Every year there is a swim meet Michelle and I go to in Wenatchee. It is always hot, the pool is outdoors, and Michelle drops a ton of time. Our favorite part of this meet every year is that we stay in what Michelle calls "Her little German town" Leavenworth which is about 30 min away from the pool.
We love Leavenworth, it is just a great girls escape. We eat German food, we shop in the cute stores in town, and we just relax and unwind. Its a magical place where anything can happen including seeing the mythical double rainbow.
This summer when our usual hotel was booked up and I had sticker shock from the room prices at the other hotels, I stumbled across the Granite Hills Inn.
A beautiful bed and breakfast about 5 minutes outside of Leavenworth. It's beautiful, the rooms were cozy, and the breakfast was amazing. We had such a good time there that I immediately made reservations for our anniversary (since it was my year to plan it) and for Karie's birthday present from us. Due to an unforeseen business trip to Florida Jim and I had to reschedule our weekend but we were so glad we did.
We went earlier this week and got to enjoy the amazing fall colors. While wondering around town before we checked in to Granite Hills Inn, I saw an aebleskiver's pan in a kitchen store. When Michelle and I stayed there over the summer Bill, one of the owners, made aebleskiver's one day for breakfast. Since Michelle and I had talked about the to die for breakfasts a few times I decided to pay attention when Bill and Paula cooked for us so I could make it myself at home.
Paula mentioned that they had put the recipe for aebleskiver's on their website blog,
www.granitehillsinn.com, which meant less for me to try to remember. I paid close attention while we were there and decided to do a post about my latest cooking adventure. Breakfast for dinner ala Bill and Paula!
I started off with my version of country potato's. I love my mandolin and use it every chance I get. Thankfully I've learned to use it without taking off the tips of my fingers. I melt butter, add garlic and an onion, throw in my fancy cut potato's. Easy!
I understand why Bill and Paula cook at the same time, once I started on the ableskiver's I needed 10 hands. Maybe it gets easier with practice, but I have to be honest and say I needed help. Thanks Dad!
I should explain what an ableskiver is, because I still barely say it and if you ask me I'll probably say it three different ways in a matter of minutes. Ableskiver's are pancakes shaped like donut holes. Got it?
Next I started in on the batter, a basic butter milk one, Bill said it his version of a buttermilk donut recipe. All I can say is the finished product is amazing.
Now unfortunately I dont' have a lot of pictures of the cooking process for the potato's and aebleskiver's (hello 10 hands experience) but I did take a picture of the pan so you can visualize. You fill the cups about 3/4 full and it bubbles and cooks, then you use wood skewers to turn the cakes about a 1/4 turn at a time until they are a perfect little ball of aebleskiver perfection. Let me tell you easier said than done, some were a little too brown, some were not done enough and had to be microwaved, but by the end I got it down and was impressed that I was able to come up with a decent finished product.
Next item on our menu is Paula's eggs. Her eggs are buttery, creamy, and delicious. I paid close attention to how she cooks them because there is a trick to them which I had never heard of before. So I am going to share with all of you today.
The secret to Paula's eggs is you start with a cold pan. Normally when I make scrambled eggs I use milk and beat them before adding them to a hot pan. I was shocked to realize she made these eggs with nothing in them except the eggs. Let me tell you once you've had eggs like this you will never go back. So you start with a cold pan on a medium low heat, you let the eggs slowly start to scramble and gently fold them while they are cooking.
When the eggs start to get a little more done you turn the heat up to medium and start folding the eggs more often and the yolks will start to break. Keep folding, I know this all sounds weird to you, but trust me and if not me trust Paula.
It takes a little more time but it is worth it. The eggs in the end are heavenly and oh so wonderful.
Another recipe I picked up at Granite Hills Inn was Bill's Candied Bacon.
Due to my ten hands situation I did not get pictures before I put in the oven, I did think to snap a pic though of the dredge for the bacon. Equal parts flour and brown sugar, add some fresh pepper and dredge the bacon in it and bake for about 18 minutes.
Michelle wanted to finish off our dinner with cupcakes for dessert.
Our current favorite cup cake recipe is the Pioneer Woman's (shocking I know) vanilla cupcake. It is easy and we generally have all of the ingredients on hand whenever the mood strikes us. Her cream cheese frosting is to die for! Michele even decorated the cupcakes for family dinner. When we do dinner we go all out.
I love, love, love, the way everything turned out. We had some leftovers perfect for snacks on Sunday and breakfast for the kids Monday. I would love to say the cupcakes made it until dinner Monday night, but by the time I got home from work they were gone. Making this was a big leap outside of my comfort zone, but hopefully I did Bill and Paula proud!
