Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffle Sandwich with Nutella and Bananas!

I said what?  Yes, Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffles with Nutella and Bananas!  That was Scott's midnight snack.  One night he tells me, "Ya know what's good?",  A Chocolate Chip Waffle Sandwich with Nutella and Bananas.  Huh?  Yes, I must admit, it sounds good!  Really good!  I haven't had the urge to quite do it yet, but if I do have a slight late night craving, I may just give in!

So as I was sitting, Scott walks in not with one but two sandwiches.  I saw it and it looked good!  I didn't ask for a bite.  I wasn't ready for it!  What's holding me back?  I don't know!

See Scott is a Mailman, he works about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.  He walks his route.  So all those calories he consumes, burns right out of him.  I suppose I have eaten worse.  After all, it's just 2 waffles (well 4 in his case), so 2 waffles, a fruit (the banana) and some Nutella spread.  Sounds like a complete meal right?  I mean we're not using maple syrup or butter right?  So seems like this is looking better as a meal at breakfast.  Right?  Back me up  here!!!!

So I wanted to share this with you.  I just had to.  I need some convincing!  It couldn't be any worse than bacon, eggs, toast with butter and potatoes?  So if you get to try it before I do, let me know how it tastes.  This is looking great right about now.  So it's very easy to make....obviously....  But I will list them as I do with everything.  I give credit to Scott for this one!  Have a Sweet Weekend!

Mind you, I have to say, all the items used are wonderful products!
I encourage you to try Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffles
Ferrero's Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
of course Bananas!

My favorite Eggo Waffles Flavors:
Blueberry
Strawberry
Chocolate Chip
French Toast
(waiting to try....)
Pumpkin Spice
Smores

The Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffle with Nutella and Bananas Sandwich
2 Toasted Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffles
2 Tablespoons of Nutella
1/2 a Banana, sliced

Toast your waffle to desired crispness.  When done, spread one side of each waffle with Nutella and add the sliced banana, make a sandwich.  Voila!  Chomp Away!

I hope you enjoy it!  It seems Scott does as he has eaten 2 sandwiches!  He convinced me to share it with you!

L'eggo My Eggo!

Photo Courtesy of Eggo Waffles via Facebook

Love Me Some Nutella,
Annamaria

Sweet Buttery Vanilla Glaze for Donuts, Cookies, Cakes, Cinnamon Rolls & More

Yummy Glaze!

This has to by far be the best ever glaze to use on just about anything that requires a glaze.  For instance, Donuts, Cakes, Cinnamon Rolls, Muffins, Scones, Cookies and more! It's just like that glaze on that amazing  fresh yeast or cake donut, or freshly baked cinnamon rolls.  You know how there is just not enough glaze in the refrigerated cinnamon roll cans?  Well make this instead and you will have yourself some gooey yummy cinnamon rolls.  It's great for that drizzle on Bundt Cakes.  The butter just gives it a comfort smoothness to the glaze and the milk/cream of course give it that creaminess along with the butter and the vanilla is a great flavor for it.  You can also use lemon extract, anise extract, almond extract, maple extract, rum extract....etc...  I like to use pure extracts if I can and if it's available, imitation is only a last resort.  Pure extracts are a little more expensive but really worth it and you can use one bottle a long way.  You get the real true flavor potency too.  So a little bit ago I made a Cinnamon Roll Coffeecake, which I used this glaze. It was perfect.  I am forever in love with this recipe.  Make sure you follow the directions exactly to get the best smoothness possible, or you can always send it through a mesh strainer to get the lumps out from the powdered sugar.  Make sure to sift it the powdered sugar.  Enjoy and if you do use this glaze please give me your feedback!

Vanilla Butter Glaze for Cakes, Cinnamon Rolls and Donuts: 
2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Milk or Heavy Cream
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:
Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Add the melted butter. Add 1 Tablespoon of milk or cream. Mix in Vanilla Extract. Beat until smooth and creamy, adding more milk if necessary. Drizzle over cake, cinnamon rolls or donuts.

Have A Sweet Weekend!
Annamaria

La La Lemon Almond Tea Loaf

One thing I can say is nothing shows more of your appreciation of friendship and love than baking something for someone when they need a little lift, a little help or just because.  When I knew my friend's father was having heart surgery and knew he loves lemon, I thought this would be a great way to say Get Well.

Be prepared to fall in love with this recipe.  I love love love Almond Paste and it was just a perfect addition to lemon.

La La Lemon Almond Tea Loaf
3/4 cup sifted pastry or cake flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/8 teaspoon salt 
5 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 ounces (3/4 cup) almond paste, at room temperature 
1 cup granulated sugar 
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest 

Lemon Glaze
3/4 cups sugar
6 Tablespoons Lemon juice

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven. Preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan; tap out the excess flour.  (I even line the bottom of the load pan with parchment so that it ensures perfect release from the pan)

Zest a good size Lemon enough to get about 1Tablespoons of Lemon Zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt twice. Set aside. 

In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla. Whisk to just combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste on low speed until pea-size crumbs form, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. 

Slowly add the granulated sugar in a steady stream and beat until incorporated. This should take about 2 to 3 minutes. If you add the sugar too quickly, the almond paste won't break up as well. 

On low speed, beat in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon. This should take about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of bowl. 

