Peanut Butter & Honey Pancakes

Good Wednesday to you!! 

I love peanut butter and bananas together.  It's one of my favorite "comfort" foods.  But, it's not really a comfort food since it's pretty healthy for you, shhh . . . don't say that too loud. 

So last night, I was craving something different for breakfast and thought - why not peanut butter pancakes?  Then I thought, why not add honey to it?  And add bananas on top?

So - here is my little creation. (granted, I will give credit to the little internetty web thing where I looked at several pancake recipes, which enabled me to come up with my own recipe)

Also - Don't forget to leave a comment under my Giveaway posting to win a super fantabulous Stella and Dot necklace!  But, you must be a follower AND leave a comment to win!!  Enter here!!

Peanut Butter & Honey Pancakes
Adapted recipe by Kitchen Groovy

Ingredients
1 C all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 T sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
1 C plus 4 T milk, plus extra to thin, if needed
1/2 C creamy peanut butter, melted
1/4 C honey
2 T oil
butter
sliced bananas, if desired
chopped pecans, if desired

Directions
Preheat a griddle.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Slowly mix in egg, milk, peanut butter, honey and oil until combined.  Add a little extra milk if batter feels too thick.  Let mixture sit 5 minutes.  Melt butter on griddle and move around to coat entire griddle.  Pour about 1/4 C of batter per pancake to form 5" pancakes.  The batter will spread as it cooks.  Fill griddle w/o crowding pancakes.  Flip when air pockets start to pop on the top and a quick peak on the underside reveals a golden pancake.  Repeat with remaining butter and batter.

Serve with bananas and maple syrup.  Top with pecans, if desired.

Please click here for a printable version of this recipe - Kitchen Groovy

Enjoy and live with gusto!!
Carina

Raspberry and White Chocolate Scones

Happy Friday morning to all of you!  Glad the weekend is upon us?  I for one, am ecstatic!  One big reason is this is the first weekend in many weeks that we won't be running off to a basketball tournament across town!  Our season is over, and I am ready for a break.  My son however, is in a minor mourning period.  Thank God we have a hoop in the driveway :-) 

Another reason is my husband and I are running our first 7k tomorrow - we love to run races, but we have such limited opportunities to do so.  We are excited to take this time for ourselves, finally. 

Being that it's Friday - I thought, why not post a yummy breakfast item that you can potentially indulge yourself with over the weekend?  I hope you enjoy it - they were soo good!!!  Raspberries are my favorite fruit and they are even better with white chocolate!

These really are easy to make - I invited a friend and her daughter over to play one morning, and Miss Sunshine and I whipped these up that same morning and it wasn't a big deal! 

Raspberry and White Chocolate Scones
Original Recipe by Tyler Florence
Adapted Recipe by Kitchen Groovy

2 C All-purpose flour
3 T sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 T baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter - cold, and diced
1 1/2 C fresh raspberries, washed and dried
3/4 C buttermilk, plus more to brush on scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a food processor bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add cold butter cubes and pulse until you have the texture of coarse bread crumbs. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, then add 3/4 cup of buttermilk and stir to combine. As it comes together add berries and fold dough to incorporate berries but not break them up too much.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Using a pastry brush, paint the tops of each scone lightly with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake until golden brown, and nice and puffy, about 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack.

Chef Note: the recipe says to fold the dough gently as not to break up the berries.  I purposely broke up some of the berries, as it seemed easier to get the dough to come together.  That is why my scones have bursts of blue and purple in the dough, which is why they may not be as pretty as they could have been.  It's up to you if you want to do the same :-)

Please click here for a printable version of this recipe - Kitchen Groovy

Enjoy and live with gusto!
Carina

Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

Ever feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew?  If you say no, then I'm just going to have to say "c'mon now, don't lie" :-)  We've all been there, right?!  These last few weeks have felt that way.  I certainly didn't plan it to be that way, but things and events started stacking up on top of each other and all of a sudden I was asking myself "how did this happen?"  We never mean for it to happen, it just does.  So, we've had frozen pizzas and have had take-out for dinner (there goes my "monthly meal plan", by the way - we'll get back on track next week!).  However, I must make a point to say: we do what we have to do to stay sane!  If mom is feeling crazy, it's nothing but downhill from there.  Anybody relate?

When you have nothing but craziness on your plate, the last thing on your mind is making a breakfast from scratch.  So, save this for a Sunday morning!  But, also know that this isn't as time consuming as you might think.  I would even argue that this might be faster than making an omelet :-)

Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
Original Recipe by Ina Garten, Back to Basics Cookbook, pg. 228

All purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, diced
1/2 C cold buttermilk, shaken
1 cold extra large egg
1 C grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese (I use Vermont white cheddar)
1 egg beaten with 1 T water or milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  Place 2 C flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.
  Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small glass measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork.  With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened.  In a small bowl, mix the Cheddar with a small handful of flour and, with the mixer still on low, add the cheese to the dough.  Mix only until roughly combined.
  Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly about 6 times.  Roll the dough out to a rectangle 5x10 inches.  With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then across in quarters, making 8 rough rectangles.  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush the tops with the egg wash, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. 
Serve hot or warm.

