Food Wishes Video Recipes (2024)

I try not to do recipe names that sound way better thanthey taste, but I went with coconut cream French toast anyway. I didn’t think“coconut French toast” did this justice, and while certainly not pie-like, theflavor profile was kind of close, and I was very pleased with the results.

I was debating whether to coat the soaked bread with rawcoconut, and toast it while the slices were frying in the butter, but decidedit would be smarter to do it separately. That way we get perfectgolden-brown flakes, without having to risk it getting too dark in the pan.

If you want to cheat, you can lightly toast fresh breadbeforehand, which, after cooling, will sort of simulate stale bread. Eitherway, I really hope you give this coconut cream French toast recipe a try soon.Enjoy!

Ingredients for two portions of 3 half-slices of bread:

3 thick slices very stale French or Italian bread (cut inhalf to make 6 pieces)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/3 cup coconut milk (do not use low-fat)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter for frying

2 tablespoons toasted coconut flakes

maple syrup, fresh mango, and lime to garnish

Making your own “fancy” crackers at home is a fairly basicoperation, and not only will they be less expensive, but you can customize themanyway you want. Whether those reasons are good enough is for you to decide,but if they are, your efforts will be rewarded… with crackers just as good asthe ones from the store.

As I mentioned in the video, there are two types of“crackers;” the crispy, delicate, flaky, biscuit-style; and the flatbread-stylewe’re making here. These are much more like a fried pita chip, than a saltine,which is perfect for pairing with cheese. There’s nothing worse than trying tocheese a too-brittle cracker, three drinks in, and having it explode in your hand.

Ingredients for about 48-60 crackers, depending on the size

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

- Bake at 400 F. for 12-15 minutes, or until browned andcrisp.

When you’re shopping, and get a sudden craving for homemadesoft pretzels, there’s not a lot you can do to satisfy that yearningimmediately. Sure, you can set some dough when you get home, and wait for it torise, but by the time that’s done, how do you even know your still going towant pretzels?

Well, the solution to this probably not very common problem isstore-bought pizza dough. While I don’t necessarily recommend it for makingworld-class pizza, if you’re willing to eat something that looks like a bagel,it works very well for making pretzels.

Normally, I would’ve done that before writing the post, but didI mention the pretzels and beer? Like I said in the video, if you do want to makeyour own pretzel dough, go for it, since the technique will work the same nomatter where you’re dough comes from. Regardless of what you use, I really hopeyou give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 homemade soft pretzels:

1 pound prepared pizza dough, plus all-purpose flour asneeded, divided into six balls

6 cups water

1/3 cup baking soda

coarse salt

- Bake at 400 F. for about 20 minutes, or until beautifullybrowned, and stretch marks have formed. Exact times will depend the specificsize and shape of your pretzel.

- Tip: if you’remaking rings, be sure to stretch them out, so your pretzels are not too thick.You don’t want them any fatter than I made, otherwise they become too bready.Larger, thinner dough rings we’ll give you a chewier pretzel, closer to theones you get at the mall.

What started out as a frustrating attempt to test some pizzadough, turned into what we’re calling salami bread. This 14-inch long loaf ofdelicious serendipity was a revelation, and I didn’t even get to use it forit’s most obvious purpose…to make the world’s greatest Italian submarine sandwich.

As I mention in the video, I’m not even sure I’d do a meatsub with this, but instead may just load it up with lots of Italian cheeses, aswell as fresh and pickled vegetables. Then I’d find a picnic, where I could sitback to soak in the sun, and the compliments.

There are hundreds of possible variations, sothat’s going to be your homework. Why wait until the unlikely scenario ofhaving pizza dough, but no toppings? Let’s be proactive. But no matter how youroll, and I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for one salami bread:

12 to 16 ounce ball of pre-made pizza dough

8-10 slices salami or other similar meat

1/4 cup tomato sauce, or other crushed tomato product

freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to cover

scattering of freshly chopped herbs, to taste

olive oil, as needed

- Bake at 400 F. for 25 to 30 minutes until browned andcooked through.

As promised, here is our method for making your own sandwichrolls at home, and while “shocked” may be a bit strong, I think many people willbe surprised at just how simple these are. Like, four ingredient simple. Sureyou have to wait a few hours while it rises, but that gives you time to decidewhat sandwich to make.

This recipe is based on our French baguette, but if youhappen to have luck using another one of our recipes, please let us know! Ihope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Makes 6 Sandwich Rolls:

1 package dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 1/2 cups warm water (100 F.)

