During busy weeks, sometimes my breakfast is fast and on the go.  I'll tear open a highly processed carbohydrate in a foil wrapper, and, if I plan well,  it will at least accompany an apple or banana.

But this is a much better way to enjoy fruit in the morning. It's kind of like a smoothie, except this is meant for a leisurely morning savored slowly, seated at a breakfast table and sipped with a spoon instead of a straw.

At the Bloomsbury Inn, this is the first course in a three part breakfast.  Yes, their morning includes an appetizer, entree and dessert.  Isn't that divine?  Though this is the first course, it could certainly be dessert for me.

Kathleen, Innkeeper at the Bloomsbury, said that she finds it to be a challenge to find new, exciting, unique fruit options.  (I need to send her a link to my hot pink fruit breakfast!  That one wasn't just unique, it was funky!) Her cold fruit soup recipe is definitely a fun and different way of adding fruit to your morning meal.

Let's get started with cooking.  Or in this case, I should say mixing.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how simple this is to put together.

Notice that I picked "fat free" yogurt, "light" whipped cream and "lite" peaches and placed them right next to the "heavy" whipping cream.

Ha!

The recipe Kathleen gave me leaves the option open for choosing the fruit.  From berries to mango and even honeydew.  But I decided to have a peachy morning since it's the state fruit for South Carolina.

Unfortunately, peaches are not in season at the moment, so I used canned.  But you better believe I'm going to try this recipe again in the spring with some fresh peaches.

Next the sugar ... or how my Carolina relatives would say ... "shugah."

Next, a couple of dollops of yogurt.  The recipe calls for 6 ounces.  I had a big 'ole tub of it ... but figured that 6 ounces was equivalent to about 6 spoonfuls.  If you use vanilla bean yogurt, the extract is optional and probably not necessary unless you want a stronger vanilla flavor.

A dash of cinnamon.

Blend. Chill.

Serve and enjoy!

Bloomsbury Cold Fruit Soup

from the Bloomsbury Inn, Camden South Carolina

Total preparation time: 15 minutes, plus chilling time
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

2 cups fruit (peach, cantaloupe, honeydew, mango…any one of these works well…fresh is better, but canned or frozen will work when well drained)

½ cup sugar (sugar to taste depending upon natural sweetness of fruit)

1  (6 oz) vanilla bean yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract if you use plain yogurt (extract flavor based upon fruit:  vanilla, cinnamon, rum)

¼ cup heavy cream (add cream to determine consistency desired)

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

If you are using fresh fruit, carefully clean, peal, and place in the blender.  Add all remaining ingredient and blend until smooth. Chill for at least 8 hours.  Garish with whipping cream, candied/sweet-flavored nuts, fresh mint or whole fruit slices.  Serve very cold.

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If you ever wanted dessert for breakfast, and felt a little guilty popping a single Dove's Promise's Dark Chocolate piece to melt on your tongue with your morning coffee ... then I have wicked solution for you.  A muffin.  Because even though it's chocolate, the fact that it's a muffin still makes it breakfast.  And since the stores are filled with pink hearts, chocolates and forget-me-not's, I thought this treat would make the perfect cupid's arrow  ... either for your Valentine's heart or your own.

I have a full list of ingredients and directions at the end of the post ... but the main stars of this event are ripe red raspberries, dark chocolate chips and pink muffin cups to make them cute and girlie.

Sift together your flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  Then sift the cocoa.

I should have sifted the sugar in with the flour ... but making these snow topped cocoa mountains was more fun.  I like to play with my food.

Add the brown sugar, then whisk/stir it all together.

Next start adding your wet ingredients.  Whisk your eggs together in a separate bowl.

Milk.

Chocolate chips.

Might I add that I almost had to run out to the store to buy another bag as Jim, the photographer, could not stop eating these.  What makes that even funnier is that he doesn't like sweets!  Liar.  These are bittersweet ... so I give him that credit at least.

My recommendation ... get an extra bag of chocolate and an extra package of raspberries for munching.

Here's a few facts that will take away the guilt ... raspberries are loaded with vitamin C ... chocolate is full of antioxidants and polyphenols ... eggs and milk give you protein and calcium.  Ignore the sugar and flour. They don't exist except to carry this wholesome nutrition into your body.  (wink)

Mix in the chocolate chips before the raspberries.  They're a little tougher, so you can really mix them in well.

Raspberries are fragile, so be careful when folding them in.  These were fresh, but I might even recommend freezing them for an hour so that they hold up better to mixing.

Serve on a platter for breakfast ...

Or as a single tasty treat with coffee or tea ...

Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

(recipe modified from Inn at The Park's Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe Below)

2 Cups all purpose flour
2/3 Cup cocoa
1/3 Cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 Cup milk
1/2 Cup melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 package of chocolate chips
1 package of fresh raspberries

1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin pan or line with paper cups.

2) In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3) Beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add all wet ingredients to flour/cocoa mixture.

4) Fold in chocolate chips. Next add the raspberries and spoon batter into muffin cups.

5) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool then dust with confectioners sugar and serve.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

from the Inn At The Park Bed & Breakfast, Louisville, Kentucky

2 Cups all purpose flour

1/3 Cup packed light brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 Cup milk

1/2 Cup melted butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 package of chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin pan or line with paper cups.

