Breakfast | I Can Cook That

Coconut Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Muffins are the perfect Sunday baking activity to set yourself up for breakfasts throughout the week. I haven’t made a batch in so long so I’m happy I finally had time to do so! I was given the opportunity to try Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil and I thought the best way to try the oil out would be in baking. (I adapted this recipe for Coconut Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins from the 1 Mix, 100 Muffins cookbook.)

Coconut oil can be used like butter in its solid state and like oil in its liquid state. It does have a slight coconut flavor to it so it’s a great way to enhance the flavor of many dishes. These Coconut-Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins have just a hint of coconut that is really complementary to the Lemon flavor.

Tropical Traditions is also sponsoring a giveaway! One lucky reader will win their very own jar of coconut oil! Details below.

Ingredients (this recipe makes a dozen muffins):

2 cups all-purpose flour, leveled with a knife

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted and allowed to cool slightly

the zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Note: The method I will list below is the one I ended up using for this recipe. And the reason I used this method was because I completely forgot to add in the sugar and poppy seeds at the correct time! Anyways, the muffins turned out fine. Whew.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Add 6 tablespoons coconut oil to a small saute pan over medium heat until completely melted. Remove from heat and reserve.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. (If you have a stand mixer, add the dough hook and turn it on low for a minute or two. It will break up all the chunks, just as good as sifting!)

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs.

Add the milk, melted coconut oil, and lemon rind. And mix with a whisk to combine.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet mixture to the bowl.

Stir until just combined (I used the lowest setting on my stand mixer. You can just use a spatula.)

Add the sugar and poppy seeds, stirring until just combined.

Add the batter to the muffin pan. To get equal sized muffins, use a small ladle or an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter.

Bake the muffins for 20-22 minutes; you want the muffins to have risen and be slightly golden brown on top, or when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove.

So everyone knows how delicious normal Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are. The coconut oil brings the muffins from good to great!

They are so fragrant. I was having trouble photographing them because I kept trying to eat them!

There is definitely a taste of coconut present without it being overwhelming; I find that coconut can really overtake a dish sometimes.

The lemon still shines through and is wonderfully sweet (due to all that sugar!)

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

So on to the giveaway!

Win 1 quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!

Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil? You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

To enter, use the widget below. You have 8 chances to win (Writing a comment is mandatory, the rest are optional)! Giveaway ends this Friday, May 11 at 11:59PM EST. Good luck!

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Strawberry Banana Stuffed French Toast

It’s spring! And spring means (among other things) that strawberries are back in season. So what better way to use them than for a delicious weekend brunch? This Strawberry Banana Stuffed French Toast uses strawberries three ways: fresh, in a strawberry sauce, and for an extra touch of strawberry goodness, in a strawberry jam. And because I love bananas, I threw in a couple slices of that as well. I found the strawberry sauce recipe here and my French toast recipe is based off of this post.

Ingredients:

4 challah rolls

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (unsweeted)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 cup sliced strawberries, divided

3 tablespoons honey

the juice and zest of one lemon

4 ounces low fat cream cheese

1 tablespoon strawberry jam

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 banana, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

Begin by slicing the challah rolls in half. In a large bowl, add the eggs, almond milk and 2 tablespoons sugar.

Add the roll halves and mix to coat.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

one hour later

Add 1 cup sliced strawberries, 3 tablespoons honey, and the lemon juice and zest to a bowl and mix to combine.

Allow to stand for 1 hour. (I actually ended up leaving both for over an hour. Whoops.)

one hour later

Combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract and strawberry jam.

Slice the rest of your strawberries and your banana.

Heat a saute pan over medium high heat and add 1 teaspoon butter. Add 1 set of challah rolls to the saute pan and cook for three minutes.

Flip and cook for three more minutes.

While waiting for the side to cook, add 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture to one piece of roll.

Add slices of strawberry and banana.

When the bread is done cooking, assemble the pieces of bread. Add one to two tablespoons of the strawberry sauce and a few more slices of banana.

Repeat with remaining rolls. How good does that look?

The challah rolls were crispy while the cream cheese mixture was nice and creamy.

The strawberry sauce was tangy, just enough to complement the sweetness of the rest of the French toast.

