Strawberry Mascarpone Crepes

I don’t even have words to describe how delicious this is. From Taste of Home. I let all the mixtures sit in the fridge overnight and made the crepes for breakfast.

Ingredients

Batter:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 tsp. butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

• 1 cup (8 oz) Mascarpone cheese
• 2 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
• 3-4 tsp. minced fresh basil
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Topping:

• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• dash salt
• 4 tsp. butter, divided

Directions

1. In a blender, combine the batter ingredients; cover and process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, for filling, in a small bowl combine the cheese, confectioners sugar, basil, and lemon juice. Gently fold in strawberries. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. For topping, in a small bowl combine the strawberries, sugar, orange juice, extract, and salt.
4. Let stand for 30 minutes.
5. Melt 1 tsp. butter in an 8-in. nonstick skillet over medium heat; pour about 1/4 cup batter into the center of the skillet. Lift and tilt pan to coat bottom evenly. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer. Remove to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet as needed.
6. When cool, stack crepes with waxed paper or paper towels between them.
7. Spoon filling into crepes; roll up. Serve with strawberry topping.

Almond Biscotti

I rarely like nuts cooked into my food, but this is one of the exceptions.  Recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1 cup blanched whole almonds
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Toast almonds for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant.  Let cool then chop coarsely.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs and extract together.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer (hand mixer works, but is much more difficult) combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Beat until blended (about 30 seconds).
5. Gradually add the egg mixture and beat until a dough forms, adding almonds about half-way through.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a log about 14 inches long and 3-4 inches wide.
7. Transfer log to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until firm to the touch.  (log will spread during baking)
8. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
9. Transfer log to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut log into slices 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal.
10. Arrange evenly on baking sheet.  Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls & The World’s Best Icing

Since it’s been a while since I posted on here, I figured I’d make it up to you with a really good double recipe.  I give you: chocolate cinnamon rolls with the world’s best frosting!

Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

I adapted this recipe for the bread machine.  I would love to try it again with miniature chocolate chips thrown into the mix.  Since dough takes a while (2 hours on my machine) and I am NOT a morning person, I prepped these completely then threw them in the fridge overnight so all I had to do was cook them in the morning.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup warm water
• ½ cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 1 package yeast
• butter, cinnamon, and sugar for filling

Directions:

1.       Put all ingredients except filling ingredients in bread machine in order recommended (usually wet ingredients, dry ingredients, yeast).  Set on dough cycle and leave it alone until it is done.

2.       Once cool enough to handle (mine was fine right out of the machine) roll into an 8×12 sheet on a clean flat surface.  Brush with melted butter (about 1Tbsp) and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar.

3.       Roll into a log, cut into 12 pieces and put into a greased 9×13 pan.

4.       Cook at 375F for about 25 minutes.

5.       Ice while warm.

World’s Best Icing

I just mixed this by hand.  I hate myself right now.  Recipe here.

Note:  I halved this recipe and because it got all melty, it still would’ve iced 2 pans of rolls.

Also note:  If you want to use this on cupcakes or cake, let them cool completely first.

Ingredients:

• 5 Tbsp. flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1.       In small saucepan, whisk flour and milk together and heat, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes VERY thick.  Mine was the consistency of paste.  Whisk in vanilla.

2.       Remove from heat and cool completely. (I put mine in the fridge because I had limited time)

3.       Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; no sugar graniness left.

4.       Add the completely cooled milk and flour mixture to the bowl and beat the living daylights out of it.  Use an electric mixer if you have one.  If it looks at all separated, it hasn’t been beaten enough. It should resemble whipped cream when you are finished

5.       Taste test! Warning:  You may want to eat the whole bowl of icing at this point.  Don’t.  Trust me.

6.       Smear over cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, cake, a spoon, whatever.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

An alternate method is to throw mashed bananas in the pancake mix.  Old brown bananas like you’d use for banana bread work best.  Haven’t yet tried both chocolate chips and bananas, but I will eventually.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 cups milk
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• chocolate chips

Directions

1. In large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.
2. Add the milk and oil and mix together carefully.
3. Stir in desired amount of chocolate chips.
4. Portion onto pan and cook on medium heat until center starts to become bubbly.
5. Flip pancake over and cook other side until golden brown.

Will also freeze will in packages of 2-3.  Reheat in the microwave.

Maple Sausage Patties

Better than anything I’ve found in stores.  The liquid smoke really makes it.  From Recipezaar.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. rubbed sage
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• ½ tsp. poultry seasoning
• ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1-2 tsp. mesquite liquid smoke (optional, but really makes it complete)
• oil, for browning

Directions

1. In large bowl or zip-top storage bag, mix all of the ingredients.
2. Shape into patties, place on a plate covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Put about a ¼ inch of water in a large skillet.  Add sausage patties and bring to a  boil, cover and steam until water evaporates.  Flip the patties, add another ¼ inch of water and repeat.
4. When water is evaporated, add a little oil and brown the patties on both sides.
5. If you want to make a large batch and freeze:  stop after step 3, freeze flat, then store in the freezer stacked with wax paper in between each patty.  Wrap in aluminum foil and place in a plastic bag to store in freezer.