Maple Bacon Oven Pancake

We had this for supper last week, and I haven't had a chance to post.  It sounded really good on paper.  It wasn't really what I was expecting, but it was okay.  From Southern Living.

Maple Bacon Oven Pancake
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth (I just used a wire whisk).  Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.  Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish.  Bake at 425 for 12 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese and bacon (as you can see from my picture, there are those here that do not like cheese or bacon, so I sprinkled accordingly); bake 3-5 more minutes or until toothpick comes back clean.  Cut into squares and serve with maple syrup.

We had this with yogurt and fruit.  It was okay.  Not something we'll have again, though.  I like regular pancakes with bacon on the side better, I guess...

Rosemary Focaccia

Apparently focaccia is not very photogenic.  I took 6 pictures of the finished product, and posted the least bad one here.  Everyone really liked this, but it doesn't look very good.  It smelled fabulous while it was cooking, so we knew it would taste good, too.  Interestingly, the picture in the cookbook looks pretty good.  But who knows what tricks and what kind of professional photographer Southern Living has?  I have none of those bells and whistles.  I have no tricks, and a cell phone camera.  Also, instead of using fresh rosemary, which I have no way to "finely chop" as the recipe directs, I used Italian seasoning.  I figured that would make it more palatable for the younger set, too.  The other modification that I made to this was to replace the olive oil and minced garlic with Garlic Infused Oil that I just got from Tastefully Simple (a friend of mine recently started selling...let me know if you want more info and I can get you her number).  This made it so much easier, since I didn't have to mince garlic (which actually isn't that hard but still) and it eliminated that step.  We had this with stuffed shells, which is one of Steve's favorite meals.  The kids really like it, too.

Rosemary Focaccia
2 pkg active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)
2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
6 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves, divided
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp finely ground pepper

Combine yeast and warm water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Place 4 cups flour in a large bowl; make a well in center.  Add yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms.  Cover and let rise in a warm place (no problem yesterday) free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk (dough will be spongy).

Sprinkle remaining 2 cups flour on a flat surface.  Turn dough out onto flour and knead until all the flour is incorporated to make a firm dough (harder than it sounds but I managed).  Gradually knead in butter, 1/4 cup rosemary, and 1 tsp salt (crazy messy--Nathan was laughing at me, and kept saying things like, "I can't believe you're doing that!").  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes), adding additional flour if necessary.

Brush 2 15x10-inch jelly roll pans with 2 tbsp olive oil (here I used the Garlic Infused Oil).  Set aside.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each portion into a 15x10 inch rectangle, and place in prepared pans.  Cover and let rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes or until dough is almost doubled in bulk.

Using fingertips, dimple the dough all over in both pans; sprinkle with minced garlic and remaining rosemary.  Drizzle with remaining 6 tbsp olive oil (here again I used the garlic oil and skipped using any minced garlic), and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden.  Cut or tear into squares (I tore it--one less knife to wash).

So this took a little while, and was messier than I planned on.  Also I was kind of waiting for it to brown up, and because of that I think I might have left it in the oven a bit too long, so it was a bit drier and firmer than I think it should have been .  But overall it was good, and everybody liked it.  I was excited to use the new oil, too.

Cinnamon Toasty Fruity Delight

This is kind of a cross between french toast and pancakes.  I said we could call it Francakes.  One of the kids said we could call it Pantoast.  I think I like Francakes better, although they both sound weird.  I don't like the original name either, though, it sounds too...I don't know.  Something.  This recipe came from Southern Living.

Cinnamon Toasty Fruity Delight
2 cups pancake mix
1 1/2 cups water
(instead of buying pancake mix, I used my own pancake batter recipe, then added the vanilla and cinnamon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cinnamon bread slices
2 bananas, sliced
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Maple syrup

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients.

Melt 1/2 tbsp butter and 1/2 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat (I just used cooking spray and sprayed in between each one).  Dip 2 bread slices in batter; cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden.  Repeat procedure with remaining butter, oil, bread slices, and batter.

