And Abraham Went Out . . .

Dessert for Breakfast


Howdy ya'll! It's another snowy day here in the land of beer and brats! Venture out into the whiteness? Hmm. We'll see.

Last night Sage had his first gymnastics class. Doug took him and they made a date out of it, complete with a hot chocolate run afterwards. Sage was very excited about his very own class (sans his twin). I think it is very liberating and exciting for him to do something on his very own, without his brother. Basil has the more outgoing personality, so it is pretty fun to have Sage have a go at it in the world on his own a little bit. It was so precious to me to hear Mr. Basil's support of his brother. He couldn't wait to see the videos of Sage in his class. I told him sorry that he missed out on the date with his dad, like Sage got to do. Mr. Basil said "Oh, I get to do that all the time. He deserves it." Sorry no pics. Doug just took videos.

Yesterday morning I decided to get a little creative for breakfast. It turned out so yummy! The recipe is from this whole foods cookbook a friend gave us when we got married. This recipe is actually from the dessert section but I thought it looked good enough for breakfast. It probably has the same amount of sugar as pancakes anyhow. Too much butter for us adults to eat everyday. The kids loved it! We used gingerbread cookies cutters instead of the round fluted cutters. Super fun.

We served it with a spoonful of vanilla Greek yogurt. Yum. Just the right combination of flavors and textures.

Oh yes, and I'm shamelessly using paper plates here.

"I'm Ratatouille. I'm seeing the flavors in my mind."

Pan-fried Apple Slices with Walnut Shortcake

adapted from "The Practical Encyclopedia of Whole Foods"

Ingredients:

2 T butter

4 dessert apples, cored and thinly sliced (I used three)

2 T brown sugar

2 t ginger

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

For the walnut shortbread:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/ t salt

1/4 cup superfine sugar

8 T butter

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I threw them in the food processor)

1 T milk, plus some for brushing

brown sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven 350 and grease one or two baking sheets. For the shortcake, mix the flours with the oatmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingers, two forks, or a pastry mixer (I used the pastry gadget, much easier) until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

2. Add the walnuts, then stir enough milk to make a soft dough. (I used more milk, I didn't have time for fussing around with dough that fell apart)

3. Gently knead the dough on a floured surface. Roll out into 1/4 thickness. Use a 3 inch fluted cutter (or whatever you can come up with, a cookie cutter for us) stamp out eight rounds (or so).

4. Place them on the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with brown sugar (I forgot this step, didn't miss it at all). 

5. To prepare the apples, melt the butter in a heavy frying pan. Add the apples and cook 3-4 minutes over gentle heat until softened. Increase heat to medium and add the sugar and spices, and stir well. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce turns golden brown and carmelizes.

6. Place two shortcake rounds on serving plates and spoon over the warm apples and sauce. Serve with a spoonful of yogurt or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.