Leftover cookie dough breakfast cake

Yesterday I was in for some baking. I made chocolate chip cookies, our favourite kind of cookies at the moment. We usually have one temporarily kind of favourite cookie and then move on to the next 😂

Anyway, I made quite a big batch, but not all the cookies fit on the two cookie sheets that I used. I didn't want to use yet another cookie sheet just for about half the space they would take on the cookie sheet, not to mention leaving the oven on for just a few cookies. But I certainly didn't want to waste the dough either. I read you can freeze cookie dough but I was in the mood for baking anyway so I thought I'd bake something different with the cookie dough as a base. This kind of baking is what I do a lot and the result is usually a surprise. But what's most surprising is that those spontaneous bakes never disappoint. I always need to be quick to write them down or I just forget all I've used, and I end up never imitating them as good as the first time! 

                                       The cookie dough

  

So here is my breakfast cake recipe, using leftover cookie dough. I was hesitant to call it a cake because it's more like baked oatmeal and not very sweet, but there we go: 

Around 2 cups of chocolate chip cookie dough (I used chocolate chunks instead, as chocolate chips are nearly impossible to find here) 

2 eggs 

Half a cup of peanut butter 

A few tablespoons of milk (optional)

A teaspoon of baking powder 

1.5 cups of oats 

1/3 cup of desiccated coconut 

A pinch of cinnamon 

Crack the eggs over the dough, add in peanut butter and stirr well. Add all the other ingredients. It should have the consistency of a thick batter. I added a bit of milk because my batter was too thick, but if yours isn't there is no milk needed. I didn't use a lot of add-ins because there were chocolate chunks already, but if you like you could add raisins, fresh fruit, dates, or even more chocolate. 

I poured the mixture in a round cake pan and baked it for 45 minutes, 180°c (360° f). I let it cool off completely before I devided the baked oatmeal into 10 pieces. Had one for breakfast and the rest of my family want to try one tomorrow for breakfast, the rest I'll be freezing for a quick and convenient breakfast. 

Try at your own risk 😉

The baked oatmeal ready to go into the oven 

Straight out of the oven. Unfortunately I can't posts smells

        

                                                 Plated up

Very easy pancakes recipe

I like pancakes for breakfast, all kinds. American style pancakes, poffertjes (tiny Dutch style pancakes), baghrir (north African style pancakes also known as a thousand hole pancakes), crêpes, etc. It's just that some are so nice, I tend to overeat them. I want to be able to portion and freeze pancakes to avoid over indulgence. Unfortunately, not all pancakes are freezable, especially crêpes. It's also nice to have a go to breakfast waiting to be thawed in case there isn't anything else to eat. So I prefer freezable pancakes. 

Also, since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm always looking to decrease my calories without making too much sacrifices (if that makes sense, lol). Typically pancakes contain milk, eggs and fat - in addition to be cooked in yet more fat. Substituting white flour for whole wheat (and/or oat flour) is something I've been doing for a long time already, but I was looking for a solution for the eggs and milk. Don't get me wrong, I'll still consume eggs and milk, but I just prefer them as is, not as an ingredient just adding more calories. So after some googling and trial and error myself, I came up with partially whole wheat pancakes that don't contain any milk or eggs- and STILL taste amazing. 

For a large batch (around 16-19 pancakes), you'll need: 

2 cups of whole wheat flour 

2 cups of fine semolina (can be substituted for white or whole wheat flour)

1.5 tablespoons of instant yeast 

Half a teaspoons of salt, or a bit less or more to taste 

A tablespoon of vanilla sugar/vanilla flavour/extract (I don't use extract because of the alcohol it contains, but apparently alcohol free extract does exist) 

As much warm water as needed to create a pancake batter- I used around 5 cups 

Oil or butter to cook your pancakes in 

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well using a whisk. Then add the water, not adding all the water at once to avoid a batter that's on the runny side. If you find it too thick just add a bit more gradually and mix well using the whisk. Mix until there are no more lumps visible and it's a smooth batter. Then cover your bowl, I use a bowl with a lid to avoid using unnecessary disposable plastic. 