Top with bananas and pecans.  Serve with maple syrup.

So good!  Of course not everyone had the bananas and pecans. Sam said blueberries might be yummy instead of the bananas.  I think they would be, too.  I did this in a skillet, like it said, and I could only make 2 at a time.  That annoyed me, and next time I will use my griddle and do 6 pieces at once.

Orange Blueberry Freezer Jam

We have our own blueberry bushes, and every year we get a lot of berries from them.  I make pies, crisps, cobblers, coffee cakes.  I add berries to yogurt, make Blueberry Fool.  All kinds of things.  I saw this recipe in Simple & Delicious, so I thought I would try it.  Freezer jam is easier than regular jam, I think.  I had to buy jars.  And sterilize them.  And in the recipe it says to use plastic jars, but Hannaford only had glass jars that said "Freezer Safe."  So I called my mom, who was eating lunch with my sister at Red Robin in Augusta.  It was very noisy.  She said it was fine, and she always made her freezer jam in glass jars.  So I proceeded.  I made a big mistake though, at the beginning.  Where it says "blueberries, crushed" I forgot to crush them, but didn't realize my mistake til the last step.  This resulted in another call to my mom, who did not have much hope for this jam.  But I give you the recipe anyway, in case you're better at this than I am...just for extra fun, I decided at the outset to double this recipe since we have such an abundance of blueberries.  So, double the fail...

Orange Blueberry Freezer Jam
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 medium orange
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, crushed
1 pouch (3 oz) liquid fruit pectin

Rinse four clean 1-cup plastic containers with lids with boiling water.  Dry thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 250.  Place sugar in a shallow baking dish; bake 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, finely grate 1 tbsp peel from orange.  Peel and chop orange.

In a large bowl, combine the blueberries (which should be crushed by now), warm sugar, grated peel, and chopped orange.  Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the pectin; stir constantly for 3 minutes to distribute pectin (by the end of the 3 minutes I realized my mistake...).

Immediately fill all containers to within 1/2-inch of tops.  Wipe container rims; immediately cover with lids.  Let stand at room temperature until set, up to 24 hours.  Jam is now ready to use.

Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 12 months.  Thaw frozen jam in refrigerator before serving.

Okay, here's what I did at the end of the 3 minutes, when I realized this just looks like blueberries floating in white syrup.  #1: Panic.  #2: grab the potato masher and go crazy smooshing berries  #3: enlist the husband's help smooshing berries; he's stronger than I am.  #4, after realizing mashing them wasn't working:  Pour mixture, in two batches, into awesome Cuisinart blender and hit "puree."  Mixture looks more promising at this point, although still not like the picture in the magazine.  Proceeded to fill jars and hope for the best.

Right now it is 7 hours post-pour and the jam has still not "set."  I think when I tip a jar the "jam" inside shouldn't move.  Mine still does.  Besides not crushing the berries and not getting the sugar all blue, I also did not do either thing "immediately" that I was supposed to.  My mom says the worst case scenario is that this becomes ice cream topping instead of jam.  But I don't want 8 jars of that.  Maybe by morning it will look right...

 

Sour Cream Cinnamon Buns

I don't like sour cream as a condiment.  It reminds me way too much of mayo.  But I have discovered through the making of many new recipes that cakes and pastries made with sour cream are usually very good.  So I decided to try these this morning.  Now, when I say "this morning," I mean "they were done before noon so technically that's still morning."  I had grand plans to be up early, not too early because it is Saturday, but not too late either.  Well, I made it to the kitchen by 8:45...made coffee, had to put the clean dishes away, because I can't cook until I do...these were ready by 10:30.  Everyone had already had breakfast by then (except me), so we had these for more like an early lunch.  Instead of using the icing that it says to, I used leftover caramel frosting from last night's cookie recipe.  From Southern Living.

