Annie Z. told me about a breakfast she had in Arizona that involved multigrain hot cereal, brown sugar, yogurt, fruit, and granola. I had all of these things in my kitchen, I just never thought to put them together. It was pure genius -- so much more than the sum of its parts.I don't know if this is anything like the original, but my version kicks Cheerios' butt any day. Trust me; we've eaten this every day this week and we are still looking forward to more!
It doesn't really take a lot of time, just a little prior preparation.If you made the multigrain bread from last month, you'll have 7-grain hot cereal mix ready to go. Make that according to the instructions on the package. While that's cooking (either in the microwave or on the stove), get your fruit ready. Today I used a mix of frozen berries and fresh strawberries. Frozen berries are super convenient -- pour them into a bowl and microwave for a minute to thaw. Now, gather up the other toppings. I make my own yogurt and granola (kick-ass recipe below), but you can just buy yours. The only other thing you'll need is brown sugar or maple syrup, if you prefer.
Assembling:
1. Put your cooked cereal in the bowl. 2. Sprinkle some brown sugar to taste. 3. Scoop on some yogurt.
4. Pour on the berries.
5. Top with your favorite granola (make sure it kicks ass).
Enjoy!!
Jen's Kick-ass Granola Recipe (makes 6 Cups)
1/2 C Vegetable Oil 1/2 C Maple Syrup or Honey 1 C Wheat Germ 1/2 t Salt 1 T Vanilla Extract 3 1/2 C Old-Fashioned Oats 1 1/2 C Chopped Nuts 2 C Dried Fruit
Preheat oven to 375°. Stir oil, syrup, germ, salt, and extract in large bowl. Add oats and nuts, and stir some more. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Pull the sheet out, stir, then bake until golden, about 10 minutes more. Pour mixture into large bowl, mix in dried fruit, and let cool.
So, to change it up a little, here's a completely different recipe - not bread, not practical, not humble. Kind of the exact opposite. Here's a recipe from my school days for those classic, old-fashioned sweet & dense Petit Fours. The procedure is pretty straight-forward, but the key is planning ahead.
Just to warn you, these babies aren't something you can whip up in an hour. The cake itself is moist & super almondy. Then, the cake gets split into 3 planks, which are they layered with your favorite jam. The key is to wrap the cake well in plastic, then weigh that baby down (smash it almost) with a heavy book or 2 and let it hang out in the freezer for 6 - 8 hours or more.
Once the cake is very cold and firm, then the pieces can be cut with either a knife (really measure them so they're very even!) or a cookie cutter. But before you do that, roll out a piece of marzipan and place that over the top of the cake stack. You do this so that the top surface of the petit fours come out very smooth & even. The only tricky part is the glazing process. If any drip of glaze gets on one of the cakes you've already glazed, it will be visible. It's best to use more glaze than you think you'll need and just pour it carefully over the whole cake. The glaze can be reheated and reused so don't feel like you are wasting anything. After the glaze dries, you can pipe a design on top of each petit four with ganache or you can dip the base of each petit four in chocolate. Now you are all set for that Tea Party you've been meaning to have. Good luck!
Need: One half-sheet pan, parchment paper, stand mixer with paddle
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.Line the sheet pan with parchment paper.
In the stand mixer, cream the almond paste and sliced almonds.The almonds will break up some in the process.Add the soft butter and mix together until smooth and somewhat fluffy.
Add the sugar and mix together until homogenous.While continuing to mix on medium low speed, add the eggs one by one.
Scrape down the mixer bowl and paddle and mix again to ensure the batter is smooth.Add the flour and mix just until combined.
Spread the batter into a lined sheet pan and bake until the cake golden brown and bounces back.Let the cake cool in the pan, and then flip out onto the back of another sheet pan lined with parchment.Cut the cake into 1/3’s long ways.
Take one 1/3 and spread with jam, in a smooth even coat.Place the next 1/3 on top and repeat the process.At the end you should have 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of jam.To continue, roll out a very thin piece of marzipan or fondant and place that on top of the cake.This will allow the top surface of the squares to be smooth.
Wrap the cake well and freeze for at least 60 minutes, or up to several days.
Then use a very sharp serrated knife and cut the cake sheet into 1 ½” squares or cut into another fun shape with a teeny cookie cutter.
Petit Fours Icing: 9 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (about 2 pounds)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract & 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Combine ingredients in top of double boiler and heat over boiling water just to lukewarm (do not overheat icing or it will become dull). Remove from heat, leaving icing over hot water to keep it thin. If desired, tint parts of icing delicate pastel colors with food color. If necessary, add hot water, just a few drops at a time, until of pouring consistency.
Glaze cake pieces by placing upside down, a few at a time, on wire rack over large bowl or baking dish. Pour Petit Fours Icing over top so entire cake piece is covered at one time. Glaze that drips off cakes into bowl can be reheated and used again. Decorate tops with silver dragees, piped ganache or royal icing.
Times may be hard but it's important to preserve tradition -- for example, Sunday brunch with the family. This week, we made our favorite French toast recipe using Blackmarket Bakery's Currant and Cinnamon Brioche.
