Tag Archives: breakfast

Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls

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 After making Blackberry Lime Scones last week, I came up with about fifteen new berry-based recipes to make between now and Labor Day, by which time I’ll be ready to ditch summer fruit for pumpkin. Probably. I dont think I could ever get tired of fresh summer produce.

First on the list? These Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls! Soft pastry filled with lemon-scented raspberries and drizzled with a simple lemon glaze. Served warm (with or without a fork), they’re like a ray of sunshine in breakfast form. That may sound a little ridiculous, but make these and you’ll understand. 

These sweet rolls start with a simple yeast dough. Yes, I just said yeast dough was simple. Yes, I meant to do that. For some unknown reason, yeast remains the most intimidating ingredient in American baking. It really shouldn’t be–there’s nothing to be afraid of. The most nerve-wracking part is proofing (waiting to see if it’s alive), and that’s really no trouble at all. But if it’s still intimidating for you, well, this dough might be the place to start.

You see, the dough for this recipe is made with instant yeast, so there is no waiting for anything to prove. As long as your instant yeast isn’t past the expiration date on the package, it should work just fine! Also, there’s only one rise, so these rolls can be made start-to-finish in less than three hours. The yeast is mixed with all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, and salt. A mixture of warm water, milk, and butter is stirred into the dry ingredients, followed by an egg. Stir until everything is combined and sticky, and then add flour in small increments until a smooth dough forms. Let it rest for ten minutes. The dough may expand a bit, but won’t really rise at this point. 

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle (or vaguely rectangular oval, if you’re me 😜). Spread that with softened butter, and then cover the whole thing with frozen raspberries that have been tossed with lemon zest, sugar, salt, and a touch of cornstarch. I know it’s tempting to use fresh raspberries this time of year, but they’re far too juicy for this recipe. 

Roll the raspberry-covered dough into a tight cylinder, and slice it into 1-inch rolls. I know it’s easy to eyeball this, but I recommend using a ruler. I keep one in my kitchen, and I use it way more than I ever would have expected. 

 Place the cut rolls in a lightly-greased square baking dish. Tent the pan loosely with foil, and leave it in a warm, draft-free place for 60-90 minutes, until the rolls have doubled in size. I put my rolls in an oven that I’ve preheated to 200F. Once I’ve tented the pan with foil, I turn off the oven and put the pan in there. In about an hour, my rolls are risen. Works every time!Uncover the risen rolls, and bake in a 375F oven for 25-30 minutes, until puffy and golden. Tent them with foil again if they’re starting to brown too quickly (mine were at the corners). Let the rolls cool for a few minutes while you mix together an easy lemon glaze. Drizzle that over the warm rolls and dig in! 

Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls are like summer in breakfast form! They’re perfect for brunch, end-of-school gifts for teachers, or just because you want something more interesting than your usual granola for breakfast. They’d be a fantastic way to start Memorial Day weekend, too! 

 Looking more more sweet rolls? Check out my Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls (no yeast required!) and Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls!

Looking for more raspberry breakfast recipes? Check out my Overnight Raspberry Cheesecake-Stuffed French Toast Bake!

Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls
makes about 12 rolls

Dough:
1 1/4-1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour*
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 packet instant yeast* (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk (I use whole milk)
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg, room temperature

Filling:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
zest of 1 lemon
2 1/2 cups frozen raspberries* (not thawed)
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1-2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make the dough. Set aside 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, bread flour, granulated sugar, salt, and yeast. In a small saucepan*, heat water, milk, and 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter over low heat until the mixture reaches 115F. Remove from heat and stir into the flour mixture. Stir in egg. Add reserved all-purpose flour in 2 tablespoon increments until the dough is smooth and soft*, pulling away from the side of the bowl when stirred. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes. Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Prepare the filling. Place frozen raspberries and cornstarch in a small mixing bowl. In a separate small bowl, combine sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Use clean fingers to rub the zest into the sugar and salt until it is all well-mixed and fragrant. Add lemon-sugar mixture to raspberries, and toss until everything is combined.

Grease a 9-inch square baking dish. Set aside. Flour a surface and a rolling pin. Roll dough into an 8″x14″ rectangle. Spread softened butter over the entire surface of the dough. Spread raspberry mixture over the softened butter.

Starting at the long edge of the dough furthest from your body, roll the dough tightly toward yourself until you have one long cylinder. Using a large, sharp knife (not serrated) cut 1-inch rolls. Place cut rolls close together in prepared baking dish. Loosely tent with foil. Place rolls in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 60-90 minutes, until they have doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Uncover risen rolls. Bake for 25-30 minutes, tenting with foil again at 10 minutes if the tops are getting too brown. Let rolls cool on a rack for ten minutes.

