Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sure you could make plain ol’ chicken salad sandwiches but why not make spicy chicken salad muffins instead? Cooked chicken breast, mayonnaise, mustard, green onions - with red chili pepper for a spicy kick - all baked in a tender savory muffin. 

Happy Muffin Monday, lovely people! It’s that time of the month again when my Muffin Monday bakers put on their thinking caps and bring you all manner of simple-to-bake deliciousness.

My inspiration often comes from ingredients languishing in my refrigerator or in season/on sale at my local supermarket. This month it’s the former. You see, I am incapable of buying just one rotisserie chicken. Because the wings are my favorite part and, unfortunately my husband feels the same. One wing is just not satisfying so when I buy roasted chickens, I have to buy two at a time. For the extra wings, you know. (If only they would just roast a tray of wings! Pipe dreams.)

Anyhoo, I’ve used the two chickens in a variety meals but ended up with just one breast left. And muffins to bake for Muffin Monday. So I took a leap of faith and put Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins in our group thread, without a single idea of how I would accomplish said muffin.

Then the next day, suddenly, a thought came to me. Have you ever heard of cakes baked with mayonnaise? Apparently they were quite the thing during the 1930s, popularized by Hellmann's. If there are cakes made with mayo, surely there are muffins too, right? A quick peruse through The Google affirmed my guess. There were SO MANY. And my way to spicy chicken salad muffins became clear. Self high-fives all round.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup or 150g chopped cooked chicken breast
Small handful spring onions, chopped, plus extra for garnish, if desired
1 small red chili, minced
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup or 125g mayonnaise
1 egg
Optional: 1 teaspoon olive oil for greasing muffin pan

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, mustard powder and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper in a large mixing bowl.


In another smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, mayonnaise and egg. Add the chopped chicken, spring onions and chili pepper to the mayo bowl and stir well.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed.

Spoon into your greased or lined muffin pan. Top with a few bits of green onion, if desired.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. I took mine out at about 18 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve them warm.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other lovely muffins the Muffin Monday bakers have mixed up for you today! 

• Cheese and Garlic Muffins from Making Miracles
• Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fall Harvest Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Purple Sweet Potato Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Cheesy Cauliflower Cake

As delicious as it is pretty, this cheesy cauliflower cake makes a beautiful addition to your Sunday Supper table. Vegetarians and omnivores alike are going to love it!

For my birthday last year dear friends gave me a digital subscription to delicious. magazine, published in the UK. Every single issue had me making a shopping list and jumping in the car within minutes of reading through its gorgeous (virtual) pages. Many of the recipes are original to the magazine but sometimes they are tied to a cookbook review. This cheesy cauliflower cake is adapted from Ottolenghi’s Plenty More. <Amazon affiliate link

Why did Ottolenghi call something so obviously savory a cake? Who’s to know? But I love that he stretches my imagination with both the possibilities of cake and creative vegetarian recipes. All too often, vegetarians have to make do with just side dishes at a dinner party, which is a shame. I believe we can do better than that and today Sunday Supper is out to prove me right.

The first time I made this cheesy cauliflower cake, I didn’t have purple onion so, while it was pretty and ever so tasty, my photos didn’t match the shots in delicious. magazine. I baked it again when I was visiting my vegetarian daughters and their mostly vegetarian crowd of friends, making sure to use the right onions. The photos still aren’t spectacular, as you can see, because I was in a borrowed kitchen. But, never mind. The cake is fabulous. Perfect for World Vegetarian Day on October 1st or any Sunday Supper or dinner party, especially when you have vegetarian guests.

Ingredients
5 tablespoons or 75 ml olive oil, plus extra for oiling the baking pan
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 small cauliflower, outer leaves removed, cut into 1 1/4-inch/3-cm florets (Mine weighed 1 lb or 450g)
1 medium purple onion, peeled

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
6 eggs
1 tablespoon basil leaves, chopped
1 cup or 125g flour, sifted
5 oz or 150g coarsely grated Parmesan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
Salt and black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare a 9 1/2-inch/24-cm spring-form cake pan by greasing it lightly.

Cut a circle of baking parchment to fit the bottom of the pan and press it in there. Cut a strip of baking parchment the circumference of the interior of your pan and press it in against the oiled sides. If it doesn’t stick very well, use some clothes pegs to hold it in place.

