Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Pull apart bread is one of the most fun things to bake. It is almost impossible to mess up and it looks amazing when it comes out of the oven. Totally perfect for a hopeless baker like myself. I like to make a couple of loaves when I make it, because usually I am making it as a gift or a contribution to a brunch or tea but then once I make it I don’t want to give it away. The same thing happens with my “Debaucherous Brownies”. Most of you who have received them didn’t know until now that you got a half batch…

This pull-apart bread takes a bit of time, but it is totally worth it. Especially for the feeling that you get when your contribution to the brunch is the first thing to be devoured. Or the feeling that you get when someone asks where you bought it. Yes, it’s that good.

Makes you hungry just looking at it, doesn’t it?

Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Bread:

3 cups all purpose flour plus a little extra

scant ¼ cup sugar

2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast – one envelope

heaped ½ tsp salt

3 ounces unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

¼ cup water (room temp to warm)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

1 ½ cup sugar

1 ¼ tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 ounces unsalted butter (melted)

Whisk together 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In another bowl whisk eggs.  In a small saucepan on the stove heat the milk and butter until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla and water. Let mixture stand and cool a little bit.

Add the dry ingredients into the milk mixture and stir well. Then add the eggs. Make sure the mixture is cool enough that the eggs don’t cook. Stir until the eggs become fully incorporated – this takes a while. Add the remaining cup of flour and stir. The mixture will be sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl (don’t skip this part because otherwise it’s a nightmare to get out) and cover with plastic wrap and a clean tea towel. Allow to stand in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about an hour although you can do this overnight in the fridge).

While dough rises combine the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar for the filling. In another bowl melt 2 ounces of butter. Set aside.

Grease your loaf pan

Sprinkle some flour over your kitchen counter, rub some on your rolling pin, and roll out the dough until it’s about ¼ inch thick. Paint on the melted butter onto the dough and sprinkle liberally with the filling. Then cut the dough into small rectangles, about 3 ½ inches by 2 inches.

Stack the rectangles of dough in small piles and squish them (standing on the long side) into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with any cinnamon sugar you have left. When the pan is full set aside for ½ an hour in a warm, dry place until the dough is about half again as big.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the top is very, very golden brown. Serve warm. This bread does not keep well so it is best eaten the day it is made or the day after. 

Caprese Pasta with Broccoli

Sometimes the best pastas can be those made without sauce. By slowly cooking some vegetables in olive oil on the stove top, maybe adding a splash of white wine if you have any already open, the veggies become their own sort of sauce. If you choose vegetables that have a high water content, like tomatoes or zucchini, you can get a pretty full sauce and your pasta will be delicious.

When you don’t add sauce to pasta, it also means that your leftovers become a fantastic pasta salad for the next day. If you think about it, the pasta just continues to marinate, soaking up more flavor the longer you leave it. Two (plus) meals in one.

I chose to make this one based on a caprese salad (mozzarella, tomato and basil) but added some broccoli for more umph. You could also try adding some zucchini, squash, or even eggplant.

Caprese Pasta (salad) with Broccoli

1 box penne or fusilli pasta

1 package cherry tomatoes

1 bunch of broccoli OR one bag of pre-cut broccoli florets

1 bunch basil leaves

3 lemons

1 ball fresh mozzarella

Olive oil

¼ cup dry white wine (optional)

½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Parmesan (optional)

Swish some olive oil around in a pan and turn on medium heat. 

Add the tomatoes (I cut some in half and left others whole), then the broccoli, then about ¾ of the basil. 

Cut 2 of the lemons in half, squeeze the juice in the pan and add the halves (to give more flavor). On one of the lemons cut off about 2 tsp of the rind and cut into very thin strips and then add to the pan. Add some wine, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and allow to simmer about 20 mins, or until the tomatoes are bursting.

Boil a pot of water, add salt and pasta and cook through.

When the pasta is cooked, add it to the pan of cooking vegetables and stir so that the pasta is coated in the sauce.

Cut the mozzarella into cubes and add to the pasta.

I then added a dressing to my pasta. You don’t have to do this, but I chose to add it for even more flavor – and to make it even more like a caprese salad. So combine about 1/3 cup olive oil with about 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar and season vigorously with s and p. Stir and then pour over the warm pasta salad.

Try adding grilled chicken if you want.

Garnish with more strips of basil and a lemon wedge. 

Breakfast Bread Pudding

This is essentially an egg casserole, but with fewer eggs and more bread. When it is cooked it is just like an egg-y breakfast-y spicy bread pudding. I came up with this when I (accidentally) volunteered to host an Easter brunch for five hungry boys. As I discussed in Baked Oatmeal, the problem with eggs is that they sort of come out one at a time and get cold very quickly, which makes it difficult for everyone to eat together (the best part of brunch in my opinion).

This casserole takes care of your egg, toast and breakfast meat all in one go – and everything comes out at once so everyone can heat a hot breakfast together.