2) In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3) Beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add all wet ingredients until well blended..

4) Fold in chocolate chips. Next add walnuts and spoon batter into muffin cups.

5) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve.

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French Toast was probably my favorite breakfast growing up and recently I've been receiving lots of different variations of this popular morning food.  Some with different fruits and spices, some stuffed, some layered, the classic single slice and family casserole style.  It made me wonder, why do we call it "French" toast anyway?  I know it's not really French, or is it?

Wikipedia's etymology says the earliest use of the term was in 1660 and was bread fried with wine, orange juice and sugar.  I'll have to give that recipe a try!  After doing a little more digging through Google, I discovered in French it is actually called "pain perdu" which translates into "lost bread."  It was a popular recipe in many countries, not just France, as a way of making stale bread palatable.  The English call it "gyspy bread" and I think I'd like to adopt that term from now on ... sounds like breakfast with an adventurous edge!

While there are many different adaptations, the basics remain the same.  A simple batter of eggs and milk.  And I like to add a dash of vanilla, the way my Mom always made it.

This recipe comes from Diane Kenniston Hill Inn Bed & Breakfast in Maine. She likes to make her French Toast with shell or heart shaped homemade biscuits.  In lieu of biscuits I used some Texas sized bread.

Here's what you'll need:

The basics ... milk, eggs, bread, butter

Add to that a dash of vanilla, some sugar, walnuts, strawberries, and maple syrup.

You can do this same recipe with whole slices of bread instead of heart shapes.  Or, if you're like me, next time you walk through the baking section of your store and see all the cookie molds you'll dream of French Toast in the shape of flowers, butterflies, kittens, birds, musical notes and the State of California.  (That last one was random, I know)

If' you're going to make it into a shape, cut your bread first ...

Then add the milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla to a large bowl and mix well.

Pour mixed batter into a shallow bowl for dipping.

Then start layering into a 13x9 inch baking dish.

Slice your strawberries and layer on top of the bread.  Isn't this starting to look like a lovely Valentine's Day breakfast?

Next, put a layer of bread on top of the strawberries, sort of like a sandwich.

I poured the extra batter over top to fully soak them in eggy goodness.

Sprinkle with walnuts and add a dab of butter to the top of each toast.

Bake at 325 for about half an hour.

And you'll have plenty of left over crust to make bread pudding ... or feed the ducks.

When they're finished, slice around the edge of the hearts with a knife and serve individually with strawberries and maple syrup.

Doesn't it look like it's sticking it's tongue out?

That is, if French Toast could sass back and actually had a  tongue.

Mmm.  Delish.

Heart Shaped Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

This is the "2nd" course of the all-day-long breakfast we enjoyed recently with Jaden & her family at the Mount Dora Historic Inn.  The main dish was the Italian Strata, but after looking at these photos I'm not sure how I even had the room in my tummy to move on to a 3rd course!  (But I did finish the plate ... every last tasty morsel.  Then I ran 17 miles that evening so I could keep my girlish figure.)

Now, when Chef Jim said he was making "stuffed" French Toast, I imagined two thick slices of some soft bread sandwiched around ricotta and raspberry.  But he goes extreme.

Gigantic.

HUMONGOUS.

COLOSSAL!

One slice of bread ... that is literally ... the size of a whole loaf. Whoa.

And he says he made this bread from scratch too ... but I have to see that live and in person to gather photographic evidence to believe it.  It's just too perfect.  Gives me a baking complex.

My next question to him was, "how in the heck do you get it to cook all the way through?"  To which is reply is, "watch and learn young grasshoppah ..."

Try out his recipe and drool over the photos Jaden took of the whole process.  And yes, it tastes just as good as it looks.

Ricotta and Raspberry Stuffed-French Toast

INGREDIENTS

Photos by Jaden Hair

2, Loaves Italian Sandwich Bread (not too crusty, more doughy)

Filling
6, Ounces of  Whole Milk—Ricotta Cheese
4, Ounces of Red Raspberry preserves

Cream (French Toast) Mix
8, large eggs
2 to 2 ½ cups of ½ and ½
2, teaspoons vanilla extract

PREPARATION

1) Blend Ricotta and Raspberry preserves in a large bowl

2) Slice loaves on a 2 inch bias (slanted), about 20 degrees or to preference, and

save end pieces for a Strata—another breakfast fave!

3) Cut a slit length wise across the top of each piece of bread (corner to corner), and place on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil for easy clean up

4) Spoon mixture into bread pockets and set on cookie sheet so opening is facing up—this helps to keep filling from oozing out

5) Make cream mixture by whisking together the eggs, cream, and Vanilla extract—use a large bowl for this

6) Roll each, stuffed piece of bread in the cream mixture until just wet—do not over saturate, then place pieces on a cookie sheet (slit up), and drizzle remaining cream on top

7) Cover with saran wrap and allow to sit overnight—this allows the bread to surrender to the cream.