This turned out wonderful, as usual, with a crispy crust, rich, soft middle, and lots of juicy currants. Our problem arose when we used up all the brioche and still had leftover batter. What to do? My gaze fell upon the Berry Cream Cheese Croissant.
This sounds crazy until you put it in your mouth; then you wonder why you never tried it. It was outstandingly incredible. The croissant dough fried up beautifully, and the raspberries and cream cheese filling were sealed in by the batter so they didn't ooze out and make a mess. Did I mention how tasty this was? It's exactly the kind of decadence we need in these hard times. You can skip the maple syrup, whipped cream, and strawberries cuz it's got it all built in, thus saving money AND calories. (Okay, maybe not calories.) Bon apetit!
--jeniffer*
Blackmarket Bakery's Depression French Toast (adapted from The New Best Recipe)
1 large egg
2 T butter, melted (plus extra for frying)
3/4 C milk
2 t vanilla extract
2 T sugar
1/3 C AP flour
1/4 t salt
2 to 3 Blackmarket Bakery Berry Cream Cheese Croissants (or Cinnamon
Currant Brioche), sliced about 1" thick
Heat heavy skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Beat egg lightly, whisk in butter, then milk and vanilla. Add sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk until smooth.
Swirl 1 T butter in hot pan. Dip bread just until coated and let excess drip off, then lay on hot pan -- filling side down. Repeat until the pan is full. Fry until golden then turn; the other side will cook faster. If you like more crust, cook all four sides. Add 1 T butter to
skillet for each new batch.
So, on Wednedsay at the bakery, a group of hearty souls attended our Pizza class. As usual, the recipes went well and were super tasty. All of the pizzas were baked directly on our pizza stones (actually kiln shelves made of corderite) so they baked quickly and had a nice crispy crust.
Our amazing helpers, Mark & Annie, were there as well - ensuring everything went smoothly. Mark brought in a pizza crust recipe that included cornmeal so we tried it. Overall the texture was a bit softer, but the crunch of the little grains of cornmeal was awesome.
The original recipe is as follows: 3/4 C water 1 T sugar 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast 2 T olive oil *mix the above together in a stainless steel bowl. To that add: 2 C all purpose flour 1/3 C cornmeal 2 tsp kosher salt *Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise covered in a lightly oiled bowl. Once doubled in volume, flatten the dough and add your toppings. Bake in a 475 F+ oven.
Our original batch came out a bit on the dry side. And the softer texture was due to the use of all purpose instead of bread flour. So, I would suggest the following slightly changed version...
1 C water 1 T honey 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast 2 T olive oil *mix the above together in a stainless steel bowl. To that add: 2 C bread flour 1/2 C cornmeal 2 tsp sea salt *Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise covered in a lightly oiled bowl. Once doubled in volume, flatten the dough and add your toppings. Bake in a 475 F+ oven.
I will be trying in again as soon as I have a free evening... Good luck!
I used to think of brioche as being hard, dry & rather flavorless. Since school, I've been making a brioche recipe that is none of those. This bread is very rich & buttery. You'll see why when you look at the recipe. The dough gets mixed first without the butter, then the butter gets added in in 2 stages. Try it...
Brioche
Milk 8 oz (1 C)
Eggs 3
Yeast ¾ oz dry (1 & ½ tsp)
Sugar 2 oz (1/4 C)
A P Flour 1# 8 oz (approx. 4 ½ C)
Salt ¼ oz (1 tsp)
Soft Butter 6 oz. (1 & ½ sticks)
Directions:
1. Add all the ingredients to the mixer bowl in the order above, except for the soft butter. Mix with the dough hook on speed two for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth & elastic.
2. Add half the butter to the dough and mix for 3 minutes. The dough will come apart at first and have trouble absorbing the butter, but be patient. Then, once that is incorporated, add the rest of the butter and mix again until smooth.
3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and loosely cover with plastic. Let that rest until doubled, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. To check that it is ready, poke the dough with your finger. The dent should stay when the dough has risen enough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and deflate it by pounding the dough down flat. Now divide the dough into loaves by weighing or estimating – this batch will make three 14 oz or two 20 oz pieces. Shape the dough into the form desired – topknot, braid, loaf, etc. Place the loaves on a lined sheet pan and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
5. Let the brioche rest in a slightly warm place until doubled again. This can take from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on room & dough temperature. Meanwhile, begin heating the oven to 350 F. Once the dough is ready, when the dough does not spring back when poked but still seems slightly firm, remove the plastic and brush egg wash (just beaten egg) on the loaves gently.
6. Place the pan in the oven. Check the baking process at 8 – 10 minutes. You may need to rotate the pan to achieve even browning. The brioche is ready when it is golden brown and feels hollow when you knock on the bottom.
1. Put your cooked cereal in the bowl.
2. Sprinkle some brown sugar to taste.
3. Scoop on some yogurt.
4. Pour on the berries.
5. Top with your favorite granola (make sure it kicks ass).
