breakfast blogger

I’m not a big fan of coffee. I know this is blasphemous, considering I’m from the Pacific Northwest, just a few hours down the road from the birthplace of Starbucks Coffee. I just never acquired the taste for it.

This isnt to say, that I havent acquired the taste for all the delicious treats that people sometimes eat with their coffee.

Biscotti, muffins, coffeecake.. I love it all. Especially coffeecake.

My first introduction to coffeecake came when I was in highschool. I lived off coffeecake and Coca-Cola for just about an entire year of my life. It was my breakfast of champions. Most people would probably abandon something that they consumed with such regularity. Not I. I’m addicted.

I started making my own coffeecake soon thereafter. I found a recipe for it in one of my mom’s ancient cookbooks, wrote it down and soon committed it to memory.

This is the recipe I bring to you today-

A simple recipe for coffeecake with cinnamon streusel topping and orange sugar glaze.

1 Cup milk
1 Egg
2 Cups flour
1 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup Butter, softened (not melted)
1 Teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons baking powder
Dash of salt

Take all of the ingredients and mix them together. The butter shouldnt be completely incorporated, and small lumps of butter should be scattered throughout the batter. Set to the side.

For the streusel topping-

1 Cup brown sugar
2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 Cup butter, melted
Mix all of the streusel ingredients together until crumbly. Add a pinch more cinnamon if desired. Set aside.

Pour the coffee cake batter into a greased 9×13″ pan. Sprinkle Streusel topping evenly over top the batter. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, or until the top is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Orange sugar glaze-

3 Tablespoons orange juice
2 Cups Powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
Mix orange juice and milk together. Pour powdered sugar into another bowl. Drizzle orange juice/milk over top powdered sugar and mix until you have a thin icing consistancy.

When the coffee cake is still hot, spread the icing on top of the cake. Let cool slightly, serve warm with coffee *cringe* or milk, or hot cocoa, Which is how I had mine. mmm.. cocoa.

This makes a perfect quick breakfast for a group of people, or unexpected guests. Or, you can freeze the pieces if wrapped in cellowrap and just microwave them for a few seconds to bring them back to life.

Mmm.. Delicious.

-A.

My top two wisdom teeth got extracted on Monday so I’ve been confined to a mostly soft/liquid diet for a little while now.

It’s given me a chance to whip up some smoothies using my favourite juice in the world!

Pure pomegranate juice is just too damn expensive. I’ve found this great alternative by President’s Choice that has a blend of apple, pomegranate, blueberry and concord grape.

That be some very very tasty juice indeed.

So I gathered some strawberries, raspberries, an organic banana, ice, fat free yogurt, juice and some pure vanilla extract and threw them into mr. blender.

I discovered that my blender’s reservoir has a tiny crack in the base and leaks all over the place– looks like I’ll be on the market for a new blender soon if I can’t find another reservoir =P

I present to you, a breakfast smoothie in a Guinness glass:

Yum :)

We made some soft-boiled eggs a while back . . . I had almost forgotten how good they can be.

I don’t think I had my first soft-boiled egg until I was well into my twenties, but it was definitely worth the wait. I grew up in a traditonal Jewish Montreal home with some finicky parents, who were not boring, but they were set in their ways. Even though we had no soft-boiled eggs, no poached eggs, or even any real omelets, we had some great scrambles - salami and eggs being my all-time childhood favourite. I am now glad my parents were such finicky eaters, because it has left me such a wide range of foods to discover in my adulthood.

We get our eggs from a farm just outside of Montreal, as I try not to buy industrially produced eggs anymore: Chickens are animals - not machines. When I am out of eggs before farm day, I will go to the Jean-Talon market and buy eggs from an old guy who says he has “organic” eggs which are not certified - I haven’t yet fully investigated his claims, but I plan to. If I am too lazy to go al the way to the market, I often pick up some Burnbrae Farms “Free run” eggs at our neighbourhod grocery store.

Whenever I make soft-boiled eggs, I always use my ‘egg timer’, which I never really trust. It’s a fiberglass dome, shaped like half-an-egg, and you are supposed put it into the water when it is still cold and then start cooking your eggs. When the red color fades to the desired level of doneness, you take the eggs out. I don’t normally use these types of gadgets, but this one was a gift, so I use it, with a certain amount of distrust.

