The Official Breakfast Thread

[CJF]

We need a general food porn thread. I didn't think I should post this in the Chop House thread. Here is what I made for the family this morning for breakfast.







I'm going to try a little something different for the dinner popovers tonight based on the success this morning.

[TripletDaddy]

How did you do the jam? Did you put it into the batter and then bake?

[CJF]

How did you do the jam? Did you put it into the batter and then bake?

I filled the pan to about 1/4 full with batter. I put about a teaspoon of cream cheese and a teaspoon of raspberry pie filling. I filled the rest of pan to about 3/4 full. For the batter, I used the basics from your recipe. I cut it down to 1/4. I added a splash of extra milk and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract to the milk and egg mixture. I added 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of sugar to the flour and salt and sifted them together. I added 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar to a package of fat free cream cheese and mixed together. I microwaved the cream cheese for 25 seconds to soften it before adding the sugar. Dusted with powdered sugar and served up. Not very sweet, but very tasty. My wife ate 5. I'm trying hard to change my eating habits so I only had two. That took serious self control.

A couple of tricks I learned doing this. Make sure the filling does not touch the sides of the pan. I instinctively tried to do this, but I missed on one and the filling baked onto the sides of the pan. When removing from the pan all the filling stayed leaving a mostly empty popover. Second, they cook faster than regular popovers. Cut the time by at least 5 minutes. Maybe more. Third, the filling spills out while cooking. Next time I will set the pan on a lined cookie sheet.

Tonight I'm going to use a soft cheese and some herbs and garlic inside the the popover and top with a hard Irish port wine cheese. Should go really well with the tri-tip.

[TripletDaddy]

That sounds great. Did you just buy some pie filling? Blueberries sound great, too.

I like your spice additions. Sounds like you have found a way to pep them up but keep them essentially similar to the original.

There are 5 of us that will eat them so might keep the recipe as is and just up the yield. I have 2 popover trays so I can bake them both.

We don't have any pie filling right now but we have jam. I can try with that for now.

[CJF]

That sounds great. Did you just buy some pie filling? Blueberries sound great, too.

I like your spice additions. Sounds like you have found a way to pep them up but keep them essentially similar to the original.

There are 5 of us that will eat them so might keep the recipe as is and just up the yield. I have 2 popover trays so I can bake them both.

We don't have any pie filling right now but we have jam. I can try with that for now.

Blueberry was my first choice. The Smiths that I hit at 11:45 last night was out of blueberry pie filling. They had strawberry, raspberry, and apple filling. The raspberry filling had the lowest sugar content and also mixes well with cream cheese so it won out. After eating, I think the apple might be better from a baking perspective and taste really good.

[TripletDaddy]

Blueberry was my first choice. The Smiths that I hit at 11:45 last night was out of blueberry pie filling. They had strawberry, raspberry, and apple filling. The raspberry filling had the lowest sugar content and also mixes well with cream cheese so it won out. After eating, I think the apple might be better from a baking perspective and taste really good.

I'm making these tonight for a dessert snack. So far so good.

[CJF]

I'm making these tonight for a dessert snack. So far so good.

How did they turn out?

[TripletDaddy]

How did they turn out?

Overall i was pleased and we gobbled them up, but as im sure you can appreciate, you automatically go into Revision mode to start planning the next batch. Needs some tinkering on my part. The flavor of the batter was great....i like the addition of cinnamon and nutmeg for the breakfast or dessert popover. I wasnt satisfied with my cream cheese:jam ratio. At 1:1, I thought the cream cheese overpowered a bit. I love cream cheese so they still tasted good, but I was in the mood for a primarily jam flavored treat. I think next time I will try 2T jam and 1t cream cheese and see what happens. Might be too much but it is worth the try.

I completely agree with your earlier point.....gotta try this with blueberry, apple, or even peach. These things would be amazing with some fruit based glaze.

Thanks for the tip though. Opens up a whole new avenue of breakfast accompaniment.

