Monkey Muffins

I am going to take no credit for these balls of buttery goodness topped with sweetened condensed milk (yes, read that again...YUM!).  You can see the original recipe with pictures at The Pioneer Woman

Like Monkey Bread, but personalized and even gooier.  Mine are in the oven right now.

INGREDIENTS

• Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds.....**I did the large ones and cut them into fourths (She also says you can used leftover bread dough, but we're white trash, we use dough from a can that pops)
• Butter
• Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon
• Sweetened, Condensed Milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon. **She originally says "a scant" (meaning a little less than) a tsp of sugar per cup...to be a little more healthy ;)

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.

4. Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

6. **My Favorite Part**  Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.

 7. Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.

Quiche Tarts

Let it be known that I don't love quiche, but I was once assigned to bring something for breakfast for a group of ladies and found this recipe for "Quiche Tarts" from Allrecipes.com, made a few changes, and quickly learned that they are basically mini-WT quiches that even I like.

I have made them several times for groups and they seem to be received very well.  Best thingabout this recipe is it is easily adaptable...one time, I added chopped tomatoes and jalapenos for a little kick, and it was great! You can also add/substitute sausage, or ham, or take out the meat completely and add some chopped broccoli and tomatoes for a vegetarian version.


INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheese (obviously, beinga  quiche, the original recipe calls for swiss, but I prefer cheddar)
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated flaky biscuit dough (if you use the big ones, I suggest halving them)
3/4 cup (or so) crumbled bacon (being W.T., I like mine from a bag, but you could cook 5 or 6 slices of bacon and crumble it your self)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups.  (I use Butter flavor Pam and it works great)

2. Place the cream cheese, milk, and eggs in a medium bowl, and beat until smooth with an electric mixer set on Low. Stir in cheddar cheese and green onion, and set aside.

3. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Press into the bottom and sides of each muffin cup, forming 1/4 inch rims. Sprinkle some bacon into the bottoms of the dough-lined muffin cups. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into each cup.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until filling is set and rims of the tarts are golden brown. Sprinkle with the remaining bacon, and lightly press into the filling. Remove from pan, and serve warm.
 
Enjoy!

Eagle Eye Toast

This was something I remembered my M.I.L. making while I was dating my husband and I thought it was kind of crazy, but yummy and now the kids love them. Definitely W.T., but fun to make!

INGREDIENTS:

Bread
Butter (softened)
Eggs
salt and pepper


DIRECTIONS:

1. Butter both sides of bread


2. Using a small cup or circular cookie cup, cut a circle out of the middle of the bread (save the circle)


3. Heat skillet and put buttered bread on skillet.

4. Crack an egg into the center of the bread with a hole and cook until the base of the egg is solid. Flip bread with egg in the middle and cook until desired doneness on the eggs

4. Toast cut-out circles on skillet, too

Enjoy with a fork!  I top mine with jam, Aaron prefers gravy, my kids love syrup....pretty much, you can do whatever!

Butterscotch Bread Pudding

Breakfast...dessert....snack....whatever.

Just try it, it is YUMMY!

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces
4 cups milk
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips

DIRECTIONS

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2.In a large bowl, combine bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and butterscotch chips; mixture should be the consistency of oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan.

3.Bake in preheated oven 1 hour, until nearly set. (It should have a "thigh wiggle" or wiggle as much as a well endowed thigh.) Serve warm or cold.

**Given to me by a friend

Pain Perdu (a sort of stuffed french toast)

A while back, I just happened to turn on Good Things Utah (which I can usually hardly stand to even watch) and they were making my very favorite thing from Mimi's Cafe....the PAIN PERDU!!! It is a super yummy french toast stuffed with cream cheese and orange marmalade.  It is really yummy, and pretty dang easy.

One thing it doesn't mention in the recipe, but I know as a Mimi's insider is that they use "day-old bread" for the french toast. It is sometimes hard to reproduce restaurant food, but Mimi's usually won't release a recipe unless they know it is comparable so hopefully this one won't disappoint.
Pain Perdu (pronounced "Pan Per-Do")

Balboa Mix Ingredients:
12 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade

Preparation:
Cut cream cheese into smaller pieces and place in mixer. Add marmalade and mix approximately 10 minutes on medium speed, scraping the sides frequently.

