Gingerbread Cupcake Batter Pancakes

Gingerbread cupcakes were one of the very first cupcakes that I ever baked.  I got lucky and they were phenomenal (if my early cupcakes hadn't been tasty, who knows if this blog would have ever happened).  When my friend Brooke from Sucre Shop questioned whether you could make pancakes from cupcake batter (clearly I only choose brilliant people as my friends), I immediately thought of converting the gingerbread cupcakes to pancakes. 

To make the gingerbread cupcake batter pancakes, I kept the the basic batter as my gingerbread cupcakes, adjusted the proportions, and voila - cupcakes turned into pancakes!

Get more details and the recipe on Paula Deen's site where I am a regular contributor.  

French Toast Cupcakes Stuffed with Peaches and Mascarpone

For my second recipe inspired by Muffin Tin Chef (my first was potato and egg cupcakes, a cupcake version of Matt's Parmesan hashbrowns), I put the Cupcake Project spin on his French toast made in muffin cups.  I stuffed the French toast with brown sugar coated peaches and mascarpone cheese and topped them with fresh whipped cream and edible flowers.  

Potato and Egg Cupcakes

I recently received a review copy of the book Muffin Tin Chef by Matt Kadey.  If I wrote the book, I would have called it Cupcake Tin Chef.  Other than that, I wouldn't have changed a thing.  The book is filled with ideas (and when I say filled, I mean that there are 101 ideas there) for sweet and savory dishes to make in cute single-serving sizes.  I've loved Matt's blog, Muffin Tin Mania, for years, and the book is now a valued addition to my collection.

This week, I'm going to feature two recipes that I've made inspired by Muffin Tin Chef (I've also got a book giveaway coming soon!).  Matt wrote an entire chapter just on brunch muffin tin recipes.  Since brunch is my favorite meal (seriously, does it get any better than brunch?), I focused my energies there.

Matt's Parmesan hash browns caught my eye right away - you can't go wrong with carbs and cheese!  But, since Matt is talking muffins and I'm talking cupcakes, I knew mine were going to need some frosting.  I took his Parmesan hash brown muffins an extra step and topped them with deviled egg frosting (a sweet twist on deviled eggs).  With Mother's Day coming soon, these potato and egg cupcakes might be just the thing to start Mom's morning off right.

Potato and Egg Cupcake Recipe

How To Make Matzoh Brei Like My Mom's

Every Jewish family has their own take on how to make matzoh brei - the classic Passover breakfast of eggs mixed with fried matzoh.  In this post, I share the matzoh brei recipe I've eaten every Passover since I could eat solid food.  Below the matzoh brei recipe, you'll find a barrage of variations.  If your family has a special way to make matzoh brei, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.  Also, be on the lookout for my matzoh brei cupcakes, coming soon!

Homemade Lucky Charms - Are You Up for the Challenge?

When I share recipes, my hope is that you will bake and enjoy them in your home.  I believe that everyone can and should bake from scratch and I try to install confidence in newbies so that they can bake cupcakes that people will rave about.

I opted for the original Lucky Charms shapes: pink hearts, orange stars, yellow moons,
green clovers, and blue diamonds (the first added shape).  The shapes now are somewhat different.

That said, making homemade Lucky Charms is not for everyone.

Homemade Frosted Cheerios in Three Minutes

Yesterday, I shared how to make homemade honey nut Cheerios.  I explained that you wouldn't be making the Cheerios from scratch.  Rather, you'd be using store-bought plain Cheerios and then sweetening them to your taste with honey and nut flavor.  Today, I apply the same method to create homemade frosted Cheerios.  You can make homemade frosted Cheerios (or homemade frosted flakes) by starting with the sugar-free version and adding your own frosted coating.  The advantage of adding your own frosting is that you can control exactly what goes into the frosted Cheerios and how sweet you make them.

Homemade Honey Nut Cheerios in Three Minutes

When I talk about making homemade honey nut Cheerios, I am not suggesting that you bake Cheerios from scratch.  I'm proposing that you sweeten plain Cheerios (or any knock-off version) with honey and nut flavor.

Why Bother Making Homemade Honey Nut Cheerios?

You can control how sweet the cereal is.  If you (or your kids) prefer sweetened cereal, but you want to keep the sugar to minimum, try starting with plain Cheerios (which have 0 grams of sugar) and adding just enough honey until they are a sweetness that you like.  I suspect that you'll find that you don't need very much honey at all.

