Puglia tomato friselle rusk bread - Traditional breakfast

I've always loved sliced tomatoes on toast, it was my pandemic breakfast of choice. Simply toast, a smear of mayo, sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper.... absolutely my favorite. Sort of a design of my own making, but maybe I saw it somewhere???

Getting to Puglia and waking up to the hotel breakfast on Day 1 was terrific.... cheese, meats, fruits (including one I've never seen, nespole- more on that later) and these yummy tomato toasts. 

Our host,  Elena, was telling us our choices for breakfasts.  She offered frisselle and described as tomato toast,  then said "5, maybe 6 would be right.... I think 6". I was a bit worried, then delighted, when I saw the plate and that they were small. In the photo,  you can see that there are 5... that's because I already put one on my plate and was tucking into a yummy bite. 

Here's my attempt at making it myself for the breakfast when we got to our VRBO a couple days later.

Our host had left us so many things as a welcome gift; fresh orecchiette pasta, jarred pomodoro tomato sauce, the frise (bread rusks), tomatoes, local olive oil, a fresh basil plant, fresh cheese and an assortment of fresh fruit.... oh, and local wine!

The top picture has small frise rusks and the second picture is the larger size. Both are great, but maybe the big ones take a bit more time to soften a bit.

Here's all we did:

12-16 large cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or eighths

A bit of good olive oil, 2-3 tsp

A big bit of salt

Fresh basil, cut into slivers

A bit of pepper, if you like (and I do)

A couple teaspoons of water

*Some Frise Maltagliate... (dry, light "bagels, AKA "rusks" or bruschetta)

In a medium bowl, cut the tomatoes, drizzle with oil olive and salt. Add slivered basil and pepper.  Give a nice stir and get the 'rusks' ready to go on a plate. 

So our host, through interpretation through his 14 year old niece, told us to make the breakfast,  adding a sprinkle of water. My hubby heard that I should sprinkle the dry bread with water, but I interpreted it to mean that I would add a bit of water to my tomato mixture. I actually think my hubby was right, but honestly, drizzling the rusks with a bit of watery tomato oil also works deliciously too.

Let the rusk sit and absorb the mixture while you get the rest of the breakfast ready to go.  We drank quite a lot of espresso in tiny cups while we prepared our breakfast.

The rusks are in the package behind the bottle of olive oil.  There were more gifts from our host in the fridge: cheese and orecchiette. What a nice gift to leave, everything you need to make yourself a dinner, a snack and a breakfast.

*to make these at home it would be easy to use bruschetta toasts, or leftover French bread toasted/ dried in the oven.  It's supposed to be hard and dry,  hence the sprinkle of water. 

On day one,  here's a photo of our view as we ate breakfast. Not a bad place to start your day. 

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Lemon Zucchini Bread

A wonderful moist lemon zucchini bread that is so easy to make!  Original recipe is found here, I made few changes, mainly replacing the sweetened lemon yogurt with regular plain yoghurt instead.

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 cup Greek Yogurt, plain

2 Tbsp lemon juice

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp salt

2 cups grated zucchini, about 1 1/2 medium zucchini

1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp lemon

2 Tbsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" bread pans with baking spray.

In a large bowl, cream together oil, Greek yogurt, lemon juice and sugar. Once combined, add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Add in lemon zest, and stir together. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and mix just until combined.

Add in zucchini and vanilla extract, and stir.

Once combined, divide batter evenly between the two bread pans.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least 10-20 minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar together until well combined. With the bread on the cooling rack, pour glaze over the bread. Sprinkle zest over the top of the glaze.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Streusel Coffee Cake

A friend recently came to my house bearing a jam packed gallon zip bag filled with fresh frozen raspberries from her garden. Wow!  That is such a nice gift to get.  I had to think on it... should I make jam, cake, what would be best?

We had a co-worker with her birthday last week, so I whomped this up on Sunday night to be ready to celebrate Monday.  
Woo hoo, it's so fun to have a surprise!  
Except she was sick... 
So while we couldn't celebrate her, however, we did make everyone else quite happy.

This recipe is very adaptable to other flavors and fruits, I might try thin sliced apples with some cinnamon, or blueberries, or heck, why not chocolate chips?  When it's coffee cake, it is always good! I adapted from this recipe from Smitten Kitchen where she originally made this with blueberries.  I mixed powdered sugar with a little cream and drizzled over the cooled coffee cake. In the morning, we had some yummy crunchy icing over the streusel, which was fantastically yummy.

Topping:

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold is fine

Pinch of salt

Cake:

2 cups (less 2 Tbsp) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

1 large egg

1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)

1 pint fresh, or frozen, raspberries

1/2 cup half and half cream

Drizzle icing or powdered sugar over the top

Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan (with at least 2″ sides) and dust it lightly with flour; line it with a round of parchment paper.

Prepare the topping by mixing the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture until just combined, followed by 1/2 the milk; repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk, finishing with the dry mixture. The batter will be very stiff, but don’t fret. Fold berries into cake batter until evenly distributed.