Brush the parchment on the sides with the melted butter and, holding the pan sideways, sprinkle on the sesame seeds so they stick to the parchment. Set your pan aside.

Can you skip this step and still have a delightful cheesy cauliflower cake? Absolutely. But look at how pretty it makes the sides turn out. Also, the sesame seeds give each outside bite a lovely crunch.

Place the cauliflower florets in a steaming basket in a pot with a couple of inches of water.  Steam, covered, over a medium heat until the florets are tender and will break if pushed with a spoon, about 10-12 minutes. Uncover the pot and lift the steaming basket out. Set aside to cool and dry.

Cut four round slices, each about 1/4 inch or 5 mm thick, off one end of the onion and set aside. We’ll use these for decorating the top before baking.

Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place in a small pan with the oil and rosemary. Sauté for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the onion is soft. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Transfer the cooled onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil and whisk well.

Then add the flour, Parmesan, baking powder, turmeric, 1 teaspoon salt, and plenty of freshly ground pepper. Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower.  Stir gently, trying not to break up the florets too much.

Spoon the cauliflower mixture into the pan, spreading it evenly, and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. Once the thick batter is holding the parchment in place, you can remove the clothes pegs.

As previously mentioned, do try to use the purple onions. So much prettier - see photo below. 

Place in the center of your preheated oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and set; a knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving. Your cheesy cauliflower cake is best served warm but not hot.

Enjoy!

Are you looking for some tasty vegetarian recipes to celebrate World Vegetarian Day and Vegetarian Awareness Month the whole of October? Sunday Supper's got you covered! Many thanks to our event manager, Renee of Renee's Kitchen Adventures and our host this week, Susan of The Wimpy Vegetarian for all of their hard work!

Appetizers

• Citrus Marinated Olives by Cricket’s Confections
• Goat Cheese and Red Onion Quesadilla by The Freshman Cook
• Grilled Green Tomato and Mozzarella Salad by Monica’s Table
• Italian Lupini Beans by She Loves Biscotti
• Orange Ginger Carrot Soup by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Entrees

• Butternut Squash Zoodles with Fried Sage Sauce by Home Sweet Homestead
• Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant by Sunday Supper Movement
• Cheesy Cauliflower Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Chipotle Tofu Tacos with Plantain by Caroline’s Cooking
• Glazed Carrot and Quinoa Salad with Crispy Chickpeas by Helpful Homemade
• Green Goddess Mac and Cheese by Moore or Less Cooking
• Mujaddara by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta by Wholistic Woman
• Pumpkin Gnocchi and Spinach with Sage Brown Butter Sauce by The Redhead Baker
• Radical Reuben Sandwich by Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Delicata Squash with Sriracha Aioli by The Hungry Goddess
• Roasted Vegetable Casserole by A Mind "Full"Mom
• Spicy Tofu and Rice Stir Fry by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Strawberry Soba Noodle Salad by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Vegan Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Spinach by Cooking Chat
• Vegetarian Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Veggie Riggies: A Rigatoni Sauté by Hardly A Goddess

Sides

• Caramelized Onions and Cauliflower by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Cauliflower Tabbouleh with Chickpeas by Simple and Savory
• Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Rice by My Life Cookbook
• Locro de Papa (Ecuadorian Potato Soup) by Curious Cuisiniere
• South African Yellow Rice by What Smells So Good?
• Spiralized Sweet Potato and Apple Sauté with Dates by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Turmeric Hummus Casserole by Dizzy Busy and Hungry

Desserts

• Chocolate Orange Beet Cake by Baking Sense
• Chocolate Zucchini Cake by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Make Your Children Eat Their Vegetables…in a Cupcake! by The Ninja Baker
• Zucchini Blueberry Coffee Cake by Pies and Plots

   

Pin this Cheesy Cauliflower Cake! 

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Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

A perfect blend of savory and sweet, the hint of smoky saltiness in these brown Sugar Bacon Cookie complements the dark rich flavor of the brown sugar. But make no mistake, Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies are totally drop sugar cookies, baked to be enjoyed with a cold glass of milk.



If you’ve heard me say it once, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times. I love bacon. Also, I’m not much of a sweet eater. That doesn’t stop me making sweet recipes, of course. I have a core group of tasters that are always ready and willing to eat whatever I bring round or send to the office with my husband. If the goods get eaten, I’m happy.

