Welcome back!  Today, we have a new twist version of a breakfast staple: Blueberry Muffins with Streusel! This might seem like our Blueberry Muffins , but a quick comparison shows that their differences are not negligible. Besides the streusel, which is clearly a new addition to the recipe, this version of muffin has a simpler procedure (so that you'll have the energy to make the streusel) while still retaining its moist and flavorful goodness. Baking is a science, but you can always use multiple methods to achieve the same goal. Blueberry Muffin With Streusel Makes 12 muffins Ingredients: For the muffin batter: 1/2 cup oil 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cup flour 1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups blueberries For the streusel: 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons sugar 1/8 teaspoon teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons cold butter Directions: In a bowl, mix the oil, eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract together. Sift in the f...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a variation on the beloved breakfast dish: Lemon Ricotta Pancake! This recipe adds a little bit of extra flavor to your typical pancake with the lemon, and the ricotta helps to fluff up the texture of the final product. The combination of these two special ingredients is also a well-known pairing - we even made an Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake  that used them in a similar fashion to elevate a standard dish. However, this is not a drastic transformation of a normal pancake - you can still enjoy it with the classic syrup or serve it with some fresh berries - and it's just as delicious! Lemon Ricotta Pancake Makes 10-12 medium pancakes Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup flour (210 grams) flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 50 grams sugar 1 cup milk 2 eggs 3/4 cup ricotta cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Juice from one lemon (about 2-4 tablespoons) Zest from one lemon Directions: In a bowl, pour in the milk and crack the eggs in...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another wonderful baked good: Blueberry Yogurt Biscuits! These American-style biscuits - crumbly yet fluffy - are a wonderful treat to incorporate your fresh summer blueberries into. Plus, this recipe substitutes the commonly used buttermilk for a simple yogurt and milk mixture which we find to be more easily accessible. Serve it up with a nice freshly brewed coffee and you'll have the perfectly relaxing breakfast. Blueberry Yogurt Biscuits Makes 8-10 biscuits Ingredients: 1/2 cup yogurt 1/4 cup milk 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons sugar Zest from 1 lemon 6 tablespoons cold butter, diced 1 cup blueberries Turbinado sugar for garnish Directions: In a bowl, mix the yogurt and milk. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a pastry blender or a couple forks, incorporate the diced butter into the dry ingredients. It should still be a little...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for one of the most classic American breakfast dishes: Pancakes! Pancakes come in all shapes and sizes across different cultures, but the American pancake is iconic for its thin-but-slightly-fluffy texture that's conducive to all sorts of variations, including pancake art, and being topped with a small slab of butter and/or maple syrup. Plus, they're a quick and fun dish to make (something that the kids will love!) and you can experiment with all sorts of different fillings. Pancakes Makes about 8 medium-sized pancakes Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 egg 1 1/4 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons melted butter (optional) Directions: Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add in the salt and sugar and mix. Beat an egg and pour it into the dry mixture. Pour in the milk, vanilla extract, and butter (if you want to use it). Mix until the ingr...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for a delicious summer treat: Fruit Tart! When you find yourself with a wide range of fresh fruit - especially berries - you can put this dessert together for a dish that everyone will love. In addition to the fruit topping, you'll need a tart crust, obviously, and a nice pot of creme patissiere. In a way, that makes this rather similar to our Apple Tart  recipe, but the preparation is still slightly different! Fruit Tart Makes a 10" tart Ingredients: For the crust: 90 grams unsalted butter, softened 20 grams sugar 35 grams powdered sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 20 grams almond flour 150 grams all-purpose flour For the filling: 2 cups milk 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup cake flour 2 tablespoons corn starch 4 egg yolks 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla pod For the topping: Fresh fruit, like berries, peaches, kiwis, mangoes, or whatever is in season. Directions: Prepare the crust as specified in our Sweet Tart Crust rec...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another crust recipe: this time for sweet tarts! When making our Fruit Tart , we came across two distinct ways to prepare the crust: one being a pate sablée , the other being a pate sucrée . Pate sablée  involves forming more of a crumble with diced cold butter mixed with flour while pate sucrée  is made by creaming softened butter with sugar. Since it seemed that either was acceptable for our tarts and our previous Pie Crust recipe used a pate sablée , we decided to go for a pate sucrée  this time. Sweet Tart Crust Makes a 10" crust Ingredients: 90 grams unsalted butter, softened 20 grams sugar 35 grams powdered sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 20 grams almond flour 150 grams all-purpose flour You could also use only sugar or only powdered sugar, just be sure to use 55 grams total. Directions: In a bowl, cream the butter with sugar, powdered sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg. Add in the almond flour and sifted fl...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have a delicious spread: lemon curd! This lemon curd is made out of a unique variety of lemons known as the Meyer Lemon, which actually comes from China as a sort of hybrid citrus - it's not a pure lemon! This makes the fruit quite distinct from the typical lemons you see: they're larger and less sour while still retaining the taste of a lemon. It makes for a really great lemon curd, and the lemons themselves are great for many other things! Meyer Lemon Curd Makes about 12 ounces Ingredients: 2 eggs 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice 1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest 1/3 cup sugar Pinch of salt 6 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes Directions: In a bowl, crack the eggs and egg yolks in and whisk. Rub the zest and sugar together to let the flavor come out. Mix in the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and salt. Make sure that the mixture is very smooth and even. Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and put the bowl ...

