brunch – Brownie Mischief

Spinach Bacon Soufflés

Posted on August 25, 2022February 16, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

If you’ve ever gotten up early enough to grab one of those delicious breakfast soufflés at that popular bakery cafe, then you might just love this recipe. There are plenty of copycat versions online, mostly using refrigerated crescent rolls. I love crescent rolls and you can make a pretty close copy of the originals with them, but why not take them up a notch? In my humble opinion, using puff pastry makes them so much better! These pretty little soufflés will puff up and get golden brown and crispy. You can also personalize each one. Try swapping out the spinach and bacon for your favorite omelet ingredients, such as chopped ham, chives, jalapeños or whatever you like.

Spinach Bacon Soufflés

by Mari Vasseur

Print Recipe

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Servings 4 soufflés

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed but still cold
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced onions
1 tablespoon minced red peppers
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup (118ml) whole milk
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs
½ cup (57g) shredded Colby Jack cheese
¼ cup (28g) shredded parmesan cheese, divided
⅓ cup (14g) diced fresh spinach
2 slices cooked bacon, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Grease four 8-ounce (227g) mini pie dishes* or ramekins.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry sheet to a 10-inch (24.4cm) square. Cut into four 5-inch (12.7cm) squares. Place one square in each prepared dish. Dock the bottom of each one by poking holes with a fork.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onions and red peppers and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with the flour and cook 1-2 minutes more.
Slowly stir in the milk. Use a whisk if the sauce seems lumpy. Cook until the edges start to bubble and the sauce thickens. Stir in the salt. Remove from heat.
In a medium-size bowl, beat the eggs. Set aside 1 tablespoon (15ml) of beaten eggs in a small bowl for the tops of the soufflés. Add about a third of the sauce mixture into the medium bowl of eggs and whisk until combined. Add the egg mixture back into the saucepan and whisk until smooth. Stir in the Colby-Jack cheese, half of the parmesan cheese and spinach.
Ladle the egg mixture evenly into the prepared dishes. Top with the bacon and the remaining parmesan cheese. Fold the pointed ends toward the center. Brush the folded pastry edges gently with the reserved beaten egg. Bake until golden brown and puffy, about 25-30 minutes.
You can serve the soufflés warm in the pie dishes or remove them from the dishes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes

To find the mini pie dishes I used click here.

Cherry Blossom Cookies

Posted on May 7, 2021February 16, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

Each spring, I look forward to the sight and fragrance of beautiful botanical blooms, especially cherry blossoms. We often think of cherry blossoms as something unique to Washington D.C. or Japan, but cherry blossoms can be found in many regions of the United States. Georgia has many thousands of the beautiful pink trees. They can also be found in my home state, California. Here in California we also have many other types of beautiful blossoming fruit trees.

Inspired by the beautiful pink blossoms, I baked some cherry blossom cookies. There are many varieties of the blossoming pink trees. The Yoshino variety that we love to admire is not the same as the trees that produce cherries that we typically eat, but I decided to make the cookies cherry flavor. Cherry extract is more accessible, but it’s also possible to make the cookies sakura blossom flavor if you prefer. You can purchase culinary sakura blossoms or sakura powder and flavor the cookies with it.

These perfectly pretty, pink cookies are easy to make and fun to decorate. You can sprinkle sparkling sugar on them before baking and call it a day or you can make some pink cherry icing and add sugar pearls or sprinkles. Either way, they look beautiful and taste delicious!

Cherry Blossom Cookies

by Mari Vasseur

Pink cherry flavored sugar cookies with cherry icing

Print Recipe

Course Brunch, Dessert

Servings 6 dozen

Ingredients

Cherry Blossom Cookies

1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (3 oz / 85g) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup (150g) sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure cherry extract or natural cherry flavoring *see note below
⅛ teaspoon pure almond extract
3 cups (383g) all purpose flour, sifted
Pink gel food color **see note below

Cherry Icing

1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
1 pinch fine sea salt
4-5 tablespoons (59-67ml) whole milk
½ teaspoon pure cherry extract or natural cherry flavoring
Pink gel food color

