Cinnamon Rolls à la Pioneer Woman

Fat Bottomed Bex is ba-ack!!! With a full semester under my belt and three A’s to my credit! WHEW! It’s no joke going back to school at this point in my life. Not only have I not cooked for you, dear readers, but my poor hubby thinks I’ve forgotten where the kitchen is! LOL So on this my first full day of freedom since August (let’s not talk about Christmas just yet, give me a day or two, ‘kay?) I was determined to post something…ANYTHING…for you! I can’t take credit for this recipe, but it’s one I’ve been wanting to try for a while now from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Her cinnamon rolls were everything they were promised to be. And if you’re not familiar with her, or haven’t tried any of her recipes yet, I highly recommend you take a visit to the country and give these a whirl. They really were so much easier than I expected.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a big yeast user. I buy it with good intentions and then it sits in the fridge until I unearth it a year after it has expired. Poor little dead yeasties. 😦 So to say I was a tad intimidated is fair. But this time I was determined to not send those poor little guys to a chilly death in the back of the refrigerator. I bought a fresh batch and went straight to work. To my delight, I was rewarded with huge, puffy bowls of dough. Woohoo! Surprising how a simple thing like dough rising makes you feel so successful and accomplished, huh? Here’s a peak at how they came out. Not bad, hmmm?

 

Her recipe makes a REALLY big batch. I ended up with 8 aluminum pie pans with 6 rolls each, a total of 4 dozen. It was a lot of dough to work with at one time. My note to you if you make the whole recipe is plan on splitting the dough into your 2 largest bowls for the rising stage. I’m going to try making just half next time…maybe. We’ve already gobbled up 1 pan, are working on our second at home, and I took 3 pans to school for one of my finals. Three pans managed to make it to the freezer. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they last until Christmas morning.

I did make a few small changes in the icing. I omitted the coffee and I didn’t have any maple extract, so I substituted vanilla, and poured in a couple of tablespoons of pure maple syrup. It seemed a little thick so I added some additional melted butter and a little more whole milk until I got a good consistency. Warning, these rolls are really sweet! If you’ve got a serious sweet tooth you’re gonna be in heaven. Next time around I’m going to experiment a bit, and cut down a little on the sugar inside the rolls and perhaps try some Stevia or Splenda just to see if I can make them a tiny bit less dangerous! Perhaps a cream cheese icing just to see how that works out. But this is just a personal preference, they really are downright wonderful and were so much easier than I thought they were going to be. So don’t be skeered, give ’em a try!

Ree’s Additional Notes on Cinnamon Rolls

Can’t wait to try these in our Cinnamon Roll Me Away Sundae with Praline Icing recipe!

BTW, those close up pictures earlier in the post? Yeah, the pan really looks like this!

Happy Baking my friends!

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Cinnamon Roll Me Away Sundae with Praline Icing

Yes, yes, I know I it’s Monday, and I promised you this over the weekend. (Picture me here, hanging my head in shame.) I am not yet in the groove with this whole homework thing! I did however manage to get that done on time, but I’m sad to say it was at your expense! So here’s a little sugar rush that’s super simple. Dare I offer it as a “study-aid?” LOL You decide. But I’ll bet if you try it, you’ll get an A Plus!

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• One can Cinnamon Rolls
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Praline Liqueur
• Sweet tooth

Directions

Now don’t blink, you might miss somthing!

1. Put the rolls in the pan

2. Then bake ’em up!

  

3. Put the icing in a bowl.

4. Add a little (or a lot…hic! Excuse ME!) Praline Liqueur (check out your local BevMo for this) and stir it in.

   

5. Drizzle it all over the baked rolls.

6. Use it all up, so they are fully covered in Praline-y goodness!

7. Now most people would stop here and call it dessert….but then you’d be missing out! So plop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a couple of bowls. (You really should share this with a few folks, but hey, who am I to judge?)

8.  Top with a warm, gooey, roll and enjoy!

Origin of the Name:

Cinnamon Roll Me Away Sundae with Praline Icing

If you eat more than one, you will probably need a helpful friend to roll you away from the table!

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Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sundae

I know, I know…it’s Friday, but I’m declaring today Maple Bacon Sundae! Start the holiday off right with this great treat using Maple Caramelized Bacon one more time! I promise to move on after this. This sweet and savory bacon is ruining any attempt at sticking to anything resembling healthy eating! LOL Of course, I can’t promise future recipes won’t have bacon! What kind of world would that be? Sad…very, very sad!