Perdu Ingredient:
16 pieces egg-white bread

Preparation:
Trim crusts off egg-white bread; add scoop of balboa mix to center of a slice of bread. Do not press down. Top with another slice of bread to form a “sandwich.”

French Toast Batter Ingredients:
3 eggs, whisked
1/2 cup Half and Half
1 ½ TBS Sugar
¼ TSP Salt
¼ TSP Vanilla
¼ TSP Cinnamon
¼ TSP Nutmeg
Zest of ¼ Orange

Preparation: Add eggs, Half and Half, sugar and spices together and mix; add orange zest.

Grilling: Dip Pain Perdu “sandwich” in French toast batter. Cook on flat griddle to a golden brown on both sides. Slice diagonally.

For extra yumminess, add strawberries, blueberries and raspberry puree across entire center. Dust with powdered sugar.

German Pancakes

Another Utah staple. So easy to make and so delicious!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Put butter in 9 x 13 pan and out in in the oven to melt while you prepare the mix

2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, milk, eggs and salt. Take out the pan and tilt back and forth to coat the bottom of the pan with the melted butter and then pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

3. Bake on center rack in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.

Top with syrup (Mmm, Buttermilk Syrup is the BEST!), peanut butter, jam, honey, whatever, It's good stuff!!

Buttermilk Syrup

My neighbors got me hooked, this stuff is awesome! You can used it for waffles, pancakes, German pancakes, whatever, everyone who has it LOVES it.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium-large saucepan, stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla. It will overboil, so just be careful.

-The recipe says it will serve 16, I say closer to 8-10 because everyone will have seconds.

Sticky Buns

This is a Utah Classic that our good friend Margo introduced to us. Prepare at night and bake first thing in the morning for a breakfast treat!

INGREDIENTS:
16 or so frozen rolls (I buy the bag of Rhodes from Costco)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbls. light corn syrup

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place rolls in a lightly greased bundt pan

2. In small saucepan, heat brown sugar and butter just until melted

3. Remove from hear and stir in corn syrup

4. Poor over rolls - cover and let rise overnight

5. In the morning, back uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

TIP: Let cool for about 15 minutes and then dump into a big bowl or pan so the syrup mixture coats all of the rolls

Also, I have seen a recipe just like this that suggests you sprinkle a package of Butterscoth Jell-o pudding (Cook and Serve) on top of the rolls before you let them rise for a little extra flavor. Yum, yum!

Stuffed French Toast

This is super easy and a fun breakfast treat.

INGREDIENTS:
Bread
Cream cheese, softened
Jam or jelly of your choice (orange marmalade is good, too!)
eggs, milk, and whatever you put in french toast mix

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make a "sandwich" using the bread, cream cheese and jelly

2. Dip in egg mixture

3. Cook on a skillet until each side is lightly browned. I also briefly cook each end

4. Serve with syrup, or whipped cream, or just plain, and ENJOY!

Baked Breakfast Burritos

Aaron LOVES these! They came out of a casserole cookbook (oh, casseroles, the epitome of white trash.) Every time I make them I think to myself, "Gosh, these don't look like they are going to be very good," but they never disappoint. We make them for breakfast or dinner.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound sausage (I love using the bacon sausage)
1/2 cup crumbled bacon
8 mushrooms sliced (optional)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1 garlic clove, minced (or a heaping teaspoon out of the jar)
8 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 shredded cheddar cheese, divided (or your favorite)
3 tbls. enchilada or taco sauce
1 tbls. butter or margarine
6 large flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS:
1. In large skillet, cook sausage until brown, then add bacon. Remove to paper towels, reserving 1 tbls. of drippings.

2. Saute mushrooms, pepper, onion and garlic in drippings until tender, then turn to low.

3. In a bowl, beat eggs, sour cream. Add 1/3 cup cheese and enchilada sauce.

4. In another skillet, melt butter; add egg mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until eggs are completely set.

5. Add sausage and egg mixture to veggies. Spoon onto tortillas and roll up. Place seam down in a greased 13 x 9 baking dish.

6. Spoon some extra enchilada/taco sauce over each burrito, sprinkle with cheese and bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes (until cheese is melted.

7. ENJOY!