This banana bread is simple, moist, deeply flavored, delicious…and made in one bowl! It’s a recipe I have memorized because we make it once a week. We eat one loaf for snack and the other for breakfast the next day.
Below is the brown sugar riff — a recent favorite — but there are loads of ways to vary the texture and flavor working with inspiration and what you have on hand. There’s a guide in the notes section to help with that.
Read MoreA while back, I shared a recipe for Raspberry Oat Bars that were quickly becoming a favorite breakfast/snack bar in our home. In fact, they’re made so frequently that the recipe has become lazier — ahem! — modified over time into something far more streamlined, just as tasty and worthy to be shared.
Read MoreFor some reason, whenever we use ricotta around here, it always seems we have a little leftover. Rarely is the whole container is completely used up. But, happily, this phenomenon led me to this recipe which is so tasty, I buy ricotta now just to bake it up.
Read More“We are a cinnamon roll people.”
Out of the mouths of babes. That was the proclamation of my four-year-old daughter mid-morning after recently making, and consuming, a large number of these indulgent cinnamon rolls.
For some time I have been wondering about putting this recipe up on the blog, since we already have a recipe for buttermilk potato cinnamon rolls and another one for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. But if you’re part of a “cinnamon roll people,” clearly you can’t have too many.
Read MoreIf you’re into food novelties, these are for you.
Also, if you like convenient party food, these are for you.
Read MoreLinzertorte is a traditional Austrian dessert sandwiching fruit preserves (typically raspberry) between a nut-based pastry and a beautiful lattice top. These raspberry oat bars are the happy result of a search for a linzertorte-like dessert without so much of the hassle, and without the nuts.
Read MoreIf you can’t have too many muffin recipes, neither can you have too many scone recipes. My favorite will always be the impossibly easy cream scones, but I don’t mind a little change up now and then. These scones are lightly orange-scented and studded with tangy cranberries. Cream scones are soft and tender, whereas these butter-based scones have a richer flavor and are a bit dryer with crisp golden edges. They’re good fresh, but my favorite is to wait a bit longer and then slice, toast, and spread them with butter.
Read MoreOk, so Joy of Cooking just calls these Basic Milk Muffins, but since you can also use cream, or buttermilk, or add any kind of fruit - dried or fresh - or nuts or spices or any variation thereof, I figured I could get away with calling them “endlessly variable”.
These really are just a simple muffin - not heavy and bready, not fluffy and cakey; moist but not dense, and juuuuust sweet enough. They are delicious. Sometimes I make them plain Jane with nothing at all. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon and chocolate chips; sometimes I add fruit and/or nuts. In the variation pictured above, I added orange zest, fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips, and walnuts.
I have never made these and not liked them.
Read MoreHands down almond is my favorite flavor. I can vaguely recall a time as a child when I didn’t like marzipan, but those days are far behind me. Something happened and now I can’t get enough of anything almond-flavored.
Read MoreI’m not crazy about making all things pumpkin the moment Fall begins. BUT, I’m not one to complain about cinnamon rolls either. So, when my little sister visits and requests that we make these, I don’t object.
Read MoreThese English muffins are so vastly different from our sourdough English muffins, both in terms of flavor, texture, method, and time. Our sourdough English muffins are bready and made in the traditional way of a yeasted bread - risen, shaped, proofed, cooked - and in order to develop the sourdough flavor, all of it done over the course of 12-24 hours. These whole wheat English muffins, on the other hand, are soft and wheaty, and the dough is almost more of a batter that gets scooped onto a griddle, flipped, and finished off in the oven - all in a wonderfully short 2 hours. They aren’t perfect circles and they look pretty rustic but they are undeniably yummy. You can get up a little early and make these for a same-day late breakfast or brunch. Kind of magical if you ask me!
Read MoreI hope I’ve gotten your attention. I hope you didn’t skip over this post thinking, “Blech, I hate oatmeal it’s so gross” or wondering why anyone would be excited about oatmeal at all. I used to not be excited about oatmeal, too. Now we have it every Monday and Friday and even my kids are happy about it. Here’s the thing: these tips are game-changers because they turn your bowl of oatmeal from a flavorless mess of gluey slop into something that is actually full of flavor, delicious, and doesn’t even need brown sugar. (Although you can still put brown sugar on. I do. Along with a lot of other yummy things. Read on!)
Read MoreReminiscent of applesauce cake, these uber-moist pear muffins with a touch of spice and a crunchy oat topping are a sweet breakfast treat—and a great way to use up those too bruised or over-ripe pears.