Breakfast Bread Pudding

1 loaf white rustic (crusty) bread – from the bakery section in the grocery store

1 lb spicy breakfast sausage

16 eggs (for a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish) - 12 eggs for smaller dishes 

2 cans diced green chilies

½ finely diced onion

1/3 cup whole milk

1 bag sharp cheddar or jack cheese

 Preheat oven to 350. Slice the loaf of bread into thick slices, and then cut the slices into about 1 inch cubes. Line the bottom of your Pyrex casserole dish. Then evenly spread around the chilies, then the onions. 

Cook the sausage on the stove top, breaking the meat into lots of pieces (not patties like we are all used to). Add the sausage to the bread, onions and chilies.

 Sprinkle the whole mixture with cheese.

In another big bowl mix together the eggs and milk. Whisk well. When I am adding eggs, I crack them  individually in a separate small bowl before adding them to the big bowl – this is because if one egg has gone bad, you haven’t ruined the whole mix of eggs and milk by cracking it in directly. Season the egg mixture with lots of salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread layer in the casserole dish. 

Dish should be about 2/3 full, with all of the dry ingredients barely submerged in the egg mixture. Allow to sit for as long as you can – up to overnight in the fridge.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the eggs have cooked. I added more cheese on top of the eggs for the last five minutes.

I couldn't even stop myself from trying a couple of bites before I took a picture of it:

Quinoa Cakes

Quinoa is an interesting thing. It is a grain, but it sort of looks like couscous and tastes sort of nutty or earthy. It is delicious – not wonder it is a “superfood”. Very high in protein but not in fat. Aka you feel like you have eaten a humungous plate of your favorite pasta, but without the calories. I love tricking my body with this kind of thing – it makes being healthy so much easier.

Quinoa Cakes with Lemon, Capers and Parsley

1 ½ cups raw quinoa

2 ¼ cups water

Chicken stock cube

1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs (or panko)

½ yellow onion
1 can artichoke hearts

1/3 cup parmesan

2 cloves of garlic minced

¼ cup capers

1/3 (ish) cup flat leaf parsley

Juice of 2 juicy lemons

Zest of one lemon

4 eggs

S and P

Splash of water – up to ¼ cup

About 3 tbsp olive oil for cooking

Rinse the uncooked quinoa in cold water before cooking. Add the chicken bullion cube to your cooking water. According to package directions boil the water then add the quinoa, cover and simmer for about 15 mins until all the water has been absorbed. Cool. This can all be done in advance.

In a bowl combine the quinoa, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, capers and parsley. Drain and roughly chop up the artichokes and through them in For the parsley I don’t measure exactly. Instead, wash your whole bunch and take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the parsley over the bowl until you feel like there is enough. Remember you want a little bit per cake – so it will seem like a lot until you stir it in. Add the parmesan. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Then carefully cut off thin slices of lemon rind with your knife (if you don’t have a zester or cheese grater – I don’t). Cut these slices into tiny strips and add them to the mix. Add the eggs and the salt and pepper.  Stir a LOT until the mixture becomes sticky. If it is not wet enough add a splash of water.

With your hand pick up a ball of the quinoa and press it into a pancake in your hand. It should be about ¾ inch thick. Place them in a pan with some olive oil and sauté about 3 mins per side.

Tips for this:

•           The bigger the cake the easier – start big and work your way to small. The small ones look better, but fall apart more easily. This recipe makes about 18 cakes so you have some room to experiment.
•          Don’t try to do too many at a time. I do three or four maximum. They can be tricky to flip and can be delicate so for best results, don’t overcrowd the pan.

Serve over salad.

Salad:

1 box spring salad mix

1 bag carrot chips (buy precut at the grocery store – maybe buy some hummus for the left over carrots too)

1 cucumber

1 box beansprouts (mung beans)

Dressing:

Olive oil

2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh)

Lots of salt and pepper

Cut the carrot chips into thin slices. You can buy whole carrots it is just more if a hassle to cut them. Cut up the cucumber. Assemble all of the salad components in a bowl – use a handful of mung beans, carrots and cucumbers – mix everything together and divide onto plates. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl.

Add a few quinoa cakes per plate right on top of the salad – I did three but was feeding hungry boys. Just before you’re about to eat pour the dressing over top – that way the cakes will stay crispy but still absorb some of the flavor of the dressing.

Goat Cheese Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling

 It seems to me that the new trend in cooking these days is making something with ingredients that do not usually go in it. People make a lot of cakes with beans in them, chicken with blueberries etc. The funny thing about these wacky baked goods is that it seems that people are usually trying to hide these funky ingredients in the finished product. “Don’t worry, you can’t actually taste the beets in my famous beet cupcakes”

I decided to take a stab at this new fad, but actually try and make something that you could taste the ingredients in and not be too weirded out. In steps the goat cheese. We have all heard of putting sour cream in your cupcakes, or cream cheese icing – so this is like that but in a more extreme way. They turned out really well. So well in fact that my sister asked that I make some for her for her birthday. For hers I added the jam – a little extra sweet kick in the middle of the cupcake – a birthday surprise for her twenty-year old tongue.