4th of July is my official start to summer. And what says summer more than ice cream?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Add some Maple Caramelized Bacon and people might not be screaming…they might just knock you down and take it away from you!

Ingredients

• 2 scoops Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
• Maple Caramelized Bacon crumbled
• Caramel Ice Cream Topping

 

Directions

Start with your favorite Vanilla Ice Cream. This is what I had in the freezer. Believe me, the fact that it was No Sugar Added didn’t matter one bit! Cuz I added plenty of sugary goodness to it. Oh yes I did!

For one serving, use 2 scoops. Not that I’ll EVER make just one serving again!

Let the ice cream soften and give it a quick stir.

Add a tablespoon of Maple Syrup.

Swirl it around, but don’t mix completely.

Pop the bowl back into the freezer…

And go make some Maple Caramelized Bacon!

This time I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon to the brown sugar and it was yummy!

I cooked it a bit longer so it was extra crispy. Then cut it up with my kitchen shears. Way easier than using a knife!

Now comes a happy accident! As I stood looking at the pan the bacon had cooked in, it appeared that there was quite a bit of caramel-ish toffee in the pan. So I drained off most of the bacon grease and tasted what was left. Mmmmmm…WHAM inspiration hits! Why not fold that into the ice cream???? Huh, WHY NOT? So I did. It promptly hardened into a solid lump. Ooops! What have I done? Should I fish it out?

Nope! Just got those trusty kitchen shears back out and cut it all up into tiny,

little bits of crunchy, bacony, toffee goodness!

Then back into the freezer it went.

A few hours later, I popped it into my favorite sundae glass. A treasured gift from my Fat Bottomed Friend, Tee, which she gave me at least twenty years ago! I assure you, if you don’t have a sundae glass, your favorite ice cream bowl will work just fine.

Just look at all those tasty bits of toffee! Wow, am I glad that “accident” happened!

Add your favorite Caramel Ice Cream Topping.

Then top with the Caramelized Bacon bits.

Voila!

Right before your very eyes…It’s Magical!

I just turned Friday into Sundae!

And for my finale….the Disappearing Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sundae….

Poof!

Vanished !

Ta Daaaaaa!

From my Fat Bottomed Kitchen to yours,

The Great and Wondrous Fat Bottomed Bex wishes you all a safe and Happy 4th of July!

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Bacon Apple Crumble Recipe

Yep… as promised, here is another recipe using carmelized bacon!!!  I don’t know what it will be like at your house – but I made this at my daughter Kelly’s…  I had 3 of my grandkids around and they kept eating the bacon… I almost didn’t have enough to use in the recipe!

We have been making this dish (sans the bacon) for years!  It’s my ‘go to’ quick dessert when I need something that tastes simple enough for the kids and mouth-watering enough for adults that just happen to drop by!

Since this is one of my favorite desserts, I decided to ‘modernize’ it and add some carmelized bacon.  I tasted it when it was warm and Oh My Goodness!!!  I was so happy… I could barely wait for Kelly to get home from work and try it!!   So don’t wait… go buy some apples and make this very soon!!!

Here’s what you’ll need…Do y’all see my nifty little gadget that peels, slices and cores the apples all at once???  I love this thing!!!  I got it years ago from Pampered Chef, but found them on Amazon (click here) if you’d like to get one!  This one hooks onto the counter with a clamp, but I made this little stand for it so I wouldn’t have to keep putting it on and taking it off of the counter, I’m lazy that way!  I gotta say, I love it!  Maybe that’s why this recipe was so easy???

You will also notice that I used a cake mix.  Again… I like to make my own crumble topping, but I was at Kelly’s house and didn’t want to rummage through all her stuff looking for what I needed, so I used the cake mix.  It’s good, it’s faster and almost any mix flavor will work.  In the past I’ve used the following – spice, white, yellow, butter, german chocolate… they all worked out tasting great!  The only ones I have not tried are the funfetti, cherry chip, lemon and chocolate… but now that I’ve thought about it… I might actually try one and see how it works – maybe with a different fruit filling.  Anyway… let’s get to our dessert!!

Let’s start with makin’ the bacon.

