Happy Birthday Brian! Homemade Walker Brothers Apple Pancake

Okay, I think I am going to return to blogging now that I made this recipe.  Bri's birthday was this past weekend and I went all out with his favorite breakfast and one of his favorite desserts.  Today is going to be all about the breakfast.

Walker Brothers Pancake House is a staple here in the Chicago-land area.  Growing up, this is where I met my girlfriends for breakfast on every late start of high school, is is where I drove to for the first time after getting my license when I turned 16 and it also happens to be where Bri likes to have brunch on his birthday!  Now that we live in the city, it is more difficult to make it all the way out for brunch, so I decided to bring brunch to us!  I got out my 12 inch cast iron skillet and made a GIANT apple pancake, Walker Brother's style.

I found the recipe online and then adapted it a bit to fit my skillet and my taste.  It turned out perfect!  Happy Birthday Bri :)

Homemade Walker Brothers Apple Pancake
(adapted from Tastebook)

Ingredients:
4 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves
8 eggs
2 cups skim milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter

Happy Birthday!

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl, toss the apple slices with the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
3. In another large bowl, whisk the milk with the eggs.  Whisk in the flour until no more lumps remain and whisk in the vanilla.
4. In your skillet, melt the butter.  Add in the apple mixture and then pour the batter over the apples.  Place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Place a pan on a shelf below your skillet to prevent anything from dripping onto the bottom of your oven.

Enjoy :)

Greek Yogurt Blueberry Pancakes

Small rant: Today I had a great morning.  I got to do a human knot challenge in eighth grade, help students with a test in 7th grade, and watch The Lorax in 6th grade.  It was a ton of fun.  Then, I drove home and was stopped for "taligating." I didn't know this was even possible.  There was TRAFFIC.  For goodness sake, I'm pretty sure this cop was just having a bad day.  The good news: He didn't give me a ticket AND he didn't ruin my good day :).  Here is a recipe to share with you all.  It is amazing and healthy and hopefully it will brighten up all of your days as well.  Maybe that cop will try these and realize how mean he was being...

Over the weekend, I made these guys for my family for breakfast.  Everyone was a fan! Even my little brother, who doesn't really eat anything besides meat, cheese, and bread, loved it...and there's fruit in them!

Greek yogurt is fantastic.  Pretty sure I've already stated this, but this recipe will make any non-greek yogurt believer and believer.


Greek Yogurt Blueberry Pancakes (adapted from Friday Delights)

Ingredients:
1 egg, separated
1 1/4 cup plain, non-fat greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
3 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup white, whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Separate egg.  Whisk egg white in a mixer until soft peak forms.  In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk with melted butter.  Stir in yogurt and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, stir dry ingredients together.  Mix in the yogurt mixture until combined.  Fold in egg white.  Finally, fold in blueberries.
3. In a medium skillet, over medium heat, drop dollops of the pancake batter.  Cook for about 3 minute or so on each side.  Pancakes will be fairly thick.  Serve with syrup and more blueberries!

Enjoy :)

Breakfast and Boozy Cupcakes

It's my boyfriend, Brian's, 21st birthday! To celebrate this exciting occasion, I made him breakfast, and then together we made cupcakes! My Secret Santa in my fraternity got me a book called, Intoxicated Cupcakes.  It's adorable and all the cupcakes are based off of drinks and involve booze.  Brian picked out the mojito cupcake recipe and we made them!  To be honest, I made them and Brian did the dishes, but I think that was for the best :).

For breakfast, I made pancakes (not from scratch because I was tired).  They turned out really great and I highly recommend them.  The mix was from target and it was an apple pancake mix with a cinnamon streusel topping.  We topped them with REAL maple syrup from Canada.  MMM!

In the afternoon we made the Mojito Cupcakes.  They came out amazing! Now it's off to dinner with his family and then hanging out with all his friends!

Mojito Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting

(adapted from Intoxicated Cupcakes)

Ingredients: 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp dark rum (we used Captain Morgan)

zest from 1/2 lime

1 tsp lime juice

1/2 cup finely chopped mint

1/2 cup light sour cream

Frosting:

5 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp dark rum

1 tbsp milk (I used skim)

1 tbsp mint, finely chopped

1 tbsp lime juice

2 cups confectioners' sugar

2-4 drops green food coloring (I put WAY too much in)

1/2 lime zest for garnish (optional)

Brian's 1st Legal Beer!

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners (I was able to make 15)

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking power, and salt.  

3.  In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light at fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add lime zest, juice, rum, and mint and continue to mix until well incorporated.

4. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and sour cream in about 3 additions.

5. Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Mine took around 20 because they were pretty large cupcakes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

6. To make the frosting, mix all ingredients except for the sugar, food coloring, and zest.  Slowly add sugar and mix well.  Add in the food coloring until you have the desired green coloring.  Frost or pipe cupcakes and add lime zest or lime slices as garnish.

Enjoy :)

Source: VeganYumYum
my cupcakes looked a little awkward because
of how green the frosting came out...
this is what they should look like :)