Serving a crowd? This is perfect!

One night last week I had a houseful of family and needed to have breakfast before we all headed north for a nice family day. I can’t take any credit for this recipe – it came from All Day I Dream About Food. That blogger, also named Carolyn, is a keto cook and baker. I’ve been following her blog for many years and she’s a wizard with keto baking. The only changes I made to her recipe were to use Colby (mixture of cheddar and jack) instead of plain cheddar and I reduced the garlic to 3 cloves.

The night before I prepped what I could – sheetpan ready, broccoli chopped. The morning of, I needed to mix up the egg part (12 eggs, whole milk ricotta, garlic, salt, pepper – used my stick blender for that). And I needed to cook the bacon – perhaps I could have done that the night before, but decided there would be time to do that. The broccoli and cheese were sprinkled evenly over the EVOO sprayed sheetpan, then the egg mixture is poured over the top, carefully. Then the bacon is sprinkled on top.

Just a short note about the ricotta. Normally I buy ricotta at Trader Joe’s, but I wasn’t going there the day I went shopping, so bought Polly-O’s brand. It was their “original” and full fat. Oh my goodness, is that ricotta ever yummy. Has a much better flavor than TJ’s. Henceforth, Polly-O’s will be my go-to brand. It was mixed in with the eggs, garlic, S & P.

Into a 375°F oven it went and was done in 20 minutes. I did let it rest a few minutes and it was very easy to serve since there was a parchment liner – I set up the breakfast, buffet style – we had fresh fruit, some sausages and sourdough toast if anyone wanted any.

What’s GOOD: relatively easy to do – daughter Sara helped with some of the work, but overall it was easy. Delicious flavor. Next time I might add a bit more cheese OR I might sprinkle some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top for a little boost of flavor. Doesn’t really need it, but it would make it a bit more fancy. I definitely will make this again. Loved that it was low carb too.

What’s NOT: nothing really – there is some last-minute prep, but do as I did – get done what you can the night before.

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Scrumptious breakfast dish sure to please the palate.

As it happened, daughter Sara and her husband John stopped by my house on their way home from a concert from the night before, so I decided to serve a lunch/brunch.

I did begin with a recipe I’d found online, but I changed it so much, it bears no resemblance to the original, so I won’t even mention it. I’d purchased some beef chorizo at Sprout’s. I’m very picky about where I will buy Mexican chorizo – grocery store blends end up being a gloppy red mess when you try to cook it, but I assumed Sprout’s would prepare something meaty and not loaded with fat. It was. I’d definitely buy it there again.

First I cooked the chorizo in a frying pan, chopping it up into smaller pieces as it rendered some. Once it was mostly cooked I added about 1/2 cup of red onion (chopped) and let it cook until translucent. Meanwhile I’d shredded a bunch of Monterey Jack cheese (more than 2 cups) and mixed up 6 eggs with some salt, pepper and half and half. The chorizo mixture went into the casserole dish, then I dotted the top with cottage cheese (optional), then added a bit more than half the cheese, then poured in the eggs and sprinkled the remaining cheese on top.

The dish baked at 350° for about 35 minutes until the center of the casserole was firm. I sprinkled the top with some fresh cilantro and served it. Alongside, I served a hot (lightly) smashed potato salad – I’ll post that in a day or two. I also served a green salad with lots of veggies in it and a sliced avocado on top.

What’s GOOD: Oh gosh, chorizo in anything is pretty darned good. Loved the combo of chorizo and Jack cheese. My family loved it and I did too. I’d definitely make this casserole again.

What’s NOT: not a thing. Be sure to drain any fat from the chorizo as it’s cooking. Chorizo is very rich; why, I don’t know, but it makes any dish taste particularly fat-forward. Delicious, however.

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Lovely, tender coffee cake with toasted walnuts, and the hint of cinnamon and chocolate.