Scoop cake batter into prepared pan and smooth so that it is flat. If using walnuts, scatter them on top. Sprinkle with prepared streusel. Bake in heated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out batter-free. You can let the cake cool complete in the pan on a rack, or just cool it in the pan for 20 minutes before flipping it out onto a cooling rack, removing the parchment paper lining, and flipping it back onto a plate. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Do ahead: Cake keeps covered with plastic or foil at room temperature for three days. If longer, it might be best to keep it in the fridge. It gets more moist each day.

A little coffee cake is always a yummy thing to have when you're at work.

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Blueberry Lemon Bread

Loaf, what a word.
Loafer
Loafing.
The more you say it, the weirder it gets.
That's why this is called Blueberry Lemon Bread instead of "loaf".
This is a delicious and super easy bread to make.

Adapted by a Taste of Home recipe, linked here. 
 

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp lemon juice

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk, or milk

1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

2 Tbsp grated lemon peel

GLAZE:

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in the blueberries. I used an additional tablespoon of flour to dust the blueberries before mixing them in.  In theory, this should help them disperse throughout the bread and not sink to the bottom.

Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350° for about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely. 

Editor's Note: If using frozen blueberries, use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.

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Morning Glory Muffins

And in the morning, I'm making muffins!
Okay, so maybe that quote from Shrek is actually "in the morning, I'm making waffles!"

Here's an easy to way to prep ahead for making fast and easy muffins in the morning. 

A friend of mine gave me her recipe that she makes regularly, and I blogged about it last September (find recipe here).  But, I kept thinking about it because I still had half a box of All- Bran cereal in the pantry and also that I liked a muffin called "morning glory" at a local bakery that included carrots.  So, I decided to have another go at it with carrots, and maple syrup.

These muffins were moist and sweet and delicious too.

Makes about 24
Ingredients 

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1 cup boiling water

3 cups All Bran cereal

1 cup of sugar 
1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2½ cups flour (you can substitute ½ whole wheat)

2½ teaspoons baking soda 

½ teaspoon salt
1 cup finely grated carrots

2 cups buttermilk 

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

Pour hot water and maple syrup over All Bran and let set to cool.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and mix well. Mix together with a fork the flour, salt, soda. Add alternatively the buttermilk and flour mixture. Blend in cooled All Bran, carrots and walnuts. Batter can be used immediately or cover and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use (I get mine ready the night before and bake them in the morning. Spoon batter from container without stirring into greased muffin pan (or use muffin papers). Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

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Bran Muffins

My friend Pam gave me this recipe.
It's a very cool process, make the batter ahead of time, cover it and keep it in the fridge, then bake muffins fresh every morning!  
The batch makes 24 muffins, however she bakes 4 each morning in her toaster oven, so this one batch can last all week. She says it keeps for weeks, but never lasts that long.

Think of the possibilities!
It's a great time saver, you can do the batter ahead, and then it makes life easier in the morning.   Brunch guests, fresh baked treats for your co-workers coffee break or for the holidays.  I can imagine popping a batch of these in the oven for Christmas morning, to snack on while you are enjoying the early morning festivities, something to hold you over until the real sit down breakfast is ready.

(Sorry to confuse you, but I pictured the sour cream by mistake- LOL)

 

Makes about 24
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup butter

2 eggs 

1 1/2 cups flour 
1 cup whole wheat flour 
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 

1/2  teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk 

1 cup boiling water

3 cups All Bran cereal 

3/4 cups raisins (or dried cherries, dried blueberries or cranberries)

3/4 cups chopped walnuts

Pour hot water over All Bran and let set to cool.

Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs and mix well. Mix together with a fork the flour, salt, soda. Add alternatively the buttermilk and flour mixture. Blend in cooled All Bran, add raisins and walnuts. Batter can be used immediately or stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 weeks. Cover tightly until ready to use. Spoon batter from container without stirring into greased muffin pan (or use muffin papers). Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Like muffins?
More ideas below:

Apricot, Cherry, Almond Muffins
Banana Raspberry Bran Muffins
Egg "Quiche" Muffins, Make Ahead
Oatmeal Raisin & Walnut Muffins
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins 

Pumpkin, Banana & Applesauce Lowfat Muffins

Chocolate Scones

I made this scone recipe to go with my chocolate raspberry jam.
We're were off to the lake for a weekend with friends and I wanted to bring something to bake for breakfast.  I pre-assembled all the dry ingredients in a ziploc bag and mixed them in the morning with the cream, vanilla and butter.

Pretty rich and delicious, however next time I think I will make two small discs, cutting each into 8's, getting 16 petite scones.  These were a lot of sweetness in the morning.
Makes 8 wedge-shaped scones.

Chocolate Scones Recipe:

2/3 cup cream or milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips (that's my addition)

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateScones.html#ixzz38zxeIH99

Chocolate Scones: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl whisk together the cream or milk, egg, and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips (I used mini!). Add the cream mixture and stir just until the dough comes together (add more cream and/or flour as necessary).

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Shape the dough into a 7 inch (18 cm) round and cut into eight wedges. Brush excess flour from the bottom of the scones, and place on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until they are firm around the edges but a bit soft in the center. A toothpick inserted into the center of a scone will come out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Can serve with chocolate raspberry jam, clotted cream or softly whipped cream.

