Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

If red velvet ever goes out of style, please no one tell me. I will persist in my little world where this most versatile of flavors lends itself to all manner of baked goods - cupcakes, brownies, macaroons, and pancakes, to name a few. And the great thing about it being a red velvet is that red is prominent at so many major holidays! Christmas, Valentine's and Fourth of July are all BEGGING you to make red velvet goodies. Who am I to say no? 

I first made these pancakes for a Fourth of July breakfast and they were a hit with adults and kids alike. I owe this popularity to the cream cheese glaze. As if everyone didn't already love a pancake, throw some cream cheese glaze on top and you're basically a hero. The pancakes are light and fluffy with just a touch of cocoa. I would be lying if I said I only ate one.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Red Velvet Pancakes

Cream Cheese Glaze:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract (or paste for a little extra something)

1-3 TBLS milk

Pancakes:

1&1/2 cups flour

2 TBLS white sugar

2 tsps baking powder

1 TBLS unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp white vinegar

2 tsps red food coloring

1/4 cup melted butter

1. Make glaze by beating together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency. Set aside.

2. To make pancakes, whisk together dry ingredients. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk, buttermilk, vanilla extract, vinegar, and food coloring. Stir together with dry ingredients until moistened, but not smooth. There may be some lumps, which is okay. Drizzle in the melted butter and stir until completely incorporated.

3. Drop 1/4 cup batter onto lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat and cook until bubbles form. Flip and cook until browned on the other side. Drizzle with cream cheese glaze to serve.

Delicious Blueberry Muffins and a Completely Make-Ahead Brunch

I know everyone out there thinks about brunch from time to time. How do I know this? Because it's brunch. It's delicious. I'd probably eat it every day if my conscious would let me (but my conscious is obnoxious like that.)

Let's talk about planning a brunch. The optimal time for brunching is probably mid-morning, around 10:00am. But if one were to be completely prepared with a meal by that time they would probably have to start much earlier. Much earlier than 10:00am is too early to be slaving in the kitchen and preparing to host; hence the problem. The solution? Make a brunch completely before hand. Oh ho ho ho, yes. It can be done.

Menu: 

Delicious Blueberry Muffins

Quiche Lorraine

Yogurt Bar

Orange Juice

I made this brunch for a reception after my son's baby blessing. The blessing was at 9:00am and we ate brunch at 10:30am. I made the quiche and the muffins the day before, as well as sliced the fruit for the yogurt bar and set the table. All I basically had to do was put the yogurt in individual cups and reheat the quiche. Voila! Brunch. Make it. Invite some friends. Make 10:00am the best hour of your day.

Delicious Blueberry Muffins

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

Zest of one lemon

Muffins:

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 1/8 cups plus 1 tsp. sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

4 TBLS butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

1. Make the topping by stirring together 1/3 cup sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray standard 12-muffin tin with cooking spray. (For this recipe I prefer to spray the the tin instead of using cupcake liners because the muffins come out nice and gooey and tend to stick to the liners.)

3. Rinse one cup blueberries under cold water and spread on paper towels to dry. Bring remaining one cup berries and 1 tsp. sugar to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for several minutes, stirring frequently and mashing berries as you go with a spoon until the berries are broken down and the mixture is thickened. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Toss the dried berries from the paper towels into the flour mixture.

4. Beat together remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs until thick. Slowly mix in the butter, oil, buttermillk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. It's okay if there are a few lumpy spots or dry streaks of flour. The key to moist muffins is to not over mix.

5. Spoon or scoop muffin batter into tins until they are about 3/4 spool. Spoon about a tsp. of cooked berry mixture into the center of each muffin and gently swirl in using a toothpick or fork. Sprinkle lemon-sugar mixture evenly over muffins.

6. Bake 17-18 minutes or until the top of the muffins are just firm. Cool muffins in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack to continue cooling.

7. Everybody loves a muffin. 

Recipe source: www.melskitchencafe.com