And as usual, I am a big fan of the already portioned serving. It gives me a better chance of not being a piggy. 🙂

I loved this! I wish I could eat this every spring day. Except I think people would begin to judge me…

Banana Berry Pecan Granola Bars

There are so many fantastic food bloggers out there. One food blog I regularly check is Cookin’ Canuck. Dara makes the most appealing looking recipes and her photos are always stunning. She has also cooked her way healthy and has a wonderful post about her journey. Dara has a great recipe for Low Fat Granola Bars with Bananas, Dried Cranberries, and Pecans that I just had to try. I switched it ever so slightly, but you can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup pecan pieces
3 ripe bananas
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons honey (to make vegan, substitute agave nectar)
3/4 cup dried berries (I used Trader Joe’s Golden Berry Blend)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 tbsp whole flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt

A Taste of Ireland

With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching I have been thinking back to my trip to Ireland quite a bit. I had such a great time that I wanted to relive a little piece of it, through food of course! I was chosen to be a part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 for March so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make some Irish treats. I invited my Dad, boyfriend and Aunt who all came on the trip with me to Ireland as well as my grandpa, who grew up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, and my mom, who didn’t get to do the trip with us. I honestly was a bit nervous about this undertaking, I didn’t want to disappoint my grandpa or mess up a traditional meal!

We began with a mini traditional Irish breakfast for an appetizer. An Irish breakfast consists of black and white pudding, bangers (sausage), rashers (bacon), a fried egg, baked beans, and a fried tomato. Because this was just an appetizer, I used quail eggs instead of traditional eggs. I found the black and white pudding, bangers and rashers on foodireland.com, a great website for Irish food products.

A traditional Irish breakfast is quite the meal. In my grandfather’s words “you should eat a good breakfast, because you don’t know when you’ll eat again.” My appetizer version still included all parts of an Irish breakfast in much smaller portions. I personally am not a fan of black pudding or bangers, but I love the rest of an Irish breakfast and was so happy to have this as an appetizer.

The main course was a beef stew. I used my Irish stew recipe I made last year, but substituted beef instead of lamb and omitted the peas.

The Guinness adds such a nice flavor to this stew. I suggest making this ahead of time and freezing it. Stew always tastes better when the broth has had time to thicken.

I also made some Brown Soda Bread to eat with the Irish breakfast and the stew. Soda bread contains flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, butter and buttermilk. My version also had raisins and caraway seeds for extra flavor.

Soda bread is traditionally served with Irish butter and/or jam (I’m a fan of black currant jam, yum!)

We were pretty darn full from the stew and Irish breakfast but there was still dessert to be had. I went off of the traditional for dessert, making a Black and Tan brownie based off of a Cooking Light recipe, but made them in a 9×9 pan and cooked them for 45 minutes. I also cut them into huge pieces, making 9 total.

They were served with a scoop of ice cream and some Irish coffee and tea. The phrase Black and Tan comes from the nickname given to English soldiers that came to Ireland to suppress the 1916 Easter Rising, which eventually became the name of a half Guinness and half Bass beer in America. Black and Tans really aren’t popular in Ireland, but they still make a cute idea for a brownie! (I decided these yummy brownies needed their own post. Check it out here)

My family seemed to really enjoy the meal. The Irish breakfast was a big hit but I think the Irish soda bread was the real star of the night. My grandpa even requested to take some home with him. I am glad we were given the chance to sit down, enjoy some Irish food, and talk about Ireland again. Now, to plan our next trip over there…

Homemade Pancake Mix

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with store-bought pancake mix. However, are you aware of how easy it is to make your own at home? This recipe makes 16 pancakes; you can store the dry mix in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

Pumpkin Sticky Buns with Caramel-Pecan Drizzle

Today I wrote my first guest post over at A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis. His page is truly stunning so I am honored to be the guest post this week. Stop on by Chef Dennis’ blog to see my post on Pumpkin Sticky Buns with Caramel-Pecan drizzle!

I think you are well aware of my pumpkin obsession by now (I have twelve other posts on here using pumpkin!) so I really wanted to do something special to round out my bakers dozen of pumpkin recipes. The recipe does take some time, so this would definitely be a weekend choice. But you can refrigerate the dough or even freeze it once it is shaped into the sticky buns. I hope you enjoy my post!

