I woke up this morning to sun, a blue sky, and 71° temps outside. I was grinning ear to ear as I rolled out of bed and decided to make myself a little something special for a real spring Sunday brunch.

I’ve had this rolled omelet bookmarked for a couple weeks because I always have some version of the ingredients around and knew I could throw it together at a moment’s notice. I used only one package of frozen spinach and added a little more Dijon because I’m a mustard addict, but it was still deliciously fresh and light, but paired with some hearty toast, a nice filling brunch. Making omelets can be such a pain so this dish would be fabulous to serve to a group without fussing with a lot of individual pots and pans. Or just one person with a hearty appetite and a love of leftovers.

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Rolled Spinach Omelet

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and ground pepper
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Brush a 10×5-inch rimmed baking sheet or jelly-roll pan with oil. Line bottom of pan with parchment, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the two shorter sides. Brush parchment with oil.
2. In a bowl, whisk together milk and flour. Add eggs, mustard, 1 tsp. kosher salt, and 1 tsp. pepper; whisk to combine. Pour into pan. Sprinkle spinach over top in an even layer.
3. Bake until edges of omelet are set, 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with cheddar; bake until cheese has melted, 2-4 minutes. Beginning at one shorter end, lift parchment, and roll up omelet tightly, peeling back parchment as you go. Slice and serve with toast.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: breakfast, eggs, vegetables, vegetarian

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Scones are tricky things. They’re one of those rare baked goods that should be dry, but not too dry. The texture should politely request to be dipped in tea, but not cry out for it.

I had to keep telling myself these things as I made these. I had a craving for oatmeal raisin cookies but wanted to try something new so I went with scones instead. King Arthur’s recipe is a great foundation to start from and I edited from there, and made myself resist adding more milk, more butter, etc. The first time around the texture was, ahem, less than ideal (and the taste of baking powder was unbelievably overwhelming), so this batch had a little more butter, little less baking powder, and brown sugar.

They’re super hearty and dense, but in that good scone way. Be sure to use sprinkling sugar (or some kind of sugar) on top – the texture really completes them. Served with a cup of good tea, they’re perfect.

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Oatmeal Raisin Scones

Makes 12 scones

Based on the recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Ingredients

• 2¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ¾ tsp. table salt
• 2½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 10 Tbsp. cold butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup toasted, chopped pecans
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk plus more for brushing
• Sparkling sugar

Directions

1.) Line a baking sheet with parchment and sprinkle with a bit of flour. Set aside.

2.) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter or forks, work in the butter until pea-size crumbles form. Do not overmix. Toss in raisins and pecans.

3.) In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.

4.) Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 6” circle about ¾” thick. Brush each circle with milk, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar.

5.) Using a knife or bench knife that you’ve run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges. Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about ½” space between them, at their outer edges.

6.) Place pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425° F.

7.) Bake the scones 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. When you pull one away from the others, it should look baked all the say through; the edge shouldn’t look wet or unbaked.

8.) Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. When they’re completely cool, wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to several days.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, breakfast, indulge, pastry, raisins, sweet

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It’s been so long! I can’t believe it had been almost 2 weeks since I’ve baked something but it’s sadly true. Last weekend I got sucked into my new part-time job of working in a wine dept at a local gourmet grocer (best PT job ever!) so I had no time to cook. I made sure to make time this weekend to relax and play in the kitchen, and this bread was the counterpart to a wonderful soup I whipped up (and will be posted later this week!)

Chalk it up to St. Patrick’s Day being around the corner, but a quick soda bread sounded like just the ticket when I was perusing some bread recipes online. Easy, fast, and using ingredients I had on hand (the buttermilk was from the soup), I’m so glad I chose it. The bread is hearty and filling with tons of texture and flavor. As I ate it I thought “This is the kind of bread you eat as a meal, not as a side.” Especially slathered in warm, salted butter. Delicious.

On a different note, it feels selfish and almost silly to be posting about bread and complaining about my lack of time to post. The disaster in Japan is unbelievable and things that are larger than life like this really make you value what time you have and how you use it, so please take the time to donate to the millions in need: Red Cross Donation. Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers, they are going to need them more than ever.

