Breakfast!

I don't know about you but one of my favorite meal times is breakfast.  Literally, breakfast at any hour of the day is perfect for me.  Not only do I love the savory foods of breakfast but as a baker I love all the sweet stuff as well!
As of now, I haven't really tried baking anything breakfast related.  However, I recently made two of my favorite breakfast treats.  Pop tarts and coffee cake.
As a kid, my mom used to buy pop tarts as a convenient way of feeding me and my sister breakfast as we were hauled out the door to school.  I loved it! It was always warm, a little crisp and oh so sweet! Were pop tarts part of your childhood? Now as an adult, I don't have it in me to buy the boxed pop tarts at the store.  I just don't feel right about all the preservatives and artificial flavors.  So I decided why not make my own.  It turned out to be really easy and the crust came out WAY better than the boxed version.  Flaky, crispy and buttery.  I also wanted to use a jam that didn't have any additives as well and came across a local Brooklyn jam company called, The Jam Stand.  Their creations are funky, creative, and most importantly, all natural!  Just what I was looking for.  I chose two different spreads for my pop tarts, Blueberry Bourbon jam (blueberries,sugar and bourbon) and Drunken Monkey jam (bananas,rum,lime and sugar).  Each of them on its own is delightful but put them in a pop tart and you have the perfect breakfast treat!!

I didn't stop there.  I love coffee and eating cake with it, and in my opinion its the perfect combination. Whenever I go to Starbucks to pick up a coffee, I literally drool and stare at their coffee cake.  Part of me tells me to just go for it and another part of me says stop you don't need it.  So what better way then making it yourself! hahaa... That way I know exactly what I'm putting in it... Did I mention to you that I LOVE cinnamon.  The first time I made coffee cake the streudel part didn't come out even though I followed the recipe.  Second time around, it came out beautiful! I'm telling you the streudel is what makes the cake! Yes its sugary but the crumbles and the cinnamon makes it so yummy!!! I also added a cinnamon brown sugar swirl in the center of the cake which just elevates the cake to another level. It not only made me happy every morning but brought smiles to my boyfriend's as well... I'll just say the cake didn't last very long.