French Toast Bake

Family traditions, every family has their own around the holidays... One recipe that brings back memories... Here we have Portuguese French Toast for Christmas... Usually fried, but not this time! These are baked and  made the day before, so all you have to do in the morning is to turn on the oven!

First time I saw this recipe was on Pinterest, so I repinned it and followed the link to "Rach's blog," that gives a detailed explanation of how to fix this delicious breakfast dish. I used demerara sugar instead of brown sugar because in Brazil the brown sugar makes a very thick sauce. And I also added milk caramel in between layers... and that made all the difference!
 

 

French Toast Bake

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1 cup demerara sugar

1 loaf Texas toast - I used 12 slices of white bread, no crust
4 eggs

1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Ground cinnamon, white sugar and  confectioner's sugar for sprinkling

Milk caramel for the filling, if you like.

1) Melt butter in microwave and add demerara sugar, stir until mixed.
2. Pour butter/sugar mix into bottom of 9 x 13 pan
3) Lay single layer of bread in pan, sprinkle sugar, cinnamon and add a dollop of milk caramel on top of each slice
4) Beat eggs, milk, vanilla and 1 tbs sugar
5) Spoon half of egg mixture on bread layer
6) Add second layer of bread slices
7) Spoon on remaining egg mixture, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top
8) Cover and chill in fridge overnight
9) Bake at 350° F (180° C) for 40 minutes
10) Sprinkle powedered sugar and decorate with strawberries or not...
11) Serve with warm maple syrup or plain.



Pour butter mixture, spread around, add slices of bread on top



Add half the egg mixture, sprinkle sugar and cinnamom. Adda a dollop of milk caramel



Add second layer of bread, add remaing egg mixture and top with sugar and cinnamon.

French toast bake... ready to be served and add some beauty to your breakfast table!

Eggplant Antipasto Cake

The first time I made this recipe we had guests coming over and I realized I had no time for grocery shopping. So I came up with this cake using something I already had in the fridge: eggplant antipasto. With a few ingredients you can turn something that looks ordinary into something delightful and that will dazzle your guests.

The eggplant antipasto can be substituted with other toppings, like sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and oregano, roasted red peppers, etc. 

Eggplant Antipasto Cake

Batter

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Topping

10 oz (300 g - about 1 cup) antipasto eggplant (recipe here)
3 oz (100 g) of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).

1) In a medium bowl combine milk, oil and egg until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until smooth. Batter must be thick.

2) Spread the batter into a greased 11" x 2" round pie plate or pan. Top with the eggplant antipasto and  then the cheese. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Re: Cheddar Bay Biscuits - WBB #20 Balanced Breakfast

My husband's birthday could only fall on a saint's day, but now we're talking about another saint... the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick! So, if March 17th is the date for many Irish and non-Irish to wear green, enjoy a parade, drink a lot of Guinness beer and wish good luck, why can't we celebrate it with food?

The garlic butter brushed on top added a special flavor and to me they seem to taste like the ones sold at Red Lobster.

I made these Red Lobster-inspired biscuits recipe because I feel homesick for the US and also this is my contribution for Mansi's Balanced Breakfast event at Fun and Food.

Did you know that Red Lobster alone sells over one million biscuits a day?

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

(Adapted from Diana's Kitchen and Kraft)

1 cup skim milk

1/3 cup Mayonnaise

1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups self-rising flour

1/4 cup shredded American cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons melted butter

10 fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

Muffin paper liners

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

2) In a mixing bowl combine the milk, mayo, sugar, and flour until completely combined. Add cheese to the dough and combine. Drop batter into 10 paper-lined muffin tins. Batter should "drop" from spoon.

3) Melt butter; mix in garlic, and brush tops of dough. Place one parsley leaf on top of each biscuit; lightly brush again.

4) Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden. Serve freshly baked and hot.

Substitute self-rising flour: use 2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon baking powder.