I always take my eggs out of the refrigerator as far in advance as possible, which is usually once we have decided that we want soft-boiled eggs. This is hopefully about 30 minutes before cooking, as I don’t want to shock the eggs and have them crack in the hot water. I fill a pot with water, add the eggs and the egg-timer, and then put it on the stove set to “high”.

Once a boil has been reached, I immediately turn down the heat to medium-high to keep the boil as gentle as possible, and wait about 3 minutes. In my opinion, the size, quality, and age of the eggs are all factors which may affect the cooking time. How can this little plastic dome know anything about my eggs? It can’t!

This said, I usually cook my eggs about 3 minutes. I have a 75% success rate, but I am satisfied with my margin of error because I am usually cooking for my lady and myself, and I will gladly eat any undercooked eggs while my lady will happily eat any overcooked ones. This is one of the reaosn I love her.

The best part about soft-boiled eggs is this little egg circumsizer I got as a Christmas gift a few years back, from the same people who gave me the egg-timer. I found this a funny gift seeing as I am Jewish and I got an egg-moyle to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.

We enjoyed these with kamut toast points and some hunks of cheese.

Yummy.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating aebleskiver, you know what I’m talking about when I say how incredibly delicious they are, and how versatile they can be.

First off “aebleskiver” is Danish for “apple slices”. There is a lot of speculation as to whether or not the first aebleskiver actually had pieces of apple in it. Personally, I think the name probably derives from the Danish delicacy’s resemblance to the apple itself… But I’m not Danish, and I definately am no expert on the matter.

I am, however, a big fan of the aebleskiver.

What are they?

A long story short would describe them as Pancake balls. Spherical Pancakes.

The recipe I use to make my aebleskiver I got from one of my childhood friend’s parents. They’re of Danish origin, so I like to pretend this recipe came over with them when they came to America.

I’ve also looked up plenty of recipes to compare it to, and its basically the same recipe all around. There are plenty of deviations, the most popular one being scrapping the entire “from scratch” batter and using plain old Krusteaz pancake mix, only using less water, adding a few tablespoons of sugar, and calling it good.

Personally, I enjoy a good homemade batch of any sort of breakfast food, so this morning I got down to business and created a beautiful batch of aebleskiver using this recipe-

-Ingredients-

2 egg whites
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk

You will also need-

-Either liquid canola oil or an aerosol spray canola oil- like Pam
-A monks pan (a specialized aebleskiver pan) THIS IS REQUIRED. See here for more info.
-wooden skewer or knitting needle

Directions

Beat the egg whites stiff. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, melted butter and buttermilk and beat until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites last.

Spray the bottom of each æbleskiver pan cup with a small amount of oil and heat until it sizzles. Fill each of the pan cups about half full with the batter. As soon as they get bubbly around the edge, turn them quickly by poking the wooden skewer into the edge of the batter and turning it up, allowing the uncooked batter to flow down into the cup. Alternatively, you can turn them halfway first, so that the baked crusts protruding from the pan will look like the Sydney Opera House. And after a while you turn them the remaining 90 degrees. This will give them a perfect ball-shape (this is how I do it) Continue cooking, turning the ball to keep it from burning. Spray each pan cup with oil before refilling with the batter.

It sounds difficult. The first couple tries it WILL be difficult, but sooner than later you will be an aebleskiver pro. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, invite all your friends over, whip up a batch and watch the ooh’s and ahh’s come out as you present them with pancakes straight out of an episode of the Jetsons.

Traditionally, they’re served with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar and some preserves-

I like mine with Strawberry jam, but Raspberry is just as good.

Just break the ball in half-

And spread some jam around in there-

Pop it in your mouth, and enjoy!

They can also be eaten the same way as you would pancakes, and they’re just as tasty, only a little sweeter.

The other cool thing about Aebleskiver, besides being a totally awesome way to impress your friends (the novelty of spherical pancakes NEVER wears off, trust me) is that they’re portable, and they keep really well as leftovers. Keep them in the fridge and just put them in the micro to reheat them for a few seconds and enjoy them up to a week later.

So go out and get yourself a monks pan and give it a try.
Seriously. It’s so worth it.

-Muffin

It was too frikken cold to go out last weekend so I decided to make something unique. I offer you, Bacon Pancakes:

I put down strips of pancake batter and then placed bacon which I had prepared earlier on each strip.