COOKING PROCESS

1) The following morning carefully unwrap your uncooked French toast and roll the tops in the remaining cream to wet—set aside

2) Preheat for 10 minutes an electric griddle (275 degrees) —very important to use an electric griddle—they cost about $30.00 and they are fantastic for Pancakes, French toast, Blintzes, etc.

3) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

4) After the griddle is preheated, coat with cooking spray

5) Brown French toast (about 3 minutes for the first side and 4 minutes for the second side—check by tilting the French toast with spatula every minute or two to ensure they do not burn

6) Place on a (Baker’s Secret) cookie sheet covered with tinfoil and bake in oven (400 degrees) for 5 to 6 minutes per side.  These double-layered cookie sheets (Baker’s Secret)—are readily available at your local grocer—prevent the bottom of your toast from burning

7) Powder sugar on each plate and then on French Toast

8) For presentation, you can slice extra strawberries on either side of plate; personally though, I like to plate the French Toast with bacon or kielbasa (Mmm…

healthy).

9) Serve with your   favorite syrup and butter

Note: As this dish is finishedin the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes, the outer surfaces of the French toast should be pastry-like (crispy, not burned) to the touch.  If not, than it should be baked a bit longer.  If you do not have a double-layered cookie sheet, use two cookie sheets (nested—one on top of the other), this is not the best method; however, it will help.

###

I made a major faux pas this past weekend.  I had my family over for brunch with some fabulous pancakes and NO SYRUP!

GASP!

How could a breakfast girl like me not have syrup in the house.  I'll tell you how ... I used it all up when taking that photo pictured above and forgot to buy more when I went to the store!

So, I did what any cook in the digital age would do ... I Googled it.  There had to be a recipe for syrup online.  I found a ton of recipes, but they were all fancy flavored and I was just looking for plain old regular brown-sweet-not-good-for-your-teeth syrup.

I found a recipe for homemade maple syrup, cocked my head to the side and furrowed my brow thinking, "homemade maple syrup, what am I gonna do, grow a tree in my kitchen? I'd love a pop-up tree with a spout."  Turns out is sugar and maple flavoring.  Bleh.  My family is from New Hampshire, so I can't do fake maple.  But, this recipe gave me some ideas for what ingredients to start with.

Just 3 ingredients plus water.  But then, it was too watery.  So I modified.  And modified some more.  And ended up with a  sweet and slow running made-at-home pancake syrup.  And now that I know the ingredients don't have to include hydrogenated thingamajigies or Red Lake #20, I'll never buy store bought again.  Unless, of course, it's authentic New England Maple Syrup.

Pancake Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Water

1 Cup White Sugar

2 Cups Brown Sugar

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Corn Starch

Directions

1) Add cornstarch to white sugar and mix together.  Then add all ingredients to a large saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil.

2) Once it begins to bubble, turn heat down to low and stir until all sugar is dissolved.

3) Serve hot off the stove, or let cool for a bit and it will thicken up even more.

###

At the end of Thanksgiving weekend, I hold onto the last little bits of fall before the holidays kick in.  It always seems that Christmas comes too early.  Even though Winter doesn't "officially" begin until December 21st ... snowflakes already grace store windows as garland.

So, in my last little ode to fall, I went on a little day trip with fellow Innkeepers Jim & Ana with the Mount Dora Historic Inn to a local corn maze.  A maize maze.  I thought getting lost in 6 acres of corn would be a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the weather and walk off all the tasty holiday indulgences.

It sounded quite easy, like kids play that we adults were just entertaining ourselves with.  Perhaps the gps in my car has made me too confident in my wayfinding skills, but that all changed when the stalks were 2 feet over our heads and every corner and twisted turn looked the same.  We really did get lost.  Good conversation with friends was the only thing that kept me from screaming out in a claustrophobic fit.  We got to talking about jobs we had before innkeeping and becoming serial entrepreneurs.  One of my first jobs was working in marketing for an agricultural association, so being ear-deep in corn (hehe) shouldn't have been so out of place for me.  One of the stories I shared with them was the time I was introduced to red-eye gravy.  It's a country thing, I guess.  Bacon grease and black coffee.  To be honest, I never actually tasted it.  I love bacon ... on my plate.  I love coffee ... in my cup.  But bacon and coffee mixed together.  Ew. I wrinkle my nose at the thought.  Perhaps I should be more open minded.  It is breakfast, after all.

Jim took this as a "challenge."  Picture an Einstein-mad-scientist-type, crazy hair, tongue sticking out with a wild look in his eye, groovy 70's music blaring, things bubbling, steam rising.   Now, picture that scientist in a chef's coat  and replace the lab with a kitchen ... except with clean cut hair ... but his tongue still sticking out.  Yeah.  That's Jim.  He loves experimenting a creating new things.  Especially when it comes to baking.  And I had just given him an idea.  A bacon and coffee infused dish.  Since were were lost in the middle of a corn field, I threw in the added ingredient of corn.  Poof.  Bam.  The idea was born.  A savory corn cupcake with bacon and coffee.  I didn't know whether to be intrigued or grossed out.

My first experience with a savory cupcake was in Oklahoma.  Yup.  Not some culinary capitol like Chicago or NYC.  The heartland.  Oklahoma.  So the fact that this idea was born in the middle of a farm shouldn't have surprised me at all.