From Food52 I’d saved this recipe awhile back, intending to make it one of these days. It’s Maida Heatter’s recipe from her 1999 book, Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts. And if you questioned it, this recipe has certainly has passed the test of time. And don’t think, oh, I’ll just pick up that cookbook – even a paperback is about $50. Obviously, it’s out of print.

The nut filling contains toasted walnuts, chopped raisins (I used currants because I had them on my shelf), cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa and dark brown sugar. The cake batter is relatively standard except it uses 2 cups of sour cream, that’s what makes the cake so tender.

Reading the Food52 comments, I noticed lots of people had some difficulty removing the coffeecake from the Bundt cake pan, so I made it in two bread pans instead. And I used those new loaf pan liners from King Arthur. What a fantastic product they are – I’ve used them several times. They’re $19.95, made from silicone.

I followed the recipe with a few changes – I added less sugar (based on comments), plus, after the batter and nut filling were in place in the baking pans, I used a plastic spreader to swirl the batter to help lock the filling and the batter in place. And I baked the a lesser time, too, since the Bundt cake suggested 40-50 minutes. And I reduced the amount of the filling too (because I thought there was too much). And I decided not to ice the cake, though I’ve left that in the recipe below.

What’s GOOD: what can I say – lovely, tender cake. I liked the swirl in the batter which gave it a different appearance rather than just straight lines of filling. The chocolate flavor was just barely perceptible (if you happen to not like chocolate, delete it). Yes, I’d definitely make this again.

What’s NOT: nothing really. I’m glad I made all the little changes I did (loaf pans instead of Bundt, less filling, less sugar).

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So very tasty. Sara makes the best scones!

Over the holidays we had extended family with us at the desert house. One morning Sara was inspired to make one of her favorite scones, this one with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Sara just loves to bake, and as her two children were growing up, on weekends, she’d almost always bake something, whether it was biscuits or scones, or some brownies, or cookies. Something sweet. Their two children are in their mid-twenties now. Sabrina is in her second year of medical school in South Carolina, and son John just graduated from Virginia Tech, is working but is still figuring out his next career step(s).

Over that period of time she developed her own favorite method for scones, and then varies the additions (so, raisins, or nuts, or other kinds of dried fruit). Her family loves white chocolate in just about anything, so it was an easy addition to make scones with dried cranberries and the white chocolate chips. With her now standard scone recipe.

What’s different about the scones is the GRATED BUTTER she uses. A full stick of butter – hard frozen – grated on the big box grater. What that method does is disburse the butter all through the dough and it stays frozen almost, until the scones hit the oven and then it does its magic, allowing for lovely light lift. She also uses buttermilk, to make the scones so-tender. And this recipe also calls for the zest of an orange too.

In the picture here, you can barely see some of the orange zest (adds such lovely flavor) and the dried cranberries.

Sara likes to make hers into a rough round shape, about 10″ in diameter, then she cuts the round into wedges. Those went onto a big baking sheet lined with parchment and into a 375°F oven they went, for 18-20 minutes. She used some heavy cream to brush on top of the scones, and sprinkled some coarse sugar (not sure that is visible in the photo) on top, too.

What’s GOOD: these scones are to die for. They were gone, gone. I think a couple of family members breezed by the kitchen and grabbed an extra one. This recipes makes 8 scones, but you could create more if you used a biscuit cutter.

What’s NOT: not a single thing. This recipe is a keeper.
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Sorry, that photo isn’t better. That’s one of the little baked eggs, cut in half, oozing onto the plate.

There, is that better, at left? Cute muffin cup baked eggs and bacon.

A post from Carolyn, but Karen is the one who made this. On Christmas morning my D-I-L, Karen, made these for our breakfast. She was so thoughtful, to make something my cousin Gary could have, that was GF. My family is very considerate of his GF restrictions. I usually make a GF dessert for one or more of our family gatherings, so the hostess doesn’t have to think about it. I made two this year (desserts). For Thanksgiving it was a pumpkin dessert, Pumpkin Praline Custard, that’s been on my blog for years. Then for Christmas I made a GF poppy seed Bundt cake (recipe up soon) that was amazingly good. Light and fluffy. Gary enjoyed it, and what was left I packed up for him to put in his backpack on the plane when he flew home.

