Super Easy English Muffins!

Happy Tuesday! So I’ve decided that I’m going to devote the next few posts to making Eggs Benedict (because it’s the perfect brunch menu, isn’t too difficult, and I absolutely love it)! But I’ll break it up into three parts so that the English Muffins will be today, the Poached Eggs will be next week or so, and the Hollandaise Sauce will be roughly the week after. So I hope you’re ready for this three-part recipe!

Ingredients – makes 6-8 muffins

·      1.5 tsp dry active yeast

·      2 cups all-purpose flour

·      ¾ cup warm water

·      2 tsp vegetable oil

·      1 tsp salt

·      1 egg white

·      Clarified butter

Activate the yeast by combining it in a large bowl with ¼ cup of the all-purpose flour and ½ cup of the warm water and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. If you see that the yeast is awake, add all of the remaining ingredients and combine well (it should be very sticky dough once fully mixed). Cover with plastic wrap and transfer the bowl to a warm spot for about an hour until the dough doubles in size. Take the dough, flour a workspace, and make 6-8 seamless balls of dough. Grease a baking pan, place some oats on the pan, place the balls of dough on the pan, and sprinkle some more oats on top. Place the pan in a warm spot for about 1.5 hours until the balls double in size again. Heat up a frying pan over medium heat, melt some clarified butter, and fry the dough for about 7-8 minutes per side. Allow them to cool before splitting them open, and you’re all good to go!

Fairly simple, right? I really love this recipe because there aren’t many recipes that actually fry dough like this, and it’s really fun to watch the dough rise. So here’s part one of Eggs Benedict, so stay tuned!

Simple Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri

Hello again! Spring break just finished for me, so I’m now back in the game and bringing out some more recipes. So over break I was cooking and baking (eggs benedict was one, foil wrapped salmon was another, and many others), but today I decided to just give you a simple recipe for my version of a strawberry daiquiri! I do not drink, so I enjoy experimenting with different virgin cocktail recipes, and while this version of the daiquiri is a bit closer to a smoothie, it is really simple and delicious! And feel free to add as much rum as you’d like to this recipe.

Ingredients – serves 2

·      1 regular-sized carton of strawberries (this amount really depends on you depending on how tall your glasses are, and as always never follow a recipe to the last detail; make it up on your own!)

·      2-3 tbsp lime juice

·      2-3 tbsp sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Take a couple of cocktail glasses, dip the rim in a bit of water, and stick the glass in a plate of sugar (you now have a sugar-rimmed glass!). Put a cut in a fresh strawberry, add it to the rim of the glass, pour the drink in, and enjoy!

See, simple enough, right? A lot of cocktails are made simply by adding fruit and a few other simple flavor additives, such as sugar, lime, lemon, and various types of milk. Never be afraid to experiment with a few ingredients; failure is the best way to be successful! ^_^