Traditional American Pancakes

He is not a fan of American breakfast, he makes this quite clear, but every once in a while he will humor her by letting her serve a very American breakfast.

You can imagine it caught her by complete surprise when last Sunday he sat on the couch and announced that he felt like American pancakes. She didn't even give him the time to change his mind, within seconds she was in the kitchen whipping of a batch of this American classic :)

We made this full recipe because it used only one egg (and who wants to use only half an egg!?!) but it made a lot!


1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 Tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs white sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 Tbs butter, melted





Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Pour in the milk, egg and melted butter. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Heat a griddle (or frying pan) on medium heat with a small amount of oil. We find it is best to put a oil on a paper towel and gently rub the bottom of the griddle.



It is important to be patient when making pancakes. The pan needs to be very hot before you start but you also do not want the heat turned up too high because the outsides will get brown and the insides will still be raw.

Use a 1/4 cup scoop to transfer the batter onto the griddle. It is up to you if you would like a very large, very small, or medium pancakes.





Let cook (don't play with them or even peak!) until the pancakes start to form small bubbles. When this happens you know it is time to flip them. Flip and cook for another minute until golden brown.





If you are making many pancakes and want to serve them all at once, heat the oven on low and let them stay in there until the rest are finished.

Serve with maple syrup (the proper way!) or if you are like us and don't have any maple syrup in the house, Nutella, cinnamon and sugar, or peanut butter.



If you want something a bit different, try our Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

This traditional recipe was found on allrecipes.com, but there are many recipes out there and all about the same!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

How better to start Sunday morning than banana chocolate chip pancakes in bed?
These pancakes are sweet but not too sweet. We didn't even need maple syrup to enjoy them. Just a little whipped cream, fresh coffee, and a side of bacon. Yum!


For two people (about four pancakes each):
3/4 cup flour
1/2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cinnamon
5/8 cup of milk
1/4 cup banana, mashed (we used one large banana)
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips (save a few to decorate)
Whipped cream or maple syrup as topping


Combine the sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the milk, mashed banana, egg and vanilla.

Mix well and then fold in the chocolate chips.





Heat a skillet over medium and spray with oil (you can also use a paper towel to lightly dab on the oil).

Once the pan is very hot, add a scoop of the batter (we made two pancakes at a time with about 1/4 cup batter each).






Cook until the pancake has many bubbles and then flip.






Cook another minute or until golden.





Serve with slices of banana, chocolate chips and whipped cream (or maple syrup).

If you are worried about the pancakes getting cold while you cook the others, you can stick them in a low-heated oven to stay warm.

This recipe was adapted from BestTeenChef on Food.com

Simple Banana Bread

Have some bananas that have gone black and squishy? Make banana bread!

That's what we did last week when we had two bananas that just did not look appealing anymore.

We only had two bananas so we halved this recipe, but here is the full one:


4 bananas
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C)

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, vanilla, and bananas. Use a spoon or fork to crush the bananas into the batter.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the the mixture and combine well.



Pour into a greased and floured bread pan.

Bake for 60 minutes (ours took 45 minutes because using half of the recipe made the bread thinner)

Enjoy plain or with butter or honey. Tasty as leftovers either as is or toasted.

This recipe was adapted from Ikadlec


Have even more old bananas? We also recommend making our Amazing Banana Crunch Muffins.

A Massive Number of Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

This was one of those projects that started out as a great idea and turned into chaos...but it did turn out!

As a community service activity for work, he had to bring breakfast for over 50 school children one Friday back in November. (Yes, it has taken this long to get over the drama of the butter and dough being everywhere to be able to write about it :) )

She thought it would be brilliant to make cinnamon rolls. What child does not love gooey fresh cinnamon rolls? He was not arriving home from his business trip until late Thursday night, meaning she was on her own to make dozens of rolls.

Because this was for a work event, she thought she would test out the recipe. She divided the recipe (normally makes 50 rolls) in half and got going.

First problem - she killed the yeast (or now she is thinking perhaps her yeast was not "active" dry yeast...)