Increase speed to medium and cream the mixture until lighter in color and fluffy in appearance, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Still on medium speed, slowly pour in the eggs, cautiously at first, tablespoon by tablespoon. After each bit of the eggs have been absorbed, add more. If at any time the mixture appears water or shiny, stop the flow of eggs and increase the speed until a smooth appearance returns. Then decrease the speed to medium and resume adding the eggs.

Continue to cream, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once, until the mixture appears fluffy, velvety and white, and has increased in volume. Including the time to add the eggs, this should take about 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface gently with an offset spatula.   I sprinkled some leftover zest on top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs bake when lightly touched, about 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. 

What a great golden looking bread cake!

Make the glaze while the cake is cooling in the pan...


In a bowl, stir together the sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Set the wire rack over a sheet of parchment paper or foil to catch any drips of glaze. Invert the loaf pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the entire warm cake with the glaze. Let the cake cool completely on the rack, at least 3 hours, or until the glaze has set.


The cake is fragile when warm so don’t try to move it. When the cake is cool, gently transfer it to a serving platter.  Serve at room temperature.


It's been so hard to meet up to give it this to my friend, so as with any cake or breads you can freeze it by wrapping it in the package, then plastic wrap it a few times and then cover in foil and freeze up to 3 months.


I froze the package and yet I am keeping it the freezer, I've decided to make it again for my friend when I know it's time to see her again.  Which is this week no matter what!  But I did package up the bread in with wax paper, some ribbon that I made previous and will unfreeze when I have company but I am sharing the recipe with you.  Just add a little note card for Get Well and you have a sweet gift.


This is definitely a great treat.  The comforting taste of almond and lemon go so well together.  I was infatuated with the smell filling up my home!


PS:  I couldn't help but know that this tastes absolutely awesome with a schmear of Seedless Rasberry Jam/Preserves!


Enjoy!
Annamaria


 

Scrumptious Fruit Tart

This Easter I decided to make 2 different desserts.  One that is decadent and one that is decadent but lighter.  So I made my Chocolate Flourless Cake and my favorite Fruit Tart.  It had been awhile since I made my Fruit Tart.  I use to make it a lot back in the day.  It's been years so I decided to make it this Easter.  I know there are different versions of this and you can certainly use the fruit you like.  I wanted to make a rainbow of fruits.  Starting from red to blue/violet.  Strawberries, Mandarin Oranges, Bananas, Kiwi, Blueberries and Raspberries.

I used a perfect sugar cookie crust and my mom's old world custard recipe.  Then I added the sliced fruit and then you have an impressive and yummy dessert!  Some like to also call this Fruit Pizza, but I think this title downplays the dessert.  You can make this into little tartlets using muffin tins and do individual tarts or one big 12 inch tart using a tart pan or a pizza pan.

It was a hit at Easter dinner at my parent's house.  It went so fast I almost thought maybe I wouldn't get a piece but I got lucky to get a piece.  Although it went fast and was disappearing quickly, it felt very nice to get the compliments that everyone loved it.  I felt very loved.  You know the feeling....

You can certainly do this the long way or the short way.  You can make the sugar cookie crust from scratch and the custard from scratch but I will also tell you the shortcut to a semi homemade version of this that tastes just as great at you take full credit of a delicious dessert.

Homemade Sugar Cookie Crust can be substituted for a prepackaged sugar cookie mix like from Betty Crocker.  I would suggest using the mix instead of the prepared dough.  Then for the custard substitute you can use a large box of Jell-O's Instant Vanilla Pudding mix except use 2 1/4 cups of milk instead of the pudding recipe's 3 cups of milk, the less amount of milk will make a Vanilla Pie Filling.  This will make more of a thick vanilla custard instead of a loose pudding that will not hold the fruit and be runny.

This is a step by step process of the recipe.  You can find my original custard recipe HERE...

12 Inch Fruit Tart
-Pizza Pan
-Assorted Fruit
-Custard or 1 Large Package of Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding mixed with 2 & 1/4 cups of Milk whisked until thick.
-Sugar Cookie to form a 12 inch circle about 1/4 inch thick or a Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix made according to package directions mixed with ingredients.

Make your sugar cookie mixture, roll into a ball....

Pat Cookie Dough into a circle leaving about a 1/4 inch edge for cookie dough to spread while baking.

Bake cookie at 350'F for about 10-12 minutes until cookie begins to be golden brown around edges.

Make your custard while cookie cools.  Let your custard cool until ready to spread onto cookie.  If using instant pudding, mix large box of instant Jell-O Vanilla Pudding with 2 1/4 cups of milk.

Slice fruits.  You can slice any fruits you'd like.  Set aside.  Spread Custard/Pudding around baked cookie leaving a 1/4 inch edge without custard.

Arrange fruit starting from the outside in.  Slightly layering them on the edges of each slice.  Use small fruits like Blueberries to fill in empty spots where custard is exposed.

This is a great way to impress guests or take to a get together.  You can make everything from scratch or do the semi homemade version.  Either way it will be one very awesome dessert!  This is a very versatile dessert and can be experimented using different fillings and fruits as well as toppings.

Have A Happy Easter,
Annamaria

My Easter Plate at my parent's house....

Italian Chicken Cutlets, Bocconcini with Olive Oil with Salt and Pepper, Onion Calzone and Lasagna!  Yum!  Our Traditional Italian Easter Dinner!  

Thank You Mamma!

Here are the eggs that my daughter, son, niece and nephews made!  They made them as wild as the wild monkeys they are!  It was great spending time coloring eggs with them!

                    

April Blog Hop: Favorite Fruit Recipes Plus Giveaway at Recipe Lion!

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