Portuguese French Toast or Brazilian Rabanadas

Many countries celebrate a white Christmas but, since it is Summer time in Brazil, many places have Christmas lights on palm trees. However, we also exchange gifts, decorate our houses with lights, put up trees and have large family reunions. Turkey and roasted pork are traditional dishes during Christmas supper. 

Another Christmas tradition here is the Portuguese French toast or "rabanadas" that were brought from Portugal and consist of french bread, milk, eggs, and cinnamon sugar on top. It is a part of my husband's family memories on Christmas day. My father-in-law usually orders the bread in advance and keeps this tradition going. It is like a magic moment, an opportunity to spend time with the family members during breakfast or the afternoon snack. As this year we are celebrating Christmas with my parents, I already asked my mother-in-law to make "rabanadas" on New Year's day!

Rabanadas - From the kitchen of my mother-in-law

About 20 1-inch-thick (2.5 cm) slices french bread
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk (reserve other half for topping)
2 cups of milk
3 eggs, separated

About 3 tablespoons oil for pan-frying
Sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle, condensed milk or syrup to pour over fried bread

Directions:
1) If possible, buy the bread the day before, slice it and let it sit overnight in an open container.

2) Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add egg yolks and beat again until thick.

3) In a medium bowl, combine half can of condensed milk with the milk.

4) Soak lightly each slice of bread with the dissolved condensed milk, drain the excess and coat the slice with eggs whites.

5) Fry in hot oil until golden brown on each side. Place on paper towel to drain and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, condensed milk, or syrup. Serve warm.

Does your family have any Christmas traditions?

Blondie Brownies

The last day of October seems to be the busiest evening of the year where we live. There are many kids running around on their costumes, the doorbell rings every minute and at the end of the evening lots of candy wrappers are all over the house. I believe English Language schools started this tradition here in Brazil and kids love it. I always have something handy for the kids. This year I decided to try first with my kids this blondie brownie recipe. It did not turn out as blonde as I expected, maybe because I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown or demerara sugar. We used whipped cream to make the ghosts and allspice to make the eyes because I ran out of mini-chocolate chips.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 dash salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg beaten (use 2 if they are small)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white or dark chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add chopped nuts. Set aside.

2) Melt butter, add brown sugar and mix. Add egg and vanilla and blend well with a whisk or a hand mixer, 3-4 minutes or until mixture whitens. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips.

3) Spread into a 9 x 9 inch (20 x 20 cm) greased pan. Bake at 350°F/180°C, 20-25 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean.

As far as I know, here in Brazil, blondie brownie can be found at Applebee's in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

I am dedicating this recipe to two dear friends: Mona, because I am so sure she would be giving lots of treats to my kids if we lived closer and to Karla, who has been such a good friend since I was a senior in high school, something like 20 years ago?

No-Knead Bread - World Bread Day

The No-knead bread caused such a stir when Mark Bittman, aka the Minimalist, shared this recipe on the New York Times. As soon as I started reading reviews and blogs with this recipe, I ran to the kitchen to make my own loaf and I lost count of how many times I have baked this magnificent bread! The secret to making this recipe work? Time and patience! The amount of yeast is minimal, and only four ingredients (flour, salt, yeast and water) make a delicious loaf, with an italian shape and flavor, somehow rustic, with crispy crust and yet chewy. The magic recipe has name and address widely known, and it belongs to a bakery in New York city, the Sullivan Street Bakery.

My recipe goes to the World Bread Day, an event created by UIB International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners to provide an opportunity to talk about bread and bakers, to find out about their history, their importance as well as their future.

How to participate:

• Bake or buy a bread, take pictures (if possible) and blog about it on Tuesday, 16th October 2007.
• Please link back to this announcement in your post, and eventually to the roundup.
• Send an email to worldbreadday(at)gmail(dot)com including
- your name
- your blog's name and your blog's URL
- the recipe name and the post's URL
- your location (region and country)
• Submissions can only be accepted until Wednesday, October 17.

To make things easier, before start making the bread, watch the Minimalist video here: New York Times (free registration may be required).