1 1/2 tsp fine salt

19 ounces (by weight) bread flour (about 4 1/4 cups)

Sometimes you don’t have a good reasonfor not loving a certain recipe, and that’s how it is for me with sweet potatopie. It just does not do it for me, and I don’t even know what “it” is.However, I thought the same flavors could work for a holiday-inspired sweetpotato muffin, and I was thrilled with the results.

These are perfect if you have leftoversweet potatoes during the holidays, but if not, totally worth cooking a fewjust for this easy recipe. I microwaved mine for about 6 or 7 minutes, untilthey were very soft, but roasting, or boiling will also work.

As I mention in the video, these muffinsare just a little bit of frosting away from being cupcakes. I’ve neverunderstood the allure of mini marshmallows on a sweet potato casserole, butsomething tells me some “fluff” would work well on these, as well. I really hopeyou give them a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 24 Sweet PotatoMuffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups mashed sweet potato or “yams”
1 cup chopped pecans, plus more for the top
demerara sugar for the tops

- Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F. oruntil a wooden skewer comes out clean.

I don’t watch a lot of food television, but every once and awhile I’ll catch a show where celebrity chefs sit around describing the bestthings they ever ate, and this English muffin was inspired by one served at theModel Bakery, in Napa, CA.

These muffins were fried in clarified butter, and looked (andsounded) absolutely amazing. I didn’t actually use their recipe, since I wantedto experiment with a simpler, faster method; but if it makes you feel anybetter, I did cook them in clarified butter.

Speaking of which, I’ve never done a video for clarifiedbutter, but you don’t need one, since all we do is melt some unsalted butter(the only kind I ever use), and once it’s melted, take a spoon and skim off thewhite, foamy milk solids from the top. That’s it. Once clarified, you can use itwithout fear of the butter burning from high temps, or long cooking times.

Over the years, I’ve tried several different methods,including the traditional batter cooked in ring molds system, but I think thistechnique is much easier, and produces something very close to a classicEnglish muffin. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Makes 6 English Muffins (recipe can easily be doubled):

- First mix:

1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup warm water

- Wait 15 minutes to see if yeast is alive, then add:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg white

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup warm water

- Mix dough and let double

- Form 6 seamless balls of dough, press on to a lined bakingpan, coating both sides with non-hipstercorn meal.

- Allow to double in size and fry in clarified butter forabout 7-8 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Let cool before splitting!

Not only does adding sweet potatoes to a burger bunmake it more nutritious, delicious, and significantly more beautiful, but italso presents the perfect opportunity to get pass your flour amount phobia, andfinally be able to make dough by feel.

Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from someone whosedough was way too wet, or dry, and I always think the same thing; why would youstop? Some actually tell me they had to throw out the whole batch, which isinsane. Your dough’s too wet? Add some flour. Too dry? Add some water.

The best strategy is to not add all the flour at once, andonly add enough to achieve the soft, slightly tacky dough seen herein. One ofthe great advantages of video is being able to see what the dough should lookand feel like.

Once you get comfortable with not worrying about exactamounts, but rather exact results, the world of bread opens up to you and your new-found powers. Now, you just need to practice, so with that in mind, I reallyhope you give these amazing sweet potato buns a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 large, 16 medium, or 32 slider-sizedrolls:

For sponge:

1 package (2 1/2 tsp) dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's“RapidRise” Yeast)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup AP flour

Then add:

1 cup mashed orange sweet potato (also sold as yams)

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt

1 large egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 to 3 1/2 cups flour AP flour, as needed to form the righttexture dough (see blog post)

- Bake at 400 F. for 15 minutes, or until browned. Largebuns may take an extra few minutes, and the sliders-sized may take a minute ortwo less.

As promised, this is the puff pastry-like dough I used inthe apple roses video, and while not exactly “ quick and easy,” this was definitelyquicker and easier. Just don’t try and make strawberry shortcake with thisstuff.

I wanted to use this dough as the centerpiece of ourstrawberry shortcake video, but unfortunately the cold pastry was way too hardto cut with a spoon, and so I ended up using a much more traditional, anduser-friendly biscuit.

That aside, as a puff pastry substitute, I think this was ahuge success. Hopefully, you saw this in action in the apple roses video,which, by the way, was done with scraps. Besides fruit tarts, I’d love to trythis for things like ham and cheese turnovers, and chocolate croissants.

With that in mind, I hope any and all successful experimentswith this dough will be shared on social media; mostly so I can copy yourideas. By the way, there seems to a little controversy on YouTube as to theexact number of layers we got, so what say you? I hope you give this butter puffbiscuit dough a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour (You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt)

3/4 cup cold water (add enough water to make a soft,but not sticky dough)

*7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter (a stick is 8 tablespoons)

*I grated on about 4 tablespoons for the first application,and about 3 tablespoons for the second.