Read MoreOk, so I haven’t been able to get Iced Fingers out of my head since I saw them on the show years ago. They looked like hot dog buns filled with whipped cream and jam and topped with icing. And Paul Hollywood’s nostalgia is almost palpable as he tries each one and calls them a childhood favorite. Naturally I was intrigued. Somehow (how exactly though..?) all these years have passed without me actually trying them.
What was I waiting for?! You guys. These. Are. YUM. I almost can’t understand why they are so yummy. They really are just hot dog buns filled with whipped cream and jam and topped with icing. The bun is so soft and light and not very sweet; and the whipped cream is so fluffy and light and not very sweet; the jam is tart and sweet and the icing is pure sweet and it all comes together as a soft, light, sweet-but-not-too-sweet mesmerizing confection.
Read MoreThis is more of a method than a strict recipe, but it’s a favorite. We eat it almost every morning, and haven’t gotten sick of it yet.
Read MoreHave I mentioned how much I love Ottolenghi cookbooks? His recipes opened up a whole new world of flavor in my kitchen. He is so creative with flavors and food combinations. I’ve never been disappointed with an Ottolenghi recipe I’ve tried, and there are some that we return to again and again.
This recipe here is inspired by one from his newest cookbook Simple. It is simple. It’s also really delicious and makes a substantial meatless dish. The original recipe calls for ciabatta but I only had a loaf of sourdough so I used that. I made it a little more herby, too. I would maybe add some ham or bacon in a future version but it certainly doesn’t need it. It was puffy and light with delightful crusty cheesy baked edges. Mmmm. Serve it with a salad and you've got yourself a perfect weekday meal.
Read MoreI love breakfast, but 90% of the time I don’t eat it. On the weekends we’ll cook up a big breakfast...sausage, bacon, potatos, eggs, pancakes, waffles, crepes... But that’s when we have the time to make and enjoy it.
This bread is pretty dreamy. The chocolate flavor is pretty intense, amped up by the addition of some espresso powder. The toasted coconut adds a wonderful texture. And despite the ample amount of banana in the bread, the crumb remains pretty tender and not at all squidgy. It’s good for dessert, snack, or … yes … breakfast.
Read MoreIt may seem like we have significantly upped the ante this month with our GBBO Challenge. But let me assure you, these are easier than you’d think. The dough comes together beautifully in a stand mixer and is a dream to work with — smooth, soft, and supple. There were several times during the process I was convinced I must be doing something wrong; it didn’t seem difficult enough to produce the insane goodness I’ve had at a pastry shop.
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Posting this as a recipe feels a little like posting a recipe for, say, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s just so basic, just another toast variety that we eat on the regular. I never give a thought to amounts or proportions. On the other hand, there’s definitely a technique for the eggs ... and even if it is a teensy bit fussier than a simple fried egg, the final product is so aesthetically pleasing that it feels that much more of a treat. This is the number one favorite breakfast in our house.
I’ve done these eggs on a couple different stove tops and it always works so I’m going to go ahead and call it a fail-proof method. The trickiest part is peeling the shell but that just requires a little patience and gentle touch.
I highly recommend a sprinkle of Trader Joe’s Everything But The seasoning. That stuff is bonkers. We put it on everything - eggs, avocado, vegetables, cream cheese on crackers, even in my sourdough. It’s so good.
Ingredients
your favorite bread or whatever you have on hand, sliced and toasted
ripe avocado
1 egg or more depending on how many you are serving (I’ve done up to 5 eggs)
Instructions:
For the egg(s): In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 inch water to a simmer over medium low heat. Add the eggs, return the water to simmer, cover, and set the timer for 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, remove the pan from the heat, carefully pour out the hot water, and run the eggs under cold water to cool down. Add a handful of ice cubes to the water to speed up the process.
Meanwhile, have your toast ready and spread with slices of avocado. Sprinkle lightly with salt (if you’re not using the TJ’s Everything But The seasoning).
Carefully peel the eggs. This can be a finicky business, especially because with the soft yolk inside they are still, well, soft. I try to crack up the shell all around before I begin peeling, and I always start from one of the ends. Sometimes they come out like a dream, sometimes I end up taking off chunks of egg white. It doesn’t really matter much to me.
Place the egg on the toast and cut open. Watch all that beautiful yolky goodness spread like a rich sauce over your toast.* Sprinkle with aforementioned seasoning. Eat and enjoy.
*If you prefer your yolk to be on the more gelatinous and less liquid side, simmer for 30-45 seconds longer.