Flip!

Oh my, I’m gunna enjoy this:

Bacon and butter.. together at last. Homer Simpson would be proud.

I was cruising You Tube and came across this:

Doing eggs this way at low heat is the way to go.. it really makes for a nice texture. Just like the way my mum makes them!

This weekend we cooked up a real Jewish Montreal Breakfast.

Of course, when I use the term “Jewish Montreal”, I really mean to say ‘Hypocrydox’, which is the type of Judiasm that I, and most Montreal Jews, and quite possibly most North American Jews, tend to practice. We celebrate Hannukah by eating latkes and lighting candles for eight nights (except for when we go for Chinese food - another Jewish favorite), but we also happen to put cheese into our omeletes that may or may not contain salami. Of course, to make up for this transgression, we fast on Yom Kippur and are absolved for all of our sins - a lovely tradition.

I started out by sautéeing some diced onions until they were soft and transluscent, and then adding some boiled potatoes. Luckily, I had both of the diced onions and some boiled potatoes leftover from my turkey-pot-pie session the previous night, which I will eventually post on a website that is not fascistly breakfast-centric.

I then diced up some kosher salami. I am using the ‘Hebrew National’ brand of salami, which incidentally, is not kosher in Montreal. It is kosher in New York, as far as I know, and even in a few other places, but not in Montreal. This particular brand of salami, which I judiciously selected due to the fact that it was the only salami in my parents refrigerator when I raided it a few days earlier, is not certified by the Montreal Vad, which is the organization that charges exorbitant fees for kosher certification in the Montreal area. Fortunately, being a Hypocrydox Jew, I am allowed to eat this type of salami and still have the honor and privilege of being inscribed, and sealed, in the book of a happy life after abstaining from food for 25 hours every October.

While the salami is blissfully frying, and consequently secreting beef fat into my onions and potatoes, I crack and beat a few eggs. I like to use 5 eggs for a two person scramble to guarantee that each of us ends up with at least 2 whole eggs on our plates.

Once the salami bits are nicely browned on the edges, I pour in the eggs, which I have not slated due to the fact that thew salami has quite a bit of salt in it - I will salt to taste at table.

Let it sit for about 30-45 seconds, to let the egg start cooking. Once the egg mixture has begun to set, I start mixing it with a wooden spoon or some other such utensil. I’m sure even a pencil will do the trick. At some point, I added a heap of grated Parmeggiano-Reggiano.

I toasted our toast, challah - also part of the bounty from my raid on the family kitchen- and sliced up some greenhouse cherry tomatoes. I am trying to eat as locally as possible, so I am abstaining from buying tomatoes from California or Mexico or Pluto - have they started farming that yet? Maybe that’s why it lost its’ status as a planet….

Last year I didn’t buy any tomatoes in the winter as I was so endeared to the ones I grew myslef, as well as the ones that arrived in my weekly organic vegetable basket from La Ferme Cadet-Roussel. This year I already miss tomatoes so much that I will try the greeenhouse varieties, but I know I will be dissatisfied. You can’t have it all.

Now you see it:

Now you don’t:

Not every Breakfast Blogger breakfast is laden with Hollandaise sauce, nor do I start each day with a side order of bacon. I do try to lead a healthy lifestyle and should include those sometimes insipiring and greaseless meals in this blog.

That said, when I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Hannukah with the family and friends of my VSL, I was given a few grapefruits from my VSL’s mother, who got them from her husband’s brother, who had just returned from Florida, the sunshine state.

I used my special grapefruit knife, which has a curved blade specially designed to carve out each grapefruit segment. Once this task is accomplished, i could enjoy each goegeous bite of grapefruit as an explosion of juice and pulp, minus the bitter, membranous walls which wereleft behind in the skin of the fruit. This is truly the best way to eat grapefruit.

I love the wake-up effect of the sweet/acid combination that just shouts at your palate, “W A K E U P , R I G H T N O W ! ! ! “.

Here is my bowl of grapefruit pieces, ready to eat:

And, after finishing the bowl, I love to squeeze the rind for all it’s worth and then drink a glassful of pure grapefruit juice. I was so excited that I forgot to take a photo of the juice. Sorry.

Since my latkes turned out so well last year, I thought I should post this recipe BEFORE the holiday begins this year.

