Dive of the Month: Bruges Waffles & Frites {Guinness Float Recipe}

*Guinness Float Recipe at bottom of post*

Bruges Waffles and Frites- a cute, tiny shop - barely big enough to fit the Man, the owner, an employee and myself inside- located in downtown Salt Lake across the street from Pioneer Park. This popular spot is run by Pierre Vandamme, a German native, specializing in Belgian waffles and frites (fries). They have a small fridge that contains mounds of yeast raised dough waiting for the waffle grill. What makes these waffles, called Liege Waffles, so unique is that the dough contains pieces of pearl sugar which melts into caramel when cooked. This makes for one deliciously sweet waffle. The outside is crisp with a dense, soft center that's bursting with caramel chunks. It's so good that you really don't need any toppings on it.

pearl sugar in the batter turns into caramel when cooked

Nonetheless, the Man and I did order two waffles with different toppings. The first was topped with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and fresh raspberries. It was really good, I loved the combination of the ice cream and waffle. The second waffle was topped with strawberries and a delicious Crème fraiche. This waffle was to die for! The crème fraiche is amazing, and is absolute heavin in your mouth when combined with the strawberries and waffle.

Belgian waffle with strawberries and creme fraiche

Their frites are also delicious with a crispy crust, very soft inside. We enjoyed our frites on a huge sandwich known as The Machine Gun. The Machine Gun is a sausage sandwich topped with frites and a really tasty sauce (not sure what it was) served on a baguette roll. The Man wolfed this beast down in a matter of minutes! His only complaint was that the sausage was really tiny. Oh well, it was still really good.

Our expierence at Bruges was really good. The staff was super friendly, our cashier was very informative in telling us all there was to know about the food, and Pierre was really friendly coming out to us as we were finishing our meal to ask how it was. The waffles and sandwich were a little pricey, but well worth it. We will definitely be visiting again and again :)

*****
Bruges Waffles and Frites
336 West Broadway
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

(801)363.4444
Hours: Mon-Thurs. 9-7  Fri-Sat  9-9  Closed Sunday
Price: $ entrees under $10 (keep in mind that the Machine Gun is almost $9, and the waffles run from $3 and up depending on what toppings you get, toppings are between $1 and $3 each)






And now for the Guinness Float. For Adults only, please!

My last recipe for National Ice Cream Month. This is a great dessert for you beer lovers out there. It takes the classic Root Beer Float and replaces root beer with good old Guinness. This drink is really creamy, and the vanilla ice cream gives the dark beer a nice flavor that's actually pretty tasty.

This would be a great dessert to enjoy on St. Patrick's Day. Cheers!

-Jess

Raspberry Lemon Cinnamon Rolls - A Delicious Disaster

What would a food blog be without a couple disasters?

S#!t happens, especially in the kitchen. Even more so when you're a self-taught homecook and almost everything you cook is a first time experience.

But, that's why I thought this recipe would go over smoothly. I've made cinnamon rolls before, only a couple times. The first was years ago, middle school, I had made cinnamon rolls from a recipe I got from school. Having never made them before, I was pretty nervous about the end result. They turned out beautifully. They were rolled perfectly, tasted great, and were very large with the perfect chewy texture.

I made this same recipe about 2 years ago. I was nervous again because it had been a while since I last made them. I had trouble rolling the dough, so I forced asked my mother nicely to help me. They turned out good, though not as great as the first time for some reason.

Now here I am again, craving a big chewy cinnamon roll.

However, this time, not so nervous. I have a little experience with them, and I have a recipe from a reliable source on hand. I figured everything would go smoothly.

It did. In the beginning....

It started out with a craving for the gooey spiraled treat. After not being able to find my old recipe, I searched the internet and my dozens of recipe books for that one recipe that stood out to me. After hours I finally settled on a recipe from the Lion House Bakery cookbook. I love Lion House (I've said it before). They have wonderful recipes that always turn out for me.

I wanted to add something extra to the cinnamon rolls. The first things that came to mind were raspberries and lemon. I don't usually second guess myself, plus it's not a very good idea to argue with a woman, so I just went along with that idea. :)

I made the dough by hand, and let it go through its first rising. It rose beautifully.

Now, on to rolling out the dough. This is the part that where I start to get intimidated because I've never had luck with rolling any kind of dough. It always sticks to the countertop no matter what I do, tears apart, and I end up overworking it. I heavily floured my work surface and began to roll. It seemed to be fine.

I topped it with butter, sugar and cinnamon, then topped it with raspberries and lemon zest. Lookin good so far!

That is.. until I started to roll up the dough. It turns out the dough did stick to the counter, making it very difficult to roll. I had to scrape it away from the counter while trying to roll it at the same time. This caused a few tears in the dough, and didn't allow me to roll it as tightly as I should have.