I did bring some of these cookies out for a test run and I got a few skeptical looks when I said brown sugar AND bacon. It was a mixed crowd of thumbs up and down. But, you know what? I truly didn’t mind. I have since eaten the balance of that dozen singlehandedly. I think they are amazing.

Ingredients - for 3 dozen cookies
3 cups or 375g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 170g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup or 60g strained bacon fat (see instructions below)
1 1/2 cups packed or 300g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon bourbon
15 slices thin cut bacon, fried till crispy, then drained - 3/4 cup chopped bacon or 75g

To strain bacon fat, pull a paper towel apart so you have only one-ply.
Line a metal strainer with the paper towel and place the strainer into the top of a funnel, with the funnel in a sealable jar. You will need to prop the strainer handle up on something sturdy to get it balance securely.
Pour your warm (not hot!) bacon grease into the paper-lined strainer a little at a time, scraping your frying pan to get every bit of grease out. Leave to drain completely.
All of the browned bits stay in the paper towel and the bacon grease in the jar is clean, almost white.
This bacon fat keeps in the refrigerator, covered, for months. This works with beef or lamb drippings too, if you want to make your own tallow.

Method
With beaters or with your stand mixer, beat the butter, bacon fat and brown sugar together until fluffy.

Butter on the left. Strained bacon fat on the right.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions.

Add in the bourbon and mix again.

Turn the mixer off and sift the flour, soda and salt together into the bowl. Turn the mixer on sloooooowly to mix in the dry ingredients. Keep mixing until all is incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl down once or twice.

Reserve about 1/3 of the bacon pieces for poking into the top of each cookie, and stir the rest into the cookie dough.

Cover the bowl with cling film and chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Before you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180° and line your cookie sheet with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop to drop small balls of cookie dough a good distance apart to allow room for spreading.

Top each scoop with a couple of pieces of bacon and use a fork to just flatten the balls.

Bake in your preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are slightly browned around the edges. If your oven heats unevenly, you might want to turn the pan around halfway through.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Repeat until all the brown sugar bacon cookies are baked.

Enjoy!

This month my Creative Cookie Exchange group is making drop cookies, which are exactly what they sound like. Drop cookies are made by dropping the dough on to a baking pan with a spoon or scoop and they are probably one of the easiest types of cookie to make. No fancy rolling or forming or slicing necessary. Drop cookies are usually pretty rustic looking too, especially if you are using a tablespoon.

Many thanks to our Creative Cookie Exchange member Holly from A Baker's House who handled our behind the scenes work this month. Check out all the lovely drop cookies we’ve been baking!

• Banana Walnut Cookies by Upstate Ramblings
• Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Chip Cookies with Thyme Infused Browned Butter by The Spiced Life
• Chocolate-Toffee Crinkle Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Morning Glory Breakfast Cookies by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Old Fashioned Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies by Oven Delights
• Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies by 2 Cookin Mamas
• Peanut Butter Graham Cookies (with Tallow!) by What Smells so Good?
• Pumpkin Spice Mocha Crinkle Cookies by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Reese's Pieces Cookies by A Baker's House
• Salted Caramel Nutella Cookies by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Pin Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies! 

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Sticky Coffee Chicken

This sticky coffee chicken has a lot going on, from the fresh brewed coffee and the balsamic vinegar to the thick honey and the ripe tomatoes. You don’t really taste a definite coffee flavor but it does add a wonderful smokiness that enriches the sauce.

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that I am a coffee drinker/lover from way back. One of my earliest memories is waking up at my grandmother’s house in New Iberia, Louisiana to the smell of her dark roast. Gram never was a very good sleeper so she was often up when it was still dark, puttering around in the kitchen. Her house smelled delightfully of wood polish and mothballs and rose soap. But in the morning, it smelled of coffee. She would heat milk in a small pot and add some coffee and sugar for a hot drink we called coffee milk. Café au lait.

When my girls were young, I knew that caffeine was not the best thing to give children but how could I deprive them of something so wonderful? We were living in France at the time so I found a decaffeinated instant coffee with chicory (yes, like New Orleans blend) that I mixed in their warm milk in the morning. Cajun children will have coffee milk!

