Not Just For Making Waffles!

This is french toast!

So I try to make breakfast ahead for my husband who leaves early for work. Some nights I'm just so tired the idea of making pancakes or french toast from scratch is daunting! I have a waffle maker so waffles is usually what I make, but I wanted some variety. So I came up with this idea: french toast in the waffle maker! Yes, it can be done, and it turns out AWESOME!

I'll be back later with a french toast recipe :)

Cooking Tip! Onions...

Every one's experienced the tears and burning typically associated with cutting onions. In all honesty, it has been a while since I've suffered through this culinary punishment. I usually use softball-sized yellow or red onions and had never had a burning-tears experience. However, I recently bought a 3 pound bag of mini yellow onions that are PERFECTLY sized for per-meal portions but make my eyes burn something fierce! After several nights of painful eyes and out of utter frustration I remembered a tip I had read somewhere: chew a piece of gum while chopping your onions. So I tried it...and it worked! I used minty gum, which may matter, and just started chewing it while I chopped. No tears. No burn.

So, go forth and onion-fy!

Fudgy Brownies

Mmmmmm....so rich, chewy, moist...my ideal brownie and not from a box!

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped or chips
• 1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 large eggs, cold
• 2 tablespoon cold brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Tools: 

• Large mixing bowl
• Small microwave safe bowl
• Spoon for string
• Measuring cups and spoons
• 8 x 11  baking dish. Nonstick is great, glass is good too. Silicone is also ok, if you already have it.

Directions:

Position rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F.Butter glass or metal (non-stick!) baking dish to prevent sticking. Silicone should be sprayed with cooking spray.


Put the butter, oil and chocolate in the microwave safe bowl and heat until melted. In large mixing bowl add both sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir well. Add melted chocolate mixture, eggs and coffee. Stir until well combined and glossy. Add in cocoa powder, flour and baking soda. Stir until just combined.



Pour the batter into the pan and bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean but a small sample sticks together when squeezed between your fingers. You want it gooey. Takes about 20-25 minutes.


Cool the brownies in the pan on the counter. Cut brownies into 1-inch squares. Serve. Store extra brownies in a tightly sealed container (or a cake stand, like I do) at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Homemade Frozen Toaster Waffles

Pre-freeze. They look pretty much the same frozen though :)

My husband gets up VERY early for work and I am just not into getting up with him to make a nice breakfast. As a result, he hasn't gotten much of my homemade waffles with syrup. So I decided to make a batch for the freezer that he can actually make himself (and not set the kitchen on fire lol). Super easy, toaster-friendly:

The Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 cups milk (I like to add 4 TBS vinegar to it. It reacts with the baking soda a bit to help make them fluffy)
1 tsp salt
1 TBS sugar

The How

Preheat waffle maker. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a small bowl and add to dry ingredients. Stir well, until it's thoroughly combined but not necessarily to get all of the lumps out (small lumps are fine). Fill each waffle cavity with about 1/4 cup of batter (more or less, depending on the size of your maker). Cook waffles according to the device's instructions.Ends up making about 2 1/2 dozen, give or take.

When done allow to cool completely before bagging and freezing. Any steam may cause moisture that will make them stick together or release water in the toaster. Neither situation is ideal.

Toast when ready, as you would with store-bought waffles. Yeah, it's that easy :)

If you want to change it up a bit you can add/substitute some of the following:

• Add 1 cup of chopped blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or other berry to the batter (apples should work too if you peel them first and chop them up good. Haven't tried it though)
•  For whole wheat pancakes, use 1 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flours.
• Add 1 cup of nuts for a nutty waffle treat
• Add 1 cup of chocolate chips for a kid-favorite waffle 
• The batter can also be seasoned/flavored with 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real deal please!), 1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg.

You can also use this batter for pancakes. If you reduce the milk from 3 cups to 2 1/2, they'll be extra thick and fluffy. 

Enjoy!

Hello there!

Welcome to my little plot of webspace! You can call me Ashley, everyone else does lol. I am a wife to a great man and mother to one amazing little girl. I decided to put this together as a way to collect and share some of the things my family enjoys. We aren't HUGE on tradition, but there are certain things we always try to make time for. The biggest of which being my cooking. I LOVE to make food: cooking, baking, crock potting and even gardening (that I started for the first time this past spring!). I hope you'll find my bits of writing interesting and maybe even useful as I share what makes my little family so full of love :)


Until next time!

Peanut Butter Toffee Chip Cookies

I'll get around to posting an intro later. For now let's dive right in :)

Peanut Butter Toffee Chip Cookies

These were made with only 2 1/2 cups of flour, so they're a bit thinner. Still yummy though :P

Ingredients

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy. I like creamy)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (I use light, but dark should be just fine)
• 2 eggs (1/2 cup of liquid eggs works too)
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup toffee chips

Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Fold in toffee chips. Put dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets (I use an ice cream scooper and level it). Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10-12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Allow to cool for 5-7 minutes before removing from the baking sheets. 

Makes about 2-2.5 dozen, give or take :)