Click here for the carmelized bacon recipe.

While bacon is bakin’ (lol) – it’s a great time to peel, core and slice those apples.  I use 5 or 6 apples depending on their size.  Arrange sliced apples in baking dish.

By now, bacon should be out of the oven and cooled.  Go ahead and set oven to 375° now. Sprinkle apples with brown sugar (dark or light), cinnamon (or mock cinnamon) & bacon pieces.  I like to cut the bacon with kitchen scissors right on top of the apples, brown sugar & spices in baking dish.

Found it works well to add a few pats of butter here and then top with as much cake mix as you can fit onto the dish.  It will bake down.  I usually end up using about 1/2 to 3/4 of the pkg.  Then slice the rest of the butter into pats and dot the topping with butter.  Place into oven and bake for about 45 min.

While your dessert is baking and you’re cleaning up the kitchen… you can be sure if there are any kids around they will find very useful purposes for the apple peels!!  Like making jewelry and recreating famous movie scenes!!

Times up!!  Here you go!! It’s beautiful and tastes terrific!!!

Ingredients:

• 10 Slices of Carmelized Bacon (cut into pieces)
• 4 – 5 Granny Smith Apples
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon or (Mock Cinnamon if you’re allergic)
• Carmelized Bacon
• 1/2 – 3/4 Box Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 stick Butter

Bake at 375°.  Make Carmelized Bacon and set aside.  When cool enough to handle, break or cut bacon into small bite size pieces.

Peel, core and slice apples then arrange in baking dish.  Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon (or mock cinnamon) over apples.  Top with bacon pieces and a few pats of butter.  Take dry cake mix and sprinkle over apples.  Slice remaining butter and place on cake mix.  Pop into oven for about 45 minutes.

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Mock Cinnamon

One of our Fat Bottomed Friends mentioned that she thought our Peachy Cobbler sounded great, but she couldn’t try it because she was allergic to cinnamon.  That got me thinking… and as promised, I got out my measuring spoons and my spices and got busy this weekend!!  My goal was to develop a cinnamon substitute for those of you who might be allergic to cinnamon.  It was fun…. I felt a little like a scientist!  I was careful not to use any allspice as many of those who have an allergy to cinnamon also are allergic to allspice.  After a few hours of taste testing… by George…. I think I’ve got it!  Who the heck IS George, anyway???

So… here you go.  I believe that we’ve come up with a very nice substitute for cinnamon, if you must.

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 3/4 tsp ginger

It’s Nuvegin… uh… Ginomeg or… Clovinut?  Surely someone can come up with a better name for this!! Why don’t we play ‘Name this spice’??  Mix spices well, then measure and use just like cinnamon.  I even added the mixture to some sugar and made mock-cinnamon toast.  I was pleasantly surprised at how different and good it tasted!  In fact, my husband even ate a second piece!  Mind you, this does NOT taste anything like cinnamon…. but it’s a nice way to add spice to apples, peaches and other like-dishes that call for cinnamon if you’re allergic!  Try it…. I think you’ll like it!! 🙂

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Bacon Meets Monte Cristo!

I’d like to make an introduction.

Bacon, Please Meet Monte Cristo.

Sandwich, that is!

 

Now if you haven’t had a Monte Cristo, I’d advise you to make it a priority. Really. I mean it. This is seriously good eats. Sweet and savory….mmmm…so, SO good. Perfect for any time of the day!

I’d never really thought of trying to make it at home, seemed a bit daunting considering I’ve only ever had this in restaurants. But….ya know….I’ve had this bacon thing going on…(thank you, Denny’s) and I started thinking of all the things I could do with Maple Caramelized Bacon. If you missed yesterday’s post, click over and check it out. Go on…do it, click that link, you know you want to.

Go ahead, I’ll be here when you get back. I promise. 🙂

Take your time….

Drool a bit, get those taste buds going, then get on back here to find out how you can make this tasty sandwich yourself!

Fa la la, la la….(imagine a musical interlude here. Whatever you like, really, it’s YOUR choice!)

Back? Sounds good, huh?

Okay, now let’s get cookin!’

Assemble the following:

Ingredients

Batter

• Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/3 cup Milk or Half & Half
• 1 Tablespoon Flour
• Pinch of Kosher Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly Ground Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon (or as much as you like. Think French Toast Batter here.)
• 1/4 teaspoon Grated or Ground Nutmeg (if you’re grating it fresh, just eyeball it.)

