notes from my food diary

I don’t remember when I started but I’m not a big breakfast eater anymore. Usually my breakfast consists of milk, juice and banana during the weekdays, days which I don’t want to think “big” in the morning. Weekends are different. These are the days I could plan ahead, a day that I could be a little creative with my or actually, my family’s breakfast. All my breakfast choices that I’ve written in this blog are mostly comfort foods, foods such as pancakes, waffles, sticky buns, or quick breads. I love those and fortunately my family members feel the same too.

This next recipe that I’m going to share is something that I’ve never thought would be good for breakfast item. But actually it fitted in the theme quite nicely. The recipe is called finger pies, which uses pie crust as the skin that would be cut into small rounds and filled with preserves and chocolate chips. The end result looked similarly like empanadas. Later it would be rolled in confectioners’ sugar, just like cookies! I like the size of the pies especially, that way I could nibble on it while reading my comics in Sunday morning.

The recipe suggested that this type of pie is something that you could do with your kids. The size of the pie and simple ingredients really help. I enlisted my son to help me scatter the chocolate chips after I dropped the preserves in the pastry. It was really fun activity! Because this was a success, I’m sending this for Waiter There Is Something In My… that’s hosted by Johanna from The Passionate Cook. The theme for April is breakfast favorite. It has become a new favorite in my family, so hopefully it’ll be one for you too.

Now that I knew how to make this in a snap, I want to try it with different preserves. I was thinking of making pineapple preserves just like the one I usually use to make Pineapple cookies (Nanas tart) and fill the pie with that. This pie needs a preserves that’s thick and substantial. Time to go get the pineapples! Yay…

Little Preserves and Chocolate Finger Pies

Tender Cream Cheese Pastry
Yields 1 single crust, 9-inch standard pie

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces 1/3-less fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, cream cheese, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment. Blend for 30 to 45 seconds on medium-low speed. Stop once or twice, if necessary, to scrape the build-up from the beater. Stopping the machine before each addition, first add the confectioners’ sugar and 1/2 cup of the flour. With the mixer on low, blend until the flour is incorporated. Add another 1/2 cup of the flour and blend. Add the remaining flour. When all of the flour has been added and the dough starts to ball up around the beater, stop the machine. Remove the bowl and scarpe the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

Gently knead 2 or 3 times. Divide the dough into 2 pieces of the same size. Knead each piece into a ball, then flatten it into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. Wrap the disk in plastic and refrigerated for at least an hour, preferable longer, until firm enough to roll but not too solid.

Filling

Raspberry, strawberry, or other fruit preserves
Handful of semisweet chocolate chips

Garnish

Confectioners’ sugar

On a lightly floured work area, roll the dough slightly less than 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter, cut the pastry into circles. Remove the scraps, leaving the rounds in place.

Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the preserves into the center of each circle. Scatter a few chocolate chips around the preserves. Moisten the entire edge of the pastry with a wet fingertip or pastry brush, then fold the circle in half and press the edge together to seal. Roll the edge up slightly, forming a sort of rope edge. As you work, transfer each pie to the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little room between them. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 ^oF.

Using a paring knife, poke 1 or 2 small steam vents in the top of each pie. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the hot pies to a wire rack. As soon as they’re cool enough to handle, put some confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Roll each pie in the confectioners’ sugar, coating it heavily, and return it to the rack. Serve warm or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Source: adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich

This bread has been a staple in my household for a few weeks simply because we are crazy about its texture and the flavor of sesame seeds in it. I adapted the recipe a little bit by using a white whole wheat flour instead of the regular whole wheat flour. The result is exactly what I want in a wheat bread, soft with golden crust. Some time I will leave the crust unadorned, some other time I brush it with milk and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Using toasted sesame seeds seem to heighten the flavor of it, though it’s fine to use untoasted seeds. The recipe came from my beloved book, The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger. But even though the recipe is for a bread machine, I actually use the machine only to knead the dough and do the rest in the oven. I’m really partial to use milk and/or a combination of milk and water to achieve the best texture, and this bread is one of the best recipes in the book. Using only oil and/or water quite often resulted in a dryer bread and that’s not what my family like. The recipe suggested to eat the bread the day it’s made and I’ve proven that it actually lasted longer than one day! Even after three or four days in my bread box, it’s still unbelievably soft.