Bacon, Egg & Toast Cups with Spinach

I came across this Martha Stewart recipe this week and was kind of mad at myself for not thinking of it first. It’s brilliant. I love the idea of an entire breakfast within one little “muffin”. This would be a wonderful idea for a breakfast with guests: they look wonderful and really don’t take much time or preparation at all.

Ingredients: (makes 4)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

6 slices sandwich bread (I strongly suggest the Rye-Pumpernickel Swirl bread)

4 slices bacon

12 spinach leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

Bread Pudding with Peanut Butter-ROOT Sauce and Sliced Bananas

I have wanted to make bread pudding for a long time. But I’ve been too lazy to actually search for inspiration. So when the “How to Cook Like A Top Chef” cookbook literally showed up on my door step containing a recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding, I knew it was time for me to finally make the delicious treat. I actually made this for a really decadent breakfast over the weekend, a little treat for making it through a long week.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

(adapted from Ash & Ashley’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding)

3 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 brioche knots, cut into cubes (I got 9 cubes per knot)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 oz ROOT liqueur

1 banana, sliced

Begin by whisking together the eggs and honey vigorously until combined and fluffy.

In a pot, add 1 cup heavy cream over medium heat until it begins to bubble lightly. Reduce the heat to low. Add a little bit of the warm cream to the egg/honey mixture, whisking vigorously so that the eggs don’t curdle. (This is called tempering). Add the egg mixture to the pot with the remaining cream, whisking constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Prepare the brioche rolls, cutting into cubes. I bought the rolls at Trader Joe’s, they are the perfect size for individual servings of bread pudding.

Add the bread cubes and the custard to a large bowl, stirring lightly to coat. Add the chocolate chips. Allow to sit for at least a half hour at room temperature. If planning ahead, you can do up to this step the night ahead of time and allow the bread to soak overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the bread mixture to a loaf pan. Place the loaf pan into a cookie sheet with sizes. Add hot water into the cookie sheet so that the entire bottom is covered.

Cook for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Add 1/2 cup cream and the condensed milk to a pot over medium heat.

When it bubbles, reduce to low and whisk in the peanut butter, ROOT, and vanilla extract. ROOT is a flavored liqueur that slightly resembles the taste of root beer. I made an awesome chocolate cake with it before so I thought it would work great in a sauce for bread pudding. You can read my post and more information on ROOT here. (If you’re making this for kids, feel free to just omit the ROOT.)

Whisk until smooth. If you want it a bit thinner, add more cream.

Spoon the sauce over the bread pudding while still warm. Top with banana slices.

What an absolutely delicious bread pudding. I can’t believe I ate this for breakfast, but I’m not ashamed either, it was amazing! I’m glad I only made a serving each for my boyfriend and I, or I’d eat this all day!

I had some of the sauce left over, which I plan on saving for ice cream!

The flavors work really well together in this dish (and how could they not??): chocolate, peanut butter, banana, with a hint of root beer at the end.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

At the request of a coworker (and by request I mean he brought in cans of pumpkin puree), I finally made a pumpkin classic — Pumpkin Bread. Although usually made with walnuts or pecans, I instead decided to use chocolate chips. I used a recipe from Cooking Lightas a base for the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves to a medium sized bowl.

Combine using a whisk.

Add the sugar, egg substitute, oil, buttermilk, and eggs in a large bowl.

Using a mixer, beat on high until well mixed.

Add 2/3 cup water and the pumpkin puree.

Beat on low until blended.

Add the dry flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat on low until just combined.

Add the chocolate chips. Combine using a spatula. Be sure to not overmix.

Add batter into 2 9×5 inch loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Using a knife to loosen the edges, remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

You can either half this recipe, or freeze the extra bread for up to one month. Just tightly wrap it in plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer.

The original recipe topped the bread with pecans or chopped walnuts, feel free to do that as well before baking.

If you think the bread is browning too much on top, cover it with tin foil towards the end (with 10-15 minutes left).

This bread is so so yummy. I love when I can pass off a dessert-like bread for a breakfast also. (Shh.)

I limited a bit of the spices, more so than I usually would, so that the star would be the sweetness from the chocolate chips. Definitely a winner!

French Toast with Maple-Apple Compote

I love French toast. I may or may not have had dreams about Sabrina’s French Toast (in the Italian Market in Philly) but I always have a bit of eater’s remorse when I realize how many calories I managed to consume before 10 am. I must not be the only one, because Cooking Light had a lighter French Toast recipe that takes advantage of seasonal apples in their most recent issue.

