cinnamon bacon chevre french toast

so i’m on a bit of a bacon kick these days… thanks to the noble efforts and enthusiasm of my good friend krysta who hosted baconpalooza this weekend! what’s baconpalooza, you ask? well, it was a fabulous soiree celebrating all things bacon… candied bacon, chocolate-covered bacon, stuffed bacon jalapenos, bacon & fig dip, bacon crackers, bacon caesars — everything bacon!

this morning, i figured i’d keep the bacon frenzy alive… and infuse a little bacon into one of my fave brunch standards — french toast! mmmm… bacon…

the bacon:
– heat up 2-3 tbsp water in large saucepan on medium heat
– add 4 strips of country-style bacon to pan
– lightly sprinkle 1 tsp ground cinnamon over bacon
– fry bacon in pan for a few min until slightly crispy on both sides (optional: sprinkle a bit more cinnamon after flipping the bacon.)
– remove from heat & set aside bacon on plate to cool
– pat bacon w/ papertowels to remove excess fat & oil
– reserve bacon fat in pan for cooking the egg-soaked bread (optional) 

i like to use wholewheat sourdough when i make french toast. the taste & texture of sourdough is perfect for this dish — soaking up the egg and complementing the flavourful toppings. my fave bread is the locally-made, artisan sourdough from sidewalk citizen bakery. (if you are in the calgary area, aviv’s artisan bread is a must-try!)

prep the toast:
– whisk 1 large egg & 1 tsp ground cinnamon in medium prep bowl
– soak 2 thick slices of artisan sourdough bread (on both sides, until egg mixture is absorbed into bread)

– melt 2 tsp of unsalted butter in large saucepan

(tip: no need to add butter to the pan, if you still have the leftover bacon fat in the pan.)

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chai biscotti

i heart chai. and with the chilly winter soon approaching, it’s the perfect time to steep a hot cup of tea, pull out my favorite pair of sock monkey mittens and find some cozy recipes to warm things up on snowy days.

i’ve been reading in the food blogosphere about just how easy it is to bake your own homemade biscotti. baking is not really my forté — perhaps because it typically requires precise measurements of ingredients and following recipes to a ‘T’. i’m all about kitchen improv, so my baking can be hit-or-miss. i guess you could say that i take a more guided approach when baking, looking to seasoned bakers for how-to’s and advice. inspired by the biscotti queen — fellow food blogger linda at savoring every bite — i embarked on my chai-infused biscotti experiment! here’s how…

– pre-heat oven to 350F

the dry ingredients:
whisk together the following ingredients in a medium prep bowl
– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
– 1.5 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp salt

the batter:
mix together the following ingredients with a stand mixer until well combined
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

(tip: when mixing the batter, i realized that i had no sugar in my pantry that day. so i substituted the sugar with ground cinnamon instead. it worked alright, but it did add a strong cinnamon flavour to the biscotti. my preference would be to use sugar instead of cinnamon in this recipe next time.)

– add 2 large eggs (beaten) to batter
– add 1 tsp pure vanilla

– once eggs and vanilla are mixed into the batter, gradually add the dry ingredients mixture to the bowl.
– sprinkle 3 tbsp chai tea (loose tea)
– add 1.5 tsp ground ginger (reduce amount if you’re not a big fan of ginger)
– mix the ingredients together until well combined
– add 1/2 cup water (optional, if your batter is drying out too much)

apple cognac coffee cake

can i get a little cognac with that coffee cake? so it’s a bit of an odd flavour combo that scored some brownie points (um, coffee cake points?) with the sunday afternoon tea crowd. it’s a cute story of how it all came together…

with apple season in full-swing this autumn, crab apples were a-plenty in mom & dad’s backyard. the solution: apple cinnamon coffee cake. so what about the cognac, you ask? well, i took a quick look at the recipe card from mom’s recipe box that weekend and quickly noticed the absence of coffee in the ingredients list for apple cinnamon coffee cake. ok, perhaps one could argue that coffee cake is simply a cake that you eat while sipping on a warm cup of ‘joe. <nod> or, you could take it quite literally like i did and gawk at the missing ingredient of coffee in the coffee cake. so i thought i’d throw in some good ol’ coffee grinds into the cake batter… and a shot of cognac for good measure.

here’s how…

pre-heat oven to 350F

the cake batter:
whisk together the following ingredients into a smooth, creamy batter:
– 1/2 cup unsalted butter
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup sugar
– 1 tsp pure vanilla
– 1 cup light sour cream

add the following dry ingredients to the creamy batter:
– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 tsp baking soda
– 1 tsp baking powder
– dash of salt

the apples:
whisk 2 cups crab apples (peeled, cored, chopped) into the cake batter