Old-Fashioned Sesame-Wheat Bread
For 1 1/2-pound loaf

3/4 cup water
3/8 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

2 1/4 cups bread flour
3/8 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Place all the ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set to Dough cycle; press Start. While the dough is rising, grease a 9×5 x 2-inch loaf pan.

When the Dough cycle ends, immediately remove the dough from the pan. Using a rolling pin, and on a work surface lightly dusted with flour to prevent sticking, roll out the dough into a rectangular. Roll the dough by the short side tightly to form a loaf. Place it in the pan, cover and let it rise until doubled in bulk for about 1 hour (preferably in a warm temperature setting).

About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F. If you desired, brush the crust with egg wash or milk and scatter some sesame seeds on top. Bake the bread for about 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove the bread from the loaf and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Source: adapted from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger

Finger Sticks French Toast

And to add some variety of our daily breakfast, I made finger stick French toast using this bread. This time instead of using whole eggs I used leftover egg whites. Now, the toast wasn’t exactly as fluffy as it would had been dipped in whole eggs mixture, but it was pretty good and quite healthy. The recipe for egg white French toast could be found on the Internet. Four egg whites combine with milk, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon would be enough to soak about 4-5 slices of bread. You could leave the bread whole, make them to sticks, hearts or whatever shape you like. Serve with maple syrup and maybe some fresh fruits, you’ll have a wholesome breakfast.

I’ve written many times before that I simply love bread. I’m totally a carbohydrate-loving person and am not the one who’ll say no breads. When I’m in the mood, I will rummage my fridge or pantry for something to be done. Am I the only that have that habit? A few days ago I found a tub of sour cream in the fridge, already opened and faces an expiration date very soon. I don’t like wasting food so I soon looked for recipes using sour cream in a different way. For sure I didn’t want to do another coffee cake for sure or muffins. So here is a clever and tasty way to use up leftover sour cream, sour-cream twists. They’re good tasting breads quite easily become regular breakfast item in my household. The filling could be varied so I can’t wait to try another version of this recipe!

Sour-Cream Twists
Makes about 10-12 twists

Dough
1 cup sour cream, warmed
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 package dry yeast
1 egg
About 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, softened
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons water
Lemon juice, optional

To make the dough: Stir the sour cream, sugar, salt and yeast together in a large mixing bowl. Let stand for a couple of minutes to dissolve the yeast. Stir well again, then add the egg and 2 cups of the flour, and beat until the mixture is smooth. Add enough more flour—about 1/2 cup—to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two, sprinkling on more flour if necessary to make a manageable dough. Roll and pat into a rectangle about 10×14 inches. Pull the corners out a bit if necessary to square them off.

Spread the softened butter over the dough in a thin, even layer. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together, then sprinkle evenly over the butter. Cut the dough in half lengthwise, then stack one piece on the other, so you have a layer of filling in the middle and a layer of filling on top. Cut into 1-inch-wide strips. Twist each strip several times and place about an inch apart on a buttered baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for about 15 minutes, until the top edges are golden. Remove from the oven and transfer to racks to cool.

To make the glaze: Combine the confectioners’ sugar, water and few squirts of lemon juice if you like, and beat until you have a smooth paste. Brush on the twists while they are still hot.

Source: The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham

Yes, I actually feeling a little blue because my freezer is bursting to capacity and those frozen blueberries from last summer are sitting on the shelves looking too blue! Alright, I said to myself, it’s time to bake lotsa things with blueberries in them. I’ve made white chocolate cheesecake with blueberries for my friend a few weeks ago and I was ready for a new challenge. Coincidentally, I borrowed a book from the library that has the right answer to my problem. It’s Martha Stewart’s book of Christmas. I didn’t remember why I picked this book, it’s probably out of curiousity since I have a yearning to read all the cookbooks there is in the library. The book has a recipe for blueberry sticky buns. Sticky buns filled with blueberries? Now, that’s something I haven’t done yet. Honestly, I get bored with the regular cinnamon-nuts combination sometimes, the idea of sticky buns with fruits is brilliant.

