Overnight Nutella French Toast Bake

 This recipe is to die for!! It is one of the best breakfast dishes ever to exist. Here is a load of thanks to my friend/past roommate Tori for this recipe!! I would have made it on International Nutella Day last week, but that couldn't happen since I was on campus for 13 hours. So I decided to finally make it today and did not regret it one bit!

Overnight Nutella French Toast

Makes one 9 x 13 pan
6 eggs
two cups whole milk or heavy cream (I used the cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup (I used the normal Mrs. Butterworth's, but pure maple syrup would be even better)
12 mini croissants
Nutella
Butter
Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish. Pour a half-cup maple syrup on bottom.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and vanilla extract until somewhat frothy and set aside.
Cut croissants not quite all the way through and spread generously with Nutella, and close. Soak each croissant "sandwich" in custard mixture for one minute (30 seconds on each side). Transfer to the prepared baking dish and overlap slightly (arrange so they all fit). Pour the rest of the custard over the top and dot the top of each croissant with butter. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bake at 365 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (not pictured), and then enjoy!!

Completely Homemade Apple Pie

A few weeks ago I tried making an apple pie for the first time. Let me tell you, I was a little nervous because I have heard bad stories about how pie crusts turn out. I found recipe on the lovely blog: beingcindykitchen.blogspot.com 
and decided to give it a try! It was so divine! I made a few adjustments and side notes to go along with it.

Completely Homemade Apple Pie

9-inch Pastry Crust:
(This recipe only makes one crust, so in order to do a lattice-top pie it must be doubled. I actually find it easier to just make it twice, since the dough is VERY flaky and so not really easy to divide into two balls without overworking the dough.)

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water (I keep adding a tablespoon at a time until it reaches a slightly-sticky texture, so I would say I used about 6 or 7 tablespoons.)

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle ice water, 1 T at a time, evenly over surface; stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball; cover and chill until ready to use (at least 30 minutes). Roll pastry to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. (I find that I have to have my surface more than "lightly floured" or else the dough sticks to the table and breaks when I try to remove it. If the dough is sticking to the table despite the flour, use a flat spatula to gently scrape it off the table. Usually this works just fine.) Fold in quarters, place in pie plate, and unfold. Trim excess pastry along edges. For lattice top: roll out second ball of pastry as directed; cut into one-inch strips. Weave in lattice over filled pie. Separate 1 egg yolk and beat slightly; brush over lattice with pastry brush. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Apple filling:
4-5 cups chopped apples, as long as it fills the pie pan but doesn't overflow too much. You will need enough room to fold the pie crust on top. (Also, the very orignial recipe also says to peel the apples, but I didn't and they turned out just fine). I loved using gala and the yellow-green golden sweet apples.
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 T flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 T butter or margarine

Combine apple and lemon juice in large bowl. Combine next 4 ingredients. Spoon over apple mixture, tossing gently. Spoon filling evenly into pastry shell, and dot with butter. (Alternatively - if you are making the pie in stages, you can mix up the crust and the filling and put each of them in the fridge for a few hours. This marinates the apples and makes a nice sugary sauce... if you do that, leave out the butter.) Cover pie with lattice top. Cover edges of pastry with aluminum foil. Note: place a cookie sheet on the rack below whenever you bake something with fruit in it. I forgot to do so and the oven was a mess afterwards! Bake at 450 for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake 50 more minutes. Dish up and enjoy! I guaruntee that you will love it!

Nutella Rice Krispie Treats

There is one word to describe these: danger. If you love Nutella, you are in trouble. Why? These are sooooooooo good. I can't even tell you how addicting they are. I made a whole batch and after giving a few out, there were still quite a few left over. I couldn't stop eating them, so I brought them to work, where they also agreed on how divine they are.  Seriously, if you don't try these, you are missing out! This isn't one of my "healthier" recipes, but you still have to try them!

 Nutella Rice Krispy Treats (from http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/03/nutella-rice-krispy-treats/ )

Ingredients

6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal
1 (10.5 oz) bag mini marshmallows
1/4 cup butter
1 heaping cup Nutella 
 
- TOPPING: 


1 Tbsp. shortening 
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup Nutella

Instructions

1. Measure out Rice Krispies cereal into a large bowl and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and marshmallows together until smooth.
3. Once marshmallows and butter have melted together add Nutella and stir until well combined.
4. Pour marshmallow mixture over the cereal. Stir to coat evenly. Press into a greased pan.
5. To make topping, heat Nutella, chocolate chips and shortening in a medium sauce pan over medium-medium low heat until smooth. Spread over the top of Rice Krispy Treats.
6. Stick in the fridge and let it set up. Once they have set, cut into them and eat up!

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

Cinnamon Roll Waffles are very easy to make. On Sunday night when I didn't feel like cooking much, I made scrambled eggs to go along with these. All you do is pop open a can of cinnamon rolls (I used Phillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with Cinnabon flavor), spray a waffle iron, place them in, and cook them for a few minutes until golden brown...just like a waffle! When they are still warm, spread on top the icing glaze that comes in the can. If you want a quick dessert or a sweet breakfast side, then these are perfect.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I felt like making cookies last night, so I tried this recipe from my home ward's new cookbook, and added and changed a couple ingredients (which I included in this copy.) My roommate and I had a movie party with one of our friends, and he kept saying how delicious they were, ate 7, and then took a plate home. We all enjoyed them and they are at least  little bit healthier with bananas and oatmeal, right? :)

What was left after last night

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies


1 C. Sugar
1 Stick butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 C flour
1 C ripe bananas, mashed
2 C old-fashioned oatmeal
1 1/4 C old-fashioned chocolate chips (milk, good ones)
Walnuts (opt.)

Cream sugar and butter together. Add vanilla and eggs. Sift together the dry ingredients and then add. Add bananas, dry oatmeal, and chocolate chips (and walnuts if you'd like.) Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies are slightly brown.