Honey Pecan Breakfast Cake

Wow. Well it's officially been over a month since my last post. So much for blogging, huh? It's sad that I don't just buckle down and post, because I have plenty of recipes and pictures just waiting to enter the great expanse of the internet. But hopefully my New Years Resolutions will stick and I'll get better at blogging. Which should work-this is my only specific resolution. I made very specific goals last year, and only managed to complete one. "Eat at 10 new restaurants this year." Surprising I completed that one, right? So, with vague resolutions this year, I'm hoping I can look back and say, "Sure, I sorta did all those!"
During a lull at work the other day, I spent an hour flipping through an all dessert special edition of some magazine I found in the cupboard (Better Homes, maybe?). Not that I ever need an excuse to flip through dessert recipes, but I was keeping a special eye out for something I could potentially bring to an upcoming breakfast potluck. So naturally the words "breakfast cake" caught my eye.

The cake went by another name in the magazine, but I can't remember it right now...Either way though, it's delicious. The cake is very textural, and even a bit dry, but soaks up a rich, flavorful honey sauce and the end result is rich. The thick cake stands up to the onslaught of delicious topping, and the addition of crushed oats leaves you with a slightly nutty, rich, delicious cake you can enjoy at breakfast-who doesn't love an early dessert?!

Honey Pecan Breakfast Cake
From...BHG? Not me, that's for sure.

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 tsp lemon zest
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup crushed oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
2/3 buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine honey, 1/3 cup melted butter, corn syrup, lemon zest and juice, and chopped pecans together. Spread into the bottom of an 8 in. cake pan.

In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients, including pecans. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour the wet ingredients in. Mixing from the center, slowly incorporate dry ingredients until just combined-mixture will still be slightly lumpy. Pour over top of the honey mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes. Invert onto a plate immediately after removing from oven (be careful, you're likely to spill some of the hot honey topping. Spoon any extra honey topping over the cake and allow to cool slightly before enjoying (I'd suggest having it warm-it's extra fantastic that way.). This would be a great quick brunch for the holidays-especially if you have guests coming to stay!

Falltime!

Today is officially the first day of September! Falltime!! For those of you who aren't aware, I'm a tad bit obsessed with Christmas. I start listening to Christmas music in late July/early August. My Christmas decorations are up on the first Saturday in November. Mind you I lived at home with my parents, and had 4 boxes of decorations just for my bedroom! But that just means I'm extra prepared for my first Christmas in an apartment. Luckily I already have a full sized Christmas tree!

However, November technically falls into the spectrum of fall. So in order to find time for fall decoration, fall baking, and fall scents, I officially start the fall season on September 1st. Part of that is my tradition of having pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and making pumpkin bread on September 1st.

It was rather hard to find pumpkin up here though! In Phoenix, the Safeway by my house carried canned pumpkin year round, and in the big sized cans, too. It took me four grocery stores before I was able to find pumpkin. One had only pumpkin pie mix, two had absolutely nothing, and finally the fourth has the small sized cans of "organic" pumpkin. For $2.59 a piece! I felt swindled, but I also didn't feel like driving to another store, since the closest one would be 10 minutes away. No thanks.

The pancakes are quick, and delicious. The don't overpower, and they're so soft and moist. Yummo. I like to make a whole batch, eat a few, and freeze the rest. I place them in plastic bags with squares of wax paper between each. That way I can pull out a couple someday when I'm craving them, and pop them in the toaster for a quick fix!

Pumpkin Pancakes
From Sandra Lee

1 cup pancake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

These are literally the easiest. Simply mix all the ingredients together, then cook like normal pancakes. Done and done!

Now, for those of you like me who have no pancake mix, and are to cheap and hungry to buy any, you can make your own! The Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson, has an easy recipe for instant pancake mix.

1 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Mix, add pumpkin, spices, and 1 cup milk rather than water. (I used milk instead, since this mixture wasn't for buttermilk pancakes).

Now onto the pumpkin bread! This is Martha's recipe, that I tried randomly a few years ago. I love the strong ginger flavor, it's one of my favorite spices. Somehow over time this recipe evolved into my fall baking standby. It makes two loaves, and you can add a powdered sugar glaze on top, but I choose not to.

Ginger Pumpkin Bread
Martha

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups pumpkin
3 eggs
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour two bread load pans.

Mix together flour, baking powder, ginger and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until combined. Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool for a few minutes, before removing them from the pans and cooling on a rack. After the loaves are cool you can, 1. add a glaze, 2. add powdered sugar, or 3. dig in. I choose the third option...

On a side note, if your oven timer beeps three times and simply shuts off when it's finished, do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch an episode of Doctor Who with excessive shooting or beeping. You'll simply add the beeps to the show background noise, like adding your alarm clock sound into dreams. Luckily I think I only over cooked it by 2-3 minutes. But still, regrettable...