The cupcake place we found in Oklahoma City was an adorable little cottage with the most perfect little cupcakes I'd ever seen.  They had red velvet, chocolate and classic vanilla.  They also had green tea cupcakes and a savory egg-y breakfast cupcake.  They were delish, so I unwrinkled my nose and accepted the bacon-coffee-corn-cupcake challenge.  It was a bake-off between me and Jim.  And I have to tell you in advance, his cupcake won!

The stars of this show ...

Do you hear the StarWars-like music?  Duuuuuun ... Dooooooon ... Da-DOOOOOON.  Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom.

Corn ... check.

Bacon ... check.

Coffee ... hmm ...

Recently Marx Foods offered to send some free salt samples to food bloggers.  I sent in my info and got a little box of all kind of chef-y sounding flavors of salt.  Things I would never in a million years find at my local grocer.  My homesick NYC neighbors squealed in delight  that they could order gourmet-to-go direct to their doorstep as flavorful reminders of home.  I was just excited and inspired to try something new.

One of those flavors happened to be ... espresso salt.

Using espresso salt in a breakfast recipe may be uncreative or cliche ... but I'm a breakfast girl so that's the first place my mind will go.  I think my neighbors used it to season their steaks.  Yum.

On with the bake-off.

First, REAL bacon bits ...

Then, fresh white sweet corn from our local farm.  Did you know that corn has one "silk" hair per kernel?

Yup.  I learned that in the corn maze.

Also learned that it kinda looks like blonde barbie doll hair.

Or nose hair.  See ... this is why I'm no chef-y.  I get distracted and play with my food.

My mom says when I was a kid I used to call this "corn on the NOB" instead of "corn on the cob" because of the little corn nobs stuck into the ends.  Again ... playing with my food.

Hmm. Perhaps I should have pulled out a bigger cutting board?  Ya think?  Naaaah ... would of spoiled the fun.

This little bow saw knife made me feel like I was playing a violin ... again ... playing with my food.

CORN!

Fresh.  Uncooked.  Do not try to adjust the color on your screen.  This is not yellow corn ... but sweet white corn.

Mix together the dry ingredients (full list and recipe at the bottom of the post)

Now... I have a question for you.

I looked it up.

My photographer friend Jim looked it up.

We Googled it.

Still ... no answer ... on the history ... of what in the heck is a "Clabber" girl ... as opposed to just the name of some baking powder.  Looks like there'd be some historical story to it, but we couldn't find it.  If you know ... PLEASE TELL US!

Add your wet ingredients to a separate bowl ...

Oops.  I lied.  One "dry" ingredient goes into this "wet" bowl.  Sugar.

Some eggs.  Some Buttah'.  Some sour cream.  Jim added a lot of creamy things to this recipe.  Gives it a moist cake texture.  No classic cornbread here.

A spoonful of bacon grease.

A cap full of vanilla.

Blend.

Pour into dry ingredient bowl and "mix" ... not too much ... or they'll be tough.

Add the corn last.

Dollop into your cupcake/muffin pan.  This is where I went wrong.  I always use paper cups for easy servings and even easier clean up.  But these suckers stick to the paper like glue, so I would grease your cupcake/muffin tin and skip the paper.

Sprinkle with bacon bits and espresso salt to taste.  A sort of "red eye gravy" topping.  They're both SALTY SALTY SALTY ... but it contrasts nicely with the sweet and creamy cupcake.

Then bake!

This is also where Jim's cupcakes beat mine.  He made 6 big poofy ones.  Like a cupcake should look.  I made 12 ... so they came out kinda teeny.

And voila.  A savory corn red eye gravy cupcake.  It was EXCELLENT hot with eggs over easy.  However, I didn't like it cold.  This is not a cupcake to keep in a pastry display for everyone to grab on the go at room temperature.  This is an eat it hot and fresh for breakfast in the morning kind of meal.  A little weird, I do admit.  But it was fun to make!

Savory Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

8 strips bacon, cooked, crisp & crumbled

1 1/2 cup corn

1 cup buttermilk

8 oz sour cream

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 stick of butter, melted

2 large eggs

1/4 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp bacon grease

1 capful vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 360 degrees.  Yes, that is 360, not 350.  Grease muffin pan.

2) Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

3) Cream together eggs & sugar, then add bacon grease, butter, buttermilk, softened cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice.

4) Add to flour mixture along with corn and fold together until well blended.  Do not whisk.  Do not overmix.

5) Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and sprinkle with espresso salt and crumbled bacon.

6) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

7) Serve with eggs and enjoy!

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I just recently made this cheesecake on Daytime ... in under 4 minutes!  (In case you missed it, a link to the video will be posted soon!)

Now, that being said,  I don't recommend making this in 4 minutes ... you actually need about 45 minutes to put it all together and another hour to bake it.  But, if you've never made cheesecake before, don't be intimidated.  It's actually quite easy.  The hardest part is not eating all the creamy pumpkin-y batter right out of the bowl!

Chef Jim from the Mount Dora Historic Inn gave me a few extra little tips that gives it a little extra panache.  Follow along and I'll make you the star of your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Here's what you'll need ...