Sandwich

• 3 slices Sourdough Bread (or bread of your choice)
• Honey Dijon Mustard
• Butter
• Mayo if you like
• 2-3 ounces Turkey (get the good stuff from the deli)
• 2-3 ounces Ham (do I need to repeat myself?)
• 1-2 slices Provolone Cheese
• 1-2 slices Muenster Cheese (These are what I had on hand. The classic calls for Swiss or Gruyere. Use whatever kind you like.)
• Powdered Sugar, Jam, or Syrup for topping.

Directions

Let’s get cracking! With the eggs, I mean. (I promise to use a different color bowl next time I’m making an egg batter.)

Add Vanilla. Feel free to add more than a teaspoon if you like.

Measure out some milk. Use half & half for a richer batter. (And a fatter bottom, my friend!) Now I know I said 1/3 of a cup earlier, and this actually looks more like 3 ounces. So what. Gonna make something of it? HA! Obviously this is another ingredient that can be adjusted to your personal preferences….or my sloppy measuring!

Add a tablespoon of flour to thicken the batter slightly.

Add a pinch of salt. I always have Kosher, Sea Salt (less sodium), and the regular old table variety. Use what you have.

See those fat fingers? (sadly, it’s not just my bottom that’s a little chubby…) I really do mean just a pinch! Grate in a little fresh black pepper too. Yeah-yeah, I forgot to photo this step. It takes both hands to work my pepper grinder!

 Add Cinnamon.

This is something I never measure when I’m making French Toast, so the above amount is really just a recommendation.

I guess I should be honest here….I actually never make French Toast! That’s my hubby’s job, and he’s soooo good at it, I won’t even eat in restaurants anymore! Honey, are you listening? How about this weekend???? Purty Pleeeeaazzze???

Oh sorry, got a little side tracked there.

Back to business.

I have a fancy nutmeg grater. Have I mentioned that before? Are you jealous?

Does anyone know where you can still get these? My friends all want one!

Whisk it all together.

On to sandwich assembly!

I used three slices of sourdough bread.

White, wheat, egg bread…really anything will work.

Spread some honey dijon mustard on the inside of slice 1.

Butter the inside of slice 2. Or you can use mayo if you prefer. Or more mustard. Your call.

Pile on some turkey. Don’t be skimpy.

Now, add some of that tasty Maple Caramelized Bacon!

Regular will work fine too, but why not go for the gutso? Errr, I mean G-U-S-T-O!  LOL

Now, cheese me please! I used Muenster on the turkey half.

Cover with slice 2, buttered side down. Spread mustard on the top of slice 2.

Flip it over and cheese me some more! Provolone on this half.

More bacon! Yay!

Now it’s time for the ham. I used 3 slices.

Butter (or mayo) the inside of slice #3.

Flip it over on top of your architectural masterpiece and slice into 3 triangular wedges.

Melt about 1/4 – 1/2 stick of butter in a non-stick pan. 

Dip sections one at a time in batter. It helps if you have some long toothpicks to secure the wedges together. Let them soak it up a bit, but don’t leave them too long. Again, no picture. Sorry folks! My hands were all goopy with batter and I couldn’t touch the camera!

Brown in butter over medium-high heat. Start with the edges to seal in the goodness. 

In a restaurant they deep fry this bad boy, but the pan method seemed to work just fine.

Brown on all sides.

 Don’t forget to pull out those toothpicks!  I used tongs once the sections were well set.

Serve dusted with powdered sugar and jam. Or if you prefer, maple syrup.

Warning! I’m about to make a serious product plug here. Try St. Dalfour’s Red Raspberry Fruit Spread. It’s heavenly!

You can get it at Whole Foods or farmer’s markets like Henry’s or Sprouts. It’s a little pricier, but it has less sugar and it’s soooo good. I really recommend it.

Can’t ya just taste this? Pardon me, I’m going to eat now.

Oh man…only one more bite…

I’m sad now. I want more. 

Gosh those other two wedges look pretty enticing….

No, Bex! Stop! Those are for the guys!!!!

Whew. That was close. I managed to exert some self-control and save this for my hard-working men.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did!

