DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert

Category Archives: Breakfast & Brunch


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Blueberry Pancakes

I’m not a huge fan of pancakes, but I have one exception – made from scratch blueberry pancakes. Not plain, not chocolate chip, not pumpkin, not any other flavor you can imagine. Blueberry. Only blueberry.

So, here you go – from scratch blueberry pancakes that couldn’t be easier to make. Trust me, I wouldn’t spend time making breakfast if it took a long time. I don’t have enough patience or energy in the morning to cook up anything complicated.

Blueberry Pancakes
makes 10
adapted from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 pint fresh blueberries, washed and dried
cooking spray

  1. Combine milk with vinegar in a large bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to “sour”.
  2. Meanwhile, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
  3. Whisk egg and butter into soured milk.
  4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are just gone.
  5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet and immediately sprinkle some blueberries onto the pancake. I used about 4 – 7 per pancake.
  6. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Flip with a spatula and cook until browned on the other side.


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Potato Pancakes with Applesauce

There’s something really comforting about eating a warm, crispy potato pancake with some freshly made applesauce in the middle of a Wisconsin winter. I wasn’t going to make these at first since it would require me to shred a million potatoes, but then I remembered that I had a food processor. BAM! Done in 5 minutes. I really should use my beloved Cuisinart a little more.

I love love love this applesauce because it is not overly sweet – it’s a great combination of tart and sweetness. If you’re someone who loves a sweeter applesauce, add a little more sugar into it.

Potato Pancakes
adapted from allrecipes.com

4 egg whites
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup vegetable oil

  1. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Mix in potatoes and onion.
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. In batches, drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture into the skillet. Press to flatten. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.
  3. Serve warm with butter and salt or homemade applesauce.

Homemade Applesauce
makes 4 cups

5 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1. Combine apples, water, sugar and cinnamon in medium-sized saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 15 – 20  minutes, or until apples are soft.
  2. Mash with a potato masher and serve warm, or refrigerate until serving.


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Back With a Kick – Caffeinated Doughnuts!

It’s been a long long long time since my last update. The rest of my senior year was a whirlwind and it was gone before I knew it. The wedding is slowly creeping up on us and there is so much left to do. I thought life would be a little less busy post-graduation, but I guess not!

As an apology for my hiatus, I give you caffeinated doughnuts. Jared, a friend of mine, came up with this idea and we brought it to life during spring break. We made a few without the caffeine – if you choose to do so, omit the caffeine pills and powdered sugar from the glaze.

Caffeinated Doughnuts
adapted from allrecipes.com

For the doughnuts:
2 .25 ounce packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 quart vegetable oil

For the glaze:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 caffeine pills (like NoDoz), crushed to a fine powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar, or to taste

  1. Place warm water in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
  2. Mix together the yeast, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of flour in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
  3. Mix in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl.
  4. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover. Set in a warm place and let rise until doubled in size.
  5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until 1/2 in thick. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter*. Cover with a cloth and let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double.
  6. Melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave. Mix in butter and  corn syrup until smooth. Whisk in powdered sugar and crushed caffeine pills and add vanilla. Taste – if it’s too bitter, add more sugar.
  7. Heat oil in a large pot to 350F. Carefully place doughnuts into the oil. Turn the doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry on each side until golden brown. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a wire rack. Dip in glaze while still hot and allow to cool completely on wire rack.

*Note: if you do not have a doughnut cutter, use whatever else you may have around the house! When we did this, we used a glass to cut out the doughnut and then used a shot glass to cut out the hole.


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Vegetable Cream Cheese

My friend dropped off a bag of delicious bagels the other day and so I decided to make some vegetable cream cheese to go with it! I’m pretty happy with the result. If you like store-bought vegetable cream cheese, I suggest you whip up this homemade version – it’s so much better!

Vegetable Cream Cheese

Vegetable Cream Cheese

8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1 rib celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

  1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the vegetables are in small chunks.
  2. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.


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Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of my favorite things to snack on. It’s perfect when I need something to hold me over from lunch to dinner. While it may be convenient to just buy a box (or two) from the grocery store, making them at home allows you to customize the bars to your tastes! I added coconut, walnuts and milk chocolate chips to the fruit and nut “base”, but you could add in an endless number of ingredients!

Granola Bars

Granola Bars

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces dried fruit
1/4 cup coconut
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup walnuts

  1. Preheat oven t 350°F. Butter a 9×9 baking dish and set aside.
  2. Mix oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and walnuts together and spread onto a half sheet pan. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Meanwhile, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the brown sugar is dissolved.
  4. When the oat and nut mixture is done, remove from oven and turn the oven down to 300°F.
  5. Stir the oat and nut combination into the liquid mixture. Add in coconut, dried fruit, and chocolate chips. Stir quickly and spread into prepared 9×9 baking dish. Press down mixture firmly and distribute the mixture evenly.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven, let cool completely, and then cut into bars.


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Rhubarb Bread

I can only make so much rhubarb crisp and rhubarb pie before I get sick of looking at it. So, I thought I would attempt to make rhubarb bread! The bread turned out to be perfectly sweet and moist. I found the recipe at allrecipes.com and I’ve copied it below.

Rhubarb bread

Rhubarb Bread
from allrecipes.com

1 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice and vanilla; let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, oil and egg. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda, stir into sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture just until combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
  3. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Sprinkle this mixture over the unbaked loaves.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

I made mini loaves and baked them for about 25 minutes!


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Banana Crumb Muffins

Mike had 3 bananas that were too brown and soft to eat, so I turned them into banana crumb muffins.

banana crumb muffin

Banana Crumb Muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups or line with muffin papers.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture and walnuts into the flour mixture until just moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
  4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.


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Apple Strudel Muffins

I bought 10 pounds of granny smith apples to bake a caramel apple pie and only used up a quarter of them. With the rest, I made applesauce and these muffins! I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of the pie or applesauce, but I did manage to remember to snap a photo of the muffins.

apple strudel muffins

Apple Strudel Muffins
yields 12 muffins

–For the muffin
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped apples

–For the strudel topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Thoroughly grease a 12 cup muffin pan or use liners.
  2. In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in the vanilla. Stir in the apples and then gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
  4. For the strudel topping: mix the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse crumb. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the muffin pans.
  5. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to rest for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove muffins from the pan to cooling racks and allow to cool completely.


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Cranberry Orange Muffins

I made these muffins Saturday night and Sunday night – they were just that good!

cranberry orange muffins

Cranberry Orange Muffins
yields 16 muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons orange marmalade
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts, or both!)
4 tablespoons sugar

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Mix the flour, brown sugar, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add the milk, orange juice, oil, and egg into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.
  4. Stir in the cranberries and marmalade. The marmalade blends in more easily if placed in dollops around the batter instead of in one huge mass.
  5. Fill the muffin cups up 2/3 full or 3/4 full for more “top-heavy” muffins.
  6. Mix the pecans and sugar in a separate bowl and then sprinkle on top of the muffins.
  7. Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

I find lining the muffin cups with liners makes cleanup a bit easier, but I would recommend that you don’t use them because I think the texture of the muffin turns out better without a liner. Either way, they are delicious!