As long as you have the right pan, every thing else is a piece of cake.  Pun intended.  If you've made cheesecake before, skip down a bit. If this is your first time, then let me introduce you to the springform pan.

This nifty little inexpensive  dishware can be found at most large-we-sell-anything-and-everything-superstores.  You might also be able to find it at your local grocer.  "What exactly does it do?" you ask.  Well, it has a nice little hinge on the side that, when opened, releases the sides of the pan allowing you to display your cheesecake as a nice perfect whole cake rather than trying to dig it out with spoon.  (Not that I've ever done that ... ah em.)

Here are the rest of the bits you'll need (full recipe and measurements at the end of the post.)

Some cream cheese, softened to room temperature.  And I do mean room temperature.  If you have a sunny little spot on your counter top, let it sit there awhile and catch some rays while you pull everything else out of your cabinets and refrigerator.  It may take a good hour for it to warm up.

warmed up room temperature cream cheese = easy + creamy cheesecake

cold cream cheese = chunky cheesecake + frustrated baker with sticky bits clogging up their mixer

Catchin my math here?

In addition to cream cheese, you'll need graham cracker crumbs, ginger snaps, butter, eggs, pumpkin pie spices, brown sugar, sour cream, a pinch of salt, and some BOURBON.  (You have to say that last ingredient with your best Southern accent, as if you've taken a swig or two) BOOOOOURBON.

*In my best fake Southern accent*

"Did I say BOURBON?  Why, yes, yes I did say Bourbon.  Pass me some whisk-eh!"

Cooking is always fun in my kitchen.  And while I may laugh and play with my fake Southern accent (as if you could hear me?) I do have a confession.  I don't drink whiskey.  I'm a wine girl.  So walking out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag wrapped around this teeny bottle had me blushing in the same way I did when I was 13 years old and running to the cash register hoping no one saw me buy my first box of "monthly supplies."  Girls, you understand.  Guys, you'll never know, so don't ask.

So, yes, I was blushing and looking over my shoulder to see if any of my small town neighbors would catch me buying whiskey before noon and start spreading rumors that I'd become a "drinkah."

But inviting Jack Daniels into my home for some Thanksgiving baking was the BEST decision I've made this week.  Just WAIT until you taste it.

Now that my confession is over with ... onto the good stuff!  Let's start with the crust, shall we?

For cheesecake, it's really easy.  Just 3 simple ingredients.  Graham cracker crumbs, pinch of brown sugar, and some butter.  Chef Jim suggested a little bonus ingredient. Ginger Snaps.  You can crumble up handful of these spicy cookies in your little food processor.

If you don't have a food processor, you can throw 5 or 6 cookies into a large zip lock bag and crush them with a wooden spoon to make some crumbs.

Now, I have to warn you, if you decide to go this route I will suggest you put the whiskey away.  Unless you want your family to find you in your kitchen with a bottle of bourbon smacking cookies with a spoon.

Just sayin.

Mix them all together ...

Thenn press the crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of the springform pan and up to the sides.  Pop it into the oven at 350 for 10 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack while you mix the filling.

Step 1 is done.  See, wasn't that easy?

Now on to the fall ingredient that makes this cheesecake extra special ... pumpkin.

Pumkin actually holds A LOT of water.  So, if you want to keep your cheesecake firm, you'll need to soak up some of that water.  Chef Jim gave me a little tip for how to do that ... spreading it out on paper towels.  Simple white un-printed plain ole paper towels.  Fancy, huh?

Spread the pumpkin out onto a layer of 6 to 8 paper towels using a spatula.

When you've got it spread over the paper towel like icing, add another couple of layers of paper towels and press softly to absorb more of the moisture.

Next you want to mix or "cream" together the cream cheese and brown sugar.  Then add the pumpkin and mix some more.

Add your eggs, vanilla and spices and you've got your filling!

When it's all mixed together, scrape the edge of the bowl with a spatula ...

don't lick it ...

not yet anyway... and blend some more until it's nice and creamy.

Then, spread it out onto your baked graham and ginger crust.

Then bake at 350  for 45 minutes to an hour.

TIP! In other cheesecake recipes I've done, it usually calls for a "water bath" in which you wrap the bottom of the springform pan with tinfoil and place the cheesecake in a pan half filled with water while baking.  This is a little precarious because it's heavy ... and it's extremely hot water.

The purpose of the water bath is to keep the cheesecake moist and prevent it from getting dried out around the edges.

Well Jim said I could just stick a pan or bowl in separately and have the same effect.  He does this with his cheesecake as well as his souffles.  Well hallelluah!  I (we) don't have to fret over pulling a gigantic heavy hot "water bath" out of the oven.  Just let the pan/bowl full of water cool before removing.  Brilliant!  Wish I would have known this little short cut last time I made cheesecake.

Step 2 is done.  See ... easy!

Now the final step.

BOOOOURBON.

After the cheesecake is done baking, you'll need to let it cool for an hour and then place it in the refrigerator to chill (overnight or for a couple of hours)

These 3 ingredients will be your topping. A container of sour cream. (Why did I go "lite" on the sour cream, I don't know. Nothing else about his recipe is "lite" and the 20 calories I saved in using this one didn't make a lick of difference I'm sure. Thanksgiving is not for diets, after all. That's what New Years Resolutions are for.)

