Baked Sunday Mornings: Speculaas

I really have no frame of reference for these cookies. I’ve never flown with Delta, so I haven’t crossed paths with “the greatest snack in the sky“. And in the last year when Biscoff recipes started popping up on food blogs (in both spread and cookie form), I honestly had no idea what they were talking about.

The Baked boys share their obsession with these cookies in their recipe for Speculaas; a shortbread type of cookie with brown sugar and warm spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves). Even though I have no idea if these cookies taste like the inspiration, I will say that to me, they were essentially just like a soft gingerbread cookie, although not nearly as delicious as the ones I made at Christmas. They were barely sweet, and that tiny addition of orange zest was all I could taste (I detest citrus in baked goods, but I added it anyway, since I was trying to follow the recipe exactly).

I actually made these cookies in my food processor, as the recipe calls for cutting in the butter, and I was feeling a bit lazy after my Sunday morning ass-kicking workout with my trainer. Since I made half the recipe, I only added half an egg (i.e. lightly beat it in a measuring cup and added half), but the dough seemed super dry and crumbly. I wrapped it in plastic wrap to chill, but I had a bad feeling that it would be a disaster to roll out. Back in the FP it went, with the other half of the egg, and the dough came together easily. It rolled out okay, but wasn’t that smooth. I’m not sure if this is because I halved the recipe, but I’m curious to see if everyone else’s dough came together nicely without adding any extra liquid.

You can find the recipe here!

Previous Baked Sunday Morning Posts:

Pecan Tassies

Cowboy Cookies

 

Banana Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Streusel

Back in the Fall, I began tackling recipes that had been loitering in my Favourites folder for way too long (cough Oatmeal Cream Cheese Butterscotch Bars cough). Then Christmas Cookie season took over, and there wasn’t really any extra time for this little project, and it got put on hold.

I’m back with a vengeance with a crazy delicious variation on banana bread that I added to my favourites on August 21, 2009. Yes, friends, almost two and a half years ago. I have no excuse for this, except that when I have freckle-y bananas on the counter I tend to make my Mom’s Banana Muffins and don’t really feel the need to try anything new (p.s. this recipe has been sitting in a post in my Drafts for almost a year – what is wrong with me?).

I made this Banana Coffee Cake a few weeks ago, and gave it to my co-worker Kim in exchange for borrowing Seasons 1-3 of Breaking Bad, but not before sneaking a couple of pieces for myself. It’s so soft and banana-y, but the streusel gives a little crunch on the top that I love. Make this, please. Don’t wait as long as I did!

 Banana Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Streusel

Source: Back to the Cutting Board

Yield: 1 9×9 square pan, I cut mine into 16 squares

Ingredients

Streusel

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 egg

3 very, very, ripe bananas, mashed

3 tbsp buttermilk (or regular milk will do)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°, and line a 8×8 square baking dish with tin foil. Spray the foil with non-stick spray.
2. In a small bowl, combine streusel ingredients until well blended.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, and egg until fluffy. Add the bananas and buttermilk, and mix again until combined. Stir in dry ingredients until just mixed in.
5. Spread half of the banana batter in the pan, then sprinkle with half of the streusel mixture. Top with the rest of the banana batter, and the rest of the stresel.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Pulled Braised Beef & Onions

It’s currently 76 degrees in my condo (without the heat on) and the sun is shining in here, lighting the whole place up (and showing me all the places I need to dust, but whatever). Can this really be January? The month when we’re supposed to want to hibernate and eat comfort food?

I first made this pulled beef on my Christmas break, and I’m having it again tonight when my parents and my Aunt come over for dinner. It’s comfort food for sure, and made in the slowcooker, but with the barbecue sauce in there, it’s also reminding me of summer on this sunny day.

Like every other pulled chicken, beef or pork in the archives, this is great on a fluffy bun or made into tacos.

Pulled Braised Beef & Onions

Source: Dinner with Julie

Yield: I’m going to say this will serve 6-8 people

Ingredients

1 eye of round or top round beef roast (I showed this recipe to the butcher at the grocery store, because cuts of beef confuse me, and what I ended up with was a “inside blade boneless pot roast”)

2 onions, halved and thinly sliced 

1 1/2 cups barbecue sause (choose your favourite kind or make your own)

1 1/2 cups beef broth

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp grainy mustard

5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Directions

1. Place the beef roast in your slowcooker. (If you feel like it, you can also brown the roast in a skillet over medium-high heat before doing this, but I was feeling lazy, so I skipped it). Sprinkle the onions over top.
2. Pour over the rest of the ingredients, set slowcooker to low, and let cook overnight.
3. In the morning, remove the beef to a big glass baking dish, and shred with two forks, removing all the fat. Put the lid on the dish or cover with foil, and stick it in the fridge.
4. Strain the sauce into a saucepan, and set the saucepan in the fridge for a few hours. (This sounds gross, but the fat will collect at the top of the sauce and harden, making it easy to remove).
5. About half an hour before you eat, remove the fat from the sauce, and simmer the sauce to reduce it a little bit. Pour it over the beef, stir, and reheat the whole thing in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes or so.