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Oat Soda Bread

Based on the recipe from 101 Cookbooks.

Makes 1 loaf

When you grind the oats in the food processor you’re basically making oat flour (which is hard to find), so grind them until super fine and powdery.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned (non-instant) oats, pulsed in a food processor until super fine
• 10 oz. (about 2¼ cups) unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
• 1¾ tsp. baking soda
• 1¼  tsp. sea salt
• 1¾ cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp. mixed seeds (sesame, caraway, poppy, etc.)

Directions

1.) Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and line a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan (or one with ~8 cup capacity) with parchment paper and set aside.

2.) Sift the flours, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in the buttermilk. Stir just until everything comes together into a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 30 seconds or so, just long enough for the dough to come together into a cohesive, slightly flattened ball without many cracks or fissures. If your dough is on the dry side, add more buttermilk a small splash at a time. Now ease the dough evenly into the prepared baking pan.

3.) Brush all over the top and sides with buttermilk and sprinkle generously with mixed seeds. Slice a few deep slashes across the top of the dough. Bake for about 30 minutes, then quickly (without letting all the hot air out of the oven), move the rack and the bread up a level, so the top of the bread gets nice and toasted. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until a hard crust forms and the bread is baked through. A great way to test this is to insert an internal thermometer into the center of the bread. It should read around 190-200°F.

4.) Carefully lift it out of the pan, in a timely fashion, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy with a good slathering of salted butter.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, bread, breakfast, oats

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These are biscuits that will drag your tush out of bed on a Sunday morning.

Ok, maybe not on a Sunday morning (more like an afternoon for me), but still, they’re pretty damn tasty. Homemade biscuits are just one of those wonderful things that uses all cold ingredients (no waiting for butter to come to room temp) and comes together so quickly, you should always make them fresh. As much as I love plain buttermilk biscuits, throwing in a few handfuls of shredded sharp cheddar cheese only makes them better. So grab some buttermilk at the store in the next few days and whip these up on Sunday… whenever you manage to get out of bed.

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Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits

Based on the recipe from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics.

Makes about 8 biscuits.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour plus more as needed
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1½ tsp. kosher salt
• 12 Tbsp.  (1½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
• ½ cup shaken buttermilk, chilled
• 1 cold extra-large egg
• 1 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar, chilled
• 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water
• Flaky or coarse sea salt

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the butter and mix until it’s the size of peas. Beat together the buttermilk and egg in a measuring cup and pour in the mixture to the flour-butter mixture. Beat a few turns until just combined.

3.) In a small bowl, toss the Cheddar with small handful of flour and, with the mixer still on low, add the cheese to the dough. Mix only until roughly combined.

4.) Lightly flour a surface in your kitchen and dump out the dough onto it. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together and pat it out until it’s a 10 x 5 rectangle. Cut the dough into 8 rectangles or stamp out round shapes with a biscuit cutter. Transfer biscuits to prepared baking sheet.

5.) Brush biscuits with prepared egg wash, sprinkle with salt (if desired) and bake 20-25 minutes or until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot with salted butter.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, breakfast, cheese

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Healthy Banana Pancakes

Based on the recipe from Skinny Taste.

Makes 7 nicely sized pancakes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. table salt
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 tsp. canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 large, very ripe banana, mashed
• Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

1.) Place a baking sheet in oven and preheat to 200° F.

2.) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites, almond milk, canola oil, honey, and banana. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, table salt, and cinnamon. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed.

3.) Heat a very large nonstick pan (or griddle) over medium heat. Spray with nonstick spray and ladle 1/3-cup of batter for each pancake. When the pancakes are bubbling on the edges and all over, about 3 minutes, flip. Cook another 2 minutes and place cooked pancakes in oven while the others finish. Serve with pure maple syrup or fake butter-flavored pancake syrup product (mmmm).

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: banana, breakfast, healthy rethink, sweet

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