[CJF]

Overall i was pleased and we gobbled them up, but as im sure you can appreciate, you automatically go into Revision mode to start planning the next batch. Needs some tinkering on my part. The flavor of the batter was great....i like the addition of cinnamon and nutmeg for the breakfast or dessert popover. I wasnt satisfied with my cream cheese:jam ratio. At 1:1, I thought the cream cheese overpowered a bit. I love cream cheese so they still tasted good, but I was in the mood for a primarily jam flavored treat. I think next time I will try 2T jam and 1t cream cheese and see what happens. Might be too much but it is worth the try.

I completely agree with your earlier point.....gotta try this with blueberry, apple, or even peach. These things would be amazing with some fruit based glaze.

Thanks for the tip though. Opens up a whole new avenue of breakfast accompaniment.

I love the glaze idea. Peach would be really good too.

The dinner popovers were really good. A dash of onion salt and garlic salt to replace the called for salt. About a teaspoon each of Rosemary, oregano, Italian seasonings. Champange soft cheese dropped in about 1/4 full of batter. Topped with a Spanish rosemary cheese. Unbelievable.

[Drunk Tank]

Can you just fill them with a piping bag after they cook instead of cooking them with the fruit inside? I know the fruit/cream cheese mixture wouldnt be as hot, but you could warm the mixture up before piping it into the popevers. no? Just thinking aloud here...

[TripletDaddy]

Sorry for the delay. Phat told me I needed to post, but been a little busy having a baby and all.

French Toast

2 eggs
2 ½ Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
12 slices Texas style toast, cut in half diagonally

In a large frying pan, heat about 1/4″ of vegetable oil over medium heat. In a shallow bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, milk, flour, and baking powder. Test oil heat by flicking some water into the frying pan. (If it pops, reduce the heat. If hardly anything happens, turn up the heat. If it sizzles, it’s just right.)

Working quickly, take each 1/2 slice of bread and soak it both sides in the milk/egg/flour mixture. If you leave it in too long, it will get soggy, but you want to make sure enough of the egg mixture has soaked into the bread. Gently shake to remove excess batter and place in hot oil. Cook until puffed, golden brown, and a nice, crispy crust has formed on each side (probably 3-5 minutes per side; you really need to babysit them and make sure they’re cooking correctly) and then remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. While cooking remaining French toast, keep cooked pieces warm in an oven set to the lowest temperature it will go.

When ready to serve, roll each piece in cinnamon sugar.

I also make my own buttermilk syrup for these.

Buttermilk Syrup

3/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 stick real butter
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine buttermilk, sugar, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda in a LARGE pot. Bring ingredients to a boil and reduce heat to low (as long as it’s still bubbling, you’re okay). Cook, stirring very frequently, for 8-9 minutes.
When it’s done, it should take on luscious golden-brown color. Remove from heat and add vanilla. There will be a foam on top, it tastes fine, just not appealing to the eye. So if skim it off if you don't feel like serving foam.

some great news....on Friday MMM and I were out to date night dinner and she suggested we start a Valentine's family tradition this year: we make a big breakfast for family dinner on V-tines Day. I wasn't about to disagree because what I heard was "Let's start a Valentine's family tradition this year: you never have to take me out and we can eat eggs and bacon." (sorry ladies, I'm taken!)

Fast forward to today and I busted out Chachi's/EWTH8TER's french toast recipe. Was a big hit. The cinnamon sugar proved to be too much for one of the Puffies, but everyone else thought it was tasty.

I improvised a bit and the result was pretty fan-freaking-tastic. Rather than use regular milk, I used coffee creamer. Coconut creme to be exact. The coconut cream made a really thick batter so I had to let the bread soak for a bit to allow the batter to penetrate some. But the result was undeniably awesome. If you don't like coconut cream, use hazelnut or french vanilla. It will all taste great. Topped the french toast with cut strawberries and then used a cinnamon caramel syrup we bought at kneader's and the end result was an orgy of sugar and calories, but oh so good!

[cowboy]

I hate instant oatmeal; it tastes like crap, and the nutritional value sucks. Today I found a use for it, though. I added one instant oatmeal package to my pancake recipe in the place of 1/2 cup flour, and it was really good. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 apple cinnamon instant oatmeal package
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Enough milk to make runny

This makes a great texture for a pancake. As a word of warning, my pancakes (it's actually my MIL's recipe) are kind of sweet, so if you may want to half the sugar.