Of course, you have to put a pad of butter on your biscuits!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - Kitchen Groovy

Enjoy and live with gusto!

Carina

"I Love You" Pancakes

I was surfing the web trying to find something that I can make my kids for breakfast this Valentine's Day morning.  I'm not a morning person, so I can't afford to do anything fancy before the noon hour.  I found this simple recipe called Heavenly Heart Shaped Pancakes, but they called for mini-chocolate chip morsels.  Yum!  But, I wanted something Valentine's Day-inspired, so I came up with this recipe - which is just as good, if not better, if I say so myself!  Each pancake filled with white chocolate and craisins . . .  a perfect way to tell my family how much I love them on this special day.  I realize that Valentine's Day breakfast has passed for all of us, so why not make this breakfast for birthdays?  Or on Sundays?  How about for dinner?  Regardless, it's fun and doesn't have to be isolated to February 14th!

"I Love You" Pancakes
adapted from http://www.cooksrecipes.com/ Heavenly Heart Shaped Pancakes
recipe by Kitchen Groovy

2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C white chocolate chips, chopped
1/2 C dried craisins, chopped
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 C milk (skim is fine)
2 large eggs
1/3 C vegetable oil
1/3 C light brown sugar, packed
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
Powdered Sugar

Combine flour, chocolate, craisins, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  

Combine milk, eggs, oil and brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Add to flour mixture.  Stir until moistened - it may be lumpy.

Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat (I used a griddle and set the heat at 350 degrees).
Use cookie cutters to place on griddle/ skillet and pour pancake mixture into cookie cutters.  Wait a few minutes until it is mostly cooked through, then gently slide cookie cutter off the mixture.  Carefully flip the pancake. 

After pancake is fully cooked through, and you have it on a plate ready to serve, you may have to cut away and reshape a bit of the heart.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - Kitchen Groovy

Enjoy and live with gusto!
Carina

Peaches and Cream Muffins

I received a new cookbook this last Christmas from my wonderful mother-in-law and this is the first recipe I tried - on a cold, foggy, gloomy morning - this is a little ray of sunshine!

Peaches and Cream Muffins
Recipe from The Deen Brothers "Y'all Come Eat" cookbook, pg. 56

Nonstick cooking spray
2 C self-rising flour
1 C (2 sticks) unslated butter, melted
1 C sour cream
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 15 oz. can sliced peaches, drained and chopped into 1/4" pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat the cups of a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, butter, sour cream, sugar and vanilla.  Gently fold in the peaches.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Serve immediately or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To Make 1 CUP Self Rising Flour - (for the above recipe, you'll have to double the portions below)
1 C All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of Salt

Bon Appetit!!

Enjoy and live with gusto!

Carina

Saturday Morning Banana Pecan Pancakes

My sister LOVES going to restaurants featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives when travelling.  Last summer, we found this cute little diner in Portland, OR called the Byways Cafe.  After receiving a few disgruntled looks by the local patrons when they saw 12 of us walking in (the joint only seats about 12!!), we took our spots and perused the menu.  Rob ordered Banana and Pecan Pancakes, and they WERE TO DIE FOR.  Seriously, it was a small pancake stack of heaven.  I have been trying to replicate it, and found this Tyler Florence recipe, which is the closest I have come.  This is perfect for lazy Saturday mornings, or "brinner" any night of the week.  Enjoy!

The original recipe is absolutely excellent, but to come close to what we ate The Byways Cafe, I used 1 C chopped pecans instead of 1/2 C of ground pecans.

Banana and Pecan Pancakes with Maple Butter

Recipe by Tyler florence

·         Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

2 cups buttermilk 3 eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 pinch salt

4 tablespoons sugar 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and finely ground (not chopped) 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted 3 bananas, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch circles Maple Butter, recipe follows Confectioners' sugar, to garnish Candied Pecans, to garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together so they are well combined. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and stir with a spoon to get rid of the lumps. Fold in the pecans, most of the melted butter and whisk until batter is smooth. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium low heat and swirl around a little melted butter to keep the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle pour the batter into the pan, see Cook's note*

Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they are set and then lightly press the bananas into the batter. When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer pancakes to a warming plate in the oven while you make the rest.

To serve, slice the maple-honey butter, layer it between the stack of pancakes and place in the oven to melt for 1 1/2 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and candied pecans.

*Cook's note: The trick to perfect round pancakes is pouring all the batter in the same spot and letting it roll out to a complete circle.

Maple Butter:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1/4 C maple syrup

2 T honey

1 piece parchment or greaseproof paper

In a mixing bowl, using a spatula mash the butter with the maple syrup and honey until well blended. Roll it up in the paper, like a tube and twist the ends. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Enjoy and live life with gusto!
Carina