Back to this breakfast . . . Karen bought a package of  Cup4Cup GF flour on amazon. It’s the best mix of GF flours I’ve tasted. After Christmas I ordered a package of it and will be trying it in coming months. Next year the goal is to make GF popovers when Gary visits. I made popovers for Christmas Day dinner (it’s become a “thing” that I make them frequently when I visit my son and his family as they all love-love them), though I didn’t make them GF. I didn’t know there was a recipe out there that worked. Popovers are so finicky with wheat flour, let alone GF mixtures, but since Christmas I’ve found more than one recipe for GF popovers. I think I’ll try them here at home first.

As an added note, I made popovers a couple of days ago when I was visiting them, and I absolutely NAILED it with the recipe and now I need to go back to tweak the recipe that’s already here on my blog and add notes. Anyway, a week or so ago I listened to a podcast on Milk Street radio, an interview with Rose Levy Beranbaum, and in it she talked extensively about various flour (all purpose) and how they differ in the amount of protein they end up with in the finished product. With her advice in mind, I bought a bag of BLEACHED Gold Medal flour, weighed the exact amount (in grams) needed for the popovers, made them like that (with eggs, milk, and in this case some melted beef fat Karen had on hand). Oh my goodness. Perfect. If you’re interested in learning more about the flour intelligence in this, click here to go to Rose’s page on ingredients, and scroll down to FLOUR. Until now I’ve used  unbleached all purpose flour for everything, unless cake flour was called for in the recipe. I now know I need to use bleached flour for all cakes, cookies, biscuits, etc. I guess I’ll be phasing out my unbleached flour as I don’t make bread hardly at all anymore.

THE PIECRUST: Karen used this flour (picture at right) to make the GF piecrusts. Recipe below. It’s a normal crust – this special cup4cup GF flour, salt, butter, apple cider vinegar and cold water. Karen said the dough was quite easy to work with. Do note that the recipe below makes two crusts, or enough to make 24 of these little piecrust cups. She cautions you to NOT press the dough into the corners as that stretches it – when it bakes it will shrink. So, gently press and mold the dough without stretching to get into those corners.

Into the bottom of each pastry crust Karen spread about a teaspoon of whole-grain mustard. Then she added a few little cubes of the pancetta (or cooked bacon, whatever your preference). The eggs were separated and the yolk is carefully added into the cup. The egg whites are mixed  up a little bit, to make them more pourable and it was added to each muffin cup, up to about 2/3 full. Don’t over-fill as they might bubble up and over (which would make a BIG mess in your oven). She sprinkled salt, pepper and paprika over the top, then added grated Cheddar cheese on the top.

The egg cups are baked for 20-25 minutes, or until the egg is set and the cheese and the crust are golden brown. Sprinkle with chopped parsley when it’s served. Every oven is different – so watch the eggs carefully that you don’t overbake them.

What’s GOOD: all of it was good. The piecrust was perfect – flaky and I’d never have known it was GF. The eggs were perfectly cooked (oozy, just the way I like them). Karen did a great job on this breakfast. She served it with a lovely tray of fresh fruit and coffee.

What’s NOT: only that there are several steps to making these – the piecrust itself, of course, and then making the filling. Karen simplified it well (using those tiny cubes of pancetta instead of having to cook bacon).

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Another sensational recipe from my friend, Linda T. It’s an Ina recipe, and so worth putting into your recipe treasure chest.

My friend Linda T is a marvelous cook. And she’s so tickled when one of her recipes appears here on the blog. So I’m delighted to share this recipe – which – as I type up this post – I’m going to make in the next few days for one of my book groups as they’re coming to my house, and I’m reviewing Geraldine Brooks’ book Horse. Such a wonderful and powerful book, by the way. I wrote up a review of it on the sidebar if you’re interested.

