Amaretto French Toast

 

On our recent vacation with my side of the family, each of the ‘sibling’ families took turns in the kitchen.  My brothers Eric and Doug paired up for a couple breakfasts (Doug’s wife wasn’t able to make the trip - something about being 8 mos. along in her third pregnancy and 12 hours away from her doctor in December/January in Montana where snowstorms are frequent – we missed you, Laura!). 

My brother Eric in the foreground and Doug in the background.

 

Mmmmm … helpers or samplers??

 

Anyway, these two brothers served this AMAZING dish one morning and received rave reviews all around.  Absolutely YUMMY!  Five stars, I’m telling you!!

I made the recipe today just to relish it once more.  I made it with French bread;  my brothers used English Muffin bread.  Both are tasty.

Tip:  If you want more Amaretto flavor, slice the bread thinner.  I grill this on a griddle placed over the burners on my cooktop.  I’ve found that a lower heat works better and prevents burning (if the bread is soaked longer).

 

Amaretto French Toast

Makes about 6 servings or 18

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup half and half
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons Amaretto
9 tablespoons butter or margarine
18 slices brioche or egg bread (English Muffin bread and French bread work nicely, too)

Directions
In a shallow dish, whisk together all ingredients. Place bread slices into dish. Let soak for a bit, flip and let other side soak.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter. When melted, retrieve slices from egg mixture and add to skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining slices.

Harvest Apple Bake

In my quest to find recipes that use a LOT of eggs, I came across this breakfast dish that is prepared & refrigerated overnight.  I found the recipe online at Iowa Egg Council’s website … www.iowaegg.org … I found a few other recipes to try later on, too.

Harvest Apple Bake

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 8 eggs
• 1 loaf French bread
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tbls. vanilla
• 1 Tbls. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 7 medium sized cooking apples (Granny Smith is one variety)
• 2 Tbls. butter

Directions:

Slice bread into 1 1/2 inch slices.  Place bread tightly together in a 9x13 inch greased pan.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, cream, and vanilla for about 30 seconds.  Pour half of egg mixture over bread.  Peel, core, and slice apples.  Place sliced apples on top of bread to cover and pour the rest of the egg mixture evenly over the apples.  Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Sprinkle evenly over the top of apples.  Dot with butter.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.  The next day, bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Cut into squares and serve warm with syrup and a dot of whipped cream.  YUM!

Grandma Eva's Sponge Cake

Recently received this email from my mom (I edited the title & text just slightly to eliminate ‘email-speak’ and protect identities) …

Suzie,
Was going through my recipe's looking for bar recipe's … and I found a recipe from Grandma for Sponge Cake with 12 egg yolks.  Don't know if you remember it - but I made it a few times - sponge cake is rich.  I like it plain, but I remember Dad liked it with a thin orange or lemon glaze.  So here it is:

Grandma Eva's Sponge Cake
3 cups Cake Flour
4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
12 Egg Yolks
2 Cups Sugar
1 Tbsp Grated Orange Rind
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 Cup Boiling water
Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt - Beat egg yolks until thick and light colored.  Gradually add sugar, beating until very thick and light colored.  Beat in orange rind, lemon juice and boiling water.  Fold in flour and put in tube pan.  Bake 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Invert 1 hr.

Quiche Supper

I’ve become a fan of quiche.  I wouldn’t have said that a year ago, because I hadn’t even made a quiche before Easter 2009.  However, it’s a great way to use up bits of meat, veggies, and cheese … and it’s quick!

Quick Quiche
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, 1/2 & 1/2 or milk
• 1/2 cup vegetables, cooked
• 3/4 cup diced meat – ham, chicken, shrimp, etc.
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese – cheddar, swiss, colby, etc.  (swiss is my favorite)
• salt & pepper to taste
• Other extras: chopped green onion, chopped chives, chopped parsley, dash of nutmeg

Directions:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray or butter a 9” pie dish.  Beat the eggs and mix in the cream.  Add the vegetables, meat and cheese.  Mix thoroughly.  Add seasoning.  Pour mixture into the pie dish. 
 
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until just set in the center. **I needed to bake my quiche for 20 minutes longer.  Be prepared for that!**  Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Note:  I usually bake pies/quiche, and anything I ‘think’ might boil over, on a large pizza pan.  Save me from having to put up with a burnt smell until I have time to thoroughly clean the oven.

Egg Yolk Cookies

This is the recipe to have after you’ve made a home-made Angel Food cake!  They’re crisp and flavorful with a nice yellow/orange tint to the batter.

Egg Yolk Cookies

Ingredients:
12 egg yolks
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
2 –3 tsp. lemon & orange flavoring
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream sugars with butter.  Add slightly beaten egg yolks.
3. Sift dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture.
4. Add flavoring.  *I added 2 tsp. pure lemon extract … I didn’t have orange extract available.
5. Use a small cookie scoop to drop little balls onto the cookie sheet and then flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

6. Bake 7-10 minutes.

Hash Brown and Ham Quiche

This is one of the dishes I served at our Saturday morning Brunch. It disappeared so fast ... I only tasted a few scrappings from the bottom of the pie plate. The scraps were tasty enough to entice me to prepare it again today! Who says quiche is only for the breakfast hours....

With our large group, I made one and one half of this recipe and it fit in my large ceramic pie plate (about 10-11") However, be forewarned that it will take about 25 minutes extra to bake it completely (and, if you bake it longer, make sure to cover the top with foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning).

Hash Brown and Ham Quiche

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups hash browns, shredded, frozen

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

3 Tbls. butter, divided

1 medium onion, diced

1 small green pepper, diced

2 tsp. all purpose flour

1 cup diced pre-cooked ham

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheese - colby jack, cheddar, mexican blend, whatever you have on hand (I forgot to spread this over the top for our brunch, but no one noticed!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Nicely browned hash browns.

2. In a large skillet, saute the hash browns, salt and pepper in 2 Tablespoons butter until lightly browned. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9 inch pie plate. In the same skillet, saute the onion and green pepper in remaining butter. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the flour. Stir in the ham, eggs, and milk. Pour into the hash brown crust.

Sauted green pepper and onion, above. The Hash Brown and Ham Quiche ready to bake in the oven, below.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Egg in the Hole

This is a favorite breakfast from childhood and late night college gatherings. In childhood, we seasoned with salt and pepper. In college, we were a bit more adventurous with the spices and tried almost anything ... then dared the recipient of our concoction to 'eat it all'!! No one ever refused the meal ... but, I stick to the salt and pepper, nowadays.

Egg in the Hole

Yield: 1 serving, but easily multiplied

Ingredients:

1 slice bread

1 large egg

butter

Tear a hole large enough for the egg yolk in the center of the bread (eat the raw bread - no waste here). You can either butter the bread, or put the dab of butter in the pan to prevent sticking and help in toasting the bread. Place the bread in a hot skillet. The skillet should be large enough to hold the slice of bread.

Crack open the egg and drop in the hole in the center of the bread slice.

Fry until the botton of the egg is 'set'. Flip the egg and bread combination over and fry on the other side until your desired doneness is met.

I like to be able to dunk the toast, but some prefer the egg to be completely done.