Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

As part of a nostalgia trip, I have decided to share some of my oldie but goodies posts.  I have been at this blogging business for many years and have even surprised myself with some of the recipes I have posted.  I need to make these delicious Boston Cream Pancakes again!  Enjoy.

Do any of you remember Long Johns?  No, not the underwear version.  I am talking about the doughnuts. When I was young, my Father would always go to the local bakery on Sunday mornings and come home with a bag of doughnuts.  There would be cinnamon twists, elephant ears, round jelly filled doughnuts and, my favorite, long johns.

Long Johns are a cake-like doughnut with a pastry cream filling and chocolate ganache smeared on top.  I adored them.  Recently I got a request from a family member who was going to be here for the Labor Day Weekend.  He asked if I would please, please make a recipe for Boston Cream Pancakes that he had seen online on the Country Cleaver website.  The pancakes are based on the Boston cream pie which was created by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian at Boston’s Parker House Hotel in 1856.

I made them for breakfast one morning during the Labor Day weekend but never got a picture because they were devoured so quickly.  All I could think of when I ate them were those wonderful long johns that I had eaten as a child.  The fluffy pancakes, the smooth pastry cream and the decadent chocolate ganache all conspired to bring the flood of memories back.  I tucked the leftover ganache and pastry cream in the freezer because I knew that they would be making a repeat performance in my kitchen.

We had them for breakfast again on this beautiful Saturday morning, a day after my birthday. They were a welcome indulgence.  Sometimes you just have to eat like you are a kid again and stop worrying about calories, fat and sugar and how old you really are.  The pancakes themselves are an easy combination of yellow cake mix and Bisquick.  They are light and fluffy.  The pastry cream can be made way in advance and the chocolate ganache is easy.  I would recommend these pancakes to you for any special occasion, whether it be for a birthday or just because  it is a sunny day.  Indulge!

BOSTON CREAM PANCAKES (Country Cleaver Website)

ingredients:

directions:

December and the holidays are upon us.  We need all the help we can get this month.  My thoughts are on baking cookies, buying presents, entertaining and trying to cram it all into a three to four week period.  I actually relish the festive atmosphere of the month.  Our family will be visiting us in Florida for the holidays for the first time and we have our long standing New Year’s celebration with dear friends to look forward to.  What could be better?  But it does require a little planning.

Let’s consider breakfast for company.  We all have that breakfast casserole that can be assembled and placed in the refrigerator overnight.  Just put it in the oven in the morning and breakfast is on the table within an hour.  Most of those casseroles are based on bread, whether it is sour dough, challah, croissants or French.  I love all of them.  But I was looking for something a little less dense.  I should say lighter.  Since the inspiration for this recipe came from Cooking Light that would be the case.

In place of the bread this recipe has baby spinach, mushrooms, center cut bacon, fresh basil, and just the right amount of hash brown potatoes.  The eggy goodness and Swiss cheese is the same, so it is a casserole that everyone would enjoy.  Everything but the eggs and milk  can be assembled the night before, so in the morning it is almost as easy to get in the oven as the traditional breakfast casserole.

I had fun with my small star cutter.  I opened a jar of roasted red peppers and cut stars out of the peppers and placed them on the top of the casserole before I put it in the oven.  I can see getting even more creative with this for Christmas.  This recipe is open to creativity.  You can replace the bacon with sausage or add any seasoning or ingredients that appeal to you.  Holiday goodness made easy.

EGGS AND HASH BROWN CASSEROLE (Cooking Light)

8 center-cut bacon slices
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
8 ounces sliced shiitake mushroom caps
3 clove garlic, minced
2 cups shredded hash brown potatoes (such as Simply Potatoes)
1/4 cup Chicken stock
5 cups fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
3 ounces Swiss cheese, grated
Cooking Spray
1/2 cup low-fat milk
6 large eggs, lightly beaten

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan;  Increase heat to medium-high.  Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic to drippings in pan; saute for 6 minutes.  Add potatoes and stock; cook 6 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add spinach, basil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts.  Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes.  Stir in crumbled bacon and cheese.  Place mushroom mixture in an 11 x 7- inch broiler-safe glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Uncover dish.  Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, milk, and eggs in a medium bowl.  Pour egg mixture over mushroom mixture. Add any cut out decorations from a jar of roasted red peppers to the top.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 28 minutes.