My technique was slightly different from the book’s because I used a bread machine to knead the dough. For some reason, the dough became a little too big, though not overproofed. Hence, I had to prepare two 8-inch square pans instead of just one to fit 12 rolls of sticky buns in it. I also mixed half all-purpose flour with half bread flour (1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/1 2 cups bread flour) to get a texture that I love from using bread flour. The end result was flatter but still goey from the juicy blueberries and tender. They were not so sweet and perfect for Sunday breakfast.

Bluberry Sticky Buns
Makes 1 dozen

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for bowl, plastic wrap, and pan
1 envelope active dry yeast (1 scant tablespoon)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, plus a pinch for yeast
1 cup warm milk (about 110 degree F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3 cups fresh blueberries (about 3/4 pound), picked over and rinsed
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup light corn syrup

Butter an 8-inch square baking pan; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar over 1/4 cup warm water (abou 110 degree F). Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Whisk in milk, remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, the salt, and egg.

If using bread machine, set to Dough mode. Watch out the dough constitency, add flour as needed. After the dough rises, proceed to the next step.

Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, gradually add 2 cups flour; continue beating untill fully incorporated. Switch to the dough-hook attachment, With mixer on low, gradually add remaining cup flour to create a sticky dough. Continue kneading until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Scrape onto a well-floured work surface; dust dough with flour. With floured hands, knead until dough is no longer sticky, about 1 minute.

Transfer dough, smooth side up, to a large buttered bowl. Cover wuth a lightly buttered sheet of plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add berries; cook, stirring constantly, until juicy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown-sugar mixture into prepared pan, reserving the rest, and drizzle with corn syrup. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Divide dough into two equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one piece into a 9-by-12 inch rectangle. Brush with 1/2 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle half the reserved brown-sugar mixture over butter; top with half the berries. Starting with one short side, roll dough into a 9-inch log, pinching to seal the seam. Repeat with remaining dough, melted butter, brown-sugar mixture, and berries.

Cut each log into six rounds; place, cut side up, in prepared pan. If any fruit mixture spills out of the rolls, spoon into pan. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 15 minutes.

Transfer pan to oven, ands bake until cewnters spring back and tops are deep golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool in pan 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen; invert buns onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Source: adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook.

One afternoon my family and I were driving home from Eugene. I mentioned to my husband to stop at Wal-mart to buy milks since we’re out of them. Now, I don’t go shopping at Wal-mart that often so when I go there I’m always amazed that they carry quite a variety of things. While shopping, I found this package of toasted bread by Bimbo. Yes, you read it right, it’s Bimbo. And it’s made in Mexico. Well, of course in Mexico Bimbo would mean a different thing, in fact the package sported a white bear with a hat—almost like a Pillsbury doughboy—with a great smile, but I still couldn’t help smiling whenever I read the name. The toasted bread of Bimbo brand is called Pan Tostado. The bread is toasted very crispy and it reminded me of similar toasted bread in Indonesia. The one in Indonesia is known as bagelen, it has thicker and more three-dimensional shape (ehem…I actually forgot how it looks while typing this chuckled). Bagelen tastes a little more sweet-salty than pan tostado and smelled buttery too. I miss eating good bagelen here and so couldn’t contain myself not to grab a package of pan tostado. If I’m not mistaken these crisp, toasted breads may have originated from Europe, because I would find similar toasted bread in Indian market.

At home, I simply smeared these with jam. My son liked them allright but my husband didn’t touch any of it. Hmmm…so I guess he doesn’t care for really crispy bread or bagelen either. Some times I would toast slices of bread with salted butter spread on it and sprinkled some sugar on top for breakfast. It’s very close to being a homemade bagelen to me. I don’t want to get attached too much to Bimbo because it’s not known as a healthy food (it has preservatives, of course). But sometimes one has to do what one wants to eat, so yeah…I must admit that I’m addicted to Bimbo as of now. Would that make me a Bimbo (fan)?