Can you believe there is such as day?  And, did you know that there is an official Food Holiday EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year? Well, there is. It’s craziness, I tell you.  Good thing I don’t feel the need to participate in all of them…I’d never get anything else done. 

So, why start with Blueberry Pop-Overs?

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Yeah, it’s what’s for breakfast.

It’s my personal belief that one cannot get enough chocolate in one’s diet without eating some for every meal. And in case you feel the same, here’s a simple and delicious way to accomplish your dietary goals….chocolate covered chocolate doughnuts.

When I used to live in the commune house (sorry newbies if that comment threw you off, yes, I used to live in a sort of commune with my husband and 4 other folks – sounds weird but it wasn’t) we would sometimes fall victim to the lure of the $4 box of Entemann’s chocolate covered chocolate doughnuts. When we had $4, that is.  Back then, we lived, quite literally, on free pizzas from Pizza Hut (thanks to the regional manager who hooked me up with a boatload of free coupons) and week old Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cakes.  Looking back now, I really can’t remember any other food in that house.  My roommates had a 15 pound tub of cheesies, but those were not eaten, to my knowledge, as I don’t recall the level of cheesies diminishing. So, pizza. And ice cream. For 3 years. Good times.

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Happy New Year everyone!  I hope 2010 holds great things for all of us, and I especially hope you will continue reading here this year!  I intend to make a few changes here over the next few months – upgrades, more posts, additional features..things I hope you will enjoy. I am excited about them all and anxious to get your input.  Until then, let’s start this year off right with a fabulous waffle recipe!

Most of us will have a super long weekend this week…which means you have time to make and enjoy these foolproof waffles.  Seriously – Foolproof.  I know this because I am not a very good waffler. (Is that a word?)  It’s been ages since I drug out the waffle iron to even attempt it. It never failed that I would either burn or undercook them, no matter what.  And the ones that looked fantastic? They ended up stuck to the iron.  Does this happen to you?

Well, today I made a new recipe. Come to think of it, I had never really “made” a recipe for waffles.  The last time I used my old crappy waffle iron was before I attempted the “doughmesstic” thing, so, I most certainly used a box.  But not today!!  Thanks to the tweet from @carolineadobo last night, I was put onto a crispy waffle recipe that was made using yeast instead of baking powder or soda.  I love yeast, but yeast does not typically love it here.  Lately though, this new bag of yeast and I have been getting along fabulously, so I decided to give it a go.  I made a few changes to the recipe she recommended (which can be found here at The Crispy Waffle) and had round after round of successful, tasty, perfectly textured waffles with Jon & Seven this morning!  Do keep in mind that these are a “plan ahead” treat as they need to have overnight to rise in your fridge, so take 5 minutes and whip them up before you head to bed.

These waffles, to me, get the “perfect” label thanks to their crispy outside and soft buttery insides.  Top them with your favorite syrup, whipped cream, chocolate – go for it!

Crispy Vanilla Bean Waffles

makes 10 -  6 inch waffles

Ingredients
2 cups plus 2 Tbsps flour
1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
2 cups warm milk 
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, scraped (I prefer Beanilla Vanilla Beans)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

The night before:

1. Combine the warm milk, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl.  Allow to sit for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, melt the butter and scrape the vanilla bean in preparation for the rest of the batter.
2. Combine the flour and salt and add to the yeast mixture after the 10 minute wait is up.
3. Whisk the vanilla with the 2 eggs, then add to the batter.  Combine, but do not over beat.
4. Cover batter and refrigerate overnight.
5. Just before cooking, stir batter to deflate it.
6. Use cooking spray or a silicon brush dipped in melted butter to prepare your waffle iron (I even added a little bit of sugar to my melted butter when readying the waffle iron – yummy!).
7. Prepare the waffles according to your manufacturer’s suggestions. Enjoy!

I was fortunate enough to be using my brand new Oster Flip Waffle Iron to make my waffles – thanks to my sister who braved the Black Friday Sales – and I can not tell you how thrilled I am with it! It is pretty much a human sized version of the ones found in hotel breakfast areas, where you load it up, flip it, wait for the light & voila!  The Oster has a green light function that alerts you when the iron is hot enough to add the batter, then once you flip it, there is another green light that will alert you when the waffle is done. No guesswork, no peeking (and thus ruining your steamed goodness), no problems!  You can get the same model I have at Amazon, and it is worth every penny – at $39.  I, on the other hand, had to only pay $10. My sister’s a keeper!! God love her and those Black Friday Sales! Thanks Jenn!