I also love to cook and bake with coffee. You might have seen my rump steak with coffee-wine-balsamic glaze or the salted caramel macchiato muffins that made me write poetry or perhaps even my Liquid Cocaine muffins. Those guys are addictive, no kidding.

Love Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk? You’ll love these muffins that come with a pictorial tour of Vietnam as well. I like cold coffee too! How about some creamy coffee ice cream or coffee concentrate, perfect for making iced coffee quick and easy.

The list goes on but I’ll stop here to tell you that this week my Sunday Supper family is celebrating coffee as an ingredient because International Coffee Day is nigh. If you love coffee like we love coffee, you’ll want to scroll down and check out the list of wonderful recipes we are sharing. But first, make some sticky coffee chicken.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs or 900g chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup or 240ml brewed coffee
1/2 cup or 120ml water, plus more as needed
1/4 cup or 60ml balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1 large ripe tomato
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
10-12 baby plum tomatoes, whole (Mine weighed 8.8 oz or 250g.)

To serve:
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Freshly grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
Whatever fresh herbs you’ve got – basil, parsley, thyme, etc. All work well to give this dish a lovely fresh lift.

Method
Lightly season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper.

In a large oven-proof skillet, pan fry chicken in olive oil, skin side down, for about five minutes, or until lightly golden.

Turn the chicken thighs over and turn the fire off, leaving the chicken in the pan for now.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Chop your one large tomato and measure out your other ingredients.

Remove the chicken to a plate and spoon out most of the oil in the skillet, leaving behind a tablespoon or two.

Add in the chopped tomato, coffee, water, honey, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste to the skillet, along with your crushed red pepper flakes.

Bring to the boil and cook at a low boil for about 5-7 minutes or until the tomato disintegrates and the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Remove from the heat and add the chicken back into the pot, skin side up. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and tuck the baby plum tomatoes in and around the thighs.

Pop the skillet into the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Check it at 15-minute intervals and add a little more water if it’s going dry. I added 1/2 cup or 120ml about 15 minutes in and then a splash more at half an hour.

When the chicken thighs are cooked through, remove the skillet from the oven. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice, lemon zest and some chopped fresh herbs before serving.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our event manager, Shelby of Grumpy's Honeybunch and our host today, Wendy of Wholistic Woman for all their behind the scenes work. Check out all the fabulous coffee recipes our Sunday Supper tastemakers are sharing today.

Beverages

• Bulletproof Coffee My Way by Monica’s Table
• Caramel Turtle Mocha Frappe by The Weekend Gourmet
• Chocolate Chip Mocha Smoothie by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Latte by Meal Planning Magic

Breakfast

• Apple Crumb Coffee Cake by Dessert Geek
• Banana Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake by The Freshman Cook
• Cappuccino Overnight Oats by Pies and Plots
• Cardamom-Crumb Coffee Cake by Wholistic Woman
• Cinnamon Coffee Cake (Kaffee Kuchen) by Palatable Pastime
• Coconut & Coffee Gluten Free Scones by Caroline’s Cooking
• Coffee and Cream Cinnamon Buns by Cooking With Carlee
• Maple-Coffee Breakfast Sausage by Cricket’s Confections
• Pumpkin Coffee Cake by The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Pumpkin Spice Latte Breakfast Bites by Beauty and the Beets
• Whole Wheat Pecan Crumb Cake by Family Around The Table

Sides

• Dark Molasses Bread by What Smells So Good?
• Homemade Coffee Baked Beans by Grumpy’s Honeybunch

Main dishes

• Coffee and Garlic Rubbed Pork Chops by Casa de Crews
• Java Dry Spice Rub Chops by Sunday Supper Movement
• Salmon-Mandarin Salad with Asian Vinaigrette & Coffee Dressing by Asian In America
• Sticky Coffee Chicken by Food Lust People Love

Dessert

• Best Coffee Frosting by My World Simplified
• Bittersweet Cremeux with Coffee Caramel and Bourbon Cream by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chocolate Chip Mocha Brownies by Crazed Mom
• Chocolate Coffee Nut Bark by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Coffee Toffee Crunch Cookies by Family Foodie
• Coffee Vanilla Ice Cream Pie by Moore or Less Cooking
• Cold Brew Affogato by Helpful Homemade
• Dark Chocolate Espresso Torte with Strawberry Coulis by Gourmet Everyday
• Eiskaffee (German Coffee with Ice Cream) by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Espresso Brownie Cupcake Sundaes by A Mind Full Mom
• Mocha Cake with Mocha Rum Icing by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Mocha Layer Cake by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Mocha Panna Cotta with Mascarpone Cream by The Crumby Cupcake
• NCR Cookies by Girl Abroad
• No Bake Mocha Cheesecake by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Polish Black Cake with Whipped Mocha frosting by Hardly A Goddess
• Sweet Cream Affogato by The Redhead Baker

 Pin this Sticky Coffee Chicken!