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Nutty Nana’s

This is a guest post by my granddaughter, Kyleigh! I guess she has seen me taking pictures of my cooking lately and she knew something was up!  She has subscribed to our blog and when ever something new is posted she will call me and then wants to discuss it.  She has given me a few suggestions on doing things a little ‘better’.  She had a recipe of her own that she wanted to post, so I thought I’d give her a shot.  I’m not really sure about the name of her dish… I didn’t notice any nuts in the recipe…. I wonder what the ‘Nutty‘ is for???

Ingredients:

Graham Crackers

Honey

Bananas

First you take an empty glass with a flat bottom and crush the graham crackers on a paper plate.  On a different paper plate you need to drizzle some honey an then on yet another paper plate you should take a peeled banana and slice into bite size pieces.

Pick up a piece of the banana with a fork and pull through the honey so it is covered, then roll in the graham cracker crumbs and place on your serving plate.  Repeat until you have used all the banana.

Then she came up with this crazy idea and added some nutella to her honey plate!  “Nana! Look what I just dreamed up!!” She’s a gal after my own heart.  Try taking the banana pieces and cover with Nutella, then roll in graham cracker crumbs!

The Nutella covered pieces didn’t look quite as pretty on the plate… and the taste testers were a little wary…

But the final verdict was a happy one!!  This is a great recipe for the kids to do!!

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A Peach of a Cobbler

So, we’re strolling the aisles of the warehouse store….I say to the hubby…hey, do we need peaches at home? Not exactly the most earth shattering of conversations I agree, but hey, it’s Costco! The place where you have to buy so much of one item at a time that you’ll be eating it for the next 6 months unless you have a family the size of a football team…which we don’t, there are only 3 of us, so who knows why we’re even at the warehouse store??? Not to mention you need to have a pantry the size of a barn to store it all! Not a barn in sight in my neck of the ‘burbs…so I try really hard not to buy somethin’ before we really need it. Alas, old-timers disease must’ve had us in it’s painful grip that day. Neither one of us remembered we still had peaches from the last venture to the super-size store. So home we trot with 4 more large jars of these golden gems floating in luscious sweetness. So while hubs is hauling the stuff in I start cramming the loot in every available cupboard…and I do mean cramming, careful if you open a cupboard or the freezer at our house! I pull open the dog food drawer, (cuz that’s where I’m now storing overflow pasta sauce & peaches…makes perfect organizational sense, don’t ya think?) and what do I find but 3 jars of peaches! All of a sudden they’re not looking quite as deliciously golden and they’re looking a lot more like, oh crap, what am I gonna do with all these freakin’ peaches! No way are they fitting in the dog treat drawer! (yes his food is now in the garage…sorry Rocky.)

Guess it’s just time to get peachy.

Hey, that reminds me of  those peechee folders we had in High School! Totally random thought, it just flew in there. No worries, it’ll fly right back out.

So here’s a Peach of a Cobbler, I promise!

Ingredients:

• Butter
• 32 oz peaches with syrup or juice, do not drain
• Yellow Cake Mix
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• More Butter
• Brown Sugar (optional)

Now these are some pretty tuff instructions, so listen carefully…

 

 

Butter your dish.
I used a round casserole this time, but you can use a 9 x 13 if you like.

Open the peaches.

(I used a full 24 oz jar & about a 1/3 of another jar)

Dump the dry cake mix on top.
Don’t mix into peaches, just flatten it out a bit across the top.

Sprinkle on cinnamon,

use as much as you like.

Grate on some fresh nutmeg.

Or use ground if you don’t have a handy dandy nutmeg grater like this lucky girl!

Put generous pats of butter all over the top.

It looked like it needed something here…or perhaps I just had a craving…so I sprinkled on some brown sugar just for fun. Your call.

         

Bake at 375º  for 45 minutes to an hour. Watch it carefully after the 45 minutes. Depending on the size of the pan you use you may need to take a knife & poke down some of the cake mix on top down into the peach juices. Don’t worry you can’t mess this up.

See? Just look at all that golden bubbly goodness!

P.S. For the cookin’ in the wild crowd, try this in a dutch oven. It’s a winner!

I know, cuz I won a cooking competition at a boy scout outing with this one. Uhhh, I was a scout’s MOTHER, just to clarify. Personally, I was a Camp Fire Girl. Got the beads to prove it!