That's NO BUENO!

In order to have a perfectly shaped cinnamon roll, it has to be rolled tightly. Mine were very loose, and pretty messy thanks to the combination of sticky dough and excess moisture from using frozen raspberries (next time I'll stick with fresh raspberries). Nonetheless, I set them out onto baking sheets to finish their final rise. They rose great, and were really big (thank you, loose rolling).

During baking alot of the cinnamon sugar melted out (thanks, again, looseness), which made the rolls stick to the parchment paper. And, they were GIGANTIC! I was able to gently pry one of the beasts away from the sheet to see if it tasted better than it looked.

Trust me when I say that these raspberrry lemon rolls were really delicious! The dough was very light and fluffy. Almost a melt-in-your-mouth kind of softness. Like I said, there wasn't much cinnamon sugar left in them, but the raspberries and lemon made up for that. Raspberries add a great tartness; perfect when paired with lemons.

I made a lemon glaze to top. If you're one of those people who don't like icings on cinnamon rolls, please, DO NOT pass on this glaze. It really gives the rolls that final touch that just pushes them right over the edge!

These Raspberry Lemon Cinnamon Rolls were fantastic, despite nearly being a disaster. I will DEFINITELY be making these again very soon. Hopefully I'll have better luck handling the dough and rolling process.

-Jess

Easy Haystack Dinner

-This is by far my most popular recipe!

This little haystack doesn't look like much,

Don't be fooled. It is Delicious!-

This dinner is probably the one that my family ate the most when I was growing up. It's perfect for any family because it's quick, easy, filling, and affordable. And it tastes really good. These Haystacks are made by piling rice, meat, peas, and cheese on top of eachother forming a stack that resembles, well... a haystack!

This dinner is already fairly healthy, but to make it just a bit healthier I use ground turkey instead of beef. The meat is cooked and combined with cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup, which makes it super creamy and tastes fantastic. I also normally would have used brown rice, but all I had was white.

Really, you could put any kind of topping you'd like on this dish. I'd love to make it again using chicken and maybe toss a couple extra veggies in. Also, don't be afraid to try different soup flavors. Mix and match it up all you want!

Did I mention it tastes even better smothered in melted cheese? (what doesn't?) Oh Yeah! Peas + Cheese = One very tasty combination. :)

-Jess

Raspberry Semifreddo

Continuing my celebration of National Ice Cream Month with another frozen treat that does not require an ice cream maker!

Semifreddo, Italian for 'half cold', refers to any semi-frozen dessert. I've never tried a semifreddo... Okay, I've never even heard of it. That is until a very pretty Raspberry Semifreddo popped up over on Chocolate Shavings. The beautiful red swirls in this dessert are what first caught my eye, and when I found out it was actually an ice cream, Chocolate Shavings had my full attention!

Semifreddo is a yet another great alternative to ice cream for those who don't own an ice cream maker; all you really need is a hand mixer (and a freezer, of course!). This yummy dessert involves folding whipped cream into a thick egg mixture, giving it a creamy mousse-like texture.

I'm guilty of licking the remains left in the bowl, and on my rubber spatula. What can I say? It's very good, and perfectly sweetened! This stuff would be great on its own, but the raspberries are a great addition. We don't have fresh raspberries around, so I used frozen which worked perfectly fine. If you don't like raspberries you could absolutely substitute them with blueberries, strawberries, blackberries... I think cherries would be awesome! :)


-Jess

Pistachio Bites

Pistachios have a nice subtle flavor making them perfect for adding to baked goods. Seeing as how I've been munching on a lot of pistachios lately, I thought this was the perfect time to dig this recipe out of my to-cook pile. 


These two-bites-size cookies are made up of flour, butter, sugar, and pistachios - very, very easy to make. And, they taste great! These cookies have a buttery shortbread-like flavor made even better by the chunks of pistachios. A little extra sweetness is added by dipping them in white chocolate, which I think tastes great combined with the nuts. I never thought something so simple could taste so good! :)


-Jess

Chocolate Ice Milk Sundae

Ice milk is basically a frozen mixture of sugar and milk. It's a great alternative to ice cream because it uses less ingredients, no need to cook, and you don't need an ice cream maker.

This chocolate ice milk is delicious! I thought it was going to be full of ice chunks, and hard as a rock. It's actually really creamy! It almost has a 'soft' texture. I gave it some extra beatings with the mixer during freezing to break up the ice crystals so it would turn out smoother. I used coffee in the chocolate sauce gave this otherwise-plain chocolate ice milk a fantastic flavor boost, turning it into a decadent chocolate sundae.

