Breakfast Goodies Archives | finding time for cooking

Apple Butter Cinnamon-Sugar Babka

February 2, 2020

This is one of those places where I cram a lot of my favorite things into one recipe and see how it comes out. Apple butter, check. Cinnamon-sugar, check. Soft delicious challah dough in a twisty babka bread?? Check.

And I’ll be honest…halfway through making this I was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster.

I can’t remember what gave me this particular brainwave, but it was very likely when I made a new batch of my amazing homemade apple butter and was thinking of all the different ways it could be used.

I’d been browsing challah and babka recipes including peanut butter and jelly, tahini and pistachio, and so many more, and thought…why not apple butter??

So I started looking for apple butter babka recipes and really kind of came up empty. Which I found surprising, because it feels like such a logical and beloved flavor combo. So after finding a few different things that were in the right direction, I set out to figure out something on my own.

I think you’re going to like it…

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Raspberry Skyr Cake With White & Dark Chocolate

December 26, 2019

When I went to Iceland last year, I was delayed for 24 hours and so my friend V had a whole day on her own to explore. When I picked her up in the rental car, she greeted me with coffee and pastries (smart girl!) and the first thing she said was “Wow, Iceland men are like real MEN!” The second thing she said was “Also, the milk here is so good!” True story on both counts.

She was seriously obsessed with all their dairy products (and apparently there’s a scientific reason), and we drank and ate a ton of it while in the country. Skyr is one of the most well-known of their dairy products, a lot like Greek yogurt (though interesting, produced more like cheese).

You’ll find skyr cake in Iceland but it will be more like a no-bake cheesecake. And DELICIOUS. But I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of gelatin sheets and all, so I decided to make a slightly different kind of cake with skyr…using it the way you’d use sour cream or yogurt to give some tang and moisture.

(Side note, if you’d like to see some of the AH-MAZING things we saw and did in Iceland, I’ve got you covered!)

This skyr cake is packed full of raspberries and both white and dark chocolate chips, and is even better than I thought it would be. The white chocolate isn’t really present as a flavor, but kind of melts into cake to provide extra moistness and texture. I sliced myself off a few pieces and then called my sister to come take it away from me and have her family eat it!

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Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Skillet Banana Bread

August 24, 2019

This is a continuation of my long love affair with cake breads. Cakes masquerading as bread. I’m all about things being more awesome than they say they are, so I bring you this delicious skillet dark chocolate olive oil banana bread. It’s a mouthful in more ways than one…

But don’t be fooled into thinking this is truly dessert. It’s moist, dark, fudgy, but is a bittersweet flavor and not too sweet. I like to use white whole wheat flour to add a bit more health (and a nuttiness), and the quality of dark chocolate chips you use (and the cocoa powder) does make a difference.

I like to use my old school cast iron skillet, and it slides easily out of the pan. But I’ve used a simple non-stick cake pan and it cooked just as evenly. I’ve tried this recipe a few different times to get the amounts right, and I always take it to work…where it gets devoured almost immediately.

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Heavenly Dark Chocolate Orange Babka

July 21, 2019

Even though I made this at least a month ago, I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. And forcibly restraining myself from making it again. Because this chocolate orange babka is what dreams are made of.

As a flavor combo, chocolate and orange will always be a winner—particularly this kind of dark chocolate. One thing I really love about this recipe is that it uses a challah dough as the base, which makes the final result lighter and softer. I often find babkas a bit denser and drier than I like, so I was drawn to this particular recipe.

This is my happy place…

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Norwegian Skillingsboller (Cinnamon Bun Pastries)

March 31, 2019

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Norway a couple of times over the past year, and have quickly fallen in love with the country’s mind-blowing landscapes and delicious baked goods. Yes, scenery and pastries—that’s basically what I’m here for.

Most recently, I spent a few days in charming Bergen over the holidays, and made it a point to visit as many coffeeshops and try as many different pastries as possible (all in the name of research, of course). And as soon as I got home, I knew I had to try out some of the recipes myself. So behold, skillingsbolle!

Skillingsboller (skillingsbolle is plural) are basically Norway’s take on cinnamon buns, and technically these are really specific to Bergen. It translates to “penny bun” (kanelboller would be “cinnamon bun”, and you’ll see that all over Norway as well), and they are truly everywhere in Bergen.