Cheater Scones- Bisquick Hack

You know what a "hack" is, right?
Urban dictionary says-
"To jury-rig or improvise something inelegant but effective, usually as a temporary solution to a problem".  

I wanted to make something for a meeting at work, but was short on time, and inclination to hit the store. Mainly because that stuff never tastes that good, costs a lot and looks cheesy to bring it in in a plastic box.  Baking scones at home shows you care...

This worked perfectly and only took about 20 minutes.  
I threw the finished scones in a basket, with some jam and I was out the door by 6am.  How happy are your co-workers when you arrive with warm scones??? Oh, pretty happy! 

So, I busted out the bisquick and did some quick thinking, what would improve this stuff?
Actually quite a bit of stuff would make awesome, quick scones.  My idea includes dried cherries and sliced almonds, but use your creativity here.... chocolate, raisins, toffee bits would all be great too.

If you need some more ideas on food hacks, You ought to check some of these out at http://www.viralnova.com/awesome-food-hacks/.
  Makes 16 scones
Ingredients

4 1/2 cups Bisquick Mix
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted , plus another 1Tbsp for brushing on top
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cherries, or raisins, or currants
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1-2 Tbsp Turbino Sugar, also know as "raw sugar"

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Mix the bisquick, milk, buter, sugar, cherries and almonds together.  Turn out the mixture on a floured board and knead about 15 times.  Kneading is nothing more than turning and folding the dough over and over, which creating layers in the end product.

Pat into 2 circles, about 8-9 inches in diameter and about 3/4- 1" high.  Brush with some more melted butter, sprinkle with coarse sugar and cut into wedges.  Position on baking sheets and bake 8-10 minutes until the tops are browned and the scones have risen.

Rum Raisin Cake

I remember that yummy Bacardi Rum cake from the 1970's and 1980's?
Wow, I always loved that stuff.
Here's my version.... it doesn't have any cake or pudding mixes, just ingredients that you might already have around the house.  It's not hard to make from scratch and certainly easier than running to the store for a bunch of mixes.

I know not everyone likes raisins, but everyone likes rum, right?
So, maybe you can get people to try it. I happen to like both raisins AND rum, especially together.

This cake has quite a lot of rum in it, so it's best not to share with the kiddies.  In full disclosure, someone served this to me before I was of legal age, and I turned out alright.

Makes one bundt cake, serves about 10-12
Ingredients

Breadcrumbs (for pan)
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup raisins
1 Tbsp rum, or 1 tsp rum flavoring

Glaze:

1/2 cup rum

3/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Soak the raisins in 1/2 cup of rum, ideally, you would want to let them soak for 1-2 hours.  Drain off the rum that wasn't absorbed and RETAIN it for the glaze, adding a bit more rum to make a 1/2 cup again.  My raisins absorbed about 1/4 cup.

Adjust oven rack 1/3 from bottom of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter 9x3-1/2-inch tube pan and dust it lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs. I know that may sounds crazy, but using plain, dry breadcrumbs gives the cake a nice outside texture and makes it easier to remove from the pan too.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In large bowl of electric mixer cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs individually, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula to keep mixture smooth. On lowest speed alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two additions, scraping the bowl with the rubber spatula as necessary and beating only until smooth after each addition.  Add the soaked (drained) raisins and mix one more time gently.

Turn the batter into prepared pan. Level top by rotating pan briskly back and forth.

Bake for 50-55 min and test.

Let cake stand in pan for about 3 minutes and then cover with a platter and invert.
Remove pan, leaving the cake upside down on a large serving platter. Prepare glaze by stirring the rum raisin liquid and the white sugar. It won't dissolve completely, but it will melt when put on the warm cake.  Stir and use at once, pouring half over the cake slowly, giving it time to absorb.Using a pastry brush, continue to soak the entire cake.  Allow to sit and cool.  Serve.

This cake might even be better the next day.  If doing a day ahead, cover and store at room temperature.

Almond Poppyseed Bread

I literally threw all the ingredients into my stand mixer and then hit the "on" button.
I know I probably should have mixed the liquids and then added the dry ingredients in batches.
However, I was doing a science experiment just for you.
Well... 
Actually it was for me, because I was tired, and I wanted to go to bed, and I wanted to get that bread DONE that evening.
And... it was a success.  I love forgiving recipes.
So...
You have my permission to whomp out an easy batch of this bread and impress  your buddies at work with a treat the next day.
 

 (I forgot to picture the eggs and vanilla)

Makes 2 large loaves
Ingredients

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

2-3 Tbsp poppy seeds (I used 2, but I wish I had used 3)

2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

1/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp butter, melted 

Topping:

1/2 cup Sliced almond, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Mix all of the ingredients together. 
Pour into greased and floured baking pans. 
Makes 2 large loaves. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes, testing for doneness with a toothpick.  It should come out with only a couple moist crumbs on it.

To make the glaze, pour all ingredients into a small saucepan and let cook on stove on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Pour glaze over warm bread while they are still in the pans. Top with toasted almonds and let cool completely.

Here's a platter to take to a party, work or maybe a bake sale.