Father's Day Breakfast

Sorry, the pictures are not the best quality, but I was in a hurry!

Just as an aside: Okay, I made the braid for dinner the other night -- except I'm not a barbecue chicken pizza fan, so I just used spaghetti sauce and some Italian chicken and mozzarella and parmesan cheese and it was delicious! So thanks for that.

Now . . . I'm pretty sure I sent this recipe to you all before because it was so awesome. I'm posting it again now, again, because it is so awesome. Definitely on the level of doughnuts -- in a "you'll probably want to make/eat this sparingly because of the calories" sort of way. I generally reserve them for special occasions. But, these are sooooo tasty, and easy (I actually think quicker than pancakes or waffles) and they look so fancy too!

We can all thank Giada for this treat that incorporates chocolate into breakfast. Yes please!

Chocolate and Cheese Danish

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

5 min

Cook Time:

15 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

8 pastries

Ingredients

Filling:

• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 (9-inch-square) sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the cheeses, egg yolk, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 equal-sized squares. Put 4 pastry squares on each prepared baking sheet. Spoon about 2 to 3 teaspoons of the filling into the center of each piece of pastry. Fold 1 corner of the pastry diagonally over the filling to within 1-inch of the opposite corner. Using a pastry brush, brush the folded-over section lightly with the beaten egg. Fold the opposite corner over the egg-brushed pastry to form an open-ended Danish. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake until puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I'm pretty sure Dave called these "a little bit of homemade heaven on earth" at one point. Enjoy!!

BBQ Chicken Braid

This is actually a very versatile recipe and you can fill it with just about anything.  I've made it with chicken, spaghetti sauce, green bell peppers, and mozzarella; shredded chicken mixed with cream cheese and stuffing; grocery store rotisserie chicken pieces and cheddar cheese with a little Ranch dressing - the possibilities are really endless.  Plus it looks fancy!  I've used Pillsbury French Bread Dough (the natural kind without any "extra" ingredients/preservatives) with this recipe before and it's great that way too.  Just follow the directions on the package for cooking time if you use that.  This dough recipe is great for pizzas too. 
Basic Pizza Dough                                                                                         
(I can get one bread braid out of this recipe or one 16-inch crust pizza)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm (105-115 degrees) water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1⁄4 teaspoon salt (I actually used 1 tsp of garlic salt because I thought it needed more seasoning)
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups white flour and about 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl, cover, and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.  Mix the oil, honey, salt, and yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl. Mix in 3 cups of flour.
If the dough seems too wet, mix in more flour, 1⁄4 cup at a time, until the dough is soft. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead in more flour, 1⁄4 cup at a time, until the dough is moderately stiff and somewhat firm to the touch, about 6 minutes.  (I just use my mixer.)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Roll out into a rectangle about as long as your cookie sheet.  Place dough on greased cookie sheet and assemble ingredients down the middle lengthwise.  You want to build the braid on the cookie sheet or it will be too heavy to move to your cookie sheet once you've built it.  Trust me - it ain't pretty.  :(
BBQ Chicken stuffing
BBQ’d chicken or cooked shredded chicken
BBQ sauce
Cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, cojack - whatever you've got on hand)
Purple onion, thinly sliced (I only used about 1/4-1/2 an onion)
Grated parmesan cheese
Garlic salt
Egg wash (one beaten egg mixed with about 1 TB water) or melted butter
Layer BBQ sauce, cooked chicken, sliced onions, more BBQ sauce, cheese and cilantro down the middle of the dough.  Using a pizza cutter make some cuts along the edges of the pizza up towards the center where all the ingredients are layered (I usually make about 9-11 fringe pieces on each side.)  Starting at one end pinch the first fringe, top or bottom, closed over the end so that all your ingredients don't spill out then alternate fringe pieces and pinch end over to the bottom of the opposite side's fringe piece. Sorry, it's really hard to explain but here's a picture of mine about halfway through.
It's really easy to do - just impossible to explain!  Once you get to the end just pinch one of the fringes closed again.  Once you're finished, brush the egg wash over the top of the braid and sprinkle a little garlic salt over the top and then a little parmesan cheese.
Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until it looks done.  Here's the finished product!
 
Just slice it like you would bread and serve.  My kids LOVE it when I make this!

Cinnabon Rolls

Disclaimer: I have not actually made these, but a blogger friend of mine posted this and said they are the closest to Cinnabon she's ever tasted...worth a try to me!

The Cinnabon Recipe

Rolls:

1 1/4 oz package of yeast

1 C warm milk

1/2 C sugar

1/3 C melted butter

1 t salt

2 eggs

4 C flour

Filling:

1 C brown sugar

2 1/2 T cinnamon

1/3 C butter (softened)

Icing:

7 T butter, softened

1 1/2 C confectioners sugar

1/4 C cream cheese

1/2 t vanilla

1/8 t salt

Rolls: 

1. Dissolve yeast in milk

2. Mix in sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well.

3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead into a large ball. Cover and let rise one hour.

4. Roll dough out into a 20 X 15 inch rectangle.

Filling: 

1. Spread the softened butter over the entire rectangle of dough. Sprinkle the filling generously over the dough.

2. Roll from long side to short side. Pinch the ends.

3. Using a serrated knife, cut the rolls about one inch wide. I got 12 rolls out of mine. You can cut them wider to make bigger rolls.

Baking: 

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Allow rolls to rise for 30 minutes.