Want to see all about my Norwegian adventures? Here you go!

I tweaked the original recipe a bit and added the cardamom, letting it steep in the milk and butter mixture to give extra flavor. That cardamom is a flavor I fully associate with Scandinavian pastries, so I felt it was necessary (but too much will overpower the buns). These are actually WAY easier than they look, and the end result is less sweet than regular American cinnamon rolls. It’s just lightly sweet and much more subtle (and also lower calorie, as a result), perfect for having as an afternoon snack with your coffee.

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Chai Spice Banana Bread

March 3, 2019

In a true signal of adulthood, I buy bananas about every other week solely to let them get overripe and bake with them. But here’s the thing—I don’t actually like banana bread. It doesn’t appeal to me at all. So what I’ve ended up doing as a non-banana bread lover is accidentally starting a tradition of finding souped-up banana bread recipes to bring you.

Chai spices have been a favorite flavor combination of mine since I was in college and discovered Starbucks’ chai lattes (grande nonfat no-water chai, please!). So when I saw this recipe I knew I had to give it a try…the fragrant combination of the traditional cinnamon and ginger, with the warmth of cardamom and kick of black pepper and cloves is just divine.

So here’s another amazing OTT (over the top) banana bread recipe for you, and it’s definitely going in my regular rotation. I’ve linked to a few of my favorite other banana bread recipes at the bottom of this post if you’d like to give them a try as well!

One thing I’ll tell you up front—don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients in the recipe. The lazy person in me kept me from trying this recipe for quite a while after I’d bookmarked it, but everything comes together very quickly and simply.

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Feta & Sweet Potato Hash With Greens

February 10, 2019

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted something healthy, which feels like a pretty good indication of what my life choices have been like lately :p #allcarbsallthetime

Between work, travel, and this disgustingly cold polar vortex weather, I’ve been indulging a bit too much, and right now I feel the need to get my eating back on track. But it’s still gross cold and so these healthy options have to be delicious as well. Behold—soft, sweet, salty, healthy feta & sweet potato hash!

The flavors of the mellow sweet potato, the bitterness of the greens, and the saltiness of the feta play really well together, and the dried herbs add depth to the overall flavor profile. It’s a really comforting dish, something easy to throw together and really healthy, but feels like you’ve done something special. Here’s to good choices 🙂

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Swedish Vanilla Cardamom Bread

February 3, 2019

Ever since spending a few days in Sweden sailing the Gothenburg archipelago and devouring fresh smoked herring and cardamom-laced pastries the entire time, I’ve been meaning to try my hand at Swedish baking myself. This recipe initially came to me as a simple Swedish vanilla bread, but to me that was leaving out the most iconic flavor of Swedish baking, ground cardamom.

So I did us all a favor and made it Swedish vanilla cardamom bread 🙂

So I’ve been playing around with this recipe for a while, both in tweaking the flavors, but also in getting the texture to turn out correctly. The original recipe had way too much flour, which resulted in a much drier dough than I liked, and overall it’s taken some trial and error to perfect. But the time was worth it, and this recipe results in a lovely simple subtly-spiced bread. It’s not really sweet at all, just a nice snack at any point in the day.

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread

December 1, 2018

Elvis was onto something.

Not that it was news to me, but peanut butter and banana will always be a magic combo. This bread just emphasizes the point. That’s right, friends, we’re talking about peanut butter banana bread today!

I’ve gotten to the point where I now just buy bananas every couple weeks, knowing full well I have no intention of actually eating them while they’re good. So expect some more tasty banana treats coming your way!

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Cherry Almond Scones

October 14, 2018

This recipe is…there are no words for how good these scones are.

No. Words.

I’m a noted lover of scones (as seen here, here, and here), and there are very few flavor combinations I love more than cherry and almond. So as I was poring over various cherry recipes to use my plethora of fresh cherries (and awesome new cherry pitter), I came across this one and it immediately jumped to the top of the “must make” list.

I made a few small tweaks to the original recipe, most notably cutting way back on the glaze. I don’t think they need a ton, just enough to get a bit of extra sweet and a punch of almond flavor. I’m well known for adding almond extract to EVERYTHING.

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