Preheat broiler to high; remove dish while broiler preheats.  Broil 3 minutes or until top is browned and just set.  Let stand 5 minutes.

Note:   I did not have to broil the casserole because it browned nicely; though it took a little longer in the oven to set the center.

Printable recipe

Sometimes, all I want for breakfast is a warm biscuit, scone or corn muffin.  There is something satisfying about a hot cup of coffee and bread that is not too sweet, but just right.  Biscuits have a long history in the South and any Southerners worth their salt can make biscuits in their sleep: dump, mix and kneed.  They have not been easy for me because I grew up in Michigan and biscuits never crossed my Mother’s table.

I have had many disasters with biscuits and was sure that I did not possess the biscuit gene.  But the secret to great fluffy biscuits is not to worry about them.  Don’t handle them too much and cut the butter into them with abandon.  Now I get it.

These pumpkin-Parmesan biscuits were featured in The Food Network Magazine.  They are perfect for this time of year with a hint of pumpkin, nutmeg and Parmesan.  The pumpkin lends them a light orange color and they are delicious hot out of the oven or warmed up the next morning.

The pumpkin-Parmesan biscuits are great with just butter.  But they would be great split and stuffed with sage flavored sausage patties for a brunch or served in a basket for a Thanksgiving dinner.  But I am enjoying them for breakfast for the next few days.  Wish you could join me.

PUMPKIN-PARMESAN BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or 1/8 tsp dry nutmeg)
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced, plus melted butter for brushing
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Whisk in 1 tablespoon Parmesan.  Add the diced butter and work it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.  Mix the pumpkin and cream in a small bowl and pour over the flour mixture.  Mix with your hands or a fork to make soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into 3/4-inch-thick rectangle using a floured rolling pin.  Cut out biscuits using a 2-inch-round cutter and arrange about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.  (You will need to gently re-roll scrapes to get all of your biscuits).  Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Parmesan.  Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.  Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the biscuits cool slightly before serving or cool completely and freeze.

Makes 12 to 14 biscuits

Printable recipe

It has been a week of hard work.  Returning to the lake after a 5 month absence requires lots of physical labor.  The winter winds howling through the Gorge tossed leaves, branches and twigs everywhere on the grounds.  The furniture on the porch was pushed eastward halfway across the room.  Broken hurricane globes littered the floor.  The lower porch door was not latched and piles of leaves had to be raked out.  Pollen covered everything.   Both porches are now back to normal.

David is still working on bleaching and cleaning the decks.

We require hearty sustenance in the morning to get us going on all of the chores.  Scones make a “not too sweet” accompaniment to a hearty breakfast.  They come together quickly and bake in just 15 minutes.  I don’t know why I never thought to rely on them more often.

I love dried apricots.  They are perfect for these flaky scones.

The recipe comes from Cooking Light.  So why not have a slice with afternoon tea as well.

APRICOT SCONES

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup apricot nectar (I used pear nectar because it was what I had)
Cooking spray
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon sugar (I used Turbinado sugar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flour and next 4 ingredients in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.  

Add apricots; toss well.  Combine egg, buttermilk, and nectar; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 4 to 5 times with floured hands.  Pat dough into a 9-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Cut dough into 12 wedges, cutting into but not through bottom of dough.  Brush egg white over surface of dough, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.  Serve warm.  Yield: 1 dozen (serving size: 1 scone).  Calories 148.

Printable recipe 

I have avoided making biscuits.  It seemed like such a messy enterprise for the first thing in the morning.  Also my biscuits have turned out to be less than stellar .  But not anymore.  I have conquered the biscuit and can even have them prepped, up to the addition of the buttermilk (and bacon if you choose to use it), way in advance.

Biscuits seem to me to be a Southern thing, so I consulted The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook for their take on biscuits.  I expected a complicated method of cutting in the shortening, but was suprised to find that just a short burst in a food processor will incorporate the butter and shortening nicely.  The dough is handled briefly with three turns on a floured board, patted out and cut.  It is much easier than making pie crust.

The addition of crumbled cooked bacon is a nice touch.  The real Southern way would be to use pork cracklings but that is something I never have in my refrigerator.   These biscuits are just the right size for brunch with the addition of country ham as a filling.  Or you can get creative with spreads.  I will list a few ideas at the bottom of the recipe.  Enjoy.