Cinnamon Rolls

For most of us (myself included), cinnamon rolls were always either something that came out of a tube, or a specialty item that you buy at a bakery. As tasty (and easy) as the the Pillsbury tube-o-cinnamon-rolls are, I’ve been wanting to make cinnamons rolls completely from scratch for quite awhile. The downside is it’s not a quick thing to make – as a yeast dough with several rising steps, it takes several hours, so it’s tough to actually have for breakfast unless you’re a very, very early riser.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

We may not have quite as much time for elaborate cooking these days, but we do like to make time for a good weekend breakfast. These definitely hit the spot – quite different from our usual four grain flapjacks, which have become a weekend staple for us lately – nicely sweet and flavourful.

I guess really these are apple pancakes with a sweet cinnamon butter served over the top in place of maple syrup. They look quite like potato latkes when cooking due to the shredded apple, but the consistency is almost more cake-like. A definite treat to start off any weekend right.

The full recipe is here. Be warned that before cooking you let it sit for 30-60 minutes, so make sure you account for that in your timing. I assure you, they are worth the wait!

Four-Grain Flapjacks

While our appreciation for food hasn’t wavered since the birth of our daughter, Violet, we have noticed that our choices about what we cook have become much different.  Unless Violet is asleep, one of us generally has to be holding her, which makes recipes that involve rigid timing hard to follow.  Elaborate breakfasts at home are another story altogether.  So often we find ourselves rushing out the door and unable to have a slow, relaxing morning.

Then it happened.  Sunday, March 20.  Violet slept for a huge chunk of the morning, and as a result so did Cari!  We celebrated with one of Dan & Liana’s favourite recipes from The Joy of Cooking.  They actually had us send them this recipe last night, so it was fresh in our minds and was something we already had the ingredients for.

There’s nothing wrong with old-fashioned buttermilk pancakes, but when you feel like something a bit richer in nutrients, this is a delicious and wholesome alternative.  We were surprised just how pronounced the flavours of oatmeal and cornmeal were in the finished product.

The Best Banana Bread EVER

This is one of those recipes that has been in our repertoire since long before we started this blog, and somehow we never got around to posting it. I vaguely remember a time before this recipe came along… when we made a few mediocre banana breads, never finding anything quite right. Then we made this one. So so so good. Wonderfully moist and flavourful, and just yummy. If you have any browning bananas on hand, go and make this right now. Today. You won’t regret it.

Buttermilk Waffles with Dark Maple Syrup

At the farmer’s market on Saturday, we decided to splurge on some fancy maple syrup. We’d passed the vendor many times, but only recently ran out of our old batch of maple syrup, so it was time. I only had a vague idea that with maple syrup, the darker the better, but it was after the guy working at the booth showed his enthusiasm for the dark syrup that we knew it was worth the splurge. As he told us, once you get into the dark stuff, it will be what you compare all future maple syrup too. And boy was he right. It really was more maple-y, with a really deep flavour. And the best part? It wasn’t nearly as sweet – so you tasted the maple instead of just crazy sweetness. MmmmMmmmmMm. Oh yes, we will buy this again.

Of course, now we were required to make waffles for our Sunday breakfast. We whipped out the Joy of Cooking to try a repeat of a recipe we made last weekend. We had actually intended to post about just how awesome this recipe was *last* weekend, but… well, we ate it so fast we never got photos. At least now I can say which version of the two we made was better. And surprise, surprise: Extra butter = Better Waffle! Go figure, right?

The Joy of Cooking gives a pretty long preamble of why butter in waffles is worth it. But you know what? I think anytime anyone tells you that something is just as good without the butter originally called for in a recipe, you can pretty well know that they are lying. Butter? It makes things taste good. Of course, this means you should probably eat less or cook different things now and then, but if you’re going to have waffles for breakfast, you may as well have damn good waffles for breakfast, yes?

I give you, Damn Good Waffles:

Apple Walnut Muffins

Can someone tell me why we didn’t buy Joy of Cooking before recently? It’s so chock full of great cooking tips, information on any and everything cooking related, and most importantly, awesome recipes.

This afternoon, we made our breakfast for the week, Apple Walnut Muffins. We couldn’t wait until tomorrow to try one, so we split one this evening. Oh my yum. We may have a tie for the perfect muffin.

The recipe (courtesy of Joy of Cooking):

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

On the last day of my mom’s visit to Toronto, we were finally home for a real breakfast. No brunch at my mother-in-laws, no high tea at noon making us want to keep breakfast light. We still didn’t have a ton of time, unfortunately, as she had to be at her flight stupid early due to the latest round of flight scares on Christmas Day. So I turned to my favourite cookbook of late for some pancakes.

I was immediately drawn to Light and Fluffy Pancake recipe, and was intrigued by the many variations Bittman suggested. A great recipe and an awesome variation. I can definitely say these are the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever made. The whipped egg white gives it a really nice height, though it does mean you have to be pretty careful that the griddle isn’t too hot so that it doesn’t stay soggy inside. I was pleased that most of them cooked just right. A lovely not-too-heavy breakfast to see my mom off.

I give you Light and Fluffy PoppySeed Pancakes: