Showing posts with label Weekends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekends. Show all posts
Whenever I have stale bread I want to make one of two things . . . either I want to make a bread pudding, or I want to make French Toast. Today the French Toast won out, but it's not just any French Toast . . . its Lemon Stuffed French Toast!
Lemon Curd is something I always have in my larder. It is considered a store cupboard essential! I also make my own quite often, especially in the winter months when lemons are in season! Oh to have my own lemon tree . . . sigh . . .
Yes, I am a Lemon lover of the utmost extreme! If it is lemon. I am on it!
This is so simple to make. You just make your traditional French Toast egg batter . . . you cut a pocket into thick slices of stale bread, fill the pockets with lemon curd, soak the slices in the egg batter and then cook it as per normal.
It goes very well with berries . . . strawberries, blackberries, raspberries . . . frozen or fresh. You decide!
*Lemon Stuffed French Toast*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter a baking sheet. Set aside.
Cut the bread into 8 equal slized, each about 1 inch thick. Cut a pocket into each piece of bread, using a serrated knife, carefully slicing into, but not all the way through. Spoon about 1 dessertspoon full of lemon curd into the pocket created in each piece of bread.
Whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Dunk the stuffed slices of bread into the egg mixture, allowing them to soak it up for several minutes, turning to coat it evenly on both sides. You want it saturated, but not falling apart.
Warm 1 TBS of butter and 1 TBS of oil together in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook the slices of stuffed bread in the heated fat until golden brown and lightly crisp on one side, flip over carefully and brown and crisp the other side. Place them onto the prepared baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remainder, using more butter and oil as necessary.
When all the toast is ready, place it onto heated plates and dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve immediately with some fresh berries and golden syrup (if desired.)
Happy weekend and Bon Appetit!
Happy Easter weekend! How can you tell its a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK. The Traffic going out of town towards the coast on the Motor Way is horrendous!
And it's raining. LOL Most Bank Holidays come accompanied with copious amounts of rain. For all these reasons, my husband and I never go anywhere on a Bank Holiday weekend, except for church!
On Thursday we had to take a meal to a family who just had a baby this past week, and let me tell you, at 3 PM on Thursday afternoon, the traffic flow towards Flint was bumper to bumper.
After we had dropped it off and were on our way back home, the traffic moving into Flint (and towards the coast) was at a virtual stand still. Not my idea of a holiday!
Tastiness such as this Hot Cross Bun French Toast is just the ticket to enjoy for an Easter Weekend Breakfast!
OH MY GOODNESS! That's all I can say! Soooo good! This is the perfect Easter weekend breakfast.
4 quality hot cross buns
4 large free range eggs
4 TBS whole milk
1 tsp grand marnier or courvoisier or Orange extract
To serve:
Maple Syrup
cooked bacon
cooked sausage
Cut
your hot cross buns in half horizontally, giving you four bottoms and
four tops. Beat the eggs together with the milk and the grand marnier.
To serve place a bottom and top of a
hot cross bun on each of four heated plates. Add some bacon and
sausage and pass the Maple Syrup!
Note - there is no need for sure in this as the buns themselves are sweet enough!
If you didn't want to serve bacon or sausage with this, fresh fruit would also go very nicely. Bon Appetit!
I cannot claim to have thought this up myself, although I certainly had it in the pipeline, but Waitrose beat me to the pip!
I can only lay claim to the addition of the Gran Marnier Liqueur
I thought it would go excellently in the batter and along with the flavours of the hot cross bun themselves, and I was right . . . it did.
Vanilla would also work, as would Courvoisier or orange flower water. It is really a nice addition.
I served this on heated plates along with some grilled streaky bacon and meaty sausages, with Maple Syrup for pouring.
Altogether it was very . . . very nice. I highly recommend!
*Hot Cross Bun French Toast*
Serves 4
2 TBS butter
Heat one TBS of butter in a large skillet over medium heat until the
butter begins to foam. Soak the hot cross bun bottoms in the egg
mixture. Place into the foaming butter, cut side down first. While the
bottoms are cooking, soak the tops.
Cook the bottoms until golden
brown, flip over and brown the other side. Place into a warm oven to
keep warm (you should have your bacon and sausage keeping warm in the
oven.)
Repeat with the hot cross bun tops and remaining TBS of butter.
Melt the butter until it foams, add the bun tops, cut side down in the
foaming butter, cook until golden brown, flip over and cook until golden
brown on the top side.
If you didn't want to serve bacon or sausage with this, fresh fruit would also go very nicely. Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I wanted to bake a treat for Todd this weekend. He's suffering some side effects now from the radio-therapy and I wanted to make him something very tasty that he would enjoy.
He has always been a huge fan of cherries and cakes with cherries. He also loves shortbreads. So I baked him some Cherry Almond Cookies!
