Belgian Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Large Eggs Separated
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 2 Cups Milk
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions

• Preheat your waffle iron, spray with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
• In a medium bowl beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
• In a separate medium bowl mix together the egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract.
• Add the egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Fold in the egg whites.
• Pour the batter onto your hot waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions**
• Serve immediately with butter, syrup, powdered sugar or any other favorite toppings.

I use 3/4 C of batter for each serving.

Small Batch Cinnamon Rolls

1 C milk
1/4 C salted butter
1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 large egg
3-4 C all purpose flour

Filling
6-7 TBS butter
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1 TBS cinnamon
2 tsp flour (optional)

Frosting
Powdered Sugar
Milk
Maple
Vanilla

For the dough, heat the milk in a medium saucepan until the milk is scalded (which is basically heating it until right before it simmers - it will start steaming and little bubbles will form around the edge of the pan.) Pour the milk into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or you can do this by hand with a large bowl and wooden spoon.)

Add the butter, sugar, and salt. Mix until the butter is melted and let the mixture cool until warm but not hot. Add the yeast and egg and mix until combined.

Gradually add the flour until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. The exact amount will depend on the temperature, humidity and how you measure flour. I usually end up with right around 3 1/2 C of flour. The dough should be soft and just slightly sticky without leaving a lot of residue on your fingers. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let it rise until doubled, about an hour. Roll or pat the dough into a 14x10 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter evenly across the top.

Stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon (and flour if using) and sprinkle it evenly over the butter. Pat it in slightly with the palms of your hands. Starting with one long end, roll up the cinnamon rolls as tightly as possible without stretching the dough, pinching the seam lightly to seal.

Using a serrated knife, cut the large roll in half. Then cut each half in half again (forming four equal portions). Cut each of the four portions into three rolls for twelve cinnamon rolls total.

Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place the rolls in the pan (3 across, 4 down), tucking the loose end of the cinnamon roll underneath, if desired. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the rolls rise until double, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the rolls for about 18-22 minutes until only very slightly golden on top.

While hot, cover with maple glaze.

Notes

Whole milk or 2% milk is preferable. 

Flour in the filling is also optional, it helps bind the filling together so the rolls don't gap as much after baking. 

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast I like SAF brand
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour approx

(can omit 1/2 C flour for 1/2 C oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Combine yeast, water and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer; let sit for 5 minutes or until frothy and bubbly.
2. Place the paddle attachment on the mixer, if using a stand mixer.
3. Add 3 cups of flour, mix. Add salt and another cup of flour, mix until combined.
4. At this point you should have added a total of four cups of flour. The recipe may take a little less, or a little more, depending on climate.
5. The dough should barely pull away from the sides of the bowl when it has the proper amount of flour added. Using the dough hook, knead for 4 minutes on low. Cover dough and let rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled.
6. After the first rise, punch down dough with floured or greased hands, shape and place in a greased loaf pan.
7. Let rise again until doubled.
8. Preheat oven to 350, set rack in middle of oven.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove bread from oven.
10. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove loaf and cool completely.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Mel's Kitchen Cafe

3 C all purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar
2 TBS poppyseeds
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt (or buttermilk)
2 TBS lemon juice
1 1/2 TBS freshly grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 stick butter, melted and cooled until no longer hot

Glaze
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
Coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease two 12 cup muffin tins or line with muffin liners. If you only have one pan, you can easily bake in separate batches. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking power, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt/buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together once or twice to start combining (stop stirring before it's fully combined; it's okay if there are dry streaks remaining). Add the melted butter and gently fold/stir until just combined. Don't overmix or the muffins might be dry and tough!

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until the top springs back lightly to the touch.

For the glaze, while the muffins bake, simmer the sugar and lemon juice together in a small pan on the stove, for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thickened into a light syrup. Remove from the heat.

Pretty quickly after the muffins come out of the oven (within 2-3 minutes), keeping the muffins in the tin, brush the top of the muffins equally with the lemon syrup. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Let the muffins cool another minute or two in the muffin tin before removing the wire rack to cool completely. 

Quick Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Mels Kitchen Cafe

1 lb ground beef, turkey, or ground pork
1/2 C chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
2 TBS tomato paste
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp coarse, kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 oz can tomato sauce 
1-2 teaspoons brown sugar
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 TBS soy sauce
Noodles
Freshly grated Parmesan

In a large 12 inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat, cook the ground meat, onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper, breaking the meat into small pieces as it cooks, until the meat is no longer pink.

Drain any excess grease.

Stir in tomato paste, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium-high, stirring constantly, for about a minute, until the mixture smells fragrant. 

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Stir to combine.

Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes (or as long as you like/need.)

Serve over hot, cooked noodles.

Blueberry Compote

2 C blueberries
3 TBS water
1/4 C sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Combine 1 cup of the blueberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the blueberries and cook for 8 minutes more, stirring frequently. 

Serve warm.