Make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine confectioner’s sugar and salt. Use a fork to whisk in lemon juice and vanilla. Add more confectioner’s sugar or lemon juice until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over warm rolls.

Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls are best enjoyed the day they are made, but may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours.

Notes:

1. If you do not have bread flour, all purpose flour may be substituted. Your rolls may not be as soft and chewy as if you’d used the bread flour, but they will still be delicious.
2. I use Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise Instant Yeast.
3. Do not use fresh raspberries for this recipe. They are too juicy to work well here.
4. I usually need 6 tablespoons of the reserved flour to achieve the desired consistency.

Blackberry Lime Scones

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 The calendar may say it’s May, but we New Yorkers are still in coats. After a few glorious warm days, wind and rain have returned with a vengeance. Being from a place where the only seasons are summer and Christmas, I wait all year to be able to wear shorts and sandals and go to picnics in the park. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to wait another month to spend all my time outside.

But it is starting to feel like summer in one part of New York: my kitchen. The green markets are full of berries and rhubarb, and I just can’t get enough! I can’t wait for sour cherries to hit the stands, but until then, I’m going to eat Blackberry Lime Scones with my black iced coffees and daydream about going the beach. 

These buttery, lime-scented scones are bursting with blackberries. Literally. Each one is studded with sweet, juicy fresh blackberries that burst when you take a bite. <–Yum!

The outsides are golden brown and just the slightest bit crunchy, while the insides are super soft and moist. Oh, and they’re drizzled with an easy lime glaze that brings these already fantastic little breakfast treats over the top! 

 Blackberry Lime Scones can be on your table in under an hour, which means they’re perfect for a casual Mothers’ Day breakfast. The dough takes just ten minutes to come together, and the scones only need to bake for 15 minutes or so. 

Let them cool just a few minutes while you whisk together the lime glaze. Drizzle that over the golden brown tops, and let it set for ten minutes. All that’s left to do is grab your favorite iced coffee and dig in! 

 Blackberry Lime Scones
makes 8 scones

2/3 cup half-and-half + more for brushing, very cold
2 tablespoons honey
zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very cold, cut into pieces
6 ounces fresh blackberries

Glaze:
1/2-3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about one lime)

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, stir together half-and-half and honey. Refrigerate to keep cold.

In a small bowl, combine lime zest and sugar. Use clean fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar until combined.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, lime-sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry blender (or two forks) to cut in cold butter until the largest chunks are the size of small peas. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to stir in milk-honey mixture and blackberries until a shaggy dough forms.

Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and form into a 1-inch thick circle. Cut circle in eight wedges. Transfer the wedges to prepared pan, setting them at least 1.5 inches apart. Brush the tops with additional half-and-half. Bake 15-18 minutes, until golden. Let cool ten minutes.

Make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine confectioner’s sugar and salt. Whisk in lime juice until a thin icing forms. Add more confectioner’s sugar or lime juice to alter consistency. Drizzle glaze over warm scones. Glaze will set after ten minutes.

Scones are best the day they are made, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours.

Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

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 Cinnamon rolls are amazing. (Duh.) Gooey cinnamon filling rolled into soft pastry and covered in frosting–what’s not to love?!

Well…the time commitment. Even supposedly “quick and easy” recipes take three hours. The problem is the yeast. It takes a while. Like multiple-long-rises a while. Add to that the fact that working with yeast strikes fear into the hearts of many casual bakers. I’ve learned that yeast is nothing to fear, but still. When I want cinnamon rolls, I want them *now.* Not in three or six or eight hours–NOW.

I clearly have some pretty serious breakfast pastry needs. 

What if I told you that you could have some seriously good cinnamon rolls on your table in less than 90 minutes? And that you didn’t have to proof any yeast or let anything rise? Would you be interested?

Yeah, I thought so.

Enter Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls. All the sweet cinnamon goodness of classic cinnamon rolls, wrapped up in a delightfully easy cream biscuit dough and positively smothered in cream cheese frosting. Oh my word, are these good. And they’re miniature, because tiny food just tastes better somehow. 

The dough base is the same as the one I used in my Scratch Biscuit Monkey Bread. It’s super easy: mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, and stir in 2 cups of cream (I said quick and easy, not healthy). That’s it. Seriously easy. I do not recommend using a regular buttermilk biscuit dough here–the butter in that dough must be kept cold, or your results will be bricks. No, thank you. This simple cream biscuit dough has no butter, so it doesn’t need to be kept absolutely frigid to bake up properly. Using this base, you can roll and flip and handle the dough as much as you want! 