If you are an avid reader of the Breakfast Blogger, you may well recall that last year I made latkes for a Hannukah brunch held in Toronto, where the guests were the extended family of my Very Special Ladyfriend. It was a high pressure situation and I pulled through with flying colors - I didn’t burn down their kitchen AND the latkes turned out fabulously. I am going to Toronto in a couple of days and will probably make latkes once again. I decided to post this thread now so everyone can make latkes before Hannnukah instead of after, not that you can’t eat latkes all year round. . .

Hannukah starts this Friday evening, so light your Hannukiah before lighting the shabbes candles . . . .and then eat your latkes!

I learned to make latkes from my mother, and we both use the recipe from a local cookbook that most Montreal Jewish homes seem to have sitting on their cookbook shelf. It is called Second Helpings, from B’nai Brith Women Montreal, 1977 - edited by Norene Gilletz, but almost all latke recipes are just about the same, so any will do.

The last time I made latkes, I used:

6-8 potatoes (Yukon Gold potatoes are best)
2 onions
3 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt and some pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
oil for frying

You can multipily this recipe if you are feeding many people - I usually do. Also, feel free to add an extra onion if you like your latkes a little oniony, or omit an onion if you prefer your latkes bland. I usually adjust the recipe according to the size of the potatoes and onions that I am using.

Peel the potatoes into a big bowl of cold water, to avoid them turning brown.

Now you have to grate the potatoes. This should be done by hand, but can easily be done in a food processor. The important factor is the consistency. If grating by hand, I grate the potatoes using both the big and small sides of a box grater until I achieve a smooth consistency - just keep switching until it seems right. You don’t want to see too many big potato shreds, but you don’t want it to be a puree either.

If using a food processor, grate all the potatoes first with the grater blade, and then use the regular blade to puree a few handfuls and mix it back in until it looks right. Now grate the onion, either by hand or with the food processor.

Put the grated potatoes into a clean tea-towel (or cheesecloth) and wring it out until most of the water is gone. Then mix in everything else and you’ve got yourself some pretty decent latke batter.

Now set the stovetop to medium and heat up some oil in a frying pan. There should be enough oil to submerge the latkes halfway, so when you flip them, the other side will cook without burning the edges (too much oil) or leaving the middle raw (not enough oil). As you are cooking, you will have to add more oil every now and then as the latkes do absorb oil when they cook. It may not be the healthiest food in the world, but consider it a ‘mitzvah’ as it represents the miracle oil that burned for seven days. Hopefully your heartburn won’t last quite as long.

I usually use 2 or 3 (or even 4!) pans simultaneously, depending on how many latkes I am making - this time I used 2. Shape some of the mixture, about 1 tbsp or a small handful, into a ball and carefully place it into the pan and flatten it using a spatula.

Repeat until the pan is full - usually five or six latkes at a time. Let each latke fry until the underside is done and then flip it to do the other side. you can get a really good rhythm going so you are always adding, flipping, or removing, without too much worry or hurry.

Put a baking sheet in the oven on the lowest setting (warm). As each latkes is ready, place it onto a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the extra fat and then place the latke in the oven to keep warm.
Keep doing this until all the mixture has been used.

I made about 50 latkes.

Here is what one plate of latkes looked like:

We served them with apple sauce and sour cream.

I hope your latkes turn out great. Please let me know . . .

BB is one year old today!

Yep, it’s been one year since we’ve started to bring you breakfast goodness. In celebration, I give you this:

Gather up these bad boys..

Maple Syrup
Butter
12 slices of white bread
6 eggs

Fire up the oven at 410 F.

Grab a muffin pan and butter it up.

Combine some butter and maple syrup in a saucepan at low heat.. try 2 tablespoons of each.. just enough to coat the bread.

Un-crust the bread slices. Take two slices and place them diagonally on top of each other. The idea here is to create more area. Flatten them with your hands or rolling device.

Paint some of the maple-butter goodness on to the bread and then work it into a cup of the muffin pan.

Do it again 5 more times.

Then crack them eggs into each cup and dress ‘em up with some pepper or whatever floats your boat.

From the side:

Stick that pan in the oven for 15 minutes or more.. you wanna make sure those eggs set up real nice so they look a bit like like this:

Ignore the burnt crust, trust me, these ‘lil suckers are to die for..

Cheers!

Super special thanks to Betsy for the recipe!