Tag Archives: breakfast recipe

Sheet-Pan Pancakes

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Is it breakfast? Or dessert? It's kind of both.
Is it breakfast? Or dessert? It’s kind of both.

I’m sure I’m not alone these days when it comes to inventorying my kitchen.

Lately, it goes something like this:

All-purpose flour. Oh, thank gawd there’s still some!

A half-pint of blueberries grabbed at the last minute at the grocery store a week ago. Half a pint? That’s it??? Why didn’t I think to get more?!?! What a moron.

Half a gallon of heavy cream that expires in five days. Wait. What??

A bag of walnuts. Woo-hoo, precious protein, baby.

A nearly empty bag of almond flour in the far reaches of the freezer. When did I even open this? (Dips finger in to try some.) OK, I think it still tastes OK. I haven’t keeled over yet.

And so it goes.

That, my friends, is what led me to try making Martha Stewart Living’s “Sheet-Pan Pancakes.”

Because let’s face it, we all need a respite from CNN, daily press conferences, and ever-growing statistics on this pandemic that’s remade the world as we knew it.

What we need is pancakes. Because pancakes have had the uncanny power to put a smile on our faces as far back as, well, the invention of pancakes. When you start the day with pancakes, you know it’s going to be a good day. And we can all surely use more of those kind of days right now.

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Sponsored Post: Cheesecake Pastries With Figs, Almonds and New Snofrisk Cheese

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Flaky, golden pastries with a center of cheesecake, figs and almonds -- to enjoy for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert.
Flaky, golden pastries with a center of cheesecake, figs and almonds — to enjoy for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert.

As much as I adore cheesecake, an entire slice is just too rich and too much of a gut-buster. At least, to indulge in with regularity.

But a cheesecake pastry? Now, that’s something I can get down with morning, noon or night.

With the same luscious creaminess, a cheesecake pastry satisfies beautifully but with just a fraction of the filling, guaranteeing no food-coma afterward.

So when I was asked by Snofrisk, a Norwegian cheese company, to create a recipe using its product, I knew cheesecake pastry was where it was at.

The Snofrisk three-pack are debuting at Bay Area Costco stores this month.
The Snofrisk three-pack are debuting at Bay Area Costco stores this month.

Snofrisk is made with 80 percent goat’s milk and 20 percent cream from cows — all from small herds on Norwegian farms.

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Norwegian Sweet Buns with Cardamom

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A basket of warm, pillowy cardamom-chocolate buns.

A basket of warm, pillowy cardamom-chocolate buns.

 

Saffron and vanilla are among the world’s most expensive spices. That’s a given.

But can you guess what the third most pricey one is?

Yes, cardamom.

Like the other two, it owes its hefty price tag to the fact that it has to be harvested by hand.

Thankfully, a little goes a long way, so you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy it.

While it’s used in a lot of savory dishes, especially in Indian cuisine, I especially love it in baked goods. Its flavor — sort of like sweet cinnamon and ginger crossed with citrus and mint.

North Wild Kitchen

So it’s no wonder that “Sweet Buns with Cardamom” jumped out at me immediately in the new cookbook, “North Wild Kitchen: Home Cooking From the Heart of Norway” (Prestel), of which I received a review copy. It is by Nevada Berg, who created the blog of the same name, which was named by Saveur magazine as “2016 Blog of the Year.”

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Baked Therapy

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Nothing can keep me from baking a batch of these scones.

Nothing can keep me from baking a batch of these scones.

 

I can be swamped with work…

I can be sleep-deprived…

It can be 100 degrees that day…

But when I feel the urge to bake, I can’t be stopped.

What can I say? It’s my therapy. It’s my relaxation. It’s my treat to myself and others.

So when a review copy of the new “Baked Occasions” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) landed in my mail, I immediately dropped everything else and started leafing through it.

BakedOccasions

This is the fourth cookbook by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, the owners of the popular Brooklyn baker, Baked. It includes 75 recipes perfect for holidays, special events and just any day that is an occasion of any sort. Find recipes from “Toffee Coffee Cake Surprise” to “Easter Coconut Sheet Cake” to “Peppermint Chocolate Meringues.”

“Chinese Five-Spice Sesame Scones” caught my eye from the start because I love the intoxicating fragrance of five-spice in stir-fries.

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Sweet Almond Buns and A Food Gal Giveaway

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A breakfast pastry adorned with almonds that's not too sweet. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

A breakfast pastry adorned with almonds that’s not too sweet. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

 

It’s rare that I allow myself a pastry for breakfast during the week.

But come Sunday, I am sure ready to indulge in one.

“Sweet Almond Buns” are just the perfect size, too. Not Super-Size me over-the-top. But just a couple bite-fulls of something sweet, tender and with a haunting hint of cardamom.

The recipe is from “Williams-Sonoma Breakfast Comforts” (Weldon Owen) by veteran cookbook writer Rick Rodgers. The book, which I received a review copy of when it came out in 2010, is full of inspired recipes for the most important meal of the day. There’s everything from “Golden Cornmeal Waffles with Fried Chicken” to “Raspberry Jam Doughnuts” to “BBQ Shrimp and Grits.”

BreakfastComfortsBook

These little buns are full of almonds, one of my favorite nuts. They get stirred into the yeast-fortified dough, and mixed with sugar to sprinkle on top of the buns just before baking.

For those who don’t like their breakfast treats cloying, these are perfect as they are just sweet enough.

An almond-packed prize. (Photo courtesy of the Almond Board of California)

An almond-packed prize. (Photo courtesy of the Almond Board of California)

CONTEST: One Food Gal reader will win a most almond-packed prize from the Almond Board of California. It includes 1 pound of whole natural almonds, one jar of almond butter, 1 pound of sliced almonds, an insulated travel pouch for breakfast on the go, and a $20 VISA gift card to help you purchase everything else you need for a hearty breakfast.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 21. The winner will be announced Sept. 23.

How to win?

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