My Grandpa, my dad’s dad, grew up in Augusta, Georgia – an interesting spot for my original Irish ancestors to wind up. This is my main claim to being actually southern. After attending Georgia Tech and becoming a hell of an engineer, this southern boy moved to Detroit.
And even in Detroit, my Grandma managed to find grits to cook for her husband. My dad grew up with grits as a breakfast staple, and to this day he makes the best grits I’ve ever tasted.
Here is a fun mini-muffin recipe that I made with some more ripe bananas I wanted to use up. It is based on my Banana Cake recipe, but I’ve added nuts and spices to make a tender, hearty, cozy morning treat.
. . . wait until you try this coffee cake! I wanted to use up some buttermilk that was going to expire, so I came up with this moist and fluffy morning treat. We cannot stop eating it – morning, noon, and night! The buttermilk adds just the lightest touch of tangy flavor to the delicate cake, and the toasty spiced nuts that make up the topping are just delicious.
So: Ebelskiver. Say it with me: “able-skeever” – yes!
These delightful little pastries are actually spherical Danish pancakes that have a filling in the middle. Ebelskiver means “apple slices” in Danish, and you will sometimes see it spelled “aebelskiver.” As you might have guessed, apples are one of the traditional fillings that you will find inside an ebelskiver.
These muffins are chock-full of some of my favorite ingredients. I combined about 5 recipes to come up with this one so that I could get all of my favorite things in one healthy muffin! Crispy on top, fluffy in the middle, and full of delicious flavor. You will never be able to tell that these are low in fat and high in fiber!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Here is a special peek, dear readers, at the romantic breakfast I cooked for my Valentine this morning.
I have been cozying up to my crock pot a lot lately – it’s just so nice to be able to throw stuff in there and have it come together perfectly with barely any work at all. And I’d read that you can actually make oatmeal in a crock pot by fixing it the night before and setting it on low overnight. I love oatmeal and eat it almost every morning, especially during the colder winter months. I enjoy the Irish-style steel-cut oats the most, but they take so long to cook that I rarely make make time for them in my morning routine. So I decided to try cooking them in the crock pot overnight to see if I could make it work – and it did!!
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Today, February 5, 2009, is World Nutella Day! Check it out at the Ms Adventures in Italy, Bleeding Espresso, and World Nutella Day websites! People all around the world are celebrating this sweet treat today.
My husband loves to cook up some apples around this time of year. It makes the house smell amazing, and his recipe is delicious! It’s great as a snack on its own, as a side to pork chops, as a topping on some vanilla ice cream, or as a sweetener for your morning oatmeal.