Let it sit for around 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on your room temperature. If you've got enough time it should even be possible to let it rise in the fridge. 

If the batter has doubled in volume and is bubbly it's done and ready to bake. Heat up your skillet, and use about one ladle or a bit less (depending on your preferred size of pancakes) of batter per pancake. Cook them as you would regular pancakes and let them cool. 

These pancakes might seem a bit flavourless, but trust me, they're so yummy! The semolina gives them that rich flavour and so does the yeast. There's absolutely no need for eggs or another ingredient for binding, which makes these pancakes not only easy, eggs allergy-friendly, vegan and lower in calories, but also WAY more affordable in this economy 😉 

Some notes: 

I made this the night before breakfast and kept the ones I was planning to eat in a container, the others went into the freezer right after cooling down.  

Keep in mind- both semolina and whole wheat flour absorb more water than white flour does, so keep in mind you'll need more liquid than when making regular pancakes. You can make this batter with whichever flour you like, making it 100% whole wheat or 100% white. 

No wasted milk - and turning muffin batter into pancake batter

The other day, my husband did an attempt to make buttermilk for my mother in law. The thing is, it just didn't settle. It was probably the chilly living room temperature (despite the jug with milk being covered in a thick blanket). Or he didn't use the right amount of yogurt. Whatever it was, we were left with one litre of milk- not tasting good enough to drink as is, nor suitable to use as buttermilk. So I figured it would be best to use for baking. Most baking recipes are very forging when it comes to the milk you're using- I've used spoiled milk, plant "milk" (such as rice/oats), very watered down milk, watered down yogurt or even whey. So I knew it was possible to use this failed buttermilk for baking. 

Baking pancakes was a no brainer, but I already made quite a large batch of pancakes that I froze to have a quick breakfast. And we had waffles two days ago. So I thought it would be better to make something different. Muffins it was- the children are always happy to have a nice after school snack anyway. I usually use white flour when baking muffins but I was in for something more adventurous today and decided to use a mix of white flour, whole wheat flour and oat flour. I used half of the milk but there was some batter left over, since I didn't have enough muffin molds. So I added more milk and flour mixture to bake another batch of "muffins", in a cake pan. Sometimes you just need to be creative, right?

And then, there was *still* some batter left- I was afraid the cake would rise too high and I'd end up with a messy oven if I'd add all of the batter into the cake pan. So, I used my trick to turn muffin batter into pancake batter, by adding around 1/2 cup of flour and as much liquid as needed. This is because muffin batter contains slightly more baking powder than pancake batter. And there I was left with some more pancakes anyway! Which is OK, I'll just have some pancakes for lunch today, and possibly some more for tomorrow's breakfast, and the rest can be frozen. 

See, this is how many low waste/frugal people live their lives: they're led by whatever needs to be rescued, rather than sticking to a certain plan. I'm sure it's more convenient to just toss that nearly-spoiled milk out and follow whatever meal plan you already made, but for me it's become such a habit, it doesn't even feel like a hassle. 

Bread pudding

Yesterday, I desperately needed some room in the freezer. There were to large bags of pieces stale bread and I thought it was a good idea to make a bread pudding. I hadn't made one in a while and I know how much my husband and children love it. In addition to having so much stale bread, there were other foods that wanted to use up: some raisins, some leftover sweetened condensed milk that I made a while ago, and a small container of applesauce. This all goes very well in a bread pudding. When I make one, I don't really stick strictly to a recipe but just use what I have on hand. It would be a bit ironic to be sticking to a specific recipe with dishes that were actually invented to get rid of leftovers, wouldn't it? Anyway, this is how I made it: 

Leftover bread - not sure how much exactly, but it was a big bag of pieces stale bread, both baguette and round bread. I cut this in smaller pieces and put them in a large bowl (similar to a washing up bowl). In a smaller bowl, I mixed 3 eggs with about 2 cups of sweetened condensed milk, 3 heaped spoons of melted butter, 2 tablespoons of applesauce, and three more cups of liquid (a mixture of milk and water). I also added about a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. This mixture was then added to the bread chunks and mixed with a wooden spoon. If there's some dry bread, add some extra liquid. Then I greased a big baking dish and spreaded half of the bread mixture on it, some raisins and then added the remaining mixture (flatten it with a spoon). I then sprinkled the bread mixture with cinnamon sugar. 