Add to the sour cream about 2 to 3 cap fulls of Bourbon and a whole lot of shug-ah.

Mix.

Taste.

Mmm.

What is this travesty!?! I have NO FINAL PICTURE of the cheesecake. We sliced it up and gave it to the crew of Daytime. Guess I'll just have to link to the video here soon so you can see it live and in color. Or just make another cheesecake and not devour it before taking photographic evidence.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Cream

(from the Mount Dora Historic Inn)

CRUST

Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cups finely ground ginger snaps

1 tablespoon brown sugar

4 - 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened and at room temperature

3 large eggs

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Note for Pumpkin:  Pumpkin holds a lot of water, so in order to make the cheesecake more firm you need to drain some of that water. One quick and easy way to do this is to layer 6 or 7 plain white paper towels and spread the pumpkin over the paper towels.  Next, layer 6 to 7 towels on  top of that and press firmly.  Once the paper towels are soaked through, remove top layer of towels and scrape pumpkin off the bottom layer with a spatula.

Filling: After draining the pumpkin, beat together cream cheese and sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin then add spices, salt and vanilla.

P our your filling on top of crust.  In order to keep the oven "moist" fill a separate cake pan or bowl half way with water and place on the bottom rack of your oven.  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge is set.  Let cool for 1 hour, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

BOURBON CREAM TOPPING

1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon (can also use vanilla in place of bourbon)

Beat together sour cream and sugar.  Then add teaspoon of bourbon.  Spread over top of cheesecake or serve on the side.

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Last week I caught up with my long time friend and college buddy, Eric.  In college we had a PR writing class at the godawful hour of 7 am.  Which, to actually get a wake-up coffee and a parking space on campus at UCF meant I had to be leaving my house dressed, ready, backpack stuffed with all the necessities by 6:00 am.  What was I thinking when I signed up for that?  I'll tell you what I was thinking ... I need this class to graduate and it was the only time it was offered!  At least the professor was cool.  But every once in awhile he'd painfully wake up our sleepy morning brain with some sort of stressful/deadline/writing type of drill.  Writing early in the morning is my typical routine ... I just don't usually push myself to perfection in under an hour.  It takes a least a  2nd pot of coffee before I can go back and edit.  It seems so crazy long ago now.  Back when my cell phone was huge and all email was dominated by aol.  We were at the top of our class.  And now here we are ... I'm obsessed with breakfast and Eric is wondering why YouBentMyWookie.

Eric always had some good treats baked up.  So when he told me he had a recipe for Marshmallow I begged him to share!   He had  me asking ... WTF is actually IN a marshmallow?  You mean they're not magically produced by Willy Wonka?  There are ingredients I can buy at the store to make these?  Awesome!

He suggested instead that I do a themed Halloween breakfast in full costume.

Aaaah. No.

So ... in lieu of dressing up like Chewbacca and baking wookie cookies ... I tried some marshmallow instead.  And they're unbelievably easy!  The timing was perfect since we finally got our Fall cold spell here in Florida.  Hot chocolate and marshmallows is a great morning or afternoon treat and we like to have Smores in the backyard fire pit with our guests.  Yum.

I'll walk you through it step-by-step with photos and post the full recipe at the end.

Here's what you'll need to get your fire-roasting-smore-making-hot-chocolate-dipping marshmallow on.

Some non-stick spray for the dish/pan.  A cup of light corn syrup.  A cup of sugar.  (Been to see your dentist lately?) A half cup of water.  Gelatin. Vanilla.   And cornstarch and powdered sugar to get the sticky suckers off your fingers.

Pour 3 packets of unflavored gelatin in a bowl followed by a 1/2 cup of water.  Let it sit while it magically turn into jello-like mini pearls while you make the sugar mixture.

It will start soaking up the water and grow.

This is what it will look like after about 10 minutes.

While your gelatin is expanding ... pour 1/2 cup of water, sugar and corn syrup in a small sauce pan on MEDIUM heat.

Stir briefly with wooden spoon and then let it come to a boil.

Approximately 7 to 8 minutes.

You want the mixture to reach 240 degrees ... and then immediately remove from the stove.  Sounds precise and scientific, huh?  I know, I told you this would be easy, so here is where I confess ...

I'm not a candy maker. Not. At. All.  I do love sugar, if that counts. So I didn't have a candy thermometer.  I used a meat thermometer instead.  Buwhahahah!  I told my mom that over the phone ... and she said I was lucky it didn't blow up in my hand.  I was careful though!  I really watched the time on the clock to follow Eric's instructions of "7 to 8 minutes."  At about 4 minutes, it was at 180 degrees.  A 7 minutes it went immediately to 220 degrees ... which is the max on my thermometer ... so I guessed that meant it was ready and removed it from the heat.

(now my mom has a candy thermometer in the mail to me this week)

CAREFULLY and slowly pour it into a large bowl on top of your gelatin.

You can use a big fancy schmancy mixer or just a hand mixer.  Either will work just fine.

Mix for 12 minutes.

Yes, I said 12 minutes.