Ingredients (4 servings):

Compote:
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon butter
3 sliced and peeled Fuji apples
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
French toast:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 knotted challah rolls
2 teaspoons butter, divided
Powdered sugar (optional)

Prepare the apples. Peel the apples and slice into somewhat even sizes so that they cook evenly. If you cannot find Fuji apples, Cooking Light suggests substituting Liberty, Pink Lady, or Jonahold apples because they will maintain their shape while cooking.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and coat the pan with cooking spray. Melt 1 teaspoon butter and add the apples. Cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Be sure to stir so that all sides of the apple get evenly cooked.

Stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon and keep warm.

In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Add milk, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs and whisk until blended.

Slice each of the challah knots in half.

Add the challah pieces 1 or 2 at a time to the milk mixture, coating them well on each side.

Using the same saute pan you used for the apple compote (this will give the French toast a slight apple flavor), melt 1/2 teaspoon butter in the pan over medium heat. Add 2 bread slices and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. (Because of the knot, press down on the slices so that it can cook evenly). Repeat with remaining butter and slices.

Serve topped with compote and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

This was a very satisfying breakfast, but didn’t weigh me down. The apples caramelized, bringing out their sweetness which was a nice addition to the French toast. I loved using the individual rolls of challah, you end up with an already portioned for you meal.

This recipe was so good, I actually made it again the next morning!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

I was really hoping to make actual pumpkin bread using Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale, but I couldn’t find pumpkin puree anywhere! Two years in a row of crop shortages are making it very difficult for me to enjoy my favorite ingredient. Anyways, I instead made a Pumpkin Spice Bread.

Ingredients:

1 Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (or other Pumpkin Beer)

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the brown sugar, flour, baking powder, spices and salt to a medium sized bowl.

Mix to combine. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add the beer. It will fizz up a lot!

Fold the dry ingredients into the beer until just combined. You do not want to over stir it, or the bread will not rise.

Add the chocolate chips and walnuts and stir to combine.

Spray a bread pan with cooking spray and add the dough to the pan.

Cook for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool and then remove from the pan using a knife to loosen the edges.

Serve with butter sprinkled with cinnamon.

The bread has a subtle sweetness to it which makes it perfect for breakfast. I love crunch from the walnuts and the extra pop of sweetness from the chocolate chips.

Greek Yogurt with Warm Berry Sauce

I have a serious sweet tooth. To such an extreme, that I cannot have ice cream in my house or I will eat it in one sitting. It doesn’t matter if I buy a pint or a gallon. Sigh. It’s quite an issue I have. So I tend to try to avoid making dessert all together if I’m cooking, but this recipe seemed too good to pass up. Once again, this came from Cooking Light’s Quick & Healthy Menu Maker App to go with the Mango Shrimp Kebabs and the Grilled Corn with Chipotle Lime Butter. I adapted the recipe to work with a bag of mixed frozen berries I had in my freezer.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen blueberry, blackberry and raspberry mix

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

The juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt

Fresh blackberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries, optional

Combine the frozen berry mixture, water, sugar, zest and lemon in a small pan.

Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low. Let simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in butter.

Meanwhile, divide the Greek yogurt among 4 bowls.

Spoon the berry sauce over the yogurt and serve. Top with fresh berries if you have any on hand.

What a perfect way to indulge in a dessert without completely ruining your healthy dinner. The berry sauce is just sweet enough to cut through the Greek yogurt, but not overly so.

As good as it was for dessert, I still had some left over, so I had it the next morning for breakfast. It was just as tasty cold, which is great news because you can make the berry sauce ahead of time. I do suggest adding some fresh berries on top, just so there is some texture to the dessert.

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

VisitPhilly.com’s Philly Homegrown section recently posted fall recipes from local eateries in Philadelphia. All of them sounded amazing and I hope to try them all in the coming weeks, but my pumpkin obsession took priority. Metropolitan Bakery’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins were calling me. I’ve adjusted the recipe a bit, but the general idea is still very much there.

The recipe made two dozen large muffins, or 4 dozen cupcake-sized muffins. Your friends and coworkers will like you a whole lot after you make this recipe!

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned
3/4 cup milk
2 cups chopped walnuts

Continue reading Pumpkin Walnut Muffins