I baked this for 75 minutes, the first 30 minutes on 220° c (428° f), then the remaining 45 minutes on 200° c (392° f). Then after about 10 minutes, let the bread pudding cool down outside the oven. When it was a bit warm I put it back in the oven and just let it sit there until this morning. You can reheat it a bit, but I didn't really find that necessary so we just had it cold. 

Multi grain pancakes

There was some homemade buttermilk sitting in the fridge that smelled a bit off, so it needed to used up quickly. The thing with making things from scratch is that it usually doesn't last as long as store bought stuff, because it's lacking preservatives and other funny ingredients. So you need to plan ahead or at least make sure to make use of it within a limited time frame. 

Usually we go through the buttermilk quickly but somehow that didn't happen this time. Fortunately, there are still ways to use it. A lot of recipes call for buttermilk and the good thing is, when using buttermilk when baking it doesn't really matter if it's not in the best condition anymore. What's important that it's still sour, and that's the very thing which make it "taste off"; it's become a bit *too* sour. So this morning I decided to make pancakes, it's one of our go-to breakfasts, especially when I need to use up something that would otherwise spoil (like whey, oatmeal pulp, or buttermilk). I used half white flour and half healthier grains (whole wheat and oatmeal). I tried a lot, and usually they came out either too dense, too dry or too fluffy. While eating more whole grains is our goal, by using only whole grains for this pancakes it just didn't come out with the right texture. So that's why I used half/half, that way at least it's somewhat healthier than when made completely with white flour. 

For a big batch of pancakes, you'll need:  

2 cups of white flour

1 cup of ground oatmeal 

1 cup of whole wheat flour

4 teaspoon of baking powder 

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda 

To taste: A dash of cinnamon, vanilla, some sugar

4 cups of buttermilk (since it was so sour I used 3 cups of buttermilk and one cup of potato boiling water that I kept in the fridge)

4 heaped spoons margarine or butter, melted 

4 eggs, or 3 if they're large

Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk and set aside. Melt your butter/margarine and let it cool. In a big bowl, mix the buttermilk, eggs, and butter until the eggs are lightly beaten. Now add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients. Stirr well using a whisk; make sure not to mix it, I just use the whisk to make the stirring easier but you can also use a large wooden spoon. A few lumps in the batter should be fine. Now let it sit a few minutes in order to get the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda started and meanwhile heat up a griddle. It should be very hot or the pancake batter will spread out too much. If it's really hot, grease the pan using a bit of butter or oil and pour in some batter, 1/3 to 1/2 cup at a time. When bubbles appear it's time to flip the pancake. This is a large batch and was enough for the four of us, with some leftovers that will be eaten tomorrow. 

Cheaper French toast!

French toast is something a lot of people enjoy for breakfast, and growing up, my mum even made it for lunch! 

Originally, before freezers and Tupperware were invented, people would have stale bread often. Unlike these days, most people back then were very big on not wasting anything. And in some cultures, especially bread is almost regarded something sacred. Something you just.dont.throw.away! So naturally, they came up with ideas to revive stale bread. These days there isn't really an excuse to throw away bread, in my humble opinion- or even to actually have stale bread. But unfortunately, bread is still on top of the list of foods that are discarded most often.

So I guess making French toast more often will solve the problem partially. 

French toast isn't the only way to use up stale bread, but it's one of the yummiest ways to do so, in my opinion. Back to this post's title, because isn't french toast cheap already? Of course, that depends on one's resources, location and other circumstances. Where we live, fortunately, bread is insanely cheap, since it's subsidized by the government, so that everyone can afford bread. But milk and eggs? Not so much. Fortunately, I found a way to substitute the eggs so that it lowers the cost at least a bit. Instead of using eggs, I use cornstarch, which turns out much cheaper than using eggs. Not only is it cheaper, your carbon footprint will also be lower than when using eggs-- win win. From a nutritional perspective it is probably a bit less healthy. But hey, we're not eating this daily. And besides, as with most western people, our intake of protein is more than we need anyway. 