- I generally bake this stuff at 400 F. Time will depend on what it’s being used for.

I’ve always wanted to try making some kind of sweet/savorybacon-studded fritter using pâte à choux, also known as that stuff you makecream puffs with. It’s such beautifully rich, eggy dough, yet fries up to asurprisingly light, puffy texture.

Today is National Doughnut Day, as you know if you’ve beenon Twitter in the last 48 hours, and so I decided to give it a go, and calledit a "doughnut" in a cheap attempt to garner extra National Doughnut Day web traffic. That's also why I keep mentioning National Doughnut Day.

Whether you’re going to surprise dad with a plate of thesefor Fathers Day, or you just want to tell your friends and co-workers you madebacon and egg doughnuts, I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 to 10 small Bacon and Egg Doughnuts:

(this is a half a recipe, so I would highly recommenddoubling everything)

6 strips bacon, sliced, browned, cooled, and chopped (savesome for the tops)

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cold water

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/8 tsp salt

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch of fresh nutmeg

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

vegetable oil for deep frying

maple syrup to garnish

- Fry at 350 F. for about 7 minutes, turning often, untilpuffed and well-browned

* If doing in batches, hold in a warm oven

I was brainstorming some ideas for using up a cup of nearlyperfect blueberries, and was waffling between muffins, donuts, and biscuits. Ifinally decided on a biscuit-like triangle, spiced subtly with essence ofold-fashioned donut.

I’m calling it a scone because I cut it into a triangle.There’s just something un-American about a triangular biscuit, so you Britswill just have to keep a stiff upper lip about this not being an actual scone.

I used my new favorite, sprouted spelt flour, but I’mguessing this will work with whatever you roll with. You’ll also want to keepan eye on them in the oven, as the baking times will vary depending on theexact shape and thickness. They’re done when they’re well browned, and you seeblueberry juices bubbling out through the top and sides.

These have that someone loves me look, especially if you dothe recommended sugar-crust top, which is why I’m thinking these would be nicefor Mother’s Day, or any other brunch/breakfast-in-bed type situations. I hopeyou give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Whole-Grain Blueberry Scones:

2 cups spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

- 425F.for about 20-25 minutes, or until well-browned and blueberry juices start bubbling out through the top and sides.

St. Patrick’s Day is right aroundthe corner, and what better way to celebrate than with a loaf or two of Irishsoda bread? If made correctly, this is one of the best quick breads (thoseleavened without yeast) you’ll ever have. Subtly sweet, with a light, tendercrumb, and not at all dry.

Done wrong, it’s worse than nothaving any at all. I’ve had some that were not only dry and crumbly, but hadsuch a strong chemical aftertaste, I wondered if I was being poisoned. Okay, soI’m a bit paranoid, but the point is, this is not one of those recipes loaded withspoonfuls of baking powder and soda.

By the way, if you’re not into themore breakfasty version I did here, this is very simple to convert into asavory bread. Leave out the dried fruit,maybe cut down the honey a little, and you’ll have something wonderful to servewith soups and stews. I hope you give this a try very soon. Enjoy!

Makes 2 loaves of Irish Soda Bread:

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup quick-cooking oatmeal orregular rolled oats

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (makesure it’s fresh)

1 teaspoon baking powder (make sureit’s fresh)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons very cold unsaltedbutter, cubed

2 or 3 tablespoons honey

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

2 teaspoons orange zest

1 cup dried currants

1/3 cup gold raisins

As promised, here are the blue cheese croutons you sawfloating on top of the roasted apple and parsnip soup we posted yesterday. Theywere just perfect together, and as I ate my soup, dozens of other, “perfecttogethers,” easily came to mind.

We only use three ingredients here, which is why this worksso well. Try to resist the temptation to add salt, pepper, or other spices, asthe blue cheese will provide all the punch you need. We’re going for pure bluecheese flavor in a buttery, crunchy package, and anything else would just getin the way.

Ingredients for 8 portions Blue Cheese Croutons:

1/2 loaf fresh or day old bread (try to use something notalready dry and hard)

5-6 tbsp hot melted unsalted butter

2-3 ounces strong blue cheese, placed in freezer until firm
*bake at 350 F. until browned and crisp.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, possibly in our last post,today is National Homemade Bread Day. So, I decided to do a flatbread video,demonstrating what was probably the world’s first wheat-based bread.

It never ceases to amaze me how a little flour and water canbe transformed into such delicious, gorgeous bread, and in just a matter ofminutes at that. Inspired by the thought of these earliest flatbreads, I went withabout half wheat flour and half all-purpose, as well as a little spoon of cornmeal for some extra texture.