These are one of his favourite cookies that I make and no small wonder. They melt in your mouth!
I like them too because they are simple to make and the recipe doesn't make a ton. Only 25 perfect, buttery, crisp, moreishly delicious cookies.
You melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the rest of the ingredients to make a soft dough, which you then roll into balls and space out on a baking sheet.
Pressed down lightly with the palm of your hand and topped with a cherry, you then bake them until they are golden brown.
The almond drizzle is my own addition. to this recipe which I adapted from a small book I have, entitled Cookie Jar by Love Food.
*Cherry Almond Cookies*
Makes 25
Deliciously moreish and not hard on the eyes! These please on many levels. Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I
love breakfasts over on the continent, which is what we would call
mainland Europe here in the UK. Anytime we have travelled there I have
really enjoyed the Continental Breakfast Buffets with their cereals,
cheeses, meats, fruits, yogurt, crusty rolls, and fresh croissants. You
just don't want to eat bacon and eggs every morning, and these
delightfully fresh buffets provide a lovely change from that!
I normally like to pull out all the stops for breakfast at the weekend. A leftover from my working days I suppose.
I didn't have a lot of time during the week to make much of a cooked breakfast, so Saturdays usually meant I would do us something special. I hear we are supposed to have some nice weather this weekend as well. I am loving these longer, brighter and warmer days!
These Blueberry Breakfast Buns fit the bill perfectly. They are like blueberry cinnamon rolls no yeast involved. I suppose you could also call them a blueberry sticky bun!
Retirement means that every day is a bit of a holiday it seems, although
in truth I don't know how I ever got everything I had to do done when I
was working full time.
My retirement time seems to just evaporate
into thin air! I still reserve goodies like this for the weekend
however . . . old habits die hard.
I saw something similar to this on Pioneer Woman Cooks a couple of years back, but you know . . . yeast breads are truly not my forte, and
I am rather lazy on top of it all, so I never did anything about it.
I
got to thinking though, I could really actually do something similar using a
buttermilk scone dough . . .
And so that is what I did. I created a flaky and light buttermilk scone
dough, flavoured with a bit of fresh lemon zest . . . I rolled this
out flat into a rectangle.
I then rubbed butter, sugar and more lemon
zest together until it was a bit crumbly. I sprinkled this over top of
the dough . . .
I scattered fresh blueberries over top and rolled it all up tightly and
cut it into thick slices which I placed into a butter glass baking dish.
I brushed them with some more butter milk and then baked in a hot oven until
the scone dough was all puffed up and golden brown and that lucious
lemon and blueberry filling was just slightly oozing.
Slathered with a
lemon buttercream drizzle hot out of the oven it made a GORGEOUS
breakfast bake.
And to think . . . it didn't take hours of waiting for
dough to rise or any such thing. Almost instant, pure taste
gratification.
You can spell that SCRUMMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS! That's almost
like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, except its a whole LOT better.
☺ Tastier too!
*Lemon & Blueberry Sweet Rolls*
Serves 8
A delicious breakfast bake with
tender buttery lemony scone dough, spread with a scrummy lemon sugar,
sprinkled with blueberries, rolled up, cut and baked, then slathered with a delicious
butter lemon icing when done. Served warm, this will have your family
oohing and ahhing and thinking about it all day.
For the scone dough:
250g of plain flour (1 3/4 cup plus 1 TBS)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
3 TBS caster sugar
40g unsalted butter, softened (3 TBS)
1 large free range egg
75ml of butter milk (1/3 cup)
(may need more as needed to create the perfect dough)
To fill:
12 TBS caster sugar
4 TBS butter
the finely grated zest of one lemon
250g of fresh blueberries (scant 2 cups)
a bit more buttermilk for baking
For the glaze:
195g of icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups)
the finely grated zest 1/2 lemon
the juice of 1/2 lemon
1 TBS softened butter
Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F/
gas mark 6. Butter a deep oval baking dish really well. (Mine is about
12 inches long at it's widest and 8 inches across at it's deepest, and
about 3 inches in depth.) It's important that you butter it well. Set
aside.
Sift the flour and baking powder
into a bowl. Whisk in the lemon zest, sugar and salt. Drop in the
butter and then rub the butter into the flour mixture with your
fingertips until you get a mixture resembling fine bread crumbs.
Beat
the egg and buttermilk together.
Stir this into the flour mixture using
a round bladed knife. You made need to add a bit more milk if the
dough seems dry. Knead gently and turn out onto a floured board. Pat
out into a rectangle measuring roughly 8 inches by 12 inches, and about
1/2 inch thick.
Rub the lemon zest, sugar and butter
together for the filling. Sprinkle this evenly over top of the patted
out dough. Scatter the blueberries over top evenly, pressing them down
lightly into the dough.