 Welcome back!  Today, we have another pumpkin variation: this time with bread pudding ! Bread pudding is a dish that is highly customizable, and so it was easy to adapt it for a seasonal, Thanksgiving version. This recipe uses pumpkin butter, which is a bit of a deceiving name, as there's no butter or any sort of dairy involved in this ingredient. In fact, it's really just pumpkin with some sugar, honey, and spices, but it functions incredibly well in adding flavor and sweetness to the dish! Pumpkin Butter Bread Pudding Makes 8 ramekins Ingredients: 8 slices bread, cubed into about 1" cubes 6 eggs 2 cups milk 1/2 cup heavy cream (or more milk if you want) 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup spiced pumpkin butter (just add 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice if your pumpkin butter is not spiced) Chopped pecans Turbinado sugar Directions: Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat them evenly. One at a time, mix in the milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and pumpkin butter until you get one even mixture. Evenl...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another great recipe for fruit preserves: this time with pineapple! We did this a couple times because sometimes, you just get a pineapple that isn't good: it's too sour, or maybe it's a little funky. Fortunately, if you make it into preserves like this, you can get rid of all that, and you get delicious jam that you can add in various dishes and store for a long time! Pineapple Preserves Ingredients: It largely depends on how sour your pineapple is (it can really vary!) and also how sweet you like the jam to be. We did this twice, one with a more sour pineapple, one with a less sour, but not particularly sweet pineapple. More Sour Pineapple (about 3.5:1 pineapple to sugar): 850 grams pineapple 250 grams sugar Less Sour Pineapple (about 5:1 pineapple to sugar): 800 grams pineapple 160 grams sugar Directions: Chop the pineapple into small pieces. They'll shrink about halfway during the cooking process so that'll give you an idea of how b...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a great recipe for a classic French treat: crepes! This one features a tasty citrus sauce that is also infused into the crepes itself. Crepes are traditionally served on Candlemas, or La Chandeleur , which is now known as National Crepe Day in France! They are honestly super versatile, because they're really just thin pancakes, you can top them with anything, sweet or savory! Orange Crepes Makes about 8 9-10" crepes Ingredients: Crepes: 2 tablespoons brown butter 2/3 cup milk 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 cup flour 2 tablespoons sugar A pinch of salt 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier Sauce: 2 oranges Zest from 1/2 orange 1 cup orange juice 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier Directions: Prepare the batter: Put all the ingredients underneath "crepes" in a blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth. You could also use an electric mixer if you don't want to use a blender. Put it in the fridge for at le...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a quick basic recipe for a pie crust that you can use in a lot of different contexts. For example, we used this crust for our Pluot Galette , and it makes for a great, crispy base.  Basic Pie Crust Makes one 9" pie crust Ingredients: 1 1/4 cup (150 grams) all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, diced 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3-4 tablespoons ice cold water Directions: Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together. Put in the diced butter and use a pastry blender/fork to mix the butter with the dry ingredients. It can be a little chunky. Move quickly so it doesn't melt; if it feels soft, then you can put it back into the fridge. Add the vanilla extract. Then add the water and mix.* Form into a ball of dough and wrap with plastic wrap. Put this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and take it out when you need to use it. To prepare it, take it out of the fridge and roll it flat. Put it in the p...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for scones! Scones hail from the British Isles, with different regions featuring different variations of the dish. Traditional British scones are actually rather like biscuits. However, this recipe is more for an American scone, which you often see in the shape of a triangle. Like British scones, they are usually sweet, but American scones tend to be heavier and drier.  Scones Makes 8 scones Ingredients: 2 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 stick unsalted butter, frozen 1/2 cup heavy cream or half & half 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup add-ins (we used dark chocolate chunks and dried cherries) To garnish: A little more heavy cream or half & half Fleur de sel Directions: Sift the flour into a bowl and combine it with the sugar, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the heavy cream/half & half, egg and vanilla together. Take the frozen butter and grate it.  Put the butter into t...