I’ll be giving no ingredient amounts below. Flatbread’s notlike that. Combine water, flour and a pinch or two of salt; and mix togetheras shown until you have a soft, sticky dough. That’s it. The other key is touse a very hot cast iron pan or griddle. You can wipe the surface with a tinybit of vegetable oil, but basically a dry pan works the best.

If you’re not in a hurry, wrap your dough and let it sit onthe counter top for an hour or two. Thiswill give the flour time to hydrate, which will provide a little nicertexture. Having said that, I didn’t waitat all, and mine came out fine.

So, if you’re interested in making flatbread like they didwhen people thought the earth was flat, then I hope you get this easy and delicious technique a trysoon. Enjoy!

Word on the street is that tomorrow, November 17th, is National Homemade Bread Day, and to celebrate I thought I'd post a few of our most popular, and critically acclaimed videos. By the way, I have this idea for a diet where you get to eat bread, but only if you bake it fresh yourself.

Since most of us are fairly lazy, this would become maybe a once a week thing, which has to be a better alternative than that daily dosage of supermarket, pain d'preservative. It's still in the brainstorming stage, and there's no book deal yet, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, go make some homemade bread. Click on the title to see the original post, and as always, enjoy!

As promised, here’s the video for how to make your own puff pastry shells, or vol au vents, as they'd be called in France, and select U.S. locations. These are fairly simple to make, and once baked the real fun begins, as they can hold so many amazing fillings, both sweet and savory.

The key is making sure your puff pastry dough is very firm, and very cold, preferably still partially frozen, before you start cutting it. You want nice clean cuts, because if you mash the layers of pastry together, your shells will not rise as high, and they can also bake into some strange shapes.Having said that, even though I was filming, and working way too slowly, these still came out pretty well.

Once they’re filled they look great, so it’s not that big of a deal, but in general, the colder the dough, the nicer the final product. Other than being too rough with the dough, the other common mistake is under cooking. Your shells might look beautiful at 15 minutes, but may still be kind of raw inside. As long as the outside is not getting too dark, don’t be afraid to let them bake a bit longer.

Regarding the scraps. You can’t re-roll the trimmed puff pastry and have the shells come out the same, but what you can do is cut it into irregular shapes, egg wash it, and dust with cinnamon and sugar. Once baked to a crispy, golden-brown, you’ll have a great little sweet treat to serve with coffee or tea. I hope you give this easy and fun technique a try very soon. Enjoy!

Welcome to the first of a two-part series on one of thiscountry’s most delicious unknown sandwiches, the "Beef on Weck." This simple, butbrilliant creation features thinly sliced, horseradish covered, roast beef,piled high on a freshly baked kummelweck.

The roll's fragrant caraway seeds and coarse salt are a perfect accent, and when you add a steaming ramekin of fresh beefjus for dunking, you’ll understand why this is the pride of Western New York.Sorry, chicken wings.

So, even if you’re not into roast beef, I stillrecommend you give these great sandwich rolls a try soon. And, if you are into roast beef sandwiches, Iinvite you to stay tuned for what I believe is America’s finest example. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 12 Kummelweck Rolls:

1 envelope active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 cup warm water (105 F.)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg white

1 generous tsp honey

*3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour total (use 1/2 cup with yeast andwater to start recipe)

* I mentioned a dough tip during the video, and that has todo with not adding all the flour at once. I like to add about 80% of the flourcalled for, and then continue adding small amounts as the dough kneads, until Ihave the perfect texture. You want asoft, fairly sticky dough that pulls off the sides of the bowl clean.

For the topping:

1 large egg white beaten with 2 tsp water

coarse grain sea salt

caraway seed

- Bake at 425 F. for 18-20 minutes

I had my first "Dutch Baby" in Chicago a few years ago, andhave wanted to do a video on them ever since. I’ve always been fascinated byhow many different breakfast foods you can create using just milk, eggs, andflour; and this is one of the more interesting examples. Especially consideringthe unusual, and borderline disturbing name.

Sometimes called “German pancakes,” these have very littleto do with Germany, and nothing to do with the Dutch. Apparently they wereinvented by German immigrants who were referred to as “Dutch;” a corruptionof the word “deutsch.” So, save your emails saying they don’t have thesein Germany or the Netherlands. We know.

Ingredients for 4 small or 2 large portions:

3 large room temperature eggs

2/3 cup room temperature milk

packed 1/2 cup flour (really pack the measuring cup firmlywith flour)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp clarified butter

- Bake at 425 F. 20-25 min
* garnish with melted butter, fresh lemon juice (Meyer if you can find it), and powdered sugar.