Ice milk is so yummy and simple to make that it will now be my go-to dessert on those hot and lazy summer days.. Plus, you could probably get the same result just using chocolate milk as you would using the recipe I've provided, which would make a one-ingredient dessert! :)

-Jess

A Sweet Bastille Day Celebration {Cherry Clafoutis, Snow Eggs, Chocolate Pots De Creme}

The French really know how to make fantastic desserts.

In honor of Bastille Day, I'm going to share a few classic, and delicious French desserts.

Cherry Clafoutis

Cherry Clafoutis (kla-FOO-tee) is a dessert that consists of cherries covered with a thick batter that is described as being somewhere between flan and crepe batter.

Traditionally, cherry clafoutis is made with cherries that still contain a pit. The pits are said to release a lovely almond-like flavor when baked. However, some people choose to remove the pits for easier eating. Some recipes include almonds, or almond extract to make up for the flavor of the removed pits.

I chose to leave the pits in so that I could experience a TRUE cherry clafoutis, the way it was meant to be experienced. I also made a second clafoutis with pitted cherries just so I could compare the two, and see for myself if I could truly taste a difference.

Cherry Clafoutis is a very simple dessert. Just blend a few basic ingredients together, pour over cherries, and bake. It took only 5 minutes, if that, to put together.

My entire house smelled absolutely wonderful as the scent of the batter started drifting out of the oven. While baking, the batter puffs up beautifully, and naturally sinks back down when taken out of the oven. Unfortunately, it fell flat long before I was able to get a shot of it, but it did look gorgeous!

The texture of the clafoutis is very much like a crepe. It's very soft, light, and fluffy.

The taste is wonderful! The slightly sour cherries were a great contrast to the sweet vanilla flavor of the batter. I did notice a slight difference between the two clafoutis I made, and if I had to blindly pick one over the other based off of taste I would pick the one with the cherry pits. However, it would be a lot easier to enjoy it without having to stop to spit pits out of every bite.

This dessert was delicious, and I'd love to try it with other fruits. Perhaps raspberries or peaches. :)

Recipe for Cherry Clafoutis

Oeufs à La Neige

Oeufs a la neige (OUFS ah lah nehzh) - meaning 'eggs in snow' - sometimes referred to as 'Snow Eggs'. This unusual dessert consists of meringue floating on top of a vanilla custard, called crème anglaise. I've never seen anything quite like this before, so you can bet I was intrigued by it.
This dessert was a little more hands on than the others featured in this post, for the fact that it deals with poaching balls of meringue. It was still very easy, using a few very basic ingredients.

The crème anglaise is very good. It has a lovely vanilla flavor, and smooth texture. I absolutely loved what the poached meringue did to this dish. The flavor combination is fantastic! I especially love the texture of the meringue. Delicious! :)

Recipe for Oeufs A La Neige

Chocolate Pots De Creme

Pots De Creme (poh-duh-KREHM) is a very rich custard dessert, typically served in tiny cups. Some pots de creme recipes call for the custard to be baked in a water bath, then chilled before eaten. The recipe I have chosen does not require any baking, just a few hours of chilling. I'm not sure if there is a difference between baked and unbaked pots de creme...?

This Pots De Creme is super easy to make, just cook a few ingredients together for about 4 minutes and stick in the fridge until thick. Once cooked, this stuff is pretty much like a thin pudding. I definitely could have eaten it just like that.

And, after being chilled for a few hours, it just gets even better.

Pots De Creme is very, very creamy. And decadently RICH. It's a good thing it is served in tiny portions, because it is super thick. I couldn't even finish one! Talk about satisfying! :)

Recipe for Chocolate Pots De Creme

Of all three of these recipes, I have never before made any or even tasted any before now. This was truly a new experience for me. It is my experiences such as this one that led me to begin a blog in the first place. I love having the opportunity to teach myself new things in the kitchen, and sharing what I learned with you. I really enjoyed all these new foods, and putting this post together. I hope you enjoy it too!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Delicious!
Scrumptious!!
To DIE for!!!
My ALL-TIME FAVORITE cookie. EVER.

These cookies are bursting with pumpkin flavor, along with some spices commonly found in pumpkin pie. I guess you could say they almost taste like pumpkin pie, but SO much better! I love that these cookies are not overly sweet, or spicy. The pumpkin is really allowed to shine through.

The best thing about Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies is how moist, and soft they are. So soft that I'm not entirely sure they should be classified as cookies.

More like... Muffins.

Muffin cookies.

A lot of people, including the Man, like to eat these cookies once they have been refrigerated. Pumpkin cookies...COLD? Absurd!!

In my opinion, the best and only way to enjoy these cookies is when they are warm. Especially straight out of the oven. I think I'm in heaven! :)

-Jess