She kept the dough but also started again...now she had made an entire batch for just testing!

This test batch ended up making over 75 cinnamon rolls - small rolls - but still many many more than she could eat.

The second batch of rolls were better than the first but she was not fully satisfied.She started again, hoping to make ones good enough to serve.

In the end she ended up with over 75 decent, but not great cinnamon rolls. Some did not rise, some did, but all tasted amazing (and the kids ate them up in a heartbeat!) The kitchen was a total disaster area, melted butter, flour, and cinnamon were all over her and the floor.

We are posting this recipe because we believe if you are careful and do not kill the yeast (note to self: Get a thermometer!) these can turn into amazing cinnamon rolls (just read the reviews!) and even if they don't look beautiful (like hers) they still taste great:

40-50 rolls (more if small):

Dough:

1 quart milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
9 cups flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 scant tsp baking soda
1 Tbs salt
 
Filling:

2 cups butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon

Icing: 

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs milk

Dough:

Heat the milk, oil and sugar over medium. Remove from the heat once it is about to boil and let it cool to warm (really wait!). Add the yeast and let sit or at least one minute to make sure the yeast is alive.

Add 8 cups of flour, stir until just combined and then set aside in a warm place (cover with a clean towel) for one hour.

After the hour is up, add the baking powder, soda, salt, and remaining 1 cup of flour. Mix.

~You can now use the dough right away or keep it in the fridge for up to three days. You may want to chill the dough for about an hour to make it easier to roll out.~

To assemble the rolls:



Split the dough in two. Keep the half you are not using in the fridge while working with the other half.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large rectangle (about 30 by 10 inches). The dough should be very thin.


 

Pour one cup of melted butter onto the dough and spread evenly. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and use one half of the mixture on the dough. Again spread evenly (this makes a mess, beware!). You want it to be gooey!

Roll the dough (longways) and pinch the seam together. Cut the roll into 1/2 inch slices. Place a small amount of melted butter on a foil-lined baking sheet. Lay the rolls on the sheet.

Let sit (covered) on the counter for at least 20 minutes before baking. During this time you can roll the second half of the dough and preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not let them get overly brown.

While the rolls are cooking you can prepare the icing. 


Icing: (this was not from the recipe listed below, instead she used a different/easier icing)

Just mix everything listed under icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk) until smooth.

Spread over the rolls while they are still warm (makes it easier!)

The cinnamon roll recipe is from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman on Food Network), the icing is from MomsWhoThink.com.

Puffed Apple Pancake

First the name of this recipe caught our attention, then the fact that it was submitted by someone from her home town. We didn't like the ratio of batter to apples so listed below is our version of the recipe listed on epicurious.





1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup flour
2 Tbs butter
2 apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced)
1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C).

Whisk the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the flour and continue to whisk until smooth.

Place the butter in a baking dish (we used a 13 x 9 inch one) and place it in the oven. Let bake until the butter melts. Remove from the oven, lay the apples out in the dish and return to the oven. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the apples begin to soften and the butter begins to brown along the edges.


Once again remove the dish from the oven. Pour the batter over the apples and sprinkle the brown sugar on top. Place back in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Serve warm with powdered sugar over the top. We ate this for a breakfast/brunch but it would also work as a snack or dessert.

Butterhorn Crescents

These have been served for breakfast at her house every Christmas she can remember. Even when she is not in the USA for the holidays, she still makes them to keep the tradition going.

~Important - they need to sit over night so plan ahead!~

36 crescents:

1 package dry yeast (these seem to be the same size in the USA and Germany)
1 cup warm milk
~3 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
cinnamon and sugar are optional

Warm the milk to between 105-115 F. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes, or as long as it takes to start to bubble. This is important because if it does not bubble it means you have killed the yeast (happened to her the first time she tried this year).

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and cut it into the flour mixture. Stop when the butter is about the size of small peas. If you over blend the crescents will not be as tasty.