At about 5 minutes I got all impatient and pouty ... thinking ... this isn't working.  It's clear and bubbly.  I must have not let it boil long enough.  Pout. Cross arms. Tap foot.  Pout some more.

Since I still had 6 or 7 minutes to wait while the marshmallow becomes marshmallow, it was a good time to distract myself by preparing the pan.

Spray your pan with a non-stick cooking spray.  I got smart and started doing this over the sink after my friend Jim did a knee-slide across my kitchen floor.  Yeah.  Pam mist on the floor could equal a disaster.  Or as it did for us, one heck of a belly laugh.  I'm just sayin.

Anyway, after lightly spraying with a non-stick spray, sprinkle with equal parts corn starch and powdered sugar and then cover with plastic wrap.

Press TIGHTLY across the edges.  Otherwise your going to have one fun mess to clean up.  Also, if you didn't have one on before, now is a good time to sport an apron.

Shake it.  Shake it until the entire surface is covered in white.

Pour the excess into a bowl for later use.

Ah!  What's this?  While I was distracted by shakin sugar the marshmallow is ...

becoming  ...

MARSHMALLOW!  At this exact moment I ran around the house shouting, "I MADE MARSHMALLOW" the same way Tom Hanks yelled "I made fire" in Cast Away.  After it being yellow/clear/bubbly for so long I was really "wowed."

The recipe calls for a tsp of vanilla.  But Eric said to be liberal with the vanilla so I added 2 tsp. Is doubling it going overboard?  Naaaaah!

Make sure the vanilla is good and mixed.

Looks like vampire fangs, doesn't it?

Pour into your prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula.

Now's a good time to lick the bowl.  If you've got some nutella and banana on hand, you could even make a marshmallow sandwhich.  Mmm.

Cover and let the marshmallow sit overnight to harden. Or, if you make these in the morning they should be ready by the evening for S'mores.

Take a knife around the edge of the pan to help lift out the marshmallow.

It will feel a little "spring loaded" so rather than thinking of slicing, think more of separating it from the side.

It should be fairly easy to lift out if you did a good job sugar shaking.

Place onto a cutting board and sprinkle with the left over powdered sugar/corn starch mixture you used to coat the pan.

Now here comes the fun part.  Slicing marshmallow.  It's a little like trying to nail jello to the wall.

I remembered that Eric suggested using a pizza cutter so I switched and that helped a bunch!

Once you have your marshmallow squares, roll them around in bowl with the powdered sugar/corn starch mix.  This will keep them from sticking to your fingers ... the plate ... the wall ... pretty much anything they come into contact with.

And there you have it ... MARSHMALLOWS!  Enjoy in your hot chocolate, S'mores, or just on there own.

Thanks Eric!

Marshmallow

Ingredients

3 packages unflavored gelatin

1 cup of ice cold water, divided

12 ounces granulated sugar (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

Directions

1) Place the gelatin into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water.

2) In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and the salt. Place over medium heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.  Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the panand continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees, approximately 7 to 8 minutes.  Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

3) Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture.  Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high.  Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm (approximately 12 10 15 minutes).  Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

4) While the mixture is whipping, prepare the pan.  Combine confectiners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Lightly spray 13 x 9 inch baking pan with a nonstick cooking spray.  Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture, cover with plastic wrap, and mover around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan.  Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

5) When marshmallow is ready, pour into the prepared pan, spread evenly with the spatula, and dust the top with some of the remaining sugar adn cornstarch mixture to lightly cover.  Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours or overnight.

6) Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inc squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture.  Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture, using additional if necessary.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

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Any snack, dessert or breakfast containing  either bananas, chocolate or nutella (or God help me all 3 ingredients!) is surely going to push me into my "I'm not sharing" mode.  Containing bananas, maple syrup and pecans ... this breakfast is one of those.  Thankfully for my waistline it is too big and too rich to eat all on my own.

After trying out this recipe I'm convinced there is a way to incorporate it into my campfire cooking repertoire.  Just got to work out the not-having-an-oven in-the-woods part.

This delicious recipe was sent to me from Margi with C.W. Worth Bed & Breakfast in Wilmington, NC.  I absolutely love Wilmington. I have great memories of this historic waterfront town while visiting there often while my cousin went to school at UNCW.   Their ghost walk happens to be one of my favorites.  That guide had me shaking in my boots from his stories and tall tales.  A little history mixed in with a little adrenaline is a great way to entertain.

Anyway.  Back to the Banana Upside Down Pancake.  To start, you'll need to whip up a basic pancake batter found here: Classic Pancake Batter.  The only difference is, add about a capful or two of vanilla to your batter.

Along with your classic pancake batter, you'll need a cup of maple syrup, 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans, vanilla extract, about 3 bananas sliced, and one whole stick of butter.  Yes, one whole stick.  Told ya this would be good!

Margi uses a cast iron skillet.  Since I don't have one, I used an oven safe pan.  Now that I think about it, I probably could have used a little less butter since the cast iron would have absorbed more.  But ... since when could you EVER use too much butter?

When the butter is melted, coat the pan with a pastry brush and add maple syrup.  Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next place coat the bottom of the pan evenly with banana slices.