It was a month or so ago, and I stopped to visit with Linda on my way to my daughter Sara’s. As it turned out, Linda invited Sara to come too, and we enjoyed some of this wonderful breakfast cake and some coffee as we chatted and visited. Linda has had a lot of health problems in the last couple of years, and now her puppy has had some challenges too. I’d told Linda not to make or bake anything, but she doesn’t listen to me!! In this case, I’m glad she didn’t because this recipe is such a keeper.

In describing this, I’d say this is a cake disguised as a breakfast bread. Disguised in that it’s as pillow-tender as the tenderest of dessert cakes, but with the blueberries in it, you can serve it for breakfast and feel like you’re eating something that isn’t so decadent. You could make this for a dessert too – it works for either. Sara and I both had second helpings. The batter (picture at right) is straightforward (except it has ricotta cheese in it – do buy full fat). Half of the blueberries are folded into the batter, then it’s poured into a springform pan and the remaining berries are sprinkled judiciously all over the top, pressing them very lightly into the batter surface. Linda served this when it was still warm. Can I just say, it was sublime. And so pretty with the dusting of powdered sugar on top.

What’s GOOD: everything there is is good about this breakfast cake. So tender. So delicious. Nice, rich flavor (the little bit of lemon zest is nice in it too). It’d be delicious as a dessert too. If you can, serve it warm – Linda did. Ina Garten is a wizard in the kitchen.

What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of. Altogether a keeper of a recipe!

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Such a lovely breakfast/brunch dish. Rich with Gruyere cheese and has a base of cubed red potatoes.

A post from Carolyn. Maybe I should just leave off that beginning sentence since neither Sara nor Karen seem to have time to post a thing. They were both excited about it at first, but when they realized how much work it was to get a post from the keyboard to the website with photos, both were frustrated.

Anyway, my friend Linda T made this a few weeks ago when we were out in Palm Desert. We had a weekend of lots of cooking and sharing of recipes. Linda is such a good cook. She loves sharing her recipes (thank you, Linda) but doesn’t enjoy the writing-up of a story about it. Blog readers want more information. I probably tip the scales with too much writing.

This Ina Garten recipe (originally from Ina’s friend Anna Pump) is made in a 10-inch iron skillet. Butter is melted in the bottom of it, then the potatoes are sauteed (Linda prefers using red potatoes) until they’re lightly browned, stirring and turning them often to gather the golden color. Meanwhile combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, grated Gruyere, some melted butter, salt, pepper and an ample amount of fresh basil. A bit of flour is added and baking powder. That egg mixture is poured over the top of the potatoes and it’s baked at 350°F for 50 minutes to an hour, until the egg dish is mounded in the center and firm when you insert a knife.

If you’re adept (remember, this is an iron skillet, i.e. heavy!) you can flip the frittata out and upside down on a platter. If not, you can use spatulas to lift and slide it out of the skillet onto a platter. It’s piping hot at this point, so it’s best to let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then slice into wedges and serve. I’d made popovers the night before to have with our dinner and we had leftovers, so we had another popover with this for a late breakfast. Isn’t it just beautiful? If you go online to read about Ina’s recipe, some commenters suggested adding some onion along with the potatoes, or a leek and that fresh thyme was a nice addition to the eggs, along with the basil.

What’s GOOD: it’s rich and tasty, a lovely presentation. Not too difficult. Be sure to use Gruyere (it’s an essential flavor profile for this). No substitutions! Loved it.

What’s NOT: only the grating of the cheese, maybe. Having to wait nearly an hour to eat it since it takes about an hour in the oven. And no, you can’t prepare this ahead – you could have all the various ingredients prepped (cheese grated, eggs, dry ingredients at the ready, though) which would cut down on the prep time.
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What a nice dish this was for a leisurely brunch entree. And it’s very easy to make, besides!

A post from Carolyn. Over the Christmas holidays I entertained just once, a group of girlfriends I’ve known for decades. Every December we try to get together to celebrate Christmas and get caught  up on our lives. My friends brought other food to round out the brunch, so this was the only main thing I had to do. I also made some spiced fruit, a recipe I’ve made before, Spiced Peaches which went well with the little croissant sandwiches.

