Growing up, my most favorite of mornings were those when my mom made her french toast. Fresh off the skillet, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and yummyum in my tum.

This is not my mother’s french toast. This french toast belongs to a completely different stratosphere. The apples and raisins gently bake, and along with the sugar become caramelised on the bottom–when you cut it up to serve, the most delectable surprise is found!

Frankly, my guests and I were floored by this recipe. It is something I plan on making again, very soon. Really there is nothing more to say about it other than it is so simple and easy to make, yet so beautiful and scrumdiddlyuptious! Since it’s prepared the night before, all you have to do in the morning is pop it in the oven for a warm delectable fall treat. How great is that?!

Apple and Golden Raisin Overnight French Toast

1 cup brown sugar
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used honeycrisp and Ida-red)
1/2 cup golden raisins1 French baguette, cut into 1 inch slices

6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. (I didn’t have this so I just used two round cake pans.)

In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar and the 1 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix in melted butter. Stir in apples and raisins until evenly coated. Pour into prepared pan(s). Arrange bread slices in an even layer over apples.

In the bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Pour over bread, making sure every slice is fully soaked. Cover with aluminium foil, and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 375˙. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove cover, and bake 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

NOTE: My baguette was a bit large and I noticed in the morning that not every piece was fully soaked, so about an hour before baking I beat together another egg and some whole milk and poured it over the drier parts.

Enjoy!

(Slightly adapted from cdkitchen.com.)

Late Fall is clearly not the ideal time to be making anything containing blueberries, but I found myself in a pinch for brunch, and had my heart set on baking these. During the summer time I make these muffins at least once a week with fresh blueberries. The muffins are out-of-this-world moist and the combination of cinnamon and blueberry is deliciously unexpected.

This past summer we went blueberry picking and I therefore, quite luckily, had frozen blueberries in the fridge. They’re supposed to be made with fresh ones, but if you’re using frozen (I love Trader Joe’s frozen fruit), just be sure to keep them frozen until the very end when you mix them in. This recipe also lends itself quite well to variation. I’ve made it with apples and golden raisins in the past.

Cinnamon Bluberry Muffins

3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup whole milk (much better this way, but I’ve made it with 1% in the past)

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon (I always throw in a pinch more!)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup blueberries (again, I always use more)

Preheat oven to 400˙.

Whisk together butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add milk mixture. Fold in blueberries.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

These muffins though are best made and then let to sit overnight in an airtight ziploc bag! The flavors become more intense and the muffin develops it moistness. MUCH better the day after.

I spent several days devising the menu for brunch. I had all my baked goods lined up in my mind, but I was at a loss for a good savory dish. I didn’t want to whip up eggs at the last minute because those quickly get cold, so I put out a cry for help on what I consider to be the best foodblog around, the charming Clotilde Dusoulier’s Chocolate and Zucchini.com. All of the responses greatly helped and I ended up using them for inspiration and making something of my own invention, a zucchini gruyere quiche–two ingredients I am always drawn to.

I had made one before, but it was only so-so. This new recipe, though, was a true knockout! Nothing fancy, it was simple, quick (especially because this time I did not make my own crust), but it was oh so tasty.

Zucchini Gruyere Quiche

1 pre-made deep-dish flaky frozen pie crust (but please, feel free to make your own)

4 beaten eggs

1  1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk

1/4 cup scallions, sliced

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

dash of ground nutmeg

a very full 1/2 cup shredded zucchini

a very full 1  1/2 cups shredded cave-aged Gruyere cheese (Regular works fine)

1 Tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 325 ˙.

Place frozen pie crust in oven for 5-8 minutes to warm. Remove from oven. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat eggs. Stir in half-and-half, scallions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Combine. Stir in shredded zucchini. In another bowl, combine the cheese with the flour. Add to the zucchini-egg mixture. Mix well. Pour mixture into the warm pastry shell. Fill to brim. Bake for 40-45 minutes (knife should come out clean). Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

If you are wise, though, you will double the recipe and make two because they sure do disappear fast!

For brunch, my ridiculous amount of apples first led me in the direction of a fall fruits salad. For me, apples and fall are synonymous. But, there is also another fruit that strikes a warm chord in my heart come fall/winter time–the pomegranate. Although now a fad fruit with the invasion of POM juice and fancypants pomegranate martinis, Majun (my grandmother, Iranian) has been peeling this fruit for me since I born and transporting it over to my house in large Tupperware containers.

I had always been told how labor intensive it was, but had never taken a stab at it myself until Saturday. One hour and four pomegranates later, all I was left with was a tiny six ounce container full of the seeds. Although always the love of my life, my level of admiration for my grandmother skyrocketted that night.

For the salad, the tart pomegranates combine so well with the flavor of the other fruits (the pear and pomegranate seemed to complement each other particularly well) and they add a nice festive burgundy punch. However, many places sell already seeded pomegranates, so this is an option for those who do not wish to engage in full-fledged military combat over a silly fruit. (Although, it must be noted, the rewards this reaps are great.)

Fall Fruits Salad

Apples (I always prefer the hardest, crunchiest varieties. I used Honey Crisp, Ida-Red, and Mutsu this time.)

Pears (Any soft and sweet variety will work. I used Bartlet.)

Grapes (Red and Crunchy!)

Pomegranate Seeds

Orange Juice

Lemon Juice (optional)

The quantities of these fruits really depend on your preferences and how much you wish to make. I made an extra large amount using 4-5 large apples, 3 pears, a large bushel of grapes, and the seeds of 4 pomegranates. The night before you wish to serve it, cut the apples, pears and grapes into bite-size pieces (skins still on). After each addition of fruit into the bowl, add a bit of orange juice so as to stop the oxidation. I also added a bit of lemon juice. In total about 5 T. of OJ and 1 TB of lemon juice. Mix so that every piece is coated. Let it sit overnight in the fridge, so that all the flavors can marry. In the morning, about an hour before serving, add the pomegranate seeds. And, mmm mm voila!

Birthdays are so joyous and fun, that I’ve always figured, why shouldn’t half birthdays be as well!

A month or so back, looking through my planner and realizing that November 19th was indeed that previously alluded to fateful of days, I quickly called all of my friends to invite them to brunch at my place. To me, there is no greater treat than to be able to bake and cook for others! I rarely have an occasion to cook glutenous and copious amounts of food, because normally, I am the only eater! C’est triste! That being said, I clearly made a huge ordeal out of it.

Right out side my door is the famed Union Square Greenmarket. I always cherish my early morning weekend New York strolls through the market when most of the world, it seems, is still asleep, and its just you and the fruit and the farmers. Yesterday’s stroll was no different, but I had a mission in mind–a menu for brunch! The crates galore of fresh crisp apples called out to me, and I was a goner. (I bought 15 lbs of apples)!

I desperately needed to find a use for them all, so here’s the menu I finally settled on.

Apple and Golden Raisin Overnight French Toast

Zucchini Gruyere Quiche

Fall Fruits Salad

Apricot Cherry Yogurt Scones

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Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

Everything was a huge hit! There were debates on whether the french toast or the quiche was the best brunch item they’ve ever had, and the fruit salad (from the [sadly] non-carb eater in the group) got the “best fruit salad” award, and the scones and muffins were scooped up and seconds were taken home.

I’ll post the recipes in posts after, for later ease of navigation.