Vegetarian Recipes

Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts: Five Ways

I thought I’d share my all-time favorite brussels sprouts recipe with you. It’s a slightly extended version of the one I included in Super Natural Cooking, but to be honest, calling it a recipe is a bit of a stretch. It involves a skillet, less than five ingredients, about ten minutes of your time, and minimal culinary skills.
What makes this brussels sprout recipe special? It’s so simple. And you end up with vibrant green, tender brussels sprouts that become deeply golden and crusty where they touch the pan. I then lightly dust them with cheese and serve. This time of year it’s not unusual for us to cook them like this two or three times a week. Even if you’re a sprout skeptic, this golden-crusted version has the ability to turn the most vigilant brussels sprout loathers around.

What To Look For

A couple shopping tips before you get started, look for brussels sprouts that are on the small size and tightly closed. The tiny ones cook through quickly. Larger ones tend to brown on the outside long before the insides are done. When the weather is mild, I finish them with a lighter, salty cheese, like Parmesan. If it’s stormy and cold, I opt for a heavier, more melty cheese, like a regular or smoked Gouda (or gruyere). Or(!), I’ll skip the cheese altogether, and add a simple finishing shower of chopped nuts.

Cooking Brussels Sprouts:

My main quick pro-tip? Try not to overcook the sprouts, and eat them as soon as they come off the stove if at all possible. They’re so great this way!

Favorite Variations

Many of you have made these over the years, and mentioned variations in the comments. I wanted to highlight a few!

Gina noted, “I made a riff on these tonight that you might enjoy too. I used butter in the pan instead of olive oil, and added about a teaspoon of horseradish at the end and tossed the sprouts in it with the heat off before I sprinkled with parm. I had a similar dish at Coppa in Boston once and have not stopped thinking about them.”

Rachel brought the turmeric angle, “added a little turmeric to my salt and pepper, which brought in a nice flavor as well as a subtle golden glow.”

And Jessa brings the citrus, “the only way I can eat them is roasted with toasted walnuts, and hit with some lemon juice, parmesan, and walnut oil right at the end. I also like zesting orange peel on them.”

And the last two ideas?! Add two finely chopped cloves of garlic in the last minute of cooking, for any garlic lovers out there. Or, toss 2 tablespoons of your favorite pesto into to the skillet just as you finish cooking the brussels sprouts.

I also love brussels sprouts in this caramelized tofu. This Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Apple recipe is also A+.

Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Use brussels sprouts that are on the small size and tightly closed. You can finish these with many different types of cheese but I tend to go for Parmesan when the weather is good. I trade that in for heavier cheeses like gruyere or Gouda in colder weather. I tend to finish them off with toasted hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds. I’ve also noted five variations on this recipe in the body of the post. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

- 1 pound of small brussels sprouts
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup grated cheese or chopped nuts – your choice!

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash the brussels sprouts well. Trim the stem ends and remove any raggy outer leaves. Cut in half from stem to top and toss in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.

2. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in your largest skillet over medium heat. Don’t overheat the skillet, or the outsides of the sprouts will cook too quickly. Place the brussels sprouts in the pan flat side down (single-layer), sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt, cover, and cook for roughly 5 minutes; the bottoms of the sprouts should only show a hint of browning. Cut into or taste one of the sprouts to gauge whether they’re tender throughout. If not, cover and cook for a few more minutes.

3. Once just tender, uncover, turn up the heat, and cook until the flat sides are deep brown and caramelized. Use a metal spatula to toss them once or twice to get some browning on the rounded side. Season with more salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a dusting of grated cheese (or nuts). While you might be able to get away with keeping a platter of these warm in the oven for a few minutes, they are exponentially tastier if popped in your mouth immediately.

The post Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts: Five Ways appeared first on 101 Cookbooks

Vegetarian Recipes

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones

I recently posted my recipe for sourdough starter here on the blog, so I couldn’t leave y’all hanging! Once you get the hang of maintaining your starter, you can start getting into super easy sourdough discard recipes—like this one! I find it hard to let any of my discard go to waste, considering how much time and effort I put into caring for it and feeding it. It’s a needy ingredient, but it’s worth the extra effort, as you’ll see when you taste these fluffy, subtly sweet Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones! Don’t have any discard? I’ve also shared how to make these delicious scones without it.

Overhead view of homemade chocolate chip sourdough scones on a parchment lined wire rack.

Easy Recipe for Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Scones

Even if you don’t really think of yourself as a baker, I promise you might surprise yourself with these sourdough chocolate chunk scones. They’re honestly so simple and so, so good. The discard from your sourdough starter gives them a super tender texture and just a little tang that plays really well with those melty chocolate chunks. My trick for tall, bakery-style fluffy scones is using cold butter (don’t let it soften!) and giving the dough time to rise before baking. This recipe is seriously an easy win and such a satisfying way to use up that discard you’ve been saving.

