Feb
Maple Biscuits- Valentine’s Day Breakfast
Valentine’s Day is a stay at home holiday around here. We’re not dress up and go out to a fancy restaurant kind of people anyway, and the thought of trudging out on Valentine’s Day when the restaurants are all packed and the menu prices are sky high is frankly quite unappealing. Besides, I like to cook and Tim likes to eat what I cook… so it’s a win win for everyone. But that doesn’t mean I spend all day preparing a five course meal. Just the opposite in fact. Our Valentine’s Day meal is usually a simple affair. It’s more about favorite foods than fancy foods. This approach means that the Valentine’s Day meal really can last all day. I’m talking breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Okay, maybe lunch is only a sandwich cut into a heart shape or soup with a cute note taped to the lid, but it still counts in my book. Valentine’s Day breakfast is the real deal though. Homemade biscuits, crispy bacon, fluffy eggs, and fresh melon! 
The best part of this Valentine’s day breakfast is how little time it took to make something that tastes sooo good. I probably only spent a total of 25 minutes on this meal and that includes the five to ten minutes it took me to dig out my heart shaped cookie cutters from the box I stashed them in last year.
First I made these simple maple biscuits. They would have tasted just as scrumptious round or square, but to make them Valentine’s Day appropriate I used a heart shaped cookie cutter.
I always use the same recipe for “Basic Rolled Biscuits” from my tattered and stained copy of the Joy of Cooking. Depending on how I want the biscuits to taste, or what I am serving them with, I add or change the ingredients as needed. This time I was going for a slightly sweet flavor so I substituted out a 1/4 cup of milk for the same amount of maple syrup. The syrup gave the dough a faint brownish hue and when I pulled them out of the oven they had deepened to the most gorgeous golden brown color. 
You can certainly eat these sweet feathery biscuits on their own. I couldn’t resist the aroma of maple mixed with butter and I bit into one straight out of the oven, burning the tips of my fingers in the process. As I took a bite the soft, buttery dough melted in my mouth and the complex sweetness that only comes from real maple syrup made my taste buds step up and take notice. I could have easily consumed them all this way, leaning against the counter and licking my scorched fingers, but since this was supposed to be a meal for two I somehow summoned up enough self control to resist scarfing down the entire batch. Instead I sliced the biscuits in half and layered them with a few slabs of crispy bacon and a spoonful of scrambled eggs. 
I topped them with the second half of the biscuit and there you have it- a Valentine’s Day breakfast sandwich!
We ate ours with heart shaped melon and fresh OJ…mmmm.
Maple Biscuits
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking
Makes: 6-8 five inch heart-shaped biscuits
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Line an ungreased baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. Drop the cold butter into the flour mixture and toss them around a bit to coat with flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives cut the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are roughly the size of peas.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the milk and maple syrup until completely combined. Pour the milk and syrup into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it just starts to form a dough. Using your hands form the dough into a ball and knead it gently in the bowl until all the dry or loose pieces are incorporated.
4. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut the heart shapes out and place them on the parchment covered baking sheet. You will have to re-roll the scrapes if you are using a 5 inch cutter and want more than 6 biscuits. Be careful not to re-roll them too many times though or the biscuits will be tough instead of fluffy.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Dec
Cranberry-Pear Mini Loaves
This bread is amazing. In fact, this bread is so amazing that I guarantee two things will happen when you make it. First, you will consume an entire loaf… by yourself. Second, you will need to make another batch because you just consumed an entire loaf. My advice to you- make two batches from the start. Or better yet, make one batch of mini loaves to give away and one large loaf to devour nibble on yourself. Go ahead, it’s the holidays, you deserve it. 
All joking aside, eating a whole loaf of this bread really isn’t the end of the world. Why? Because it’s actually pretty healthy. The recipe is based on Cranberry-Nut Mini Loaves with Flax from Liv Life (remember the ones I dropped on the floor). It includes healthy ingredients such as ground flax seed and whole wheat flour. It also has a minimal amount of oil and very little sugar. While the original recipe was pretty tasty I’ve been inspired lately by recipes that combine cranberries and pears. When I saw a recipe for Pear Cranberry Walnut Bread from Tracy at Shutterbean I just knew I had to make something like it. In the end I made a sort of hybrid version of the two recipes, and if I do say so myself- it was delicious!
Cranberries and pears hanging out together
The cranberries get chopped
The pears get grated- messy, messy
Combine the dry ingredients. Fresh Nutmeg rules!
Wet ingredients in another bowl. Don’t forget the pear.
Wet and dry ingredients combine
Fold in the cranberries
Into the mini loaf pans and pop in the oven
Good enough to eat!
Cranberry-Pear Mini Loaves
Inspired by Liv Life and Shutterbean
Makes: 3 mini loaves (3×6-inch pans with a 2 cup capacity)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 pears, grated
1 1/2 cups cranberries, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat 3 mini loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, pulse the cranberries a few times until they are roughly chopped. Set aside. Grate the pears using the fine side of the grater. This is a messy process, so it’s probably best to do it over a bowl. Set this aside as well.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the flours, ground flax, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
4. In a small bowl combine the egg, brown sugar, canola oil, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix in the grated pear.
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir well to combine. Fold in the chopped cranberries.
6. Divide evenly among the loaf pans and bake for 35 minutes, or until a wooden tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before slicing.
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