Welcome back!  Today, we have an interesting dish that is a great use for stale bread, or just normal bread if you have it. However, some people actually recommend using fresh bread because the freshness from the bread permeates into the final product. Nonetheless, it's an interesting recipe; it actually has many variations, with some being savory and sweet. The version we have here is definitely a sweet one, though it's not overly sweet, so it still makes for a healthy breakfast that you can customize to your needs. Bread Pudding Makes 6 4-ounce ramekins Ingredients: 4-5 slices of bread (this really depends on the size and type of bread you're using) 4 eggs 1 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup whipping cream* 2-4 tablespoons sugar (again, this depends on your bread) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, tart cherries; you can also soak them in rum or Grand Marnier) Chocolate chips Combined, you should have 2 cups total of milk and whipping cream. If you want it t...

Welcome back! Today, we have a recipe for a very classic breakfast food: blueberry muffins! We eat these a lot but we usually use store-bought mix, which is good but not as fresh. And while this might be a recipe for blueberry muffins, you can make other kinds of muffins, like chocolate chip (though you might not want to add the lemon), cranberries, rum raisins, or whatever! Feel free to experiment; you could even add some toppings like streusel or powdered sugar.  Blueberry Muffins Makes 12 muffins Ingredients: One stick of butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 cups cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup milk 2 cups fresh blueberries 1 more tablespoon flour 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice Zest from one lemon Directions: Soften the butter a little and then add the sugar. Mix this until it becomes creamy, but not too much! Add a little bit of the egg in at a time and mix it. Doing it slowly helps everything incorporate better. Sift the flour and baking powder. At this point, alternate add...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for banana bread, which is a great use for your aging bananas. We eat bananas quite often in Chez Chefpo so we also tend to have some surplus bananas, but we always end up making some other sort of banana bread-like cake that isn't quite like this one, which is more traditional. So, this was rather new and very delicious. Banana Bread Makes a 4" by 8" loaf Ingredients: 3 medium bananas 50 grams sugar 35 grams brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 5 tablespoons butter, melted 2 tablespoons condensed milk 1 1/2 cups (about 180 grams) flour  1 teaspoon baking soda Directions: Mix together all the wet ingredients: the eggs, melted butter, and condensed milk, and make sure it's smooth. Then add in the sugar, brown sugar, and salt and mix thoroughly. Sift the flour and add it along with the baking soda. At this point, just mix it some. You still need to add in the bananas and you don't want it to be over-mixed when the banana comes ...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a delicious, sweet cherry jam that's great for bread, yogurt, or whatever you want! This is basically a recipe to make any sort of jam, just that the proportions change depending on what you're making. There's actually an interesting distinction between jelly, jam, and preserves. Jelly is when the mixture uses fruit juice rather than fruit. Jam consists of fruit pulp or crushed fruit. Preserves are chunks of fruit in a syrup, like marmalade. As a result, this "jam" is more like preserves since we're using chunks of fruit, but that's all just technical stuff. I say it's jam though! Cherry Jam Makes 3 10-ounces jars Ingredients: 1200 grams cherries, pitted and halved/quartered (depending on how chunky you like it) 300 grams sugar Lemon juice from 1 lemon Directions: In a Dutch oven, put all the cherries and sugar in and cook on medium-high heat until boiling. Once boiling, turn it on low heat. Simmer for at least 30 minutes ...

This is the first post here!  This little group of Chefpos is going to bring you all some great tasty recipes and some tips and tricks in making them! Today, we made some crispy hash brown cups with eggs, which is a simple, yet delicious recipe. Hash Brown Egg Cups Makes 6 Servings Ingredients: Cups: 12 oz shredded hash brown potatoes (store-bought/frozen) 2 tablespoons of melted butter or cooking oil for a lighter flavor 1/4 to 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese Pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste Filling: 6 Eggs Salt and pepper to taste Optional: bacon, chives, cilantro, more cheese. Directions: Preheat oven to 375° on airfry mode (Breville Smart Oven Air) or 400° on bake. Mix together all the ingredients for the cups in a medium-sized bowl. Grease the muffin p...