    One thing that I loved about these waffles was the intensity of the vanilla flavor.  I am thrilled to be working with Beanilla, and was overwhelmed by their generous offer to supply me with top quality vanilla products. For this recipe, I used a bean from Tonga – a real rarity – and Beanilla is the ONLY online seller of Tongan Beans. 

Because of Tonga’s rich fertile soil, organically grown Vanilla Beans from this region are superior, with flavor and aromatic qualities that make these beans a splendid treat. Tonga vanilla beans are frequently used by gourmet chocolate makers because the flavor extremely bold, pronounced, and unique. This type of vanilla will stand up to the fullest flavored deserts. Tonga only produces 144 tons of Vanilla Beans annually. Therefore, these beans are a rare and highly sought after vanilla bean.

The quality of Beanilla – whether these Tongan, their Madagascar, Tahitian, Indian or even their own Beanilla Beans is unparalleled. And the pricing! Compared to your local grocer dolling out subpar old beans for $5 a pop, you can pick up first quality beans for a fraction of that. Please take a moment to check them out – I have been impressed and I think you will be too!

Until next time…Happy New Year!

Remember all the rage on the blogs and Twitter when Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day came out?  Well, they’ve done it again…this time with Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I was thrilled to be contacted by my friend Zoë François, co-author of the books, to do a review of the new book.  I mean – me?  What a treat to even be asked!

Here’s where it got tricky on me though. Healthy isn’t actually a common word in our vocabulary ’round here.  Bread is also pretty tricky, too…as I Kill Yeast. I kill it. Dead.  Cold house or something, but yeast is fairly suicidal in my presence.   I really wanted to do her book justice, though…she trusted ME to review it.  So, after flipping through the pages several times, I landed on Pumpkin Pie Brioche. Yum. Doesn’t the name just sound delicious?  As I am still becoming DoughMessTic, I had yet to make brioche…and for those of you as new as I am, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Brioche is just a fancy word for really nice bread.

The Pumpkin Pie Brioche adventure almost failed before I even started, as in my town, my small, one grocery store and a WalMart town, White Whole Wheat Flour isn’t available. Nor is vital wheat gluten (VWG), whatever that even is.  Eek.  But you know what? Zoe said to go on and use my All Purpose Flour. She didn’t tell me exactly how much, but I gave it a good guess. You see, All Purpose Flour has enough gluten of it’s own to make the bread work without adding the VWG, and at the same time, it isn’t as heavy of a flour as the Whole Wheat.  That means I had to adjust the amount of All Purpose Flour UP to accommodate the wetness.  So I did.

Another thing I had to adjust was the oil.  I didn’t have enough, and darn it, I wasn’t about to go to the store again after having JUST gone for eggs.  So I used part melted butter and part oil.  Oh yeah…honey. I don’t dig honey.  Instead, I  used the same amount of light corn syrup for the honey.  Yeah, yeah, I know…I was doing everything in my power to completely ruin this recipe. Even I knew it had bread fail written all over it.

But you’d be wrong, and so would I.  This recipe survived my manipulations. It survived my cold kitchen. It survived ME.  It was gorgeous to work with!  I think that’s the true test of a great recipe…if you can mangle it up the way I did and it still succeeds with flying colors, well, you’ve got one hell of a recipe there.  I can’t wait to make it again, but I made so much of it on round one that it’s still sitting in my fridge waiting on me to make something else with it.  This go round, I made these…

Pumpkin & Chocolate Toffee Cinnamon Buns with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing.

Try to say that out loud and not drool into your keyboard. I dare you.

I pulled out about half of my Pumpkin Pie Brioche and patted it down with some flour, then rolled it out into a rectangle.  Then I softened some butter and spread it on top, sprinkled on a good helping of brown sugar and cinnamon then followed that with lots of chocolate chips and toffee bits. Then I rolled it up and pinched the seam.  I sliced the rolls about an inch and a half thick and placed them in my paper brioche cups, and sprinkled on a little more toffee before sliding them in to a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Once I pulled them out, I topped them with a healthy dose of sweetened cream cheese icing and a drizzle of homemade caramel and chocolate syrup. Good God…talk about a treat.  The flavors complimented each other in ways you can’t even fathom…so I recommend you make some yourself!  If you need precise amounts or more detailed instructions on the filling or toppings, please email me…I’ll be happy to clue you in!  Until then, here is the Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe from the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day!