    Once the dough is made, divide it in half. Take one half and roll it into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Then, take some butter that’s been spiked with granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and spread it over the whole thing, leaving only a thin border. Gently roll the long edge of the dough toward your body until you have a tight cylinder. 

 Cut the rolled dough into 1-inch rolls and place them close together in a buttered pan. Repeat that process with the other half of the dough, and then bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes at 400F.  
 Make a half-batch of my cream cheese frosting, and spread it over the warm rolls. Yes, this is a lot of frosting, but that’s how I roll. <–Ha! Roll. 

Seriously, look at that.

If a metric ton of frosting isn’t your thing, you may halve the recipe. The frosting will melt into every nook and cranny of the cinnamon rolls and make everything super gooey and delicious. In fact, the frosting is so thick, I had a hard time seeing while cutting out individual rolls–but when they’re this good, I don’t care if they’re totally gorgeous. The tang of the frosting with the fluffy biscuit base and sweet cinnamon filling is just…everything. 

So, the next time you have a craving for cinnamon rolls, make these Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls. In less than 90 minutes, you’ll be tucking into a full pan of amazingness, and you won’t have fretted over yeast or waited an eternity! These are perfect for any weekend morning or brunch party. Nobody can resist these sweet little rolls 😊 

 Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls
makes about two dozen miniature rolls

Filling:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream, cold

Frosting:
4-ounces (1/2 brick) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Set aside.

Make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to mash together softened unsalted butter, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, until it’s completely combined. Set aside.

Make the biscuit dough. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, and baking powder. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold in heavy cream, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Dough will be shaggy. Divide dough in halves.

On a floured surface, roll half the dough into a 14×8-inch rectangle. Use an offset knife (or butter knife) to spread half the filling onto the rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border at the edge. Starting at the long edge furthest away from your body, tightly roll the dough toward you until you have one large cylinder. Slice into 1-inch pieces, and place close together in the prepared pan. Repeat process with the second half of the dough.

Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes, until light golden and fully cooked. Let cool ten minutes while you make the frosting.

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar and salt, followed by vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Drop frosting in dollops over the top of the warm rolls. Spread with an offset knife to cover the entire top of the rolls. Let set for ten minutes before serving.

Mini Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls are best served the day they are made, but may be kept covered at room temperature for up to three days.

Coconut Oil Biscuits

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 I know what you’re thinking. “Coconut oil in biscuits? This girl’s lost her mind!”

But hear me out. Until last week, I felt the same way. Up to that point, every great biscuit I had ever eaten was made with butter and buttermilk, or occasionally, heavy cream. But while surfing Pinterest one morning, I came across a recipe for Coconut Oil Biscuits. At first, I was horrified. Coconut oil? In biscuits? No way. And they were vegan? I love experimenting with vegan recipes, but biscuits were sacred. 

I kept scrolling. But the evil geniuses who designed the Pinterest algorithm had other ideas. The recipe kept showing up! I closed the app and went about my day.

But that Pin kept popping up in my mind. And the more I thought about it, the more I welcomed the idea. Biscuits made with coconut oil and coconut milk? I like coconut. I love biscuits. Was it so wrong to put them together? I gave in and decided to try it myself. I figured that if they were a real disaster, I could toss them and go back to my buttermilk biscuit-only mentality. 

 Very long story short, I shouldn’t have worried. Coconut Oil Biscuits rise high and are super soft and fluffy. And they don’t need any of the chilling, rolling, folding, or thwacking that my buttermilk biscuits require. None of those things are difficult or take much time, but there’s something really awesome about being able to make scratch biscuits in 25 minutes start-to-finish. Yes, if you turn the oven to 425F right now, you are only 25 minutes away from slathering jam onto a warm biscuit! 

 But before you go running to the kitchen, there are a couple of ingredients we need to talk about. First, the coconut oil. In buttermilk biscuits, the butter must be kept cold so that it only melts in the oven–this creates flakiness and layers. If it were at room temperature during the mixing, the resulting biscuits would be dense and dry because the butter “pockets” basically wouldn’t exist. But unlike butter, coconut oil is solid (and kind of hard) at room temperature, so it will cut into the flour easily without becoming gooey. And since the oil doesn’t have butter’s water content, it keeps these biscuits nice and moist. Hello fluffy, flaky magic. 

The other thing we need to talk about is the milk. In buttermilk biscuits, the liquid is buttermilk (duh). Here, you could use regular dairy buttermilk, but why not add an extra dose of flavor (and keep the biscuits vegan!) by using coconut milk?! I use refrigerated coconut milk because of it’s textural similarity to dairy buttermilk. Doctored up with a teaspoon of vinegar, it creates tenderness just like its dairy counterpart. 

 Coconut Oil Biscuits bake up in just 10-12 minutes. They don’t really turn golden, but they definitely rise high. And they are so tender that you can lift the tops right off–perfect for topping with whatever your biscuit-loving heart desires!

For those wondering if these are super coconutty or not, well…they definitely have a coconut flavor, but as there isn’t much sugar, they are decidedly on the savory side. I like them with a little jam (raspberry is my favorite!), but I think a sweeter nut butter, like this one, would do well here. I could also imagine them slathered with some salted butter or made into little breakfast sandwiches.

No matter how you serve them, these Coconut Oil Biscuits are sure to be a new favorite. 

 Coconut Oil Biscuits
adapted from Gimme Some Oven
makes about 12 biscuits

1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup milk of choice*, plus extra for brushing
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil,* solid

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease a 9″ pie plate with coconut oil. Set aside.

Pour vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Pour in milk until you have 3/4 cup total liquid, and stir to combine. Place measuring cup in the fridge to chill while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut coconut oil into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Pour in milk mixture and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold everything together, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Use floured fingertips to knead a few times, until everything is fully combined. Pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter or sharp knife to cut biscuits. When cutting, press directly down–do not twist or saw. Pat dough out again as necessary.

Place biscuits close together in prepared pan. Brush the tops with additional coconut milk. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until biscuits have risen and are no longer doughy. The tops may not turn golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, and serve warm with your jam of choice.

Notes:

1. I use SO Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk Beverage. Any non-dairy milk will work, as will whole, 1%, and 2% cow’s milk. Do not use skim or fat-free cow’s milk.

2. I use Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.

Peanut Butter Granola

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 It must just be leftovers week here on E2 Bakes Brooklyn.

Yesterday, I posted a baked french toast recipe that came to be because a friend gave me two loaves of day-old artisan bread. Today, I’m bringing you my new favorite granola recipe, all because an out-of-town friend gave me most of a jar of peanut butter that she had as a snack in her hotel room, and another gave me a one-pound bag of honey-roasted peanuts after a party I catered with him. My friends just like to give me food, apparently. And I am happy to take anything they give me and try to make it into something delicious. Today, I succeeded. 

This Peanut Butter Granola is ridiculously good. It’s almost like having peanut butter cookies for breakfast! Except that it’s high in protein and totally whole grain, so it’s actually good for you! And it gets better: this recipe takes 90 minutes from the time you turn on the oven to when you put the cooled granola in an airtight container. On top of all that, it’s simple as can be 😊

Just whisk together equal parts peanut butter, maple syrup, and olive oil, along with some vanilla. This base will keep everything crispy, sweet, and peanut buttery (of course). Next comes a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar. While I would have loved to keep this recipe refined sugar-free, this small amount helps the finished product get extra crunchy. If you don’t want to use brown sugar, you may substitute coconut or Demerara sugars. Add in just a touch of cinnamon and some salt. Neither will have a prominent flavor here–they just allow the peanut butter to shine. Without them, our granola could be overly sweet and a little bland.

How sad is the idea of bland peanut butter anything?! 😭

Once the liquid ingredients are ready to go, it’s time to fold in the oats and honey-roasted peanuts. They are used here in an almost 50/50 ratio. There are slightly more oats, but rest assured that there are plenty of peanuts in every crunchy bite! If that amount of chopped nuts sounds like too much for your taste, feel free to replace some of them with an equal volume of oats. 

 
   
After everything is mixed together, spread the granola on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet. Bake the granola for 40-45 minutes at 300F, stirring every fifteen minutes. By the time it’s done cooking, your house will smell unbelievable! Let the granola cool in the pan on a cooling rack before transferring it to an airtight container for up to three weeks.

I like to eat this granola with Greek yogurt and fruit, but it’s also great with milk, or just by itself as an afternoon snack. How good would a handful be with some chocolate chips?! Oooh, or peanut butter chips! However you choose to enjoy it, you’ll love this Peanut Butter Granola!

  
Looking for more granola? Check out my easy Maple Pecan Granola!

Peanut Butter Granola
makes about 4.5 cups

1/4 cup natural or creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar*, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats*
2 cups honey roasted peanuts*, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 300F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to fold the oats and chopped peanuts into the mixture.

Once everything is coated in the peanut butter mixture, spread it in an even layer on the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, stirring every fifteen minutes. Cool granola in the pan on a rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three weeks.

Notes:

1. Coconut or Demerara sugars may be substituted.
2. Use certified gluten-free oats for gluten-free granola.
3. If this is too many peanuts for you, replace 1/2 cup of them with an equal volume of old-fashioned oats.