Ginger Bread Waffles

I am a long time lover of breakfast. I love slow mornings that start with a good breakfast and hot coffee. I also start these mornings with blasting a really happy record to get me excited and ready for the day. I love when we have guests over and I get to spoil them in the morning! There is just something so nice waking up and cooking for the ones you love. Plus, there is nothing better than waking up to the smell of waffles.

Ginger Bread Waffle

4 eggs
1 cup molasses
1 cup buttermilk
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
Maple syrup

Start by beating eggs until light and fluffy, add the sugar, molasses and buttermilk and mix until smooth about 1 min. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry mix to the egg mix, stir together when smooth add butter. Cooks in the waffle maker 2-4 min, makes 14 waffles!

Recipe from Spoonful

I don't know about you but I am getting a little tired of the cold and snow, these pretty flowers have helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel.  SPRING will be here... soonish, or at least that's what we are hoping for here in Minnesota. But for now we have these tasty waffles to cheer us up.

Happy breakfast time!

-Bethany

Sweet Heart Coffee Cake

So I can't lie that I am not the biggest fan of Valentines Day because I think you should show the same amount of love to a person day in and day out. I think it's stupid how much pressure people put on one night out on the town. Wouldn't it be much more romantic to bake this yummy coffee cake and snuggle up with a pot of coffee and just spend time talking and doing "other" things... 

But however you and your honey decide to spend Valentines Day we hope that above all you are happy in celebrating the love and spark that you share, that makes your relationship unique and beautiful.

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Let's get bakin'.

I must warn you this bread is pretty labor intensive, so prepare yourself to make this when you have lots of time on your hands. 

Sweet Heart Coffee Cake

2 cups of sour cream
2 pkgs dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups flour
1 1/2 cups finely chopped California dried apricots
1 1/2 cups chopped maraschino cherries

Icing

2 cups powered sugar
2 Tbls water


STEPS 1-12

STEP 1: Heat sour cream until luke warm.

STEP 2: Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl

STEP 3: Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, eggs, salt and 2 cups of flour. Mix in enough flour so the dough is easy to handle (no sticky dough).

STEP 4: Knead on floured board for about ten minutes. (I have a Kitchen Aid, so this process is much easier on my end. I use the dough hook.)

STEP 5: Place kneaded dough in a greased bowl, greased side up. Cover and let rise for an hour. After an hour the dough should have doubled in size.

STEP 6: Heat oven to 375 degrees.

STEP 7: Punch down dough (literally punch the middle of the dough on your flour filled surface.) Divide into three equal parts.

STEP 8: Roll each part into a rectangle roughly 15x6 inches. Place on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

STEP 9: With scissors make 2 inch long cuts at 1/2 inch intervals on both sides of the rectangle.

STEP 10: In a food processor combine the apricots and cherries, blend until the mixture is in small chunks. Spread 1/3 of the mixture on the center of the dough and crisscross the strips over the filling, stretch the dough to 22 inches. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough and filling.  Shape pieces into a heart.

STEP 11: Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown,

STEP 12: Brush with melted butter while warm, drizzle on icing (mix powdered sugar and water until desired consistency), and decorate with cherries.

This bread is so good and if you have basic baking ingredients won't cost you much to make!

Have the best Valentines Day!

Love,
Bethany