Beat the egg and then stir it into the milk mixture. Gradually add the mixture to the flour/butter mixture.  Mix well but do not mix very hard. The dough will still be sticky when you are finished. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge or somewhere cool (but not freezing) overnight.

THE NEXT DAY..

Remove the dough from the bowl and split it into three equal pieces. Put the other two pieces somewhere cool while you work with the third piece.

Roll out the dough on a floured board and kneed gently. Add more flour if needed.  Once the dough is no longer sticky, roll it into a 12 inch circle (we always have used a big plate to cut the dough into a perfect circle). If you would like plain crescents (her and her mom agree they are the best!) leave as is. If you want cinnamon and sugar crescents (loved by her sister and father) spread cinnamon and sugar mix over the dough.

Cut the circle into 12 triangles (hint for those who are confused, first into fourths and then each fourth into thirds). Roll from the outside in, place on a cookie sheet with the thin tip down, and slightly curve to make a crescent shape.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise someplace warm for 30-45 minutes (if you made cinnamon and sugar ones make sure to leave it the full 45 minutes because they take longer to rise). Repeat the entire process with the other two pieces of dough.

When the time is almost up, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).

Bake for 10-15 minutes (the bottom will get slightly brown) and let cool on a wire rack before icing.

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar together. Start with 2 Tbs of milk and add more if needed. The icing should be runny enough to easily spread but not so runny that it gets all over.


Enjoy for breakfast, a snack, or perhaps even dessert. Best with milk, hot chocolate, or coffee.

Poppy Seed Bagels Made at Home

It is hard to find a good bagel (her father would say you have to be in New York City to find a true good bagel). In Germany, the choices are very limited. Recently a few shops have opened that sell sandwiches on bagels, but they are quite expensive and do not sell individual bagels to take home. Most supermarkets have packaged bagels here but they are decent at best. Since we moved to Frankfurt we have not been able to find even decent bagels. The packaged  bagels sold at the supermarket near us are more like rolls with a hole cut in the middle. Way too fluffy and squishy to be called a true bagel.

We both love bagels, especially him. A little cream cheese and some lox and you have a meal for anytime of day. That is the reason why we decided to give a go to making our own bagels. In comparison to the bagels we get here, our result was delicious and much cheaper. Were they perfect New York Style bagels? No. But we have time to perfect that :)

6-8 bagels:

1 cup warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 1/4 oz. / 7 g)
2.5 Tbs sugar
2.5-3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vegetable oil
Toppings of choice - we used poppy seeds but you could also try sesame seeds, kosher salt, or toasted onions.

Combine the warm water (about 110 F or 43 C) with the yeast and 1.5 Tbs sugar (not all the sugar!). Give it a little stir and let it sit until foamy, about five minutes.

Add 2 cups of flour and the 1 tsp salt slowly. Mix until everything comes together.

Add another 1/2-3/4 cups of flour, only about 1/4 cup at a time. Mix between each addition and stop when the dough has become stiff.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky (you might need to add a little more flour to get to this stage). This will take about five minutes so plan to build your muscles!




Grease a bowl with the 1 tsp of oil. Make the dough into a ball, roll it around the bowl to get it greased, and then let it sit, covered, in a dry and warm place for one hour. The dough should double in size during this hour.

Ours got huge!

Remove the dough from the bowl, punch down and divide into 6-8 pieces. Each piece should weigh about 2-3 oz. (57-85 g). Form each piece of dough into a ball, then stick your thumb through the ball to make a hole.Wiggle your thumb around so the hold stays open even after your finger is removed.

(Another option is to roll each piece of dough out into a 6 inch (15 cm) log and then make a circle out of it, putting the ends together. We think this is too much work and does not make as nice looking bagels).

 
Place the dough balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with a clean cloth. Let sit out for 20-30 minutes. The dough should once again rise but this time not double in size.

During this time you can preheat the oven to 400 F (205C).




When the dough is almost finished rising, heat a large put with about 12 cups (almost 3 liters) of boiling water. Add the remaining (1 Tbs) sugar to the water.