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Cinnamon Pumpkin Quick Bread #BreadBakers

Cinnamon Pumpkin Quick Bread is made with the muffin-method. Bowl of wet ingredients mixed quickly with the bowl of dry. The texture is light yet moist with just the right amount of sweetness. 

This month my Bread Baker group is doing one of two things. Jumping the gun, if you aren’t ready for pumpkin recipes yet. Or fulfilling your what-the-heck-took-so-long needs for pumpkin bread, if you’ve been waiting.

If you are in the former group, hey, pin them for later. If you are in the latter, you are most welcome. Either way, you are going to love this creative group of recipes. Many thanks to our host this month, Kylee of Kylee Cooks. Kylee is a fellow expat in reverse. She was born and raised in New Zealand but lives in the US now. I can completely relate to her regrets that her boys don't get to spend as much time with their grandmother as she did with hers. There are pluses and minuses to this expat life and missing family is a big downside.

You know what helps ease the pain though? Sweet pumpkin bread with cinnamon. This recipe has been adapted from one on the King Arthur website. I have no idea why they complicated their lives by using beaters for quick bread but my way is much easier and completely delicious.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups or 220g flour
1/2 cup or 100g granulated sugar
1/2 cup, firmly packed, or 100g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup or 200g canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup or 120ml vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/3 cup or 80ml water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To decorate:
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your loaf pan by rubbing the inside with a little oil or by lining it with baking parchment.

Use a large bowl to mix together your flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. My brown sugar tends to get lumpy. If you have the same problem, use the tines of a fork or even your hands to get rid of the lumps.

In another smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the canned pumpkin, oil, eggs, water and vanilla extract.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry.

Fold until they are just mixed. There may still be a little flour showing.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle on the pumpkin seeds, then top them with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. For the last 20 minutes or so, cover the top loosely with foil.

Allow to cool completely in the pan before slicing.

Enjoy!

Check out all the lovely pumpkin or pumpkin spice breads we have for you today.

• Almost Vegan Chocolate and Pumpkin Loaf Cake by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Brown Butter & Pumpkin Seed Scones by Food Above Gold
• Cinnamon Pumpkin Quick Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cinnamon Spice Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts and a Trio of Frosting by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Hearty Whole Wheat Bread with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Italian Pumpkin Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Lal Bhoplyachya Gharge by Sneha's Recipe
• Nutella Swirl Pumpkin Bread by Plated Cravings
• Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Swirl by A Baker's House
• Pumpkin Cardamom Buns by Sara's Tasty Buds
• Pumpkin Chocolate Babka by House of Nash Eats
• Pumpkin Cornbread by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Pumpkin Dinner Rolls by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling by Cook's Hideout
• Pumpkin Pepita Muffin Tops by A Salad For All Seasons
• Pumpkin Pie Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls by Kylee Cooks
• Pumpkin Raisin Scones by Palatable Pastime
• Pumpkin Ricotta Pull Apart Buns by Food Smart Mom
• Pumpkin Sour Cherry Sourdough Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Pumpkin Spice Ale Soft Pretzels by Baking Sense
• Pumpkin Spice Raisin Bread with Kinako by What Smells So Good?
• Pumpkin Spice Swirl Quickbread by Baking in Pyjamas
• Multigrain Pumpkin Bread by Herbivore Cucina
• Two Tone Pumpkin Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Whole Wheat Pumpkin Sandwich Loaf by Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Yeasted Pumpkin Bread by Veena's Vegnation

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin it!

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Spring Onion Pancakes #FoodieExtravaganza

Flakey, light and tasty, these reduced oil spring onion pancakes are a crispy delight, dipped in a spicy, salty sauce.

