Eggnog French Toast with Brown Butter Maple Syrup

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have the most wonderful day with your family, friends, and loved ones.

I'm planning on doing the same. And while I'm at it, I'll be enjoying a lot of good food.

I won't be with family this year for the holidays, but we'll be with our California family - laying around in our pajamas, all pitching in with good food, talking, playing games, eating, watching movies, and oh yeah... eating! :)

I made this eggnog french toast for breakfast for Archie and I and it was fantastic. The eggnog flavor is not strong at all, but the brown butter maple syrup will SERIOUSLY change your life! NOT kidding.... at.... all! Seriously people, go make the brown butter syrup right now. Then make this really easy and yummy french toast sticks recipe and serve it together for your family.

This recipe is a great way to use up all your leftover eggnog so it doesn't get wasted! If you don't like eggnog, you can definitely substitute the whole liquid amount for milk - but I don't recommend it! :)

EGGNOG FRENCH TOAST WITH BROWN BUTTER MAPLE SYRUP (Adapted From Simply Scratch)

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

10 slices of thick break (I used buttermilk bread)

4 whole eggs, room temperature

2/3 cup eggnog, room temperature

2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

For Syrup:

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 stick butter

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Slice bread into 4 slices each. In a shallow pan whisk together eggs, eggnog, milk, cooled butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. Dip the bread pieces into the egg mixture and place on a cookie cooling rack to drip off extra batter.

4. Place dipped pieces evenly on a cookie sheet, leaving a small amount of space between so they don't stick. Place the sheets in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Turn over after 15 minutes and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.

5. For syrup: Place the butter into a small skillet pan and melt - allowing to cook until butter turns golden, foam disappears, and it emits a nutty smell.

6. Combine the syrup and browned butter in a bowl and whisk to mix together. Serve with baked french toast.

Read more...

Oatmeal Nut Bacon Waffles

Has anyone else already seen Twilight yet? I promise.... I'm really not a Twilight junkie or obsessed - REALLY... but I did go see the movie last night. :)

I read the books over the summer, and after you read the books - it gives you a totally different perspective on the movies. And I have to say - they did a really good job keeping with the books. It's not like some movies where it's "loosely related".

So, how about some waffles for your Saturday morning! These aren't just any waffles - they're Toasted Oatmeal Browned Nut Sugared Bacon Waffles!!!! Is that a mouthful or what? So I took out all the adjectives for you and just renamed them Oatmeal Nut Bacon Waffles - but that just doesn't sound as good!

They have crunchy pieces of toasted oatmeal and nuts hiding inside. And the best part is you bake some bacon with brown sugar on it (My friend Kelly's idea that is to DIE for! We all swoon for her bacon), cut it up into little pieces, and put it inside the waffles. So every now and then you get a secret little gem of sugared bacon in your bite of waffle. YUM!

Sometimes I wonder how my husband puts up with me and doesn't just say, "can't we just have some waffles out of the box today?!"

Oatmeal Nut Bacon Waffles (Adapted from: Taste of Home)

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar, divided

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup chopped walnuts

10 pieces bacon

Preparation:

1. Prepare Bacon- Lay a piece of parchment paper over a baking tray and place bacon on top.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar evenly over bacon. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until crispy.

2. While bacon is cooking, combine by whisking dry ingredients in a bowl - flour, baking powder, salt and additional 1/4 cup brown sugar.

3. On the stove top in a small pan, place nuts on medium heat and warm until golden brown and you can smell the nuts - that means they are done. Remember to keep moving the pan around in order to cook evenly.

4. Do the same thing with the oats.

5. Then mix the wet ingredients - eggs, milk, butter.

6. Then mix in the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and fold in the nuts, oats.

7. Once the bacon is finished cooking, drain quickly on paper towels and then move over to a cutting board and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add to waffle mix.

8. Place approximately 1/4 - 1/3 cup of batter onto waffle iron and cook until golden brown. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Read more...

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!

That's my Southern Girl talk for - I LOVE FALL!! I know I just might have mentioned on this blog at least 5 times how much I love the fall, so of course there's going to be a recipe dedicated to the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!!

What's the first day of fall without 90 degree weather?? California, known for 75 degree weather year-round, and being one of the most beautiful weather states in the entire U.S. has officially hit a heat wave. It does not feel like fall today, but I've heard we're in for a cool down this weekend. Cue in jackets, pumpkin spice lattes, and early morning weekend runs that have a little bit of a nip in the air. Perfection!

These little muffin doughnuts are a yummy little taste of fall. They have the consistency of little doughnuts - full of air, soft and yummy, but they bake up in muffin pans - no rising, yeast, or frying needed! A slightly healthier version of a fall-flavored munchkin (ahh! Dunkin Doughnuts how I miss you!). I followed the original recipe for the topping for half the batch and covered with sugar, and then I made a slight adaption to the Pioneer Women's cinnamon roll maple icing and dipped the rest of them in there. I think hands-down, the maple icing was the hit! With the addition of the nutmeg in the doughnut, it truly is a little taste of heaven in your mouth!

Baked Doughnut Muffins (Adapted from: La Mia Via Dolce)

Print Recipe Here

Ingredients:

For Doughnuts

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 3/4 cup milk

• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (preferably Mexican vanilla)

For Topping/Icing

• 1 tablespoons butter, melted

• 1/4 cup sugar, for rolling

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

5-6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (until thin enough to dip doughnuts without them crumbling)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 3 mini muffin tins with oil (I used my pampered chef spritzer, and it worked great... no sticking)

2. In a large bowl, beat together egg and the sugar until light and fluffy.

You really can't make doughnuts without coffee.. it's a sin!

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and the nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture slowly and stir to combine using hand mixer.

4. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla. Mix together until smooth.

5. Divide batter evenly among mini muffin pans, filling them about 3/4 of the way up.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow them to cool slightly.

7. While muffins are cooling right after baking, melt the butter and brush over the tops of the muffins. Dip the tops into bowl with sugar. Cool

AND/OR: Combine all ingredients for icing in small bowl and beat together until smooth/creamy. Dip tops of muffins into icing and allow to cool.

Read more...