It's been years since I made scones, but I honestly can't tell you why. They were one of the first baked goods I'd ever made, mainly because they were easy and didn't require any special equipment. But I adore scones, so much so that they're usually my pastry of choice in a coffee shop, so it was time to revisit my beloved baked good.

This scone recipe came out of the fact that a bag of toffee chips has been lurking in my baking pantry, quietly urging me to make something delicious with them. Toffee reminds me of brittle, which makes me think of nuts, so click! Toffee Almond Scones was born. These scones are a welcome change from the cream or fruit laden ones, but they're not so sweet that you can't have one for breakfast. The secret to the light texture here? Grating frozen butter on a box grater. Trust me people, you'll never cube up cold butter for recipes again once you've tried this method. So make a batch of these and savor with a café au lait on a lazy Saturday morning.  (Click "Read More" below for the full recipe.)

Sometimes new recipes are born out necessity. In this case, the need to use up a large bag of gigantic sweet Bing cherries and some almond flour that's been sitting in the freezer forever. I'm not one to waste food, so I actually enjoy the challenges of Iron Chef-ing it sometimes to see what I can come up with. It's usually a win-win: food gets used up, and since I've repurposed it into something new, it doesn't feel like stale leftovers.

So that's how these beauties came to life. These easy (seriously, just mix with a spatula) muffins are filled with tons of cherries, and I've replaced some of the all-purpose flour with almond flour to make them more justifiable to eat for breakfast. While I like almond extract here since it pairs well with cherries, you can use vanilla instead, and you can also sub in cream for the milk if you want to make these super-tender and rich. To quote one of Sophie's favorite children's books: "Yum, yum, extra yum." (Click "Read More" below for the full recipe.)

You're probably wondering why I'm sharing a recipe for a hard winter squash when spring is right around the corner, but butternut squash is almost always present at Chez Gallary. My daughter loves soups and purées, so it's an easy thing to throw into the shopping cart and whip up. However, there's a limit to how much squash the rest of the family can eat, so I decided to treat it like carrots or zucchini and bake it into a muffin. I've long admired French yogurt cakes, a simple mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and yogurt, since the cakes are easy to bake and delicious. The yogurt provides moisture and tenderness so you need less fat, and it's chock full of sweet butternut squash and warm spices. Since it's not too sