby / Breakfast / Brunch / Easy Meals / Pescatarian / Savory / Vegetarian

Feeding Babies: Mini Frittatas

April 6, 2016

I’m forever looking for new foods to feed Prim, or even just a new way of introducing something she’s already had. And since I work full-time and still make dinner for people other than Prim on a semi-regular basis, I prefer to cook things for Prim that freeze well and will last beyond a couple of meals.

Last Sunday I was at Whole Foods staring at the vegetables, trying to figure out what to cook for Prim when I saw some delicious-looking spring onions. Once I saw those I had the idea of a frittata, because one of my all-time favorite frittatas is chock-full of spring onions.

Rather than making the frittata in my giant Le Creuset braiser, I decided to make miniature single-serving frittatas in a muffin tin so that they would be easier to freeze and store for later.

These little “frittata muffins” come together quickly and are awesome for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or even a party!)

Mini Frittatas (for you AND baby)

makes about 17 muffin-sized frittatas

5 small yukon gold potatoes, diced
3 large spring onions, small dice
12 eggs
1/2 cup half and half or milk
4 oz / 1 cup grated swiss cheese
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°. Drizzle diced potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, toss to combine and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until a knife pierces potatoes easily — about 10 minutes.
While potatoes are baking, heat some olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add diced spring onions to pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook until soft and translucent — about 5 minutes.
Once potatoes and onions are cooked, toss them together and spoon into greased muffin cups — about 1 tbsp per cup (should cover about 17 muffin cups).
Whisk together eggs and half and half, season with salt and pepper, then stir in cheese. Pour into muffin cups, covering potato/onion mixture, until muffin cups are almost full.
Lower oven temperature to 375° and bake until frittatas are puffed and set in the middle — 10 to 12 minutes. Loosen frittatas with a rubber spatula and let cool on a wire rack. Store in the fridge or freeze.

Breakfast / Brunch / Dairy-Free / Sweet

Waffles In a Pinch

April 30, 2014

Sunday morning I woke up craving waffles, but discovered that I didn’t have enough of my favorite Trader Joe’s mix to make any. After a little internet-scoping, I came across a recipe I actually had all the ingredients for (since I don’t normally have buttermilk lying around…) and figured I’d give it a go.

Given the amount of effort this recipe takes (very little) and the common-ness (not a word) of the ingredients, I figured I’d share it with you all so you too can make waffles whenever that breakfast-carb craving strikes.

5-Minute Basic Waffles

makes 3 large/12 small

2 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk (I used a combo of nonfat and half and half, because that’s what I had)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (you might be able to sub applesauce here to make these a little healthier)
2 cups flour (I used all-purpose, but you could probably use bread flour or an all-purpose GF mix)
1 tbsp white sugar (feel free to add an extra tbsp if you like your waffles on the sweeter side)
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium-sized bowl, whip eggs (using a whisk or hand mixer) until frothy and doubled in size.
Add milk and oil, then whisk in dry ingredients just until combined (don’t overmix!)
Place a large scoop of batter into your waffle maker and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I mean, did I say easy or did I say easy? Please note that Penny was the only one this waffle-making process wasn’t easy on. It sure is hard being a puppy (when your owners refuse to give you any of their waffles).

*You could also mix some berries or chocolate chips into the batter to fancy these up a bit. Get crazy.

Breakfast / Brunch / Dinner / Gluten-Free / Savory / Vegetarian

Potato, Spring Onion and Rainbow Chard Frittata

April 21, 2014

I made this frittata last week (as you may have already seen on instagram), but I have to tell you, I have not stopped thinking about it since.

Ok, maybe there were a few moments where I wasn’t thinking about it, but it’s been on my mind because it was so. dang. delicious.

We got spring onions, green garlic, chives, and rainbow chard in our CSA box last week, so into the frittata those went, along with potatoes.

Once the veggies and potatoes were cooked, they got layered into the ovenproof pan:

Covered with eggs + milk + chives + s&p + cheeeeeese:

5 minutes on the stove, 15 in the oven and voila, frittata:

Here’s a little more detail for you:

Potato, Spring Onion and Rainbow Chard Frittata

serves 4 as a meal

2 small to medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ discs (feel free to use red/yukon/whatever potatoes you have — no need to peel those)
1 bunch spring onions (scallions), white and light green parts sliced (I used 4 GIANT spring onions, so don’t skimp! If you get yours at TJ’s, use the whole bag — it’s going to look like A LOT of onions, but it’ll be great, don’t worry.)
1 stalk green garlic, white and light green part minced
1 bunch rainbow chard, stems removed and leaves torn
12 eggs
generous splash of milk – about 1/4 cup (I used half and half)
fresh chives, snipped into 1/4″ pieces
cheese, grated (I used about 2/3 of a block of a sharp farmhouse cheddar*)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450°.
Place potato rounds on a sheet pan in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake until fully cooked and the bottom is brown and crispy (20-30 minutes). Remove from oven and lower oven to 400°.
In a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, add some olive oil, spring onions, green garlic, salt and pepper. Saute until softened and fragrant — 5 minutes. Add rainbow chard and saute another 5 minutes, until leaves are wilted. Remove everything from pan and set aside.
Whisk together eggs, milk, chives, salt and pepper. Stir in cheese.
Place potatoes into the ovenproof skillet in a single layer on the bottom, over medium-high heat. Top with onion/chard mixture, then pour the egg mixture over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes (no stirring!) until edges are just beginning to set.
Place skillet into the oven and bake until fully set, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

*any sharp cheese would work well here — swiss, fontina, smoked cheddar or gouda… the possibilities are endless!