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, no need to sift, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70°F/21°C.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Update: The World Bread Day '07 round up is online! Please take some time to visit 183 posts from all over the world!

Fun sandwiches

Fun sandwiches... because you actually have so much fun making them! And they make that waffle maker or cookie cutters buried in the kitchen cabinet worth the money you invested. These sandwiches add special touch to any breakfast or brunch.

Waffle maker sandwiches:
From the kitchen of East Meets West
Many kid-friendly recipes there, this recipe was a hit both with kids and adults.

Ingredients
White bread slices
Thinly sliced deli turkey
Deli Swiss/cheddar cheese slices
Leaves of lettuce or arugula

1) Preheat your waffle maker. No need to grease.

2) Add the filling between two slices of bread, make sure the cheese is not showing. Cook sandwiches in batches (depending on the size of your waffle maker) until bread is golden and crispy. When ready, trim and slice to your desired shape and serve.

Man in the boat
From the kitchen of Kelli

These are so easy to make... Here we use french bread and cook the egg separetely, but I loved this version that Kelli shared and so did my kids.

Ingredients
Slices of bread
Eggs
Salt and pepper

1) Cut a square or rectangle out of a piece of bread (I used a cookie cutter)
2) Melt some butter in skillet over medium heat and add the bread.
3) Crack an egg into center of bread.
4) Cook until bottom bread is toasted and then flip. When the egg is done, remove onto a plate.
5) Butter both sides of bread square and toast in same skillet.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Every weekend we try to cook an all-American breakfast. This family ritual is a good opportunity to spend time together, with no rush to leave for work or our daily chores. Our kids got used to this and even help out in the kitchen, setting the table or fixing treats, like scrambled eggs, etc.

This recipe was adapted from an Australian blog I visit quite often, the Kitchen Wench. Two things caught my attention: the confectioner's sugar makes these pancakes slightly sweet and the beaten egg whites make them light and fluffy!

Buttermilk pancakes

1 1/4 cups (150 g) self-raising flour*
1/4 cup (50 g) pure icing/confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) buttermilk**

2 tbsp vegetable oil
20g unsalted butter

1) Sift together the flour and icing sugar and set aside. Whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk and vanilla, then pour into the flour and whisk together to combine.

2) Beat eggwhites till you have soft peaks, then use a large metal spoon to carefully fold them into the pancake batter.

3) In a separate frying pan or griddle, heat half the butter and oil over low-medium heat and fry 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time, cooking each side for 2-3 minutes or till golden brown.

Serve these pancakes with butter and your favorite syrup.

Substitution list:
* Self-raising flour: add 1 teaspoon baking powder and one dash salt to a cup of flour.

** Buttermilk: add 1 tablespoon of lime juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Maple syrup:
The maple flavoring was a gift from a dear friend and here's how I make my own syrup:
- 1/2 cup corn syrup - in a microwave-safe bowl, microwave on high for 30 seconds or until it melts
- Add a few drops of maple flavoring, combine, and serve warm.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake

Last week I had the pleasure to have a friend over for coffee. She's Irish, married to a Brazilian, they live in Minneapolis and she has the most charming English accent I have ever heard. I know she likes cake and coffee, as she used to live in Brazil. So, I woke up very early and baked this cake before she arrived for our long expected get together. After two years apart, as we had our coffee with cream, we talked non-stop trying to catch up!

Oh yes... the recipe! This is such a good cake that if you do not have the blueberries handy, they won't be missed.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake

1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt (I use honey flavored)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 dash salt
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C. Grease and flour a tube or bundt cake pan. I used a round pan.

2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg, yogurt, vanilla, and oil together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and fold in the wet until the mixture is moist. Fold in the blueberries into the mixture.

3. Pour the batter into the greased cake pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes. Slide a thin knife around the edges of the cake and invert it to a platter. Place a decorative stencil on top and dust confectioner's sugar using a fine-meshed sieve.