Pancakes. Growing up this meant one thing. An ever-so-slightly sweet batter cooked to golden perfection on a buttered griddle pan, then slathered with more butter and syrup. Then I learned that if you are in the UK and order pancakes, you’ll get what I would call crepes. These are made with a much thinner batter and are properly eaten with a sprinkling of sugar and a good squeeze of lemon. In our family, my husband is the crepe master and our girls like to eat his special crepes with lemon, sugar AND some chocolate syrup.

I was just about grown up when I met my first Chinese pancake, which really isn’t related, except by shape, to either of the other two. Spring onion pancakes start out as a dough. There are no leavening agents, just some oil between the layers that makes them puff up and gives them their flakey texture.

Typically, spring onion pancakes can be a bit oily. After all, they are supposed to be shallow fried, plus the dough’s been oiled to make it separate into flaky layers. It may not be traditional, but at our house, we like my way better, which is to use a non-stick skillet, and just a little bit of oil to still get the necessary crunch.

Ingredients
For the pancakes:
2 1/3 cups or 290g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup or 156ml lukewarm water
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light vegetable oil
1/2 cup or 25g spring onions, minced

For the spicy dipping sauce:
1/3 cup or 80ml light soy sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon kecap manis or sweet dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onions or chives
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small red chili pepper, sliced

Method
Sift your flour into a large bowl, along with the salt. Make a well in the center and add in your lukewarm water.

Start on the inside of the well and gradually mix the flour into the water until it is all absorbed.


It looks quite dry but turn it out onto a clean work surface and knead it all together until you have a smooth stretchy dough.

Put the dough ball back into the bowl and pour over the 1/4 cup or 60ml of oil. Turn the ball to coat and cover the bowl with cling film. Leave to rest for one hour.

While the dough rests, make the dipping sauce by whisking all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

When the hour is up, remove the dough ball from the oil and set the bowl aside. We are going to use that oil to cook the pancakes, so don’t toss it out.

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces, cutting them with a sharp knife, then using your hands to rub the oil around each piece.

Use a rolling pin to roll each piece out into a circle of 6 in or 15cm. Sprinkle on the chopped green onions.

Roll the circle into a tube.

Starting at one end, roll the tube up into a spiral, tucking the end of the tube under. Press down on the spiral with the palm of your hand to secure the end.

Now use the rolling pin to roll the spiral into a circle of 6 in or 15cm. Set each aside on a lined baking sheet. Repeat till all of the pancakes are rolled out.

To cook the pancakes, heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over a medium heat and use your spatula to drip just a little of the oil from the dough resting bowl into the pan.
Cook each pancake for a couple of minutes on one side, watching carefully as it puffs up and gets golden spots on the underside.

Flip the pancakes and cook on the other side for another minute or two, until they puff again and have brown spots on that side. Keep the pancakes warm as you repeat the process until all of them are cooked.

Purists say you have to tear the pancakes and dip small bites into the sauce because cutting them flattens the flakiness. I’ve been served them whole or cut in many Chinese restaurants though, so do what makes you happy.

Do serve the spring onion pancakes warm, with the dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Are you a lover of pancakes? Then this month’s Foodie Extravaganza event is going to be your favorite! We’ve got all sorts of pancakes, both sweet and savory for you. Many thanks to Caroline of Caroline’s Cooking for hosting this month!

• Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes by Cooking With Carlee
• Buckwheat Pancakes by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Caramel Apple Pancakes by The Freshman Cook
• Caramelized Banana Topped Pancakes by cookinandcraftin
• Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pancakes by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Churro Pancakes by Cookaholic Wife
• Corn Panki / Corn Pancakes by Sneha's Recipe
• Gluten-Free Pikelets with Homemade Butter by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Heath Bar and Banana Pancakes by Our Good Life
• Masala dosa by Caroline's Cooking
• Panqueques con Dulce de Leche (Argentinian Dulce de Leche Crepes) by Tara's Multicultural Table /
• Peaches and Cream Crepes by Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes by Making Miracles
• Pineapple Upside-down Pancakes by Love from the Kitchen
• Silver Dollar Chocolate Chip Pancakes by Hardly A Goddess
• Spring Onion Pancakes with Spicy Dipping Sauce by Food Lust People Love

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out here.

Pin Spring Onion Pancakes!

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