Cupcakes Benedict - Maple Cupcakes Topped with Black Forest Bacon, Poached Eggs, and Maple Hollandaise Sauce

While cupcakes get some frosting lovin' on a regular basis, sometimes they get jealous of English muffins (or as I call them, stud muffins). Stud muffins are a key player in Eggs Benedict, where they are topped with bacon, eggs, and drippy, buttery hollandaise.  Cupcakes are used to playing it safe with perfectly coiffed frosting, but after years of dreaming, they were ready to get a little dirty.  They came to me for help and I arranged a cupcake and Eggs Benedict liaison - Cupcakes Benedict.

Lime, Pineapple, and Mascarpone Breakfast Soufflé with Dulce de Leche

I've never made a soufflé before.  Soufflés sounded like scary, fancy French food - something that Julia Child would have futzed over for months trying to perfect.  I learned, however, that a soufflé (which means "puff up" in French) is just a cake with separated eggs. The beaten egg whites are used to give the cake lift - not so frightening.   My soufflé is even less imposing since it's made in a cast iron skillet.  Breakfast in a skillet is like a man in a cowboy hat. It doesn't matter how handsome the dish actually is; sticking it in the skillet gives it instant appeal.

Each bite of this lime, pineapple, and mascarpone soufflé is like eating warm lime clouds, pineapple sunshine, and a soft dulche de leche breeze.  I see more soufflés in my future.

Baked French Toast with Bananas, Walnuts, and Cacao Nibs

Baked French toast is the lasagna of breakfast - prepare it in advance so you can lounge in your PJs with the rest of the family instead of being a stove slave stuck frying toast while listening to the muffled laughter of your family in the other room.

This baked French toast has three layers of goodness.  Its base is a warm, gooey mixture of maple and bananas (when serving, make sure to scoop all the way to the bottom of the pan so you don't miss this part!).  The bananas are covered in a moist, eggy challah with a touch of ginger. The whole thing is then topped with crunchy walnuts and cacao nibs (or chocolate chips) and more maple.  Hungry yet?

Because this recipe is for French toast and not French cake, you can eat as much as you like guilt-free, right? 

Pumpkin Pie Crepes

These pumpkin pie crepes were a huge hit with my friends - perhaps because they were so excited to get something other than cupcakes out of my kitchen.  Interestingly, there was a gender divide in how people wanted the pumpkin pie crepes prepared.  The ladies wanted hot crepes with hot pumpkin pie filling while the gentlemen wanted hot crepes and cold pumpkin pie filling.  Then, there was my husband who is tired of pumpkin pie filling and simply wanted the hot crepes with Nutella (I can't blame him).  

Pancake Recipe Using Blue Cornmeal and Orange - Different and Delicious

Pancake recipes have been high on my tasting list recently. I haven't been posting all of the pancake recipes I've tried because this isn't a pancake blog; it's a cupcake blog. Besides that, I'm not always up for a food photo shoot at breakfast time. However, this pancake recipe for blue cornmeal pancakes made the cut!

Why Did This Pancake Recipe Make It on Cupcake Project?

• I made this pancake recipe for Taste & Create, the monthly event where food bloggers get paired with other food bloggers to try each others' recipes.
• The pancake recipe was exceptional. Don't make this recipe expecting a smooth, light, and fluffy pancake. This recipe is for the pancake lover who appreciates a dense pancake with a textured inside and a sweet, complex flavor.
• Of course, I am going to use this pancake recipe as a cupcake inspiration. You can look forward to a blue cornmeal orange cupcake.

About the Pancake Recipe

My partner for this month's Taste & Create was Grace from A Southern Grace. This is actually the second time I've been paired with Grace. The first time I made her breakfast quinoa and subsequently made quinoa cupcakes. She's got all kinds of recipes on her blog, but I suppose I'm drawn to her breakfast ones. This time, I spotted her blue cornmeal pancakes and had to give them a try. Oddly enough, she got the recipe from Katie at One Little Corner of the World during a previous Taste & Create. Katie found the recipe in the cookbook "With a Measure of Grace: The Story and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant". Was that a mouthful of pancakes, or what?

The Pancake Recipe and Cooking Notes


Makes 20 medium-sized pancakes. Cut the pancake recipe in in half or even quarter it if you are making them for just a couple of people, or make the whole thing and put some in the freezer for a lazy Sunday morning.

• 3 C flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 C blue cornmeal (You can use regular yellow cornmeal if that's all you've got.)
  
