Week with a cookbook #1

7 delicious recipes

My new “week with a cookbook” series starts with  Clinton St. Baking Company – Breakfast, brunch & beyond cookbook. I borrowed it from the library few weeks ago, because I have problem (especially on the weekends) with breakfasts – same cereals or simple sandwiches are boring after some time. So the title of the book convinced me to try something new.

Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant is a place in New York famous for its pancakes, opened in April 2001. After testing recipes from their book, I’m really curious how all these dishes taste in there. I hope to go to New York one day and try them myself!

The cookbook is good, with easy to follow recipes and big pictures (I’m a little bit disappointed, that photos are not beautifully stylized, just simple shots) and there is plenty to choose from. You can also find some good tips, how to make things taste better and short stories before each recipe.

I picked 7 recipes to try and all turned out to be a great ones. And as we were eating all that stuff straight away, I’m really sorry that some of my photos are out of focus – I was hungry and in rush 😉 (so maybe their photographer had the same issue, he wanted to eat, not take pictures).

1) Raspberry yoghurt muffins 

– incredibly moist, I’ll definitely try to make them with other fruits, that recipe is a really good base to experiments.

(makes 8 muffins)

[quote]

Ingredients:

110 g butter, softened

1/2 sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract or paste

1 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 large egg

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

2 tbsp raspberry Jam

glaze: 1 tbsp raspberry jam, 1 cup icing sugar[/quote]

Preheat oven to 175C. Grease muffin tins or use paper cups. In an electric mixer cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together into a bowl.

Add the egg to the butter mixture and blend until combined. Add yoghurt and dry ingredients and mix. Fold in the whole raspberries and jam until evenly mixed.

Spoon the batter into the muffins tins, filling them to the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Allow them to cool while you make the glaze: whisk together the raspberry jam with the icing sugar. It will come together in a thick paste. Slowly whisk in 1 tbsp warm water. The glaze will be the consistency of evaporated milk.

Remove muffins from the tins and either dip the muffin tops into the glaze and swirl until the tops are evenly coated or spoon 1 tbsp of glaze on top and spread evenly.

2) Spanish scramble

– they say it’s the bakery’s top selling egg dish of all time. For me it was way to salty, but maybe that was because I used some dodgy chorizo. I recommend to skip the salt – you can add it later if it won’t be salt enough for you.

(serves 4)

[quote]

Ingredients:

8 large eggs

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

2 chorizo links

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup caramelized onions  (I used just chopped brown onion)

1/2 cup plum tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup spring onions, minced, white and green parts

1/2 cup cheese (they recommend Monterey Jack)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or chives [/quote]

Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper together in a bowl until combined. Trim the ends of the chorizo and slice the link into 1/2 cm rounds. In an oven-safe pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat until foamy and melted. Saute the chorizo rounds until they become light brown. Add the onions, tomatoes and spring onions to the pan. Gently saute the ingredients so they are evenly dispersed.

Lower the heat and add the eggs. Move the pan from side to side so that a crust forms on the edge. After 1 minute, the eggs will begin to set. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place the pan under the broiler (or grill) until the cheese has melted.

Cut into quarters and place each of them on a plate. Sprinkle with parsley or chives.

3) Veggie sandwich

 – I made my sandwiches open, I like it more that way. And the bread I use was homemade Finnish bread.

(makes 1 sandwich)

[quote]

Ingredients:

2 slices whole grain bread

half avocado

2 tablespoons herb mayo*

pinch of salt

pinch of white pepper

3 leaves mixed green lettuce

3 thick slices of tomato

1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts

2 slices cheese [/quote]

Toast the bread (i skipped that step, I like fresh bread more than toasted). Scoop the avocado flesh out of shell with a large spoon. Slice it into long thin slices. Squeeze lemon juice over it to prevent from browning.

Spread each slice of bread with herb mayo. Arrange the avocado slices on top of mayonnaise on one slice of toast. Sprinkle the avocado with salt and pepper.  Place the lettuce on top of the avocado and then the tomato slices, sprouts and cheese. Top the sandwich with the second slice of toast, mayonnaise side down. Press on the sandwich to make it compact.

* Herb Mayo:  Mix 1 cup mayonnaise with 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves, 1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves, 1/2 cup minced chives and 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp white pepper.

4) Neil’s pancakes 

(makes 18 pancakes)

[quote]

Ingredients:

4 cups plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

6 large eggs

3 cups milk

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract [/quote]

Sift all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt) into a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the yolks, milk, melted butter and vanilla until combined. Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Whip the egg whites in an electric mixer, until they form peaks.

Gently mix whipped whites into the batter. This should be slightly lumpy, not fully incorporated.

Heat a pan, grease with butter for better taste. Drop 1/4 cup of pancake batter on the pan and cook to set. When you see bubbles forming on top, flip the pancake. When it is golden brown on both sides, remove with spatula.

Toppings:

1 – cherries cooked with a bit of corn flour + chocolate shavings (peel the edges of a thick chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler)

2 – add blueberries to a pancake once it’s on a pan, sprinkle with icing sugar. You can also add some honey on top

5) Peanut butter cookies

– I’m not a fan of peanut butter, but these cookies are way too delicious to say “no” to them! And they smell amazing.

(makes 12-15 cookies)

[quote]

Ingredients:

110 g butter

1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth, not natural)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar, plus more to sprinkle

1 large egg

1 1/4 cup  plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

[/quote]

Preheat oven to 160C.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars together until fluffy.

Add the egg and the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Roll the dough into a log (5 cm thick and 20 cm long) and use a knife to make 2cm-thick slices.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment/baking paper. Place the cookie slices on the sheets.

Using the back of fork, flatten the cookies and make the classic cross-hatch design (press hard). Then sprinkle gently with white sugar.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Prepare yourself for an awesome smell! Cool and serve.

6) Goat cheese sandwich 

(makes 4 sandwiches)

[quote]

Ingredients:

8 slices sourdough bread

8 tbsp goat cheese

4 tsp unsalted butter

pinch of pepper

[/quote]

Spread each of 4 slices bread with 2 tbsp goat cheese, add pepper. Top with the remaining slices of bread to make sandwiches.

Melt 2 tsp butter in a grill pan on medium heat until foamy. Place 2 sandwiches in the pan and cook for 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Repeat the process to cook all the sandwiches.

Next step is ridiculous for me – they recommend to remove the crust! Crust makes sourdough bread tasty. You don’t want to cut the awesomeness, right? 😉

7) Classic vanilla milkshake

[quote]

Ingredients:

2 generous scoops of vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup milk

whipped cream

chocolate sprinkles

[/quote]

Blend the ice cream and milk together in a blender for 1 to 2 minutes until no chunks remain.

Serve in a high glass topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Do not forget the straw! 🙂

As a variations, they suggest to add warm peanut butter or half ripe banana, thinly sliced.  Or substitute chocolate ice cream for vanilla.

 

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This is not a sponsored article. All opinions and photographs are mine.