First you need mini-croissants. Some grocery stores carry them; others do not, but I had no difficulty finding them. I purchased some good Boar’s Head smoked ham, had the butcher slice it thinly, though not like those thin see-through shavings called sandwich slices. I cut the ham to approximately fit the shape of the croissant. I also had good imported Swiss cheese, also cut accordingly. I added a nice slice of tomato to these (not in the original recipe). Then you mix up the eggs and heavy cream, with an addition of mustard. The recipe called for Dijon (which I had), but because it was the holidays, I used Brennan’s cranberry mustard instead. I couldn’t really taste the mustard, but perhaps that was the point. It added flavor somehow but not noticeably!

This casserole needs to be assembled the night before, so you pour the custardy mixture over the sandwiches, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit. In the morning I used a big spoon to scoop  up some of the custard and drizzled it over the top of each of the croissants. Ideally, use a casserole dish that is JUST big enough to fit the number of croissants  you’re using. Mine was a little too big. It bakes for 40-45 minutes (do watch that the croissants don’t burn like mine almost did) and serve. The recipe has you put foil over the top during the last 15 minutes of baking (I did, and glad I did so!).

Be prepared to serve it immediately as the dish cools off quickly since it’s not a solid mass.

What’s GOOD: it was easy to make – very easy. Liked that I could make it the night before and nothing more to do except put it in the oven the next morning. This would be a solid breakfast entree for men/boys (although they’d probably eat two apiece) since it’s hearty.

What’s NOT: not a thing. Easy. Delicious.

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So easy to make with puff pastry dough, fresh fruit and some frangipane.

A post from Carolyn. I’ve been on a tear lately with frangipane. I made some recently for a rhubarb galette (don’t think I’ve posted that recipe yet), then decided to make it again using a different recipe for my book review group meeting at my home. I was expecting about 12-13 people, but at the last minute only 6 of us showed up (not sure if was the book, or just other circumstances). I sent everyone home with one of these plus some of the lemon almond tea cake (haven’t posted that one yet, either).

It was years ago when I was attending a cooking class near me and the hostesses served something similar to these as we all arrived for the class. They were quite easy to make, so I input the recipe in my files, but never had gotten around to making them. With fresh summer fruit in season, I decided to try these. But I decided to use some apricot halves (canned) and some fresh blackberries instead. And in lieu of the cream cheese filling (from the original recipe) that was going to be underneath the fruit, I made the frangipane.

If you’re not familiar with frangipane, it’s pronounced fran-jeh-payn.  Wikipedia says frangipane:

. . .is a sweet almond-flavored custard used in a variety of ways including cakes and such pastries as the Bakewell tart, conversation tart, Jésuite and pithivier. A French spelling from a 1674 cookbook is franchipane with the earliest modern spelling coming from a 1732 confectioners’ dictionary. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.

You might know it from the center filling of a bear claw. Certainly that was my earliest knowledge of an almond filling. I remember stopping at a bakery in Europe (France, I think) one morning and we bought a little slice of a tart – sure enough, frangipane. Yummy is all I can say.

So these little numbers require puff pastry. Pepperidge Farms brand is probably the most widely available. My grocery carries a store-label also, but I opted for the Pepperidge Farms. There’s also one called Dufour, I think it is. Also very good, probably better than the Pepperidge. The unopened packages defrosted in the refrigerator for more than a day. If you decide to try these, be sure to look at the expiration date on the puff pastry box. Do not used any that are “old.” And be sure to give them the full 24+ hours to defrost fully.

The pastry sheets are lightly floured, but you need a bit more flour on your work surface to keep them from sticking as  you roll it out further, to about a 11″ or 12″ square. Then cut that square into quarters, so about 5 1/2″ squares. One box will make eight pastries.

