Valentine's Day Recipes: Gluten-Free Quiche & Baked Donuts

A Romantic Breakfast In Bed

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For Valentine's Day, I was looking for a less costly alternative to eating out since many restaurants only offer coursed meals that can get pretty pricy. So why not extend the morning meal into a fun breakfast in bed? The quiche, fruit salad, and donuts can be made in advance (although I would glaze them the morning of; it tends to dissolve the longer it sits due to the moisture content of the fresh strawberries). Then all that's left to do the morning of is whisk together the simple glaze to dip the donuts in, heat the quiche, and brew a cup of Joe. Et voilà, a fancy breakfast in bed has become reality.

If You're Single, Give Yourself Some Love

You're lucky if you have a loved one you care for enough to spoil them with gifts and kisses for Valentine's Day. If however you're single, this may be your least loved "holiday" of the year. I invite you to still join in on the festivities and show yourself some well-deserved self-love. Cooking and baking for myself is my favorite way to show my body that I love it because fueling your body with great food and powerful nutrition will make you feel and look better.

Feeling Good About The Food you Put In Your Body

It's important to me to feel good about what I eat, which is only possible if I know what's in the food I eat. I almost exclusively shop at Whole Foods Market because of how easy they make it to shop free of GMO's (which are banned in the EU), organically, and free of many preservatives, additives and artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners, even when you buy the store brand called "365."

Healthier Alternatives of Much-Loved Brunch Staples

For this Valentine's Breakfast, I am using healthier ingredients and cooking methods to achieve great flavor with less guilt. The quiche uses thinly sliced potatoes for the crust instead of the typical pastry dough, making this a potassium-rich, waist-friendly alternative. The donuts are baked instead of fried, leaving you with a fluffy, cake-like donut that doesn't use any artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors to achieve the rich taste and lovely, pink color of the glaze.

Valentine's Germknödel Recipe Post Up Next!

Thank you for stopping by my blog! Please stay a while, drool over some delicious German food, leave some feedback and ideas in the comment section below, and subscribe to receive weekly emails with new recipes!   Next week I will share a recipe for yeast-raised dumplings called Germknödel, filled with homemade raspberry compote - yum!

Ingredients:

For about 6 individual or 1 large quiche:

• 21 oz (600 g) waxy potatoes (I used Yukon Golds, which are all-purpose, but red or new potatoes would also work well)
• some olive oil
• 3.5 oz (100 g) pancetta or bacon
• 2 green onions
• 3 asparagus sprigs, chopped into rings
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3.5 oz (100 g) cheese, either grated or cut into small pieces (I used half gouda and half brie)
• 1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon
• 5 oz (150 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 8.5 (250 ml) milk
• 3 large eggs
• edible flowers or micro greens for decor, if desired

For about 18 donuts (Recipe from Cooking Classy - tested and approved!):

Method:

Quiche: 

1. Preheat the oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).
2. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into 2-3 mm slices - about 1/10 of an inch thickness, use a mandoline slicer to achieve fast and even results!
3. Choose one large pie dish or 6 individual tarte dishes and brush on a thin layer of olive oil. Layer on the potato slices, making sure they overlap and cover the rim. Sprinkle with some more olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and prebake for about 10 minutes, then remove from the oven.
4. For the filling, slice the bacon (I used Whole Foods in-house prepared double-smoked Applewood Bacon - so good!). Wash the green onions and cut into rings, peel the shallot and finely dice, wash the asparagus, discard the ends, and cut into slices.
5. Add the bacon to a large skillet and fry until almost crispy, drain the grease, add 1 tablespoon of butter, green onion, shallot and asparagus and sautée for one more minute.
6. Depending on what kind of cheese you use, grate or cube it and evenly use it and the bacon vegetable mixtures to cover the potato crust of the quiche.
7. Wash and dry some fresh tarragon, then finely chop the leaves. Whisk together in a bowl with cream, milk, eggs, salt and pepper and pour into the quiche dish(es).
8. Reduce oven temperature to 355 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Bake on the middle rack for about 40 minutes if making one large quiche, or 30 to 35 minutes if making individual ones. Remove and either serve hot or cold. Garnish with edible flowers or micro greens if desired.

Donuts:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter donut pans with room temperature butter, then sprinkle lightly with flour and shake upside down to remove excess flour.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, make a well in center of mixture and set aside.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs (mixture will appear to curdle a bit which is fine), then pour into well in flour.
4. Using a wooden spoon, stir mixture just until combined, then fold in ⅔ cup finely chopped strawberries. Spoon 2 ½ tablespoon batter evenly into each well of the doughnut pans. Bake in preheated oven 11 - 13 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of doughnut comes out clean. Allow to cool several minutes in doughnut pan then invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
5. Once cool dip top halves of doughnuts into glaze and allow some of excess to run off, then return to wire rack, glazed side facing upward. Transfer doughnuts to freezer to allow glaze to set, about 5 minutes.

Strawberry Glaze for Donuts:

1. Prepare glaze just before dipping cooled doughnuts. In a mixing bowl, combine ½ cup finely chopped strawberries and half of the powdered sugar. Stir until mixture starts to become moistened, then allow to rest 1 minute.
2. Add in remaining powdered sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder and stir until well combine (at this point mixture should be have the consistency of a thick glaze, and have a dip-able consistency, if not allow to rest another minute or two until some of the liquids have been extracted from the strawberries then stir again. It is not recommended to add water to thin. Just allow it to rest if needed until the strawberries begin to break down). Use glaze immediately. If making ahead of time, do not glaze the donuts early, but rather wait to prepare the glaze and glaze them 30 minutes to 2 hours before serving.