To make these French toast, we use about 1.5 big baguette, which is the bread that is eaten where we live, for our family of 4. I use about 2.5 cups of milk, and use a tablespoon of cornstarch for each half cup, so that makes 5 tablespoon. I also add either some vanilla sugar or ground cinnamon. Just slice the baguette, then dip each slice in the milk and starch mixture, then take it out (using a fork, preferably), and fry the slices on both sides.  We prefer these with either honey or powdered sugar, but I'm sure other topping will be delicious too. 

Other kinds of bread can be used interchangeably-- we just use baguette because it's easily available and most affordable. And of course, remnants of the milk can be used for other things, like porridges, pancakes/waffles etc. Make sure you don't throw the milk away because you wanted to avoid throwing out the bread. 😉

Easy no knead cinnamon roll recipe

 

I started baking my own bread years ago when we first got married. I just love baking bread and it's something I enjoy so much. To me it's very relaxing. I think baking bread is one of the essentials in living a more simple and frugal life. 

And I don't know about you, but I love cinnamon rolls. I, however, always found it such a hassle to start very early so we could enjoy this at breakfast time. I tried a fridge rise several times, so I could prep the rolls the night before. While it was worth trying, it wasn't our preference, as it changed the taste a bit. 

So, that was my struggle with cinnamon rolls 🙃 That is, until I discovered the 'miracle bread' recipe by Gina from Home Joys! (http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2011/01/miracle-bread.html?m=1) the original recipe is for a regular loaf, I really wanted to try if this works for cinnamon rolls. And it really does! We now actually prefer these rolls over the kneaded and more richer rolls I used to make. Literally everyone who tasted these rolls have asked a recipe. 

This dough still has to rise, so it isn't necessarily a very very quick bread recipe (although I do have a quick bread cinnamon rolls recipe-- please check my blog as I'll try to post that recipe soon!). But, you'll save a bit time as you skip the kneading part (maybe it's just inside my head as for the time consuming part! But I've found that with this recipe, our family enjoys a warm cinnamon roll more often than before I discovered this recipe). 

Anyway, this is how I make them. 

For the dough:

6 cups of white flour (750 grams) 

1,5 cups of water (375 milliliter) 

2 tablespoons dry yeast 

2 tablespoons of sugar 

2 tablespoons of salt 

3 tablespoons of oil 

For the cinnamon filling: 

2 tablespoons of cinnamon 

1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of sugar (100 to 132 grams)

2/3 cup of butter or margarine 

For the icing: 

Powdered sugar and water

Warm the water until very warm, not hot. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the oil and water. If dough is too sticky add some more flour; if dough is too dry add some water. Mix the dough until it's an uniform dough but don't knead it. Grease a bowl with some oil, cover and let it rest 30 to 90 minutes (depending on the house's inside temperature). Meanwhile prepare the cinnamon filling by mixing the sugar and cinnamon. Then in a bigger bowl, cream the butter and slowly add the sugar mixture, one tablespoon at a time to make mixing easier. 

Once the filling is ready and the dough has risen, take it out, press the air out and put it on a slightly oiled surface. Take your rolling pin and roll the dough out in the desired measure. (I'm sorry, I'm very bad at measurements, especially in inches!). Devide the cinnamon filling over the dough, make sure that the edges aren't covered by the cinnamon filling. 

Now carefully roll the dough and cut the dough in 12-13 even pieces. Grease a baking pan (you can either use a round or square pan) and put the rolls in the pan. Cover the rolls and preheat your oven at 200° C/329°F. Once the rolls have doubled in size put them in the oven and bake for half an hour. 

We prefer the rolls without icing, but if you'd like you can easily make an icing using powdered sugar and a few drops of water. 

Enjoy!