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Chocolate Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

It’s that time again!  Summer vacation is here and the grandkids are out of school.  It’s over 100° outside and I’m baking… who’s idea was this anyway???  When I decided to bake cookies today, I knew I wanted to make oatmeal.  I dunno…. guess I have visions of the oatmeal variety being more healthy… hahaha!  Then I opened my pantry and saw that jar of chocolate covered raisins and healthy went right out the window!  Right out the window with Tucker!  Tucker is our little minpin who has learned that he can get onto the back of the couch and jump out the window into the screened room.  Then he can’t get back in so he sits out there and then I can’t find him… silly dog!  I don’t quite know why THAT little tidbit popped into my mind – but there ya go!  Okay, back to the cookies.  I decided to add those chocolate covered raisins to my cookie recipe.  They came out great… even if I do say so myself!!  You be the judge…

Here is what you’ll need to get started…

• 3/4 cup Butter
• 1-1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup chocolate covered raisins (optional)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 375º F

Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Beat slowly until well blended.  The butter wasn’t as soft as it should have been so it didn’t shows in small pieces in the photo – doesn’t matter, it mixes in when the flour is added.

Now combine remaining dry ingredients in separate bowl, then slowly add into creamed mixture at low speed

Fold in chocolate covered raisins by hand (or rubber spatula)

Last thing to add is the nuts.  I like to use walnuts, but I didn’t seem to have any today so I just used pecans.

Now it’s time to bake!  I’ve recently started using parchment paper on my cookie sheets – it makes things so much nicer!  Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 – 14 minutes until slightly browned.

These are delicious!!  Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!!

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Le Pain Perdu, Doux et Fruité

Or if you can’t wrap your tonque around that name, you can always call it Sweet & Fruity French Toast. Heck, call it whatever you want! Just try it. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

My young sis-in-law, Dana (that’s her on the right, enthusiastically lighting my 50th birthday cake….gee, thanks sis) is a fellow food lover and specialty scone baker. (Link coming soon!) She loves to try new recipes and when she can’t find a recipe she just makes it up! She recently treated herself to breakfast at Cafe Laurent where she chose Le Pain Perdu, French Toast made with brioche, croissant, apples and fresh cranberries. She was so impressed with this dish that she promised to make it for us at Lake Havasu over the recent Memorial Day weekend. Just one problem…no recipe, no brioche, no apples, no cranberries…no biggie! Undaunted and without blinking an eye, she improvised. Using croissants, hawaiian bread and fresh blueberries. She chunked the breads, eye-balled the milk, added 8 eggs and a little cinnamon. Sorta looked like bread pudding at this point. She then hand-formed it into pancake-size circles & fried them on a buttered griddle. It lacked just a tiny bit of sweetness, but hey we just shook on some powdered sugar & poured on a little extra syrup, Voilá! Très doux! Okay that’s it for my 4 years of High School French. Je suis désolé, Madame Stein!

Here’s the do at home version, all sweetened up nicely.

• 1 package Hawaiian Rolls and 6 Croissants, squared into cubes (or tear into chunks).Try the brioche instead of the hawaiian rolls if you can find it.
• 1 cup Milk or Half & Half for a richer flavor
• 8 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar, more if you have a bit of a sweet tooth, or the fruit isn’t as sweet as you like.
• 12 to 16 oz. Blueberries (that’s 2 containers) or hey, just throw in as many as you want.

Heat griddle to medium-high. Chunk the breads. Whisk together milk or half & half (not both, you milk fiend! What, ya own a dairy? Got your own cow???), eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Pour over bread. Gently stir in berries. The batter/dough/bread pudding-y mix will look as thought it does not have enough liquid, Dana says just trust that it does!!! Form it into pancake-size patties and fry them on a buttered griddle.

     

  Dana & her handsome helper.

Ours took about 1 1/2 minutes per side to cook. Peek under the edge carefully, then flip when golden brown. We transferred them to a cookie sheet and kept them warm in the oven. Use foil between the layers if your oven only has one rack like ours!

Serving suggestions:

Syrup of your choice (we used maple, which was plate-licking good), or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Orrrr…why not both? Don’t need to twist my arm, I’m using both! And while we’re being indulgent, don’t forget the Applewood Smoked Bacon…it’s almost not breakfast without bacon!!

Serves 8-10

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