Category Archives: Breakfast in Bed
Breakfast in Bed – Ginger Snaps
Post by Alison Hein.
My sister and I share a favorite childhood memory – we are at quaint Lake Edenwald where our grandparents have a funky but beloved log cabin. All of our cousins are there. We splash in the shallow area of the lake, until one by one, our Grandpa methodically teaches each of us to swim, in order of age. The challenge? To make it to the old splintery raft through the deepest, darkest water to the far side of the lake. Our boy cousins roughhouse, chasing and splashing, until we are spent. We paddle to shore, finally squish our toes down into the spongy lake bottom, then run to our mother. She’s laughing and smiling, waiting for us. She hands us each a tiny, personal-sized and precious box of Nabisco Ginger Snaps. We collapse on our towels and blissfully gorge on the well-earned treats.
I’m not sure if Nabisco still makes those tiny boxes of cookies, but every year when the weather starts to warm, I get a hankering for a handful of chewy coin-sized snaps. These are a little larger and a little spicier than the originals. I like to use fresh-squeezed ginger juice for extra tang. If you don’t have a juicer, simply peel and grate a hunk of fresh ginger. Then squeeze the pieces over a clean bowl until the juice flows. Strain and use to create these lovely little snaps and a personal-sized, precious breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
¼ cup (½ stick) butter, softened, plus more for baking sheets
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsulphured dark molasses
1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ cup granulated sugar, for dusting cookie tops
Preparation
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and ginger juice and blend until creamy. In a second bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Add gradually into butter mixture, until thick dough forms. Shape the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° and grease two baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Form rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Arrange the balls on the prepared sheet. Pour some granulated sugar into a small dish. Wrap the bottom of a small glass with plastic wrap. Press the bottom of the glass into the sugar, then press and turn the glass onto each ball of dough, flattening before baking.
Bake the cookies until they have set but still seem soft in the middle, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on sheets for a couple of minutes before transferring to wire racks.
Makes approximately 2½ dozen cookies
Breakfast in Bed – Parsleyed Eggs – Seventies Style
Post Alison Hein.
We invited our good friends Michael and Luis for dinner shortly before Easter. When Luis offered to come a little early and help me prepare, I agreed whole-heartedly. Little did he know I intended to trick him into making tie-dyed Easter eggs! (You can now buy these kits in your local grocery store.) Anyway, they turned out beautifully. Luis’ artistry made for an impressive display, and I even let him take a couple home.
After the holiday, a handful of these beautiful eggs still remained, and I longed to use them purposefully. My first inclination was for some type of deviled eggs, but then I remembered an old favorite from Anna Thomas – parsleyed eggs on the half-shell. Eggs, hard-boiled and scooped out, their innards mixed with parsley and butter, then returned to their shells and cooked to a crisp, golden finish. What inspiration! Now I could showcase my lovely tie-dyed eggshells, and pay homage to Anna Thomas, famed for her 1972 book The Vegetarian Epicure, sometimes called “the vegetarian Bible of the 1970s.”
Slicing through the shells and removing the cooked egg is difficult work, so take your time. Don’t worry if the first couple don’t work out so well – you’ll soon get the hang of it. And, even if you don’t feel like tie-dying your parsleyed eggs, I’m sure you will still enjoy the artistry of Anna’s recipe, and a beautiful vegetarian, epicurean breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus additional for cooking
½ cup fresh parsley, washed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation
Place eggs in a small heavy saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil on high heat and continue to cook eggs for 10 minutes, until hard-boiled. Cool.
Using a sharp, serrated knife, carefully tap and score the eggshell in half lengthwise, then cut entire egg in half. Gently scoop out cooked yolks and white, retaining shell halves. Repeat with remaining eggs. Place cooked egg whites and yolks in blender or food processor. Add softened butter and parsley and blend to a smooth, thick paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Trim off any jagged edges, and fill shells with egg mixture, smoothing to a flat top.
When ready to serve, heat butter in heavy pan over medium low heat. Place egg halves in pan, stuffing side down, and cook over low heat until light brown and crisp on top and heated through, about ten minutes. Serve warm.
Makes 2 to 4 servings.
Breakfast in Bed: Coffee Pancakes
Post by Alison Hein.
Many of us cannot imagine facing the day without a tall cup of thick, strong coffee. It’s a ritual, a kick-start, and a requirement. But perhaps you can imagine infusing fluffy breakfast pancakes with the same deep, dark and mysterious flavors as your favorite cup of Joe.
Fiddling with this recipe is as easy as brewing up some hazelnut coffee, or vanilla, or mint… A dash of cocoa powder in the batter, or a sprinkle on top after griddling, and you’ve got café mocha. Instead of maple syrup, make a coffee-flavored simple syrup –simply swap out ½ cup of water for ½ cup of brewed coffee.
