Breakfast Muffins

These breakfast/anytime muffins are a tasty alternative breakfast/snack choices to have around. They are savory and cheesy and a bit smoky from the hot dogs in them. As always, I add more cheese then required in the recipe because again why not! (I added 2 kinds of cheese, shredded mozzarella and cheddar) I know these turned out well because my husband who isn't a cheese fanatic like I am couldn't resist them. I did omit some items from the recipe since I didn't have them on hand but the nice thing about this recipe is that it is really easy to play around and isn't like baking desserts which require exact measurements.

For the recipe please click here!

Hot Dog Cheddar Muffins

"This has my name written all over it!" was what I said to my husband when these precious little muffins came out of the oven. I also substituted hot dogs for bacon in the recipe. These muffins have a slight sweetness in them along with the smokiness of the hot dogs and the mild taste of cheddar. I added shredded mozzarella in them because why not! They taste delicious as a fast breakfast alternative when heated in the microwave or oven.

For the recipe, click here!

Aniseed (يانسون) Cookies

I have been postponing this recipe for so long! The hubby has been asking me to make Aniseed cookies ever since we came to the States (It's been 2 years... ops). Anyway, the day has come and he finally had some and announced that this should be a weekly thing! It is an easy recipe that can practically be a weekly fun activity! 

Enjoy!

For the recipe and the related video click here!

Aniseed (يانسون) Cookies Recipe

I took this recipe from the following site and tweaked it a little bit :) The video is in Arabic so below is the English version of it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 2 tablespoon Aniseed (اليانسون) (adjust to your liking)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Black Cumin (حبة البركة)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds 
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 cup of water (if you want a strong Aniseed taste, boil 1 cup of water and add 2 teaspoon of Aniseed and let it brew for couple of minutes, then remove the seeds and let it cool for a bit before adding it to the mix)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit = 204 degree Celsius. 
• Mix everything together with a spatula.
• Shape them to your heart's desire, circular or stick like etc... 
• Bake them on cookie pans at the above mentioned temperature for around 15 minutes depending on your oven. 
• Remove and let them cool. 

Mini Eclairs

The first time I was introduced to this delicious, mouth watering dessert was when my cousin ordered it in a restaurant 16 years ago. This has been my go to dessert ever since! The thing that hooked me into this dessert was the pastry cream. This cream is so versatile, you can pipe it into donuts which tastes amazing! You can use it as a filling for cakes or have them with fruits (I think they go well with berries). 

Eclairs might be an intimidating French dessert to begin with, but it is actually not that difficult. The "dough" which is called 'pate a choux' is so easy to make because there is an obvious sign that happens (mentioned in the recipe) which lets you know when the dough is ready for the next step and there aren't a lot of steps. When it comes to cooking the pastry cream it can get tricky if you wander off. You have to pay attention to it at all times so you don't burn the cream and little bits of brown parts ruin that beautiful pale yellow cream (been there, done that!).

For the recipe, click here!