Faux Fried Chicken & Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

It’s been well documented that I love awards shows over here on Planet Byn, and that I consider the Golden Globes to be the Superbowl of award season. Of course, delicious eats are in order to watch the red carpet and ponder the reasons why Jessica Biel decided to wear her great-great-great-great grandmother’s wedding dress.

I decided this was the perfect time to answer a question that has been plaguing me for years: what is the deal with chicken & waffles? This seems like a very unlikely pairing, right? But it’s a thing! I’m not sure how this first crossed my radar…Roscoe’s? Paula Deen? Down Home with the Neelys? By the time I read Gwendolyn’s post on her trip to Chicago last year and saw this picture, I knew this was going to have to happen. (Update: that post is from June 2010, so once again, I’ve been exposed as a kitchen procrastinator)

Of course I had to Robyn-ize the whole experience, and first things first: my kitchen is a no-fry-zone (although this is almost getting me to change my mind). Vast quantities of oil and the resulting deliciousness are just too much trouble, so instead I turned to my favourite sisters and their new cookbook so I could avoid making fried chicken. They have a recipe for a baked chicken that uses crushed corn flakes and is baked in the oven to get that crispy crust. For the waffle component I turned to our friend Joy the Baker, and her buttermilk waffles with brown sugar bacon stirred in. Oh my god, I couldn’t stop eating the bacon, it was insane.

I knew these two components were going to taste amazing separately but I was really nervous about how they would go together. And what about the maple syrup; do you put that on the chicken too? I was stressed….FOR NO REASON. This dinner was amazing as evidenced by my plate being empty in about 10 minutes. It’s kind of hard to describe, but I think it has something to do with the contrasts: crunchy and soft, salty and sweet, plus the added delight of eating something so weird. Until I get to Roscoe’s, this will be it for me. Of course, the chicken would also be great with some mashed or roasted potatoes and vegetables, and the waffles would be right at home with some eggs and hashbrowns for brunch. But try them together! You might be surprised :)

Faux Fried Chicken

Source: The Looneyspoons Collection by Janet & Greta Podleski

Yield: 4 chicken breasts, you could also do thighs or drumsticks which is what the sisters use in their recipe

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup buttermilk 

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup cornflake crumbs (I made mine in my food processor, or you can just put them in a big plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin)

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (side note, Bulk Barn is a great place to get small quantities of all these spices)

1/2 tbsp canola oil/grapeseed oil/olive oil or non-stick spray

Directions

1. You’re going to get a little assembly line going. Station #1 will be a pie plate or shallow bowl where you’ll place the chicken and pour over the buttermilk. (You can actually let the chicken soak in the buttermilk for a few hours if you want). Station #2 will be a plate with the whole wheat flour. Station #3 will be another plate with the cornflake crumbs that you’ve mixed with the cheese and spices.
2. Now get a big baking sheet ready and either spray with non-stick spray or pour the oil on it and spread it around with a paper towl.
3. So the process is as follows: take a piece of chicken out of the buttermilk and let the excess run off. Place the chicken in the flour and turn it to coat. Dip again in the buttermilk, then place in the cornflake crumb mixture and turn it around to coat. Place on the baking sheet and repeat with all the other pieces.
4. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes until cooked through.

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

Source: Joy the Baker

Yield: approximately 10-12 waffles depending on your waffle maker

Ingredients

10 slices bacon

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cups canola or grapeseed oil

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with tin foil, spray a cooling rack with non-stick spray, and set the rack on the baking sheet. Spread out the bacon on the rack, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake in a 375 oven for 20-25 minutes until crispy (keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn). Remove to a cutting board to let cool, then chop into bite-size pieces.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just blended, then stir in the bacon.
5. Make the waffles according to the directions for your waffle maker. Smother in maple syrup (real maple syrup! not pancake syrup!).

Previous Golden Globe Dinners:

2010

2011 (actually the SAGs because Kristine and Nicole were away for the GGs)

Baked Sunday Mornings: Pecan Tassies

It’s been way too long since my first Baked Sunday Morning, so we’re diving right back in for 2012 with these Pecan Tassies! Basically what we have here is a super duper cute mini pecan pie, made with an easy butter and cream cheese dough and a brown sugar pecan filling. (P.S. It sounds way more posh if you pronounce pecan like Paula Deen =   puh-cahn.)

The original recipe makes 40 tassies, but since I only have two small mini muffin tins (12 slots each), I halved the recipe to make 20. My only issue with these is that I had a lot of filling leftover. I think I would recommend only using half the amount of pecans that the recipe calls for, and just putting a few bits in each tart shell, because mine filled up all the way after adding a little spoonful of filling. Or maybe my mini muffin tins slots are really small? Or maybe my little crusts were too thick? Nothing really beats a slice of pecan pie in my opinion (as the Baked boys say in the book, it has the perfect filling to crust ratio), but these are a cute, portable version. Also, a perfect treat for my Superbowl Golden Globes party tonight!!! More on that tomorrow :)

You can find the recipe here!

Previous Baked Sunday Morning Posts:

Cowboy Cookies