Category: breakfast

Coffee Caramel Tres Leches Cake

Zoë François 9 Comments

Coffee Caramel Tres Leches Recipe | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

This is a mashup of a classic Mexican cake and the Vietnamese ice coffee I am so addicted to. The connection is the sweetened condensed milk that is the foundation for both. Tres Leches (three milks) is a cake soaked with cream, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. Vietnamese ice coffee is made with the strongest coffee on earth mixed with sweetened condensed milk and poured over ice.

I made a coffee caramel milk syrup to soak the cake with and then topped it with a coffee whipped cream. Tres Leches by nature can be a bit sweet, but the coffee cream toned down the sugar and added a slight bitterness, which I found to be perfection. My family ate half the coffee caramel Tres Leches cake while I was at pottery class and then polished it off for breakfast the next morning, which just happened to me Cinco de Mayo.

Slice of Coffee Caramel Tres Leches | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François Read More

Puffy Popover Pancake

Zoë François 15 Comments

Puffy Popover Pancake filled with raspberries | ZoëBakes | Zoë François

Last week, and the week before that, I got emails from my brother Carey, with pictures of puffy popover pancakes he’d made. One was stuffed with mulberries and the other with pear & apple compote. I adore that he makes stuff like this for himself and his wife. His emails reminded me that I hadn’t made one for my boys in a very long time, so I set to it. This popover pancake recipe is both easy and tasty, and one of my boys’ most favorite breakfasts. It was also one of the very first recipes I ever posted on ZoeBakes, so some of you (mom and dad) may remember it, but most of you probably haven’t gone back that far. I was struck by the tiny hands of my boys in the pictures from way back in 2007.  One of them is now taller than me and the other is on his way. Time cruises on, but some recipes are tried and true and worth revisiting.  Read More

Pineapple Quesito (Puerto Rican Breakfast Pastry)

Zoë François 29 Comments

Pineapple Quesito and Coffee | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

This is a Quesito (Ke-see-toe) and it is delicious. Seriously, it is so perfect in its simplicity; flaky puff pastry wrapped around sweetened cream cheese and buttery pineapple. And it’s beautiful, in a shabby chic kind of way, nothing fussy, just rustic goodness with a generous dusting of powdered sugar. The best thing is that you can whip this together in about 5 minutes and instantly satisfy your craving for something sweet. I’ve made them three times for breakfast since I returned from Puerto Rico. You see, I am desperately grasping to my memories of being there. I just returned, less than a week ago, and already I miss it. It was paradise, which is enough to make one long for its sandy shores, perfect weather, gorgeous waters, friendly people, and the discovery of Puerto Rican pastries like Mallorca and the quesitos. But, returning to Minnesota and having to shovel my car out from the snow, in APRIL, was frankly, more than I was mentally prepared to handle. So, I make quesitos, shut my eyes, hold a shell to my ear and pretend I am still lying on the beach.

Puerto Rico | ZoeBakes

You can too!  Read More

Biscuits and Bullets – Life on Masala Farm!

Zoë François 36 Comments
Buttermilk Biscuits in a Cast Iron Skillet

When I grow up I want my very own Masala Farm. The first time I visited Suvir and Charlie’s home I felt as though I belonge there. They have created a home in the countryside made of magic, an impeccable sense of style and an art collection from their travels to every corner of the world. Not to mention a kitchen that makes me weak at the knees, as much for the equipment as for the sunlight and views.

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Waffle Bread Pudding with Strawberry Sauce!

Zoë François 32 Comments
Waffle bread pudding with strawberry sauce and whipped cream | photo by Zoë François

I’m not sure if it is nature of nurture, but I am incapable of throwing away food. I suspect it comes from working in professional kitchens, where everything is used or money is lost. As a result I have scraps of all my baking projects in the freezer(s). Once in a while I go through and take inventory and try to use it up. Usually this happens around the time my husband is trying to fit something in there and can’t find an inch of room. This time I found several batches of waffles that I’d frozen over the past couple of months. I always intend to freeze them, like Eggo waffles, and just toast them for the boys in the morning. But, when it comes right down to it, I just can’t make myself do it. They just don’t toast up well. So, what to do with all these waffles I’d unearthed? Bread pudding. It is what I would do with leftover brioche and these are just as eggy and rich. The result was a delightful surprise and now a family favorite. Strawberry sauce and whipped cream on top and you have a breakfast fit for a king, or a son’s 10th birthday, which is exactly what I gave mine on his big day.

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Sugar Plums with Fresh Ginger and Sparks Flying in My Oven!

Zoë François 29 Comments

Fresh Sugar Plums | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

These California Sugar Plums showed up at our market, like a little gift at the end of summer. They are so sweet and lovely that the first bunch I bought were gobbled up, pure and simple. I returned and bought two more quarts of them with the intention of roasting them. Their flavor is so wonderful and the sugars so developed they didn’t need much adornment. When you cut into the plums the flesh is slightly green, and against the purple skin it is really quite beautiful. I left the skins on, as I am apt to do, but this time I’ll admit that the skins, although pretty, were a little too tough. I was afraid that as the flesh baked the skins would remain too firm.

Well I never got far enough to find out. My oven exploded while I was preheating it. Yes, exploded! Read More