Sweet and Smoky Bacon Waffles with Maple Whip Cream

Today is national waffle day! I'm not sure who comes up with this stuff, but who's going to argue? Almost whenever we do breakfast for dinner, I make bacon to go with pancakes or waffles or whatever it may be. And I make a brown sugar chili powder rub to go on the bacon to make it sticky and sweet and smoky. Then one night I thought, "Why not put the bacon IN the waffle?" So I did. And it was magic.

Ingredients:
1 1/12 c flour
2 T sugar
1/2 T + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c milk
3 T butter, melted
2 egg whites (separated)
2 egg yolks
5-6 strips of bacon
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T chili powder

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the brown sugar and chili powder. If it looks like not enough chili powder, add more. If it looks like too much, add more brown sugar. This is so easy to change to your tastes. Line the bacon on a baking sheet and rub the brown sugar mixture on it. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. If it doesn't look quite done, let it go for another minute or two. While that is baking, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Once it's well combined, whip the 2 egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the milk, butter and egg yolks to the flour mixture. Mix well and then gently fold in the egg whites. When the bacon is done, let it cool slightly and then cut into bite size pieces. Heat up your waffle iron. Add the bacon pieces to the batter and gently and quickly mix it all together. Spray the waffle iron with cooking spray and start cooking your waffles! This makes somewhere between 6-8 waffles. For the maple whip cream, I just started whipping heavy cream. Once it got a little thicker, I just started drizzling in some maple syrup and kept whipping. I stopped after about 2 T and tasted it. It wasn't quite where I wanted so I added a little more syrup until it was the right amount of sweet. I beat the cream until stiff peaks formed. (Since we live on a newly wed/college student budget we use the sweet, syrupy syrup like Aunt Jemima's or Mrs. Butterworth's, no real maple syrup here!)

Stuffed French Toast

I am still going to be without my kitchen for a week and a half. To help me not miss cooking as much, I have been reading a ton of recipes and decided I would post some of my favourite recipes. This stuffed French Toast is definitely one of them. One Saturday morning I had some French bread on hand and had some cream cheese I had to use up too and so this recipe was born. It's a cinnamon-y custard and filled with a sweet and tart, creamy filling. Spread some Nutella on top and it's perfect.

Filling:
2 oz softened Neufchatel or regular cream cheese
1-2 T jam
Mix the two together well and set aside.

Custard:
3 eggs
1/4 c half and half
1 T brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 T cinnamon
3-4 slices of day old French bread, cut into 1 1/2" thick slices

In a bowl, mix together all custard ingredients up to the bread. Mix very well. Take your bread slices and on the bottom crust side, cut a slit going almost all the way through. Don't cut through the sides or through to the other crust end, you just want a good opening in the middle to put your filling in. Use a spoon and gently spoon in the filling. You don't want to over fill it, just about a tablespoon or so in each slice. Gently put into the custard and cover. Cook over medium to medium-high heat to your liking.

Nutella and Orange Hand Pies

Frozen puff pastry is one of my favourite things! It's so easy to pull out of the freezer and work with. It's so flaky and delicious. Really fancy looking desserts are made so easy with this stuff! One of my favourite uses for this is to make Nutella and orange hand pies. Flaky puff pastry, rich and chocolatey Nutella, and bright, sweet orange makes this such a balanced dessert.

Ingredients:
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed (1 sheet has 2 folds in it to create 3 sections)
9 T Nutella, divided
Zest of 1 Navel Orange, divided
1/3 c powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons orange juice
2-3 teaspoons milk
Sugar to top, if wanted

Once puff pastry is thawed, preheat oven to 400. Cut pastry down the 2 fold lines so you have 3 separate sheets. Cut each of those in half down the middle of the fat side, not the long side. You should have 6 rectangles now. In the middle of each rectangle, put 1 1/2 T Nutella and 1/2 tsp of orange zest. Get your fingers just a little wet in some water and gently run your fingers around the edges of the puff pastry to help it stick together. Fold one edge of the pastry over the middle to the other edge and lightly press together with a fork along the 3 edges where the pastry meets.They should look a little like Pop Tarts. Once all are folded, put on a baking sheet and brush with just a little bit of milk. Sprinkle with granulated sugar if you want. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until pastry is puffed up and golden brown. While baking, mix up your orange glaze. In a small bowl put powdered sugar and orange juice, whisk well to combine. If you want it a little thicker, add more sugar, if you want it thinner add a little more juice. When pastries are done and cooled, drizzle glaze over top and serve.