Optional Cookie Decorations

White sparkling sugar
Pink sugar pearls
Pink nonpareils

Instructions

Cherry Blossom Cookies

In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer on medium speed, just until smooth and well blended.
Add the sugar and salt. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in the egg, then the extracts until incorporated.
On low speed, mix in the flour in two additions, just until combined.
Mix in the food coloring, a tiny bit at a time, until the desired shade is achieved.
Divide the dough into two disks. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch blossom cutter..***
Place the cookies about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar if using.
Bake for 7-9 minutes until the bottom edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
Cool completely then ice with cherry icing, if desired. Decorate with sugar pearls or sprinkles before the icing sets.

Cherry Icing

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, 3 tablespoons (45ml) of milk and the cherry extract. Add additional milk until the desired consistency is reached. Whisk together until smooth.
Mix in pink gel food color, a tiny bit at a time, until the desired shade is achieved.

Notes

*Do not use imitation cherry flavoring or extract. Imitation extracts may make your cookies taste medicinal.

** I used Wilton gel food color in shade rose. Click here to find it.

*** Use your favorite blossom cookie cutter or click here to find the blossom cutters I used.

Keyword cherry, cherry blossom, cookies

Lemon Buttermilk Donuts with Honey Cream Cheese Icing

Posted on May 1, 2017February 18, 2026 by Mari Vasseur

I was seriously happy when I started seeing donuts appearing at weddings, bridal showers and occasions other than work meetings. I’ve always felt those sweet, fluffy rings of dough had a higher calling. They had such potential! And honestly who doesn’t love donuts? They’re delicious, but they can also be beautiful. These Lemon Buttermilk Donuts could certainly win a beauty contest. They would make a gorgeous edition to any breakfast, brunch or dessert table. The fresh lemon zest and the earthy flavor of honey will bring springtime right into your kitchen.

If you’re on the lookout for a Mother’s Day recipe, any mom will love these pretty, fragrant treats. This is a very easy recipe and the donuts bake up quickly, so you’ll have time to fix mom a cup of her favorite tea. If you don’t have a donut pan, and you’ve been reluctant to buy one, I can honestly say I love mine. It was very affordable and I’m pleased with the performance and ease of clean up with the pan I purchased. To find the donut pan click here.

In keeping with the springtime feel, I decorated my donuts with pesticide-free edible flowers. I used pansies, but if you’re unable to find them, you can substitute pesticide-free rose petals. I found these edible pansies at my local food market in the produce department, near the fresh herbs. You can also find edible flowers at farmers’ markets and online. For a list of edible flowers, click here. Note: The above pictured orange ranunculus flowers on the table are not edible.

Lemon Buttermilk Donuts with Honey Cream Cheese Icing

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 7

Total Time 27

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Servings 6

Ingredients

Lemon Buttermilk Donuts

1 cup (113g) cake flour, sifted
½ cup (100g) fine granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
⅓ cup (78ml) buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
Zest of 1 medium lemon

Honey Cream Cheese Icing

¼ cup (85g) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 cup (120g) powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons milk

Finishing Touches

Pesticide-free edible flowers
Sugar pearls*
Nonpareils**

Instructions

Lemon Buttermilk Donuts

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Spray the wells of a donut pan*** with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well blended.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and lemon zest together until creamy and well combined. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Do not over mix.
Transfer the batter to a piping bag or plastic zip bag. Snip off the tip of the bag and pipe batter into the prepared donut pan, filling the wells 2/3 full.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into donuts comes out clean, about 7-8 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then remove the donuts to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Prepare Honey Cream Cheese Icing while the donuts are cooling. Dip the tops of the donuts into the icing and decorate as desired. Serve immediately.

Honey Cream Cheese Icing

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until smooth and well blended. Do not over beat. Add the vanilla extract and salt. Mix until combined.
On low speed, gradually add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Add the honey and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Beat on low speed until smooth.

Notes

*To find sugar pearls, click here. **To find nonpareils, click here. ***To find the donut pan, click here.