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Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones

These tender Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones are the perfect way to use up your leftover sourdough discard. Includes a no-discard option, too!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine $0.04, American

Total Cost $5.91 recipe / $0.98 serving

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Proof Time 1

Total Time 1 30

Servings scones

Calories 537kcal

Author Jess Rice

Equipment

Mixing Bowls
Parchment Paper
Baking Sheet

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour + extra if needed $0.23
2 tsp baking powder $0.08
3 Tbsp granulated sugar $0.06
½ tsp salt $0.01
6 Tbsp cold butter* $0.66
1 cup chocolate chunks** $2.97
¼ cup sourdough discard*** $0.00
¼ cup milk + 1 Tbsp, divided (1 Tbsp reserved for icing) $0.06
2 eggs $0.82
1 tsp vanilla extract $0.47
1 cup powdered sugar $0.55

Instructions

Gather ingredients and preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, in a large bowl. Stir until they are very well combined.
Grate the butter into the flour mixture and stir until the butter is well incorporated and no large lumps remain.
Add the chocolate chunks to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Whisk together the sourdough discard, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
Pour the wet discard mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough, with no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it comes together.
Form a dough ball at the bottom of your mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow your scone dough to proof for 1-3 hours, until your dough ball noticeably grows in size, at least by a quarter the volume, ideally the volume will double. (Yes, this step takes a little extra patience, but the fluffy texture from the sourdough makes these scones a little extra special! You could also bake this right away, they just won’t be as fluffy and will be more like a classic scone.)
Press the dough out into an 8-inch diameter circle on a piece of parchment paper. Cut the circle into 6 wedges. (To stretch this recipe further, you could cut into 8 wedges.) Place the cut scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake the scones in the preheated 425ºF oven for 15-17 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Transfer the baked scones to a wire rack to cool.
While the scones are cooling, combine powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp milk until it forms a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I put a stick of butter into the freezer 5-10 minutes before I start baking to make it easier to grate. You want it to be cold and stiff, not frozen solid; otherwise, it’ll be too hard to grate.

**You could use chocolate chips, but I find scones to be too bready without the larger pockets of chocolate created by using chunks.

***I use the discard from my 100% hydration starter. If you do not have any sourdough discard, you can make this scone recipe with 2 cups of flour instead, skipping the discard ingredient, and there’s no need to proof the dough for 1-3 hours.

Nutrition

how to make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Scones step-by-step photos

The ingredients for making homemade sourdough chocolate chip scones.

Gather all of your ingredients together and preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Flour, baking powder, sugar. and salt in a white mixing bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients: Add 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 Tbsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt to a large bowl. Mix until well combined.

Butter being grated into a mixing bowl of flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Cut in the butter: Remove your butter from the freezer and grate 6 Tbsp of butter into the flour mixture. Stir until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour. There shouldn’t be any large lumps.

Chocolate chunks added to a four and butter mixture in a white mixing bowl.

Add the chocolate: Stir 1 cup chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips) into the butter and flour mix.

Sourdough discard, eggs, and milk in a mixing bowl.

Combine the remaining wet ingredients: In a different bowl, mix together ¼ cup sourdough discard, ¼ cup milk, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

The wet and dry ingredients for sourdough chocolate chip scones being combined in a bowl.

Make the dough: Pour the wet sourdough mixture into the bowl with the flour and chocolate chunks. Stir everything together until it forms a cohesive ball of dough. There should be no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems too dry to come together into a single ball of dough, add a splash more milk (1 Tbsp or so) until it forms into a ball.

Chocolate chip sourdough scone dough in a mixing bowl, being covered with plastic wrap.

Proof the dough: Place the dough ball into your mixing bowl and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Leave your bowl in a warm location and let it proof for 1-3 hours until the dough ball has grown in size (by at least a quarter of the volume, but ideally, it will have doubled). You could bake the scones right away without proofing…but I highly recommend letting it proof so the texture of your sourdough chocolate chip scones will be extra special and fluffy.

Sourdough scone dough on a piece of parchment paper.

Form the dough: Lay a piece of parchment paper on your work surface. Lay the proofed dough ball onto the parchment and press it out into an 8-inch diameter circle.

Sourdough chocolate chunk scone dough divided into 6 pieces.

Slice the dough into 6 equal wedges (or 8 wedges if you want to make smaller scones).

Six shaped sourdough chocolate chip scones on a parchment lined baking sheet ready to be baked.

Place the cutout dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you have any leftover chocolate chunks, feel free to press some into the top of the dough before baking (as I did here).

Freshly baked sourdough chocolate chip scones on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake: Place the baking tray into your preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool completely.

Powdered sugar and milk in a mixing bowl, being mixed with a spoon to make a glaze.

Make the glaze: As you wait for your delicious sourdough scones to cool, you can make the simple glaze. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk to a bowl and combine until a thick glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones, then enjoy!

Hands breaking a sourdough chocolate chip scone in half.

Just look how fluffy that crumb is…and don’t even get me started on the pockets of ooey gooey chocolate!

Use cold butter. I pop a stick of butter in the freezer for 5–10 minutes before baking. It should be cold and firm but not rock-hard. Cold butter creates steam pockets as the scones bake, which makes them rise beautifully and gives you that tender, flaky texture.
Grate the butter. Grating makes it super easy to mix the butter into the flour so it’s evenly distributed throughout the dough. No pastry cutter needed!
Don’t skip the rise (unless you really want to!). Letting the dough rest and rise for 1–3 hours gives the sourdough discard time to work its magic. It helps the scones puff up and turn out extra fluffy. You can bake them without letting the dough rise, but they’ll turn out much flatter.
Don’t overmix the dough. I combine the wet and dry ingredients just until the dough comes together. Overmixing can make the scones tough instead of tender.

Storage Instructions

Keep your homemade chocolate chip sourdough scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature and reheat (if desired) in the microwave or in a low oven.

You can also try freezing the unbaked, shaped dough by placing the wedges on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freezing until solid. Transfer the frozen dough to a freezer-safe bag and then bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.