Meanwhile you’ll have made the frangipane – some butter and sugar, some almond meal (flour), an egg and a little bit of regular flour, PLUS a jot of almond extract. Perhaps if you used freshly ground almonds the frangipane would have a significant almond flavor, but I wanted it stronger, so I used almond extract instead of vanilla.

Then you scoop a bit of the frangipane pastry cream in the center, position the fruit on top (they kind of look like sunny-side up eggs, huh?), then roll in the pastry edges and crimp them (similar to the edge of a pie crust). Onto a baking sheet they go. They got a brush of an egg wash and some sprinkled Turbinado sugar on top. They take about 30 minutes to bake, to get that lovely golden brown.

What’s GOOD: everything about these was good. Delicious. Loved the frangipane filling, loved the flaky pastry, ate one. Gave the rest away. Why did I give them away, you ask? Because I’d eat them all! And I had about 10 of them left.

What’s NOT: only that you’ve got to buy the puff pastry a couple of days ahead so it has time to completely defrost in the refrigerator. There are instructions for defrosting in the microwave, but I wouldn’t do it.

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Every so tasty quiche and no guilt because it didn’t have the crust.

A post from Carolyn. In the last week, since I’m no longer president of my P.E.O. chapter, I’ve done a whole lot more cooking. I’ve had time to do a whole lot of things I’ve not had time for in the last four years. There are several projects I have on my to-do list (read through a huge pile of magazines I’ve not had time to read – some of them pre-pandemic, even; clean up my desk in the study, get back to some painting/art/drawings; go out to lunch more often; and COOK!).

Daughter Sara, granddaughter Sabrina, her friend Liv, my other granddaughter Taylor (the one who is living with me) and I shared a brunch last Sunday morning. Sara, Sabrina and Liv ran either a 5K or 10K that morning and came here afterwards to have food as they were all very hungry. Sara made scones and brought them (recipe coming up soon) and I made this quiche.  It was pretty darned easy, especially since it doesn’t have a crust. I’m perfectly fine with a crustless quiche, but as much as I love pastry, don’t we know it’s not all that good for us. Not that this quiche is all that low calorie – it is not. It has bacon in it and cheese, so it still has a generous amount of fat. I started with a recipe from Kalyn’s Kitchen and made some modifications along the way. Same 9 or 10-inch pie dish (good old Pyrex), but I added more eggs, more dairy, also parsley, my own mixture of herbs and cheese that I had in my refrigerator (Gruyere and Mozzarella).

First off, fry up the bacon until crisp, then drain on paper towels. My bacon was thick-sliced and very meaty, so it had very little fat to pour off. Once cooled down it was added to a bowl and the other ingredients added in: the grated cheeses, pepper, green onions (white parts), herbs (I used an herb mix I had amongst my little spice and herb bottles) and cayenne. That was mixed up a little bit (don’t do this when the bacon is hot or it’ll begin melting the cheese) and added to the pie dish. Make sure it’s evenly distributed. Then you mix up the eggs, half and half and a little bit of cream, along with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. That’s poured into the pie dish, and use a fork to ease the egg mixture into the bacon/cheese stuff so there aren’t any clumps or air pockets. The bacon kind of sank to the bottom (see photo) but it didn’t make any difference to the flavors.

Into the oven it goes for about 45 minutes. I checked it a couple of times and it was really nice and puffy, but once out of the oven it did dip a bit in the middle (normal). I let it cool for about 5 minutes while I plated up the chicken sausages I had done and fruit of all kinds. Sara had brought the scones, so they went onto the table with butter. Taylor had bought me a bottle of a mango sparkling wine awhile back (she said she got it at World Market) which was just lovely with the brunch. And we all had at least one or two coffee lattes, one before brunch, and again after brunch.

What’s GOOD: really easy as long as you’ve got all the ingredients on hand. Taste was just perfect – tasty all around. The green onions add a lot of flavor – and then there’s the bacon, of course. The whole house smelled like bacon! Yes, I’d definitely make this again.

What’s NOT: gee, nothing that I can think of. It took about 30 minutes to prepare it, 45 minutes to bake it and in no time at all and it was gone.

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