Breakfast Delights

So I've been super busy these past few weeks and I haven't had time to update with a few recipes that I tried out back before Easter. I did a lot of baking over Easter as well, but forgot to take pictures because it seemed I was always stressed for time before I had to leave for church or a party. Anyway, on Wednesdays and Fridays I don't have classes, so I normally bake or make some sort of breakfast since I'm so busy throughout the rest of the week. I love pancakes and I normally just stir them together out of a pre-made mix, but decided I would make the 'real' thing this time around.





I love simple pancakes with a little maple syrup drizzled on top, so I went with a basic recipe from All Recipes and tweaked one or two things. Like I said the recipe was simple enough, but I ran in to a little problem when I added the milk, butter, and egg to the dry ingredients. The wet ingredients turned into this weird flaky looking mixture. The first time I added the wet, I just assumed I scrambled my egg because the butter was still a little warm, so I cleaned up and started over. This time I made sure my butter was cool before adding, but of course it happened again. Have any of you ever run into this problem? Like I said I assumed it was because the butter was too warm, but the second time I made sure the butter was cool, so I don't really know what happened? Anyway, I went ahead and made the pancakes because I figured they would still taste good, and they did. I did add a little vanilla to the wet ingredients because I add it to pretty much anything when I bake. The pancakes turned out fluffy and delicious.




Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

(I sifted the dry ingredients twice to make for a fluffier pancake; and I also added 1 tsp of vanilla).




Another breakfast item that I adore are scones. I had a white chocolate raspberry one a few years ago that was sinful. I haven't attempted that version yet, but instead opted for a simple chocolate chip scone.





I've made this recipe a few times before and I've loved them. This is another recipe from allrecipes and like the pancakes this is a very basic recipe for chocolate chip scones, but it uses orange juice instead of milk. The recipe calls for 5 Tbsp of butter and 3 Tbsp of OJ, but from previous reviews I decided to go with a stick of butter (8 Tbsp) and 8 Tbsp of orange juice. I also add a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients and some vanilla to the orange juice. The recipe also says to do this in a large bowl with a pastry blender, but I just throw it in my food processor, which is a lot quicker. I haven't run into any problems with this recipe and it's one of my favorite recipes for a quick breakfast pastry.



English Royalty Chocolate Chip Scones
from allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
8 Tbsp orange juice

(I added about 1/2 -1 tsp of vanilla, depending on what you like and a sprinkling of cinnamon to the dry ingredients)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With a pastry blender or a large fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Mix in the orange juice to form a dough.

Turn out the dough on a floured surface. Pat or roll into a 9 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. With a 2 1/2 inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out 12 scones, pushing the dough scraps together for the last few, if necessary. Transfer the scones to the baking sheet.
(* Before I put in the oven I brush the tops with an egg wash and sprinkle some raw sugar on top)

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Move to wire racks to cool.


Both of these recipes are going into my recipe books and I will continue to make them, since scones and pancakes are a few of my favorite breakfast items. Over Easter I made the cinnamon rolls over on The Pioneer Woman's website. And let me tell you, they are divine. They take a while to make, but I enjoyed every step. They are uber sweet and I can only handle about one of them, but they are amazing. So you should head over to her site and try them out, if you haven't already.

Hope you enjoyed my first 'official post.' I decided to keep it simple with my first post and I really enjoyed this blogging experience. I will apologize for the pictures because they aren't the best since I used my digital camera, but I thought they turned out okay since I'm not a photographer. Well I hope you enjoy and I will see you here again in a few weeks.

Anna