Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones... I might have been thinking of cookies when I made these scones. I was craving chocolate chip cookies the other day when a picture of some cream scones caught my eye. Why couldn’t I take the best flavors of a chocolate chip cookie and combine them with some scones? So, I did just that! I used brown sugar in the dough and added a full cup of chocolate chips. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla. The results are...

Jalapeno, Bacon and Cheddar Cornbread... Growing up in Texas, cornbread was something we ate almost weekly. Mom would almost always make her cornbread in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet.  That skillet gave the the cornbread a lovely crust on the bottom and I would always pick off the crusty bottom before eating the tender center.  We never got fancy with the cornbread.  We usually had regular cornbread, but on occasion we would have sweet. Now that I...

Butter Croissants... Ready for something a tad more advanced?  It takes time to make, but it is SO worth it. I fell in love with croissant making a few semesters ago in my Laminated Dough class.  Bread making is among my favorite things to do in the kitchen, but making laminated doughs (doughs with butter sandwiched between the layers) tops that.  It takes time to make laminated dough and the process has taught me a lot about being patient...

Butterscotch Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce... I’ve discussed inspiration here a few times, and I admit mine comes from the strangest places. This bit of inspiration hit in my local grocery store’s rather dismal bakery section.  Let’s be honest, grocery store bakeries are bleak places stuffed with pre-fab cakes smothered with greasy icing, cookie pucks, and pies with what can best be described as watery crusts.  So, right about now I bet your...

Apple Bacon Fritters with Maple Bourbon Glaze...  I love doughnuts.  There is something wonderfully fun about fried dough smothered in a sweet glaze.  Doughnuts are perfect for parties, meetings, brunches, and breakfasts with a hot cup of coffee.   If you have never had a homemade doughnut you really must try one.  They are pretty easy to make, you can even make the dough the night before and then cut and proof the dough the next morning to save time, and freshly...

Irish Soda Bread...  I’ve said it before, and I will say it again.  Ireland changed my life. On my first night in Dublin my husband and I found a bustling pub in the Temple Bar District which served traditional Irish food.  Now, most pubs sell Guinness stew and soda bread, but this pub had bangers and mash, roasted lamb, potato stew, and Irish smoked salmon.  We simply had to eat there!   For starters, because we were STARVING,...

Buttermilk Biscuits... Tomorrow is the 4th of July here in the US, and I can think of no better way to celebrate our nation’s independence than with a hearty breakfast of flaky and tender buttermilk biscuits.   For years I struggled with buttermilk biscuits.  Drop biscuits I had down pat.  I could make batches of those fluffy little wonders in my sleep.  However, the tender, layered biscuits that I grew up with eluded me.  They...

Cinnamon Roll Bread... Is there anything more comforting than the smell of warm cinnamon rolls?  If there is, I can’t think of it right now.       While I love the traditional cinnamon roll, and believe me I do, I thought it would be fun to take my cinnamon roll dough and make it into a swirled loaf.  I tried that very thing with my regular recipe and it was a disaster.  The buttery filling left the bread wet and the eggs and...

Grilled Mushroom and Ricotta Pizza on Sourdough Wh... I have been on something of a pizza kick lately, and not those commercially prepared pies with flavorless cheese and mushy veggies. I can directly pin-point when this all started.  It began at the Mushroom Council lunch when Chef Kent Rathburn made us a grilled mushroom pizza.  I knew in that moment that I would be making a pizza with grilled mushrooms.  This is the result. I used mushrooms that were available at...

Chipotle Gouda Cornbread... Do you impulse buy?   I do.   My impulse buys are most often food related.  Last week I discovered a really great local cheese shop, Scardello Artisan Cheese, in Dallas and I could not help but go in and shop.  I got some terribly expensive, and very tasty, sea salt caramels, some disappointing dark chocolate, and two superb cheeses.  One was a sharp cheddar made in Texas, and the other was a raw milk Gouda, also...

Apple Blueberry Quick Bread...    It is that time of year.  Fruit is starting to come into the market that looks fresh and ripe, the weather is warmer, and my thoughts turn to baking.   I was at the market a few days ago and tucked behind a box of huge strawberries were these really beautiful blueberries.   They were on sale no less.  Bonus!  Those fat blue berries sucked me in and I took them home and contemplated what I could do with them. I...

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits...   Often when I make dinner I skip any kind of bread item.  It isn’t that I don’t like bread with dinner, on the contrary I love bread with every meal, but I usually forget to make or buy bread and so we skip it.  I justify it by thinking of all the calories I am missing. However, sometimes I remember the bread and when I do I usually make these biscuits.  They take five minutes to prep and get into the...

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Bread...  When I was in England last Fall I fell in love.    Not with a person, or even the land or the culture, however fantastic they all are.  No, I fell in love with the bacon.  In England they serve, almost exclusively, back bacon.  If you have never had this kind of bacon before it is a  glorious mix of lean meat, similar to Canadian Bacon, with a streaky tail, similar to our bacon in the US.  It is nothing short...

Flour Tortillas... When I was growing up in South Texas we had this neighbor who would, on Saturday afternoons, make her tortillas for the week.  Believe me, I made friends with her children so I could make myself available for tortilla day.  I think she enjoyed my enthusiasm and always had a few extra tortillas for me to take home.  They were sublime!  My family would fight over them, and no matter how many she sent home with me...

Who Wants Pancakes??... We recently had an ice day I got to stay home with my husband and our three dogs.  On such occasions, which are few and far between in my part of Texas, I like to make a big breakfast to celebrate a day of unexpected freedom.  So, I made a big stack of fluffy homemade pancakes. Pancakes are a wonderful way to start the day, take ingredients you almost always have on hand, and they are dead simple to make.  My recipe...

Pumpkin Bread... Pumpkin Bread With the gift giving season descending upon us it makes sense to think about home baked gifts that you can do in advance.  Homemade gifts are, to me, the best gifts.  They indicate that someone took the time and interest to make you something that took more effort than selecting a gift card.  Homemade gifts say that you are important to them to should get something made personally and with love. With...