Pumpkin Pie Brioche
from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, makes two 2 pound loaves

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour (I used 3 1/2 cups AP Flour)
• 4 1/2 cups unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used this amount, too)
• 1 1/2 Tbsps granulated yeast, or 2 packets
• 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 2 Tbsps Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1 tsp Cinnamon*
• 1/2 tsp Ginger*
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg*
• 1/4 tsp All Spice *(*I cheated and just used 2 tsps Pumpkin Pie Spice)
• 1 1/4 cups Lukewarm water
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup Honey (I used Light Corn Syrup
• 3/4 cup Neutral flavored oil or melted butter (I combined the two)
• 1 3/4 cups Pumpkin Puree or one 15 oz can of Pumpkin Puree
• Egg wash (I omitted as I was making buns)
• Raw Sugar for sprinkling on top (Again, I omitted)

Mixing & Storing the Dough:
Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, VWG & spices in 5 quart bowl or lidded (not airtight) food container.
Combine the liquid ingredients with the pumpkin puree and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14 cup food processor (with dough attachment), or heavy duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you are not using a machine.
The dough will be loose, but it will firm up when chilled. Don’t try to use it without chilling it for at least 2 hours. You may notice lumps in the dough, but they will disappear in your finished products.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
Refrigerate the dough in a lidded (but not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond that, the dough stores well in the freezer for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.  Freeze it in 2 pound portions. When using frozen dough, thaw it in the refrigerator for 24 hours before use, then allow usual rest/rise times.
On Baking Day:
Grease a brioche pan or an 8 1/2x 4 1/2 inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a 2-pound piece of dough. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. Place ball in the prepared pan and allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 1 hour 45 minutes. (Note: I baked mine in mini brioche paper cups and only allowed them to rise in the oven as the temperature got up to 350.  Big cheat, but it worked.)
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350F with a rack placed in the center of the oven. If you are not using a stone in the oven, a 5 minute preheat is adequate.
Just before baking,  use a pastry brush to paint the loaf’s top with egg wash, then sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake near the center of the oven for approximately 45 to 50 mintes. Brioche will not form a hard, crackling crust.  The loaf is done when it is medium brown and firm.  Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
Remove the brioche from the pan and allow it to cool on a rack before slicing or eating.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 2010 – Just arriving from Tastespotting? Head on over to my Home Page for a chance to win a great piece of Le Creuset Cookware valued at $300! Good Luck!

I don’t actually speak French.  I bet you figured that one out on your own, didn’t you?  But then again, you don’t come here to learn a foreign language, you come here to get fat get yummy recipes.  And I am glad you came!

Over the weekend, I whipped up the most Fall-licious breakfast for Jon & Seven…Stuffed Pumpkin French Toast.  I had recently been on Recipe Girl’s Blog, and she had made a version of this, so me being me decided to recreate it in a different way.  First off, she used Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.  I was fresh out.  I didn’t realize that  the boys had eaten all of it when my back was turned.  So I had to resort to Golden Grahams, which aren’t that different. Also, she didn’t stuff hers, and to me, French Toast needs to be Stuffed. Otherwise, you will miss out on some very rewarding calories.  Ask my butt! It knows!

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think of it.  Fall? Licious?  I have a hunch you’ll think so.

Stuffed Pumpkin French Toast

adapted from www.recipegirl.com

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp  milk
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tbs granulated sugar
• 4 cups Golden Grahams cereal, crushed
• Eight 1- 1/2 inch thick slices of French bread

For Cream Cheese Filling

• 4 ounces softened Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• splash of Vanilla

1. In a low-lying, flat bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, cream, milk, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and sugar.

2. In another low-lying flat bowl, place crushed cereal.

3. Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in small bowl until smooth.  Cut slits in each of the slices of bread, and stuff each slice with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.

4. Heat griddle to medium-heat, coat with butter or Pam. Quickly dip bread on both sides into the egg mixture, then cover both sides of the bread with the crushed cereal. Place on hot griddle. Heat 2-3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining bread if all of it does not fit on your griddle.

5. Serve immediately with maple syrup.

Before I go, I want to share a couple of pictures with you.

Seven. My Son Seven. Rotten ‘cause that’s the way I made him, I guess. On Monday, I had a large cookie order to work on, and I was all but done.  I had cleaned up the kitchen, put away the utensils, the pans, the cookies.  But in my haste on the way to the bathroom (yes, I GO) I left out the flour container.  I was gone, what? A minute and a half? Two minutes? Okay, maybe I stopped and looked at Twitter for a second, but not long.  Anyway, here’s what I came back to…

Devil Child.  Couldn’t you just eat him?  I could. I do, sometimes.  He fusses though when I bite, he says it “hurts the baby.”   Devil. Child.

Have a great weekend everyone! I am on my way to New England for a wedding and to meet a couple of Bloggers along the way! Stay tuned for updates  !