The Christmas Table (Christmas Hope #10) - Donna VanLiere Page 0,55
cooked bacon alongside the chicken or use whatever meat you like in place of the chicken. Don’t let the creole seasoning throw you off; it doesn’t make the quiche taste Cajun but seasons it perfectly. I often use a combination of cheeses in addition to Gruyère, but the Gruyère alone makes an outstanding quiche. If you have a family of five like me, you may need to make two of these because you won’t have any leftovers with just one!
1 (9-inch) unbaked pastry shell
¼ cup shredded Gruyère cheese
1 cup diced cooked chicken
½ cup chopped sweet onion (or a combination of sweet onion and finely chopped leeks)
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
¾ cup shredded Gruyère or Monterey Jack cheese (or a combination of Gruyere and Asiago cheese is yummy)
3 eggs
¾ cup whipping cream or half-and-half
½ cup mayonnaise
½ teaspoon creole seasoning such as Tony’s Original Creole Seasoning
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry shell and poke holes in the bottom. Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese in the pastry shell.
In a bowl, mix the chicken, onion, spinach, and remaining ¾ cup cheese and spoon into the pie shell.
In the same bowl you just used, whisk the eggs, whipping cream, mayonnaise, and creole seasoning. Pour over chicken mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (thirty to forty minutes, depending on your oven). Let stand at least ten minutes before serving.
BUTTERMILK BREAKFAST CAKE
This breakfast cake is so moist and tender that you can eat it plain or add chocolate chips or fresh blueberries, raspberries, peaches, or a combination of fruit. I have discovered that fresh fruit tastes better than frozen in this recipe. This is not a sweet cake; it uses only ⅓ cup of sugar, so you won’t feel a crash an hour after breakfast. The key ingredient is buttermilk, so be sure you use it and not plain milk. Buttermilk makes this cake melt in your mouth. If you don’t have whole-milk buttermilk you can always make your own, and I’m including those simple steps below (although I prefer purchasing whole-milk buttermilk over the homemade version). This cake is still wonderful the next day and freezes beautifully, too.
½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
zest from 1 large lemon
⅓ cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
1 egg, room temperature (put in a cup of warm water for a few minutes if it’s straight out of the refrigerator)
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
1¾ cups all-purpose flour. I typically use Einkorn all-purpose, but any will work. You can set aside ¼ cup to toss with the blueberries (more on this in the directions).
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ cup whole-milk buttermilk
MIX-IN OPTIONS
2 cups fresh blueberries or raspberries, picked over but not washed (or washed and gently patted dry)
2 cups peeled and diced fresh peaches (a combination of these varied fruits is also very good)
1 to 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using cooking spray or butter, grease an eight-inch-square baking pan.
Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter with the lemon zest and ⅓ cup sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
Toss the blueberries or raspberries with the ¼ cup of flour you have set aside. (Both of these fruits will still break apart when stirring into the batter, so don’t get discouraged. I usually skip this step for that reason and just add the ¼ cup of flour here in the next step.)
In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1½ cups of flour (or the entire 1¾ cups if you have not tossed the fruit with flour), baking powder and salt.
With a spatula, add half of the flour mixture to the batter and stir. Stir in all of the buttermilk.
Add the remaining flour and stir until just absorbed. Gently fold in the blueberries, raspberries, peaches, or chocolate chips.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. It is thick, so you will have to use the spatula to gently spread it. Sprinkle the remaining one tablespoon of sugar on top. Depending on your oven, this cake will bake anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five minutes and will have a light, golden color on top. Convection setting will take less time. Be sure to check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or a knife. If it comes out clean, the cake is done and it’s delicious!
HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK
Place two teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill the cup with whole milk (2% works, too) until it