• 4 eggs
• 3 C milk
• 1/2 C oil (Any vegetable oil will do. I used my favorite not-too-olivey baking olive oil - Jovia Groves' 2007 Arbequina, but any olive oil will do. You can order Jovia from Extra Virgin.)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1/2 t vanilla extract and 1/2 t orange extract to give the pancakes an orange flavor. I highly recommend it! If you don't have orange extract, you could use some orange zest instead.)
  
• More oil for greasing griddle (I prefer to use butter to grease, but either would work.)
  

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal.
2. In another bowl, lightly mix eggs, milk, oil, and extracts.
   
3. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine well.
4. Preheat griddle to medium-hot. A drop of water will dance over the griddle when it is ready. Grease by spreading 2 tbsp oil on it and spread around with a folded paper towel. Keep the towel around to use for the next batch of cakes. (I used a cast iron skillet since I don't own a griddle. I just dropped some butter on the skillet and swirled it around until the whole skillet was covered. I did not need to use a towel.)
   
5. Pour from a pitcher or use a ladle to make standard round cakes. Turn cakes when edges are set and small bubbles form and pop on the surface.
6. After a minute or so, peek underneath. If they look golden and pancake-like, turn out to a plate.
7. Eat right away or keep warm in the oven until you are ready to enjoy them!
   

What to Put on Your Pancakes

You can't go wrong with maple syrup on your pancakes (as long as you use the real stuff and not maple flavored crap). For an extra special treat, you might want to try making a homemade Grand Marnier syrup.

Quinoa for Breakfast: Part 1

 

I've loved quinoa since I first encountered the little colorful curly-Q's. It's so much more interesting as a base for a dish than the old standby, white rice. However, until recently, I hadn't considered the merits of quinoa over oatmeal. This post is part one of the story of quinoa for breakfast.

Quin-whaa?

The Wikipedia article on quinoa states, "Quinoa (pronounced /ˈkinwɑ/ KEEN-wah or /ˈkinoʊə/ KEE-no-uh, Spanish quinua, quínoa, or quinoa) is a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium) grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal as it is not a grass. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth, but the commercial availability of quinoa greens is currently limited."

A) Do I really want to eat goosefoot? FYI: The other species of goosefoot include Kañiwa, Fat Hen, Good King Henry, and Epazote. Why don't we see these on the market? I love the idea of vegetarians eating their stir fry over Fat Hen.

B) If people are growing quinoa, there must be leaves. How do I get to try them?

Quinoa Varieties

According the insert in my box of quinoa, quinoa comes in over 1,800 varieties. The one I used was Inca Red quinoa. Since I was going to be putting apples in the quinoa, I thought that red would work nicely. The photo to the left is of rainbow quinoa. I found it in a UK seed catalog. It actually grows in multiple colors. Move over, Lucky Charms!

Why Quinoa for Breakfast?

It's Taste & Create time again. This time, I was paired with A Southern Grace. She made my sweet potato casserole cupcakes (here's her version) sound so good that I want to make them again right now! She used homegrown sweet potatoes from her grandpa's garden. Yum!

The recipe that immediately caught my eye on her site was cinnamon apple quinoa. I like cinnamon apple anything and I know that Bride and Groom 2.0 are looking for fall flavor combinations. I concluded that cinnamon apple quinoa would make for a great cupcake flavor.

Cinnamon Apple Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

If you are a hot cereal person and are looking for something different for breakfast, definitely give quinoa a go! The recipe for the cinnamon apple quinoa on A Southern Grace was a great start to a great breakfast. However, like your bowl of oatmeal, everyone is going to have their preparation preferences. I'd recommend using this as a starting point.

Here is the recipe from A Southern Grace with the changes I made. Because there are just two of us here, I adjusted the recipe to make two big bowls.

• 1 C uncooked quinoa
• 2 C water
• .5 t salt
• 2 C apples (I used double the amount of apples that she used. You could also use any other fruit that you like. I tossed in a handful of raisins.)
• 1 t cinnamon

1. Rinse quinoa under cold water until the run-off is clear. (This step may not be necessary for you. My quinoa came pre-rinsed so this was not needed.
2. Bring the water to a boil with the salt.
3. Add quinoa. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Fluff the quinoa and let sit covered for another 10 minutes.
5. Peel and chop apples. Cook them however you like. I went the lazy route and stuck them in the microwave for 2 minutes.
6. Add apples and cinnamon to the quinoa.
7. Add whatever other flavors you typically like in your oatmeal. My husband and I had one bowl with maple syrup and one with honey.

In Part 2: Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Cupcakes