Then cover your bananas with the chopped pecans.  I think I went a little nuts with the nuts.  That looks like a little more than a 1/2 cup in my hands.

Next pour your pancake batter on top of the nuts and bananas and cook for about 5 minutes on the stove top.  Then add to your oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool.  Then invert onto a large platter or plate and enjoy!

I smothered mine in more syrup, and then let it soak up the syrup for another 5 minutes.  As you can imagine that made it incredible moist and really ... really ... sweet.

My neighbors Jim & Ana came over for dinner and I served up some of this left over pancake with vanilla ice cream on the side.  Jim said it reminded him of a clafoutis, which is a French term for basically "fruit and batter."  Well, it may be.  If you want to get all fancy schancy.  But really it is just a simple and easy recipe to make.

C.W. Worth House Bed & Breakfast

Banana-Pecan Upside Down Pancake

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1 Cup Maple Syrup

2-3 bananas

1/2 Cup chopped toasted pecans

1 recipe of your favorite pancake mix

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) In heavy cast iron skillet, over low heat, melt 1 stick of butter and brush the sides of the skillet with the butter using a pastry brush.

3) Then add 1 cup of Maple syrup and remove from heat.

4) Slice 3 to 4 bananas evenly to completely cover the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle chopped toasted pecans over that.

5) Mix up pancake mix and add vanilla.

6) Pour batter slowly over the bananas/nuts and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.  Then bake in oven for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

7) Let cool, then invert on large platter or rimmed cookie sheet and serve.

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Here's another great pumpkin recipe for the fall coming to us from the B Street House Bed & Breakfast in Virginia City, NV.   There are two things in this recipe that make your taste buds leap off the charts ... it's spicy like gingerbread ... and it has a gooey cream cheese surprise in the middle.

There was one particular spice that I didn't have in my pantry, and while I was shopping for ingredients my jaw it the floor at the price ...  Cardamom.  There was only one brand in our local grocer that carried it and the sucker was 12 bucks.  Sheesh.  Well, if it's expensive, it must be good, right?  This inspired me to do some research.  What's the story behind this pricey spice?  I googled it and found that my $12 bottle was a bargain.  Some spice shops online were charging upwards of $67.  I've just renamed this recipe Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

Wikipedia says ... "Green cardamom in South Asia is broadly used to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom." The spice includes volatile oils such as camphor, eucalyptol, and limonene.  Some sites reported it to be used in Ayurvedic medicine and also an effective aphrodisiac.

Well no wonder it's so dang expensive!  It's a absolute cure-all.  Next time I get sick I'm baking some of these babies instead of taking NyQuil.

On with the recipe ...

Hmm.  After taking a glance at this photo,  it looks like I went overboard with the cinnamon again.  Good thing it wasn't with the cardomom!  No ... wait ... it's the pumpkin pie spice that's the big mound in the middle.  They call it "spicy" pumpkin muffins for a reason!  There is almost as much spice as there is flour.  I have a full list of ingredients with the recipe at the bottom of the post.

The stars of this show ...

Cream Cheese.  Take an 8 ounce block and cut it into 12 little cubes.

And of course, the spices.  They even smiled for the occasion.

Add your dry ingredients to one bowl.  Starting with flour ...

The menagerie of spices ...

A whoosh of dark brown sugar ...

And then add your "wet" ingredients to a second bowl.

Starting with canned pumpkin (plain, not the pie filling)

A little oil.  I had to hold this with two hands as I was starting to get messy and lost my "no slip" grip in my fingertips.

Molasses.  I have a funny confession about molasses.  During my go-green-all-natural-hippy phase (I'm still eco-friendly, but lite) I decided I was going to try molasses instead of syrup on my pancakes.  I had been using maple, which is natural but high calorie.  I thought this would make a low-cal natural alternative.  Buwhahahaahahahahah!

It was my first time trying the tar-like sap.  Took me a year to try it again.  But only in it's proper use as a "blended" ingredient.

Buwwwahhhahahahah!

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.  Enough with the self-deprecating confession.  Needless to say I didn't lick this bowl.

Add two eggs, a cap full of vanilla and whip together.

Then add to your BIG bowl of dry ingredients and whip together some more.

Spoon into muffin cups.  If you know a non-messy trick to doing this, please let me know!

I usually just wipe down the pan with a wet paper towel to erase the splatter.  I know on TV and in cookbooks it always looks so neat and tidy ... but I bet the reality is there is someone just behind the camera wiping down the messy spoon drippings too.

Press the cream cheese cubes into the center of each muffin cup.  Resist the temptation to pop them in your mouth.  Resist!

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and pop em in the oven at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Voila!  Spicy Pumpkin Muffins. Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

B Street House Bed & Breakfast

Spicy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 Cups flour

1 Cup dark brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup cooked or canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

2/3 Cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 Cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or spray with butter-flavored oil spray 12 muffin tins or line with paper baking cups.

2) Stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix together the pumpkin and wet ingredients.  Stir into dry ingredients until blended.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

3) Divide cream cheese into 12 equal portions.  Put one portion in each muffin in the middle of the muffin batter, pressing down.  Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

4) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part.  Let cool for a bit then serve!

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