Goat Cheese Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling

For the cupcakes:

2 ¼ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 stick butter

1 ¾ cups sugar

½ cup sour cream

½ cup (about half a log) goat cheese – room temp

4 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

cupcake liners

1 jar of raspberry jam, or fresh raspberries if in season

For the icing:

¾ stick butter at room temp

½ cup (the other half of the log) goat cheese (plus a little extra if you want it to be seriously zingy) – room temp

1 cup icing (confectioners) sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients (through vanilla). Mix well. Sometimes the goat cheese is a tiny bit lumpy, and that’s okay. Just not big clumps.

Pour into cupcake liners until almost half full. Then spoon a teaspoon of jam, or one plump raspberry, right onto the batter. Then fill the rest up until the liner is just over ¾ full. Bake for 18-25 mins.

While they are baking prepare the icing. Mix everything together in a bowl and pop it in the fridge with a knife until the cupcakes are cool. Ice with a cold knife – makes it much easier. 

Lasagna

What is your ultimate comfort food? Mine is pasta of every shape, size and color. Sometimes it is great with just butter, sometimes with red sauce and parmesan – spaghetti carbonara, macaroni and cheese, risotto and cold pasta salad. I love it all. But nothing beats a good lasagna. Just the right amount of sauciness, not too much ricotta and the meat and vegetables of your choice. Crunchy on top, soft and piping hot in the middle. Saucy, messy, cheesy goodness: a pick-me-up on a plate.

My mom has making lasagna down to an art, so whenever I make it I think of her. Fast assemblage, even layers. Turkey instead of beef. TONS of mozzarella. Yes, with every bite I can hear “go get ‘em!”, “you can do it!” and “why don’t you relax a little now and then you’ll be prepared to get everything done”. Thanks mama.

Try her fabulously easy recipe. You might even hear her too. “One thing at a time”. “Break it down”. “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything”. And most importantly “would you care for some lasagna?” Never say more, instead say “some”.

Lasagna

1 package ground meat. I use turkey but you can use beef or even leave it out.

Vegetables of your choice. This time I used:

            1 onion (I actually used half because my onion was abnormally huge)

            1 package mushrooms

            1 zucchini

            1 box cherry tomatoes

1 large can unseasoned tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

basil

lasagna noodles

1 small package ricotta

2 bags shredded mozzarella

1 package shredded parmesan

Preheat oven to 350. In a pot on the back burner of your stove pour the tomato sauce, the diced tomatoes, the garlic cloves (whole), a big swish of olive oil, a torn off clump of basil and lots of s and p. Simmer for as long as possible. In a pan on the front burner cook your meat if using and season lightly. Then wash the pan and sauté your vegetables. I added the mushrooms first (if they get crowded in the pan they don’t brown), then the cherry toms because I wanted them to slowly burst, then the zuc and the onion. When everything is cooked, the fun begins.

 A secret to lasagna is that you do not need to cook the pasta before putting in the casserole, if you do it gets a little too mushy. Note here that I like to buy little loaf pans at the grocery store and make smaller lasagnas so that I can freeze them or give them away – all of the above works for making one large lasagna as well.

Next add the vegetables and the meat:

Next a big handful of mozzarella:

Next ladle the sauce over the pile. Careful not to let the garlic cloves fall in.

Then dot a few dots (about 1 tsp) of ricotta around. If you like it creamy add more.

Then repeat. Add another pasta layer and keep going until the pan is full. I usually get about 2 -3 layers in each dish. On the top add one last pasta rectangle, cover with tomato sauce, sprinkle the mozzarella a little lighter (about half as much as other layers), then cover with parmesan. Cook for 30 mins in the oven, serve hot with more parm if desired. 

Don’t anticipate left overs.

Baked Oatmeal

Brunch is a funny thing. We all associate it with being a treat because our hectic Mon-Fri doesn’t permit for eggs benedict and French toast, and for that reason I love it. Everyone is happy at brunch. Here in Charlottesville brunch means either your parents are in town, your friends parents are in town, or the night before was so notable that you have to celebrate it again with friends. Rehash it over hash browns.

But what do you do when brunch is at someone’s house, and everyone has to bring something? You cant bring pancakes because you cant really use their stovetop. Eggs are too much pressure because they get cold in about 3 minutes and then no one wants them. Biscuits out of a can? That’s cheating. Fruit salad? Way too much work just to be “the person who brings fruit”. Instead - make baked oatmeal.

Aesthetically pleasing (particularly here, all thanks to my photographer friend Grace), healthy and it is different. Good piping hot and at room temp.

Baked Oatmeal

2 cups rolled oats (don’t get the instant kind)

½ cup pecan pieces

1/3 cup brown sugar – plus a little extra

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

2 cups milk

1 egg

4 tbsp butter – melted

1 tbsp vanilla

fruit:

I have used bananas, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries before. All the berries work really well. The bananas dry out pretty easily so make sure you have SUPER ripe ones if you are using them. If not stick to berries. Have about a package of each: about 2/3 – 1 cup. If you use the nambos use about four.

Maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Cut the banana (if using) into slices and loosely line the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Then sprinkle on the berries, saving a few out. Pour the dry oat mixture on top. Then cover the oats with the milk mixture. Sprinkle the remaining berries and nuts on top. Drizzle a little syrup over it all and bake for about 45 mins. Serve with more syrup or just plain.