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Blog

Filtering by Tag: eggnog

french toast + marshmallows...

Andrea

Happy Saturday bloggies!  I hope you've all had a wonderful first 1/2 of your weekend...mine was super-productive.  Sadly, the productivity did not include my training run.  :(  I've been bummed about it all day.  The hubb and I had the alarm set to go, but my honey was feeling under the weather so we postponed our long run 'till tomorrow.  I'm crossing my fingers that the ice they are predicting tonight will not happen so we won't be deterred again, especially since the hubb is feeling much better tonight.  :) Breakfast:  Instead of going for a run I made an indulgent breakfast, Eggnog French Toast with cranberry "ketchup".  Yummy!  No butter or syrup, just cran ketchup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. 081120-b1 This was easy, I just combined:
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup eggnog
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
Whisk it all together, soak your bread in the mixture (I used whole wheat), and brown in a nonstick skillet until both sides are golden. For those of you that would like the cranberry "ketchup" recipe, leave me a comment on this post *letting me know specifically that you want it* and I'll email it to you.  Its SO GOOD!  You all will love it.  Erin let me know that the recipe is straight from a cookbook so we can't publish it because of copyright issues. After breakfast I rushed off to a morning hair appointment then ran crazy errands all day.  I think I visited nearly every single store in Charlottesville.  The traffic and crowds were insane!!!  I'm glad to have accomplished everything on my list today though so that I don't have to go back out in the madness tomorrow... Morning Snack:  I grabbed this while standing in a check-out lane at Target.  See what happens when you forget to pack your snacks...you wind up with overly-indulgent Chocolate Drizzled goodness.  Its actually a tiny, one-portion bag...and I ate the whole thing. 081220-s2 Next time I'll remember my larabar... Lunch:  I never expected my errands today to take 6+ hours, so come 2:30 I was STARVING!  I stopped in my favorite gourmet specialty food store, Feast!, and grabbed a prepared sandwich.  No picture, I inhaled it far too quickly.  It consisted of local chevre, artichokes, arugula, sundried tomatoes and olive tapenade on a baguette.  I assure you, it was tasty. Afternoon Snack:  When I FINALLY got home I grabbed a yogurt out of the fridge...I'm still in clean-out mode and want to finish all perishables before we leave town on Tuesday.  I'm so very spoiled after discovering greek yogurt...this regular was way runnier than I like. 081220-s1 Dinner:  We needed something quick and easy.  The hubb ordered a pepperoni, onion and black olive pizza, of which I had two pieces minus the pepperoni and the crust.  I also made a leftovers salad with napa cabbage, broccoli slaw, celery, hearts of palm, alfalfa sprouts, dried cranberries and light ranch dressing. 081220-d1 And a glass of cabernet. 081220-d2 Oh!  While I was out and about today I found a few exciting things... 081220-larabars1 FINALLY!  The holiday-flavor Clif Bars, PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE Larabars, and a Cashew Cookie Larabar!!!  Yay!  Now I feel like I'm part of the club!  :) The hubb and I have been busy this evening with Christmas prep as is typical these days.  Here's one of our activities...Homemade Marshmallows!  They are going in gift boxes for friends and family.  I'll post more about them tomorrow when they are finished. marsh-1 Have a fabulous Sunday!
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categories breakfast, dinner
tags Clif, eggnog, french toast, larabar, marshmallows, vino

peppermint eggnog scones - BSI!!!

Andrea

I've been trying to find a way to use up the eggnog in my fridge.  I've had two 1/2-cup size mugs this season and am pretty much at my limit.  Eggnog is one of those special holiday treats that I crave as soon as the weather turns cooler and the Christmas decorations come out, but once I've had a mug or two I am DONE.  I hate to waste, especially expensive items, so I've been racking my brain to come up with a use for it before it spoils.  Last weekend I remembered my favorite scone recipe given to me by a friend years ago.  It uses buttermilk, and I thought that eggnog would make an excellent substitution because they have such similar consistencies.  Problem solved! I'd add some dry cranberries, a few bits of chocolate and Poof!  Holiday Scones. Then, on Monday, I read the lovely Ashley's blog over at Sweet + Natural and discovered that she had picked PEPPERMINT as this week's BSI!!!  Brilliant.  Out go the cranberries and chocolate, in comes the peppermint.  I now give you... Peppermint Eggnog Scones!!! bsi-8 Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup eggnog plus a little extra
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
  • 1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 8 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
  • 40 starlight peppermints, pounded to bits to equal about 1 cup
Steps:
  1. Preheat oven to 375*
  2. Mix eggnog with egg and extract, beat until smooth with a fork
  3. Put flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.  Stir to mix well.  Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs
  4. Add sugar and peppermint bits, toss to distribute evenly.
  5. Add egg mixture and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms.  Add a splash of eggnog if needed to bind dough.
  6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and give 5 to 6 kneads, just until well mixed.
  7. Flatten dough to 3/4" thick circle and cut circle into 8 wedges.
  8. Place wedges on an ungreased, parchment paper covered (VERY IMPORTANT!) cookie sheet.
  9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until medium brown.
bsi-1 bsi-2 bsi-3 This is why the parchment paper part of the process is SO IMORTANT.  When the scones first came out of the oven they looked like this... bsi-4 The hubb and I thought we'd leave them on the sheet for a few minutes until the peppermint hardened and then we would just pop them off the sheet.  WRONG.  The peppermint is like glue...those scones weren't going anywhere after being out of the oven for just one minute.  So, back in the oven they went to soften the peppermint. bsi-5 Once the peppermint softened after a few minutes we brought each scone out of the oven individually and put them on parchment paper on the drying rack.  I'm dreading scraping off the cookie sheet...we may just be buying a new one because I don't know how we're going to get the hardened peppermint off of it... bsi-9 Theses scones are soooooo good.  I love the texture of them, they are a little softer than scones you get in bakeries.  They have more of a biscuit-y texture than the dry, crumbly texture typical of the classic scone. bsi-10 The peppermint is perfect.  The eggnog doesn't come through as much as I had hoped, which might be a good thing since the peppermint is pretty strong. bsi-11 They are so festive visually and in flavor, they'd make a great addition to a Christmas baked goods gift. bsi-12 bsi-131
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categories baking
tags BSI, eggnog, peppermint, scones