No need to beat the egg whites if you’re in a desperate hurry for your morning coffee pancakes – they will be slightly more dense but just as delicious. Don’t forget to freeze some for when you just can’t wait another minute to dive into what will soon become your favorite required ritual, a dark and mysterious breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
2½ cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, separated
4 ounces (one half stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus additional for cooking
Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Gradually whisk in the cooled coffee, milk, vinegar and vanilla. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly add melted butter to batter. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and gently fold them into the batter. The batter should be thick, smooth and creamy.
Place a pan or griddle on the stove over medium to medium low heat. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan for the first pancake. Ladle batter into pan and cook until small bubbles appear throughout pancake, about 1 minute. Flip once with spatula and continue cooking until golden brown, another minute or so. Adjust heat as necessary while cooking. Serve hot with real maple syrup.
Makes 10 to 12 4-inch pancakes.
Breakfast in Bed – Creamy Spinach Crêpes
Post by Alison Hein.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a sweet breakfast, but more often than not, I like to start the day with a savory meal. Crêpes are so wonderfully versatile that they adapt either way. You can make flavorful creamed spinach as a dinner side, then heat in the morning for an elegant meal. And get in the habit of freezing crêpes, which thaw in an instant and heat up nicely with a quick finish under the broiler – impressive and tasty for overnight or brunch guests; flavorful and elegant for a savory breakfast in bed.
Buckwheat Crêpes
1¼ cups buckwheat flour
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for frying
¾ cup milk
1¼ cups water
Preparation
Add buckwheat flour and salt to a large bowl. Add eggs, vegetable oil, milk and water and whisk until smooth batter forms. Add additional water for a thinner batter, if you like.
Heat a 10-inch-diameter nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Brush pan with oil. Add ¼ cup of batter to pan, tilting to coat bottom. Cook crêpe until golden on bottom, 30 to 45 seconds, adjusting heat as necessary to prevent burning.
Using a spatula or butter knife, flip crêpe and continue to cook until dark gold, about 1 minute longer. Keep warm, while continuing the process with the remainder of batter.
Makes 12 – 16 crêpes.
Creamy Spinach and Crêpe Assembly
16 ounces frozen chopped spinach
4 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Dash of nutmeg
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon grated Swiss cheese per crêpe
Mint sprigs, for garnish
Preparation
Cook spinach in boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
To make white sauce, melt butter in small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped shallot and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Whisk in flour until smooth, thick paste forms. Whisk in milk and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir cooked spinach into white sauce. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Place about ¼ cup on each crêpe, then delicately roll into a long cylinder and place on oven proof dish. Continue process for as many crêpes as you plan to assemble, then top each one with about 1 tablespoon of grated cheese. Place under broiler about 4 inches from heat, and cook until cheese starts to brown, about 30 seconds. Garnish with mint and serve immediately.
Makes about 4 cups of creamed spinach.
Breakfast in Bed: Pistachio-Crusted French Toast
Post by Alison Hein.
I got carried away as I was grinding pistachios yesterday. The rich, salty crunch of these exotic little nuts is so divine, I can easily gobble up a whole package of them in one sitting. Instead, I try to pace myself, by distributing them more rationally, and combining them with complementary flavors.
Step one – grind. Step two – coat the delectable morsel of your choice with a delectable pistachio covering. In this case, I was using the ground nuts to dress up some goat cheese medallions, which I then placed on top of a salad of baby lettuces bathed in a tangy lemon citrus vinaigrette.
Pistachios are an ancient food. Originating in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia, they are one of the three seeds (along with walnuts and almonds) mentioned in the Bible. Pliny the elder wrote that pistachios were a common food as early as 6750 BC. These days, the US is one of the top global producers of pistachio nuts.
Search the internet and you’ll find a cornucopia of “pistachio-crusted” recipes. From lamb to salmon, asparagus to tofu, cheesecake to, you guessed it…French toast! So, I drowned some soft brioche in a vanilla egg bath, then used my excess ground nuts to create a divine Pistachio-Crusted French Toast, and a salty, crunchy, exotic breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
1 cup pistachio nuts
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 slices rich, soft bread, such as brioche or challah
2 to 4 tablespoons butter
Preparation
Grind pistachio nuts in a nut grinder, coffee mill, or blender until chopped finely, but not powdery. Retain some larger nut pieces for extra crunch, if you like. Place ground pistachios in a small shallow dish.
In large, shallow bowl, whisk together milk and eggs. Stir in vanilla. Dip bread slices into the milk mixture, turning once to completely saturate. Don’t over soak or the soft bread will fall apart. Dip bread slices in chopped pistachio pieces, using a spoon to help cover.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in heavy skillet. Add nut-covered bread slices and cook over medium to medium-low heat, turning once, until golden and cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add more butter as needed. Remove from pan and serve warm with real maple syrup.
Makes 4 servings.
