Convert Your Recipe Failures into Something New
Everyone who likes trying new recipes will occasionally makes something that turns out just ok or even terrible.
The chef competition cooking TV shows make you believe that these cooking failures should go straight into the trash can. Sometimes, there really is no choice.
But most of the time, there are ways to salvage a recipe flop by converting it into something new. I always try to reuse anything I make rather than wasting food.
Make some bland fish? Use the leftovers for fish tacos.
Make some chicken that is a disappointment (like my attempt at chicken with jelly)? Cut up the leftovers and turn it into sandwiches or chicken salad.
Converting Terrible Muffins into French Toast Casserole:
This weekend I decided to make some muffins and went straight to Pinterest to find something new.
I am selling my home so I really wanted the scent of cinnamon in the home before some showings, and I was excited to find a snickerdoodle recipe. I quickly skimmed the ingredients and decided it was perfect.
There was just one problem. I didn’t notice that there wasn’t any sugar in the muffins. I did add some cinnamon sugar to the top of the muffins since snickerdoodle cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar and I couldn’t see having snickerdoodle muffins without cinnamon or sugar. I should have known better but I was in a hurry, so I went forward.
They do look good, but that tasted pretty terrible.
Not sweet at all.
I actually ate 2 just to be sure I wasn’t being too judgmental.
After eating the second one, I decided I wouldn’t eat another. Then it occurred to me that the muffins weren’t that different in texture from quick bread, and maybe I could use them to make one of my favorite breakfasts, French Toast Casserole.
I’ve made my French Toast Casserole with all kinds of bread. The first time I used old pita bread that had been frozen. The next time I used frozen hamburger buns. Since the bread I use for the casserole isn’t sweet, there really is no reason that the muffins shouldn’t work.
I followed the recipe exactly, using the muffins in place of the bread. After I broke up the muffins and pushed them down into the milk-egg mixture, I poured them into a pan and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar.
While the muffins themselves weren’t sweet, neither is bread. The milk-egg mixture does have some sugar in it, so the French Toast Casserole came out plenty sweet…especially once I topped it with maple syrup!
What do you do with your recipe failures?