Starting from the long end, roll up the dough
to make a fat roll, trying to roll it as tightly together as possible,
and keeping as much of the filling intact as you can. Press the ends
gently to firm up. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 8 evenly sized
slices.
Place the slices into the buttered dish. I used a very large
sharp chef's knife to cut the slices and then let them fall on top of
the knife and used the knife to move them to the dish.
Take any bits
of berry or sugar that fall out in the process and stick them back in
once you get them into the dish. They will be a fairly snug fit, but
not to worry, this is the way it should be. Brush the top of all with
some more butter milk.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to
25 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top. It should look
dry and beginning to just turn brown on the bottoms, which you should be
able to see if you have used a clear glass dish.
While the buns are baking whisk
together the icing sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and softened butter to
make a smooth somewhat thin icing. As soon as you take the buns from
the oven slather this delicious icing over top of the warm buns to cover
them all. Let it settle in a bit and then serve warm, separating the
rolls and placing each onto serving plates for eating.
I really hope you will give these a go this weekend and that if you do, you enjoy them as much as we did. Happy Saturday. Hope the sun shines on you also. Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I really, really like muffins. I really, really, REALLY like chocolate chip muffins, and not the double chocolate chip muffins, but the yellow buttery cake type of chocolate chip muffins.
This is an EXCELLENT recipe for those. It might look like a very basic muffin, and it is. Simple ingredients.
Simple to put together . . . but that is where simple ends because this muffin is anything but simple when it comes to taste.
Moist and buttery and stogged full of chocolate chips, this is the most delicious chocolate chip muffin you could ever want to eat.
So delicious its dangerous, but no worries there because it only makes six muffins.
Just enough for a small family like us, just the two of us.
You can double it if you wish, but if you are looking for a small batch recipe, that only makes a half a dozen muffins and is tremendously delicious . . . this IS the one for you!
I can't believe I am telling you this, but . . . true confessions here. I baked them this morning and have eaten two already.
These are dangerously good and now you know why I only bake six at a time. I cannot be trusted with any more than that. The simple truth.
*Small Batch Chocolate Chip Muffins*
Makes 6 medium muffins
(or 12 mini muffins)
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a six cup muffin tray with paper liners, or butter really well. Set aside.
Cream
together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg
and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to
the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream,mixing just to
combine. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter between the
muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes
until well risen and golden brown. (9 to 12 minutes for mini muffins)
Remove to a wire rack and cool. Delicious served fresh and slightly
warm.
If you don't run right into the kitchen today and bake these I am warning you, you will be missing out on something really, really special. Bon appetit!
There are a few things I always keep on hand. One is a jar of Lemon Curd (I also make my own, but having a jar of ready made is a great store cupboard ingredient.) Another is frozen all butter puff pastry. The Lemon curd comes in handy for all sorts and the puff pastry is great for making impromptu tarts, or topping pies and one of my favourite things . . . for making these fabulously tasty breakfast pastries!
I had some apples which I needed to use this week and I was tired of doing the same old same old and so I did a search on google and came up with this. I confess I had my doubts when I encountered this recipe on cooks.com.
It was so simple . . . no crust per se, and no leavening. How could this work? Its been my experience however, that simple things are oftimes the best things, and so I crossed my fingers and went with the flow! I took a chance.
Wow! This was so simple and quick to put together. You just slice the apples and dump them into the pie tin, sprinkle them with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon and then pour the batter over top and bake.
Leave it to the Swedes to come up with something which is totally streamlined and totally tasty. That is their hallmark in design and clearly with cooking also!
The batter is simply melted butter, sugar, an egg and flour. It shouldn't work, but it does . . . amazingly!
The apples are sweet and soft, without being overly so. You will want them to be a bit tart because there is pleny of sweetness in that crisp and buttery batter topping.
Oh boy, oh boy. It is a day later and I cannot walk by this without wanting to dig in and have just a smidgen more.
It is one of the MOST delicious apple desserts I have ever baked. Seriously. Talk about Hygge. Comfort.
Sweet comfort. I know you probably only just started a diet and its too soon to break it, but hey. Some things you just don't want to miss!
*Swedish Apple Pie*
Serves 6
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Butter a 9 inch deep fill pie dish. Put the apples into the dish. Sprinkle with the sugar and then the cinnamon. Whisk together the butter, sugar, egg flour and salt until smooth. Stir in the nuts and then pour this over top of the apples to cover. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until set and golden brown.
Allow to cool until just warm before serving. Cut into wedges to serve. Serve warm with ice cream if desired.
Seriously you really do WANT to bake this. I wouldn't couldn't lie about something as serious as dessert. I guarantee it will become a firm favourite in your repertoire. If you ever find yourself in need of a quick and simple dessert that will blow your guests socks off . . . this is THE one!
Happy Weekend!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons