Peanut Butter Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is an extremely versatile dish. It is great as a dessert, breakfast item or snack. It is also very easy to make. There are very few ingredients and prep time is minimal. It is a common recipe, but I add peanut butter to make mine a little extra special. This creates a unique taste unlike traditional cinnamon roll tasting Monkey Bread. The other night I had a sweet tooth but I was not in the mood to spend a long time in the kitchen. The remedy--Monkey Bread! It was great the next few mornings for breakfast too!

SERVES 2-4

Ingredients:

• 4 cans refrigerator biscuits
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• .5 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon confectioners sugar

Cookware/Utensils:

• bundt pan
• small saucepan
• medium glass bowl
• wooden spoon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add cinnamon and sugar to a medium size glass bowl. Tear each biscuit into 4 or 5 pieces. Add biscuit pieces to bowl, several at a time; coat well with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place pieces in a buttered bundt pan.

Bring brown sugar, confectioners sugar, peanut butter and butter to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes, then pour over biscuits. Bake for 45 minutes until the top becomes golden brown. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cut and serve in slices or pull away and eat bite by bite.

***This will serve breakfast or brunch for 2 people, twice. For this reason I like to call it a weekender. A weekender is a breakfast or brunch item that can be eaten on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Clafouti avec des Prunes

Clafouti avec des Prunes. Translation: Clafouti with plums. Clafouti is a traditional French dessert consisting of a layer of fruit topped with batter and baked. Cherries are the customary fruit of choice, but any other may be used. In this case I have used diced plums. I usually do not do anything very exciting with plums. In fact, I like to just eat them as they are; and this is exactly what I intended to do when I purchased them a few days ago at the grocery store. However, plans change and I was in the mood to experiment. Without any milk in the refrigerator, my options for baked goods was limited. (Yes I know it sounds strange but we rarely keep milk in the house--we just do not drink it.) Clafouti almost always calls for milk, cream or even sweetened condensed milk. Was my quest for a quick and easy plum dessert doomed? Of course not...I told you earlier...I was in the mood to experiment. While I do not have milk, I do have a lot of cream cheese on hand. Essentially they both come from a cow right? Luckily the clafouti was a success. Read on to find out how cream cheese went from experimental ingredient to secret ingredient!

SERVES 2

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plums, diced
• 2 medium eggs
• .33 cup sugar
• 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• .33 c flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• .24 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• non-stick cooking spray or butter (used to grease pie pan)

Cookware/Utensils:

• small bowl
• medium bowl
• large spoon
• measuring cups
• cutting board
• santoku or chef's knife
• electric mixer
• glass pie pan
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease the pie pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter. (I prefer butter). Dice plums and place them in a small bowl; set aside. Add eggs and sugar to medium bowl and mix on low for about one minute. Add the cream cheese and mix again until smooth. Finally, add the flour, vanilla and salt to the bowl and mix again until lumps are no longer visible. Place fruit in pie pan. Slowly pour the batter over the plums. Be sure to evenly spread mixture in the prepared pie pan. Drizzle with the butter. Place in the oven =for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

Serve clafouti warm or room temperature. It is pictured below with vanilla bean ice cream. I have to confess...this was so yummy that I had two pieces!

***While I have referred to this as a dessert it also makes a great breakfast. This will serve breakfast or brunch for 2 people, twice. For this reason I like to call it a weekender. A weekender is a breakfast or brunch item that can be eaten on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Scrambled Egg and Sausage Loaf

SERVES 2

Ingredients:

• .5 pound sausage
• .25 red onion, finely chopped
• .5 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 medium eggs
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 cup shredded cheese--your choice
• 2 cans buttermilk biscuits (10/can)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• non-stick cooking spray

Cookware/Utensils:

• medium skillet or fry pan
• small skillet or fry pan
• bundt pan
• cooking spoon (wood, nylon or other heat resistant material)

Preheat oven to 450 F. Lightly brown the sausage in medium sized skillet. Add chopped onions and bell pepper to the sausage and simmer together until onion and bell pepper are tender, stirring occasionally. In a separate small skillet combine eggs and cream and continuously stir until eggs scramble.
Spray bundt pan with a non-stick cooking spray (I prefer one with a butter flavor). Line the pan with a layer of biscuits. Biscuits will need to be pulled and stretched and then seams will need to be pressed together to make one continuous "blanket" of dough. Then add a layer of the sausage mixture. Next add a thin layer of eggs. Finally, layer with cheese and then another layer of biscuits. Repeat this process one more time so that the top layer is biscuits. Spread the butter over the top layer. Place pan in the oven and cook until the biscuits are dark golden brown. Allow to cool. Remove from pan; slice and serve.





***This will serve breakfast or brunch for 2 people, twice. For this reason I like to call it a weekender. A weekender is a breakfast or brunch item that can be eaten on Saturday and Sunday morning.