Mother's Day Frangipane French Toast

OK, so this morning I didn't actually cook this for breakfast because my girls made me breakfast-in-bed! But this would be a great treat for Mother's Day (or any day)! I love stuffed french toast. Usually we use cream cheese mixed with a bit of orange marmalade or chopped apricots, cranberries, or something along those lines, but I also love frangipane--that luscious rich mixture of almond meal, butter, sugar and cream (although it can be made from other nuts as well). It suited the sweet Challah bread we used for the french toast amazingly well.

Frangipane:

• 1/2 cup finely ground almonds or almond meal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup softened butter (please do not use margarine!)
• 2 Tbs. half and half or cream*

Note: you can substitute 6 oz. of sweetened almond paste for the almonds and sugar if desired. You can also use this recipe, plus one egg, for a filling for tarts, sweet rolls and other BAKED goods. I have left the egg out here due to the fact that the filling does not get cooked, only warmed through; plus it would be too runny for this purpose if it had the egg.

*If you don't have or don't want to open a whole container of cream for 2 Tbs. worth, you can substitute rum, brandy, cointreau, Gran Marnier, or other liquer of choice. You could probably even use a spoonful of yogurt or apple juice if liquer for breakfast isn't your thing...

For the French Toast Batter:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

Slice sweet Challah or Brioche bread into thick slices (1-inch PLUS). Slice each piece again as if making two thin slices from one thick one, but do not go all the way through the bread--leave about 1/2-inch from the bottom unsliced--you are essentially making a little pocket to fill with the frangipane (see below).

In a wide bowl, beat egg, milk and flavoring until uniform in color. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Butter or oil skillet/griddle if necessary. Dip stuffed french toast slices into egg mixture, coating both sides. Cook until browned on both sides, 3-4 minutes each (longer cooking time than regular french toast is needed so as to warm the filling). Remove to low oven to keep warm (if you can resist eating them out of hand!). Serve topped with desired fruit topping or syrup (our favorites: apple, pear, or blueberry) or simply dusted with powdered sugar.

Olive Oil Carrot Scones, or A Happy Accident

Ever since happening across the Carrot-Rosemary Scones recipe at C&Z I have been aching to try it. I even had the chickpea flour, but I also had some levain I wanted to use up. Strike one: chickpea flour has gone rancid...and after the barrage of holiday baking, I have pretty much exhausted all of my "interesting" flours. But I had semolina...not all that "interesting" but moreso than all-purpose flour, so I continued to pursue the recipe. So far, I've found that you can modify just about any recipe in order to use levain (to use 1 cup levain, substitute for 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup liquid). But this recipe (I was making a half-batch for our family's dinner) only requires a small amount of liquid to help bind the dough together, so that part of the plan was challenged as well, strike two (almost). I didn't have parmesan, but did have a nice firm white cheddar, which actually worked quite well paired with the carrots and the rosemary.

But the real "oops" of this endeavor occurred when I started putting it all together. I measured out the levain into a bowl first, then the dry flours...oops...how was I now supposed to cut the butter into the wet, floppy dough with any success? Having discovered a local olive oil that is divine I opted to substitute the olive oil for the butter and approach the whole thing from a batter bread perspective. I'm not sure if this removes them from the "scone" category or not, but I don't think it matters what you call them--they were delicious! And honestly the dough was manageable enough to make drop-scones out of them. By omitting the butter and cream (via the liquid from the levain) they are also a bit healthier as well. If you don't have levain on hand, you can revert to the original recipe for flour and liquid quantities. I got 8 palm-sized scones from this recipe.

• 1/2 cup levain (sourdough starter), refreshed
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup semolina flour (although I think the chickpea flour would be excellent too!)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2-3/4 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup finely shredded cheese (parmesan, romano, sharp cheddar, or crumbled chevre would be great)
• 1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed lightly
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp mustard powder or 1 Tbs prepared fine mustard such as Dijon

Combine all ingredients and stir briefly with a fork, just until combined. I never bother with patting and cutting biscuits or scones, and this recipe might be a bit too messy to do so; drop by spoonful onto baking sheet (or however big you want to make them--mine were about a 1/4-cup worth per scone). Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Multigrain Soft Pretzels

I usually shy away from yeasted bread recipes between the kneading and the proofing and time it takes to produce. However, this recipe is so simple and quick (as yeasted breads go) that our family has made it several times in the last couple of months. Obviously, the kids love them for breakfast, lunches and snacks, and they love helping to twist the dough into unique shapes! *The barley flour, oat bran and flax seed can of course be substituted by your favorite flours or meals (we have used oatmeal, quinoa flour, rye, and wheat bran in different batches). I normally use a combination of half white and half whole-wheat flour in all of my baking, and if you don’t have any other kinds of flour, bran, etc. on hand, you can simply increase the amounts of both to 2 cups. I have also substituted one cup homemade sourdough starter for ½ cup each of the water and flour mixture.

• 1 package yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (approx 90-100 degrees F)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup barley flour*
• 1/4 cup coarse oat bran*
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal*
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbs baking soda
• Boiling water
• Kosher salt, sesame seeds or other toppings

Stir together the yeast, honey and warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in the flours, bran, flaxseed meal and salt. The dough should be stiff. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. (You might need extra flour for the board depending on how the flours/meals you mixed in take the moisture.)

Cut dough into 8 equal pieces, roll into 15-by-20-inch ropes, twist into pretzel shapes and gently place on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. (Note, if you don’t have non-stick parchment paper, I recommend a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal so the dough doesn’t stick.) To make the distinctive pretzel shape, cross the ends of the rope twice about 1-2 inches from the ends and fold the loop down over the twisted section. Alternatively, you can make pretzel braids, bagel shapes, or small balls—whatever the kids want—just make sure the shapes and sizes are relatively uniform on each baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes, or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Bring 2 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda to a boil. Submerge the pretzels one at a time in this solution for 5 to 10 seconds, pushing them under the water with a slotted spoon, then take them out carefully (you can transfer them directly to the parchment dripping wet otherwise they will start to fall apart if you try to drain them too long). Brush with a whisked egg and sprinkle with kosher salt, sesame seeds or other topping if desired. Bake at 475 degrees on the middle rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. They are best straight out of the oven, of course, but if you are storing them, make sure they are completely cool before placing in a bag or container, otherwise the salt will soften and “disappear.” For a healthy snack, we like to dip them in hummus or herbed yogurt cheese (stir your favorite herb blend and salt and pepper into lowfat plain yogurt and let sit in a strainer lined with paper towel overnight or up to 24 hours).

Adapted from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94196698