3. Bake the rolls until they are slightly brown, but not doughy. I set the timer on my convection oven for 15 minutes, and they were perfect. Depending on your oven though, they may need more time.

Icing: 

1. When done, remove the rolls from the oven and allow to cool for a bit.

2. Cream all of the icing ingredients together and spread on top of the rolls. Enjoy!

Baked Parmesan Chicken

I am again stealing this from my friend Laura, but I think she stole it too, so I don't feel too bad :) And I don't have a picture, even though I made this last night. Sorry. This is another meal with ingredients I pretty much always have on hand. Dave really likes Chicken Parmigiana, and I feel like this is a tasty, more healthy take on that dish. This recipe is originally from Just Cook Already, but Laura modified it slightly. It calls for fresh thyme, basil and oregano, but she just used dried - which still tastes great.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, minced - or 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 chicken breast halves (I usually just use 2 big breasts -- so about 4 breast halves)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter with garlic over the stove. When butter starts to bubble, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Stir breadcrumbs, parmesan, thyme, basil, oregano and salt and pepper in bowl. Dip chicken halves in butter, and then in bread crumb mix. Place chicken in baking dish. I sprinkle some extra bread crumb mix on top, and then drizzle with extra melted butter. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. (I usually take it out at 50 minutes and cover the dish with foil to let it "rest." It keeps the chicken nice and moist. Serve with marinara sauce and pasta. I used whole grain rotini pasta (Mason's fave, without sauce of course -- who is this kid?!)

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Let me just say upfront that no recipes I post on this blog belong to me nor were any created by me because I am just not that awesome. At least thus far in my cooking life. Now that that is out of the way :) . . .

Okay, so this recipe is one I definitely made sure I grabbed for my personal arsenal while at BYU living with one Melissa M. Burns. These are easy and only require a few ingredients (which I usually happen to have on hand anyway) -- they don't even require eggs! More importantly, they are very, very tasty and also quite cute. Perfect for baby showers and the like. I will also say I have only had them in the raspberry form, although the recipe says you can use apricot jam instead.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups flour

1/2 cup jam (seedless raspberry is my preference, but apricot may also be used as stated above)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, butter and almond extract. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl edges often, until creamy (1-2 minutes). Reduce speed to low and add flour. Continue beating until well mixed. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. With thumb (or I find a round teaspoon works better), make indention in the center of each cookie. Fill each indention with 1/4 tsp. jam. Bake for 14-18 minutes (be careful not to let them brown). Let set for 1 minute on the pan and then remove from sheet to cool. Once cool, drizzle the cookies with almond glaze (recipe follows).

Almond glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

2-3 Tbs. water

Combine all ingredients and stir. Adjust measurements to taste and desired texture. Drizzle on cookies and allow to set.

Delish! I always get rave reviews with these bad boys.

Shredded Chicken Tacos

I love Crockpot recipes because they are generally very easy. This one is no exception! I saw this idea on a friend's cooking blog -- and I'm reposting (stealing, if you will) her picture and recipe. We made these for Quinn's blessing (along with shredded beef tacos) and it makes a lot of food, and like I said, so easy!

Ingredients:

Chicken - 2-3 chicken breasts

Salsa (I use Pace Picante Medium)

Canned black beans (rinsed and drained)

Frozen Corn

Directions:

You can actually just make this with salsa only, but I like to add beans and corn. Put chicken in crock pot. Cover with salsa (I usually add whole jar). Add black beans and corn (about 1 cup each). Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-5. Shred. Enjoy in soft tacos with your pick of fixings.

Fast Dinner Rolls

I love to make these rolls and they live up to their name - they're fast! I was a little hesitant to make them the first time because anything with yeast listed as an ingredient scares me - well, it used to anyway.  I was pleasantly surprised that these actually came out perfectly the very first time I tried them! I got the recipe from A Bear in the Kitchen and I've used a few of her other recipes as well.  


Fast Dinner Rolls

3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup hot tap water
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread flour (give or take a 1/4 cup)
1 heaping tablespoon instant yeast

Pour milk into a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup. Cut butter into pieces and add to milk. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer add milk/butter mixture and hot tap water. Add sugar and salt and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for 1 minute. Add yeast and flour 1/2 a cup at a time until dough pulls away from the side of the mixer. Knead dough with dough hook for 5 minutes on medium speed. Place dough in a non-stick sprayed bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap to trap in heat. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Remove dough from bowl to a non-stick sprayed surface and cut dough into 12 equal pieces. Spray your hands liberally with cooking oil spray and form each piece into a smooth ball and place into the greased 9x13. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until rolls have doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top and bottom. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter if desired.

TIPS:
*I don't cut my dough into 12 equal pieces.  That did NOT work out well for me the first time.  I bought a really inexpensive kitchen scale (like $4 or something) at Bed, Bath and Beyond and now I weigh each bit of dough before I form it into a roll to make sure that all my rolls are the same and everything cooks evenly. I almost always end up with 2 or 3 more rolls than will fit into one 9x13 pan. 
*Even though this recipe says it makes a dozen rolls the rolls are really big and hearty and one is almost too much for my kids.  They are great for little mini sandwiches! 
* I wouldn't double this recipe if you're using a small KitchenAid mixer.  It's just not powerful enough to knead that much dough for 5 minutes.  I thought mine was gonna die or catch on fire!  It'll do one batch pretty well though.