Sour Cream Cinnamon Buns
8 oz sour cream
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pkg (or 2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Heat sour cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to 105-115 degrees (that was so gross).  Combine warm sour cream, 2 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp sugar, salt, and baking soda in large mixing bowl.  Add egg and yeast; blend well.  Add 1 1/2 cups flour; beat at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended.  Gradually stir in remaining flour.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.  Cover and let rest 5 minutes.

Roll dough into 18x6 inch rectangle; spread 2 tbsp softened butter over dough.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll up dough, starting with short side, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam to seal.

Slice roll into 12 (1 1/2 inch) slices.  Place slices, cut side down, in greased muffin pan (here I had a problem, as the diameter of the slices was larger than the diameter of my muffin pan holes...I would put them in but they wouldn't fit, and the centers were sinking down in...I knew they wouldn't look right or rise right if they were all crumpled up, so after the third one I decided to place them on a cookie sheet...they spread kind of a lot, but at least they kept the right shape).  Cover and let rise 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 12-15 minutes or until golden.  Remove buns from pan immediately; let cool on wire rack.  Combine powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over buns.  (I served mine warm...)

So.  These were good.  But not great.  A lot of work.  I wanted "wow" and for them to basically melt in my mouth.  It didn't really happen that way.  Steve really really liked these.  I think, though, that I shall not make them again...also I don't like how the picture makes them look...see how they spread out?  But they would have looked deformed if I'd done the muffin-pan way.  So oh well.

Caramel-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

I made these for home fellowship.  It seemed like something everyone would like, and that I should not make just for our own family's consumption.  I completely forgot to take a picture of them, but just imagine little whoopie pies, but the cakes are chocolate chip cookies and the filling is caramel frosting.  This one came from Simple & Delicious.

Caramel-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Filling:
6 tbsp butter, cubed
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp 2% milk
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, then honey and vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For filling, in small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cook and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat; cool to room temperature (oops, somehow I overlooked this part and it wasn't cooled...I ended up using almost double the powdered sugar to get the right consistency...oh well it all ended up fine).  Beat in enough confectioners' sugar to reach desired consistency.

Spread 1 1/2 tsp filling (I certainly did not measure) onto bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies.

We had some of the filling left over, so I used it the next morning on cinnamon rolls, and it was good.  These cookies went fast, and the finished product was so scrumptious.  I will say the cookie dough did not taste anywhere near as good as the dough from my usual recipe, so I consumed much less.  Depending on what day it is, that could either be very good or very bad.   We will definitely have these again.  Yum yum.

Hot Brown

I have never heard of a Hot Brown.  It is, I learned through the blurb under the recipe, a hot sandwich made famous by the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.  It sounded like something we would like.  I really like hot turkey sandwiches made with Thanksgiving leftovers.  So we had this one...from Southern Living.

Hot Brown
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
8 slices bread, toasted
1 pound sliced cooked turkey breast
8 slices bacon, cooked and drained
4 slices tomato (nope...I don't like raw tomatoes...)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring til smooth.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually add milk and broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly.  Stir in cheddar cheese and salt, and continue stirring until cheese melts.  Remove from heat.

(The following directions confused me, and a trip to Google didn't help...so I don't know if I did the assembly right...) Cut 4 slices of toast in half diagonally.  Place 2 halves, cut side in, with 1 whole slice in center, on an ovenproof plate or 15x10 inch jelly roll pan.  Repeat with remaining toast (ummmm, okay...).  Top each with turkey, cheese sauce, 2 slices bacon crisscrossed, tomato slice, and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese.

Broil 3 inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes or just until bubbly.  Serve hot.

Okay.  Sam loved this.  I thought it was weird.  It looked like gravy but tasted cheesy.  The bacon was good, but weird with the sauce.  The parmesan cheese added another layer of "what???"  Nathan pulled his turkey out, scraped everything off it, and only ate that.  Emma did okay.  It was definitely a fine meal, would be good for a lunch or something, but I still don't know if I liked it.