In batches you feel you can handle (we did two at a time), place the bagels into the water and let boil for about 1 minutes on each side.



Remove the bagel from the water, dip the top into a shallow bowl with the topping of your choice, and then place on a lightly greased cookie sheet or sheet pan.

Once all bagels have been boiled, bake for 35 minutes. Toward the end (last five minutes) you may want to flip the bagels to get the bottoms nice and brown.




Enjoy fresh or keep up to a week in an air-tight container.

We love our bagels with cream cheese and lox or as the bread for a breakfast or normal lunch sandwich.



This recipe was adapted from Emeril Lagasse, 2002.

Potato, Red Pepper, and Feta Frittata

What do you do with a bunch of eggs about to expire? Well, typically she would make a big cake or eat breakfast for dinner, but we are trying to not have so many sweets in the house and he is not a fan of American-style breakfast (Yes, she agrees, what is wrong with him???).

Her solution was to make a frittata. Filling enough for dinner, more solid than just eggs, and uses a whole bunch of them up.


You can basically put anything into a frittata. We stuck with red peppers, potatoes, and feta this time. It gives it a bit more of a...hmmm...sophisticated taste (if a frittata can be sophisticated) and leaving out meat cuts down on the number of calories.

One large frittata (feeds three):

6 eggs
6-8 small potatoes (about 12 ounces)
2 red peppers
1 large onion
4 ounces feta
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme (or a little less if fresh)
Olive oil
Salt (pepper if desired)


Dice the onion and bell peppers. Slice the potatoes into thin slices (not super thin, but quite thin). Lightly beat the eggs.

~Ok, here is where it can get complicated. If you are going to make a frittata you *should* have a skillet that can go on the stove and in the oven. Unfortunately, we don't. Therefore,  we made our frittata in a giant sauce pan. It actually worked really well and although the potatoes seemed to take forever to cook, we don't think it was due to our choice in cookware. ~

Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C)




Heat your pan, whatever you chose, on medium. Cover the bottom with olive oil. Cook the onions with a dash of salt until glossy. Remove from pan.









Next, cook the potatoes with a pinch of salt. Let cook until soft through, moving around every so often.

Our potatoes took almost 20 minutes. We don't know if that is normal or not.







Once the potatoes are almost finished add the already cooked onions, the red pepper, and the thyme (plus any other seasonings you might want). If you do not like your red peppers a bit crunchy add them in earlier.








Once everything is cooked to your liking add the eggs. Make sure to poor the eggs evenly over the vegetables. Cook WITHOUT STIRRING for 3-5 minutes, or until the eggs begin to set on the bottom and sides but not in the middle.




Sprinkle the crumbled feta on top and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the eggs are completely set and have started to pull away from the sides.

~This is why you must first cook the frittata in a pan that can go into the oven.~








Let sit for a few minutes before trying to cut and serve.










Serve with crunchy bread and a salad. The leftovers are really delicious hot or cold, especially when eaten as a sandwich.



This recipe was adapted from theKitchn.

Moist Apple Muffins with Nuts

We are always trying out new muffin recipes. We were pretty happy with how our latest one turned out...







250 g cut apples (~ 2 apples)
100 g butter (~ 1/2 cup)
125 g sugar (a little more than 1/2 cup)
2 eggs
8 g baking powder (~ 2 tsp)
2 TL (tsp) cinnamon (we used about 3 and still not super strong)
100 g walnuts, or other type (chopped)

Cut your apples and preheat the oven to 180 C (355 F)

This recipe is very easy. Just melt the butter mix all

the ingredients together minus the apples and nuts.

Once everything is well mixed add the apple pieces and nuts and mix lightly.






Pour into muffin cups and cook about 20 minutes. We forgot ours were in the oven and cooked them 26 minutes. The tops were a bit darker than normal but really good!




Leave plain or top with powdered sugar or chocolate.

  

 

  He says this is for dessert. She says that muffins are also for breakfast!