Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Daddies, avert your eyes, because this is what your family will be serving you in bed on Sunday morning (Father's Day).  However, it's so good, the kids might help you eat it all.  And Mom, it's so easy to make, the kids can take all the credit...they will love that.

A few months ago, I didn't even know what Biscoff spread was. I kept seeing it everywhere in the blogs and finally I could no longer resist, I just had to try it.  Honestly, I wish I hadn't. It's so addicting, sweet and good...it can only be described as crack.

My favorite way to eat it....with a spoon.  If you are on a diet, I strongly suggest not bringing this into your home.  It will call to you, as it does me, from the cupboard with its creepy siren song....ugh. It always wins. I give in. Every. Single. Time.

I already fed this French toast to my husband and after one bite he looked at me and said, "Good grief, this is dangerous."

This is the breakfast I’d eat every day if I could. Oh chilaquiles, how much do I love you?

Apparently quite a bit, as I’ve been on the Chilaquiles Train ever since getting back from Mexico earlier this month. While I’ve always enjoyed them, I’ve renewed my love by eating them a few times a week already and I suppose I’m making up for lost time.

While I won’t go into the variety of regional differences, chilaquiles are basically stale corn tortillas cooked in a sauce and topped with ingredients as a way to use up any leftovers or stale chips. It’s a concept I love even if I can’t quite understand the thought of having left over chips, let alone stale. Aren’t they always eaten until they’re gone? Maybe that’s just me.

Chilaquiles are miraculously adaptable; you can use almost anything you have on hand. I love recipes that are difficult to mess up and these fit the bill. They’ll forgive you if you add too much sauce, they’ll still taste great if you use too much cheese. I’m guilty on both accounts.

Traditional shortbread should really be called “several sticks of butter – cookies”. The butter could very well be what makes them so additively mouth watering. Shortbread is not something that could linger around my house. If it does, I end up consuming 98% of it. With the weather shifting into summer and tank top season upon us, eating a large batch of shortbread would most likely keep me in turtlenecks and long sleeve t’s rather than a cute maxi or simple sun dress.

I have been  wanting to recreate this favorite, household cookie, yet in a gluten free version. Playing with ingredients has become my new hobby (or obsession) and when something hits and comes out right, the kitchen dance begins! The neighbors up the street can hear me singing with joy as the kids wait patiently by the oven door. I found, rolling out the dough and letting it rest in the fridge before shaping helped the cookies not spread when baked. In addition, cut dough can be flash frozen and saved for another day.

Making shortbread was a high priority. It’s, yet another one of those freezer friendly doughs, and when baked not only does the house smell divine, but the rich, buttery biscuit easily melts in ones mouth. Using ingredients on hand; macadamia nuts, limes, and coconut, a successful cookie was born. This basic dough could easily find a home with lemon, almonds, bittersweet chocolate, dried fruit, and a host of other pantry staples. I am going to experiment. You can too! Then come back here and tell me what you come up with!

This was our breakfast Sunday morning.  Aren't they cute?  They were very, very good.  It's the whole egg and the toast combo all together in one nice package.

These are so easy to make and wouldn't they be splendid on a brunch buffet table?  The best part, you can easily make two, ten, a hundred, whatever your needs are at the moment. 

I think there are a lot of variations you could do nicely with this recipe, such as, swap out the Parmesan cheese with grated Gruyere or crumbled blue cheese to give a different taste.  Use feta and substitute oregano for the other herbs for a Greek flavor.

I used sourdough but I think this would also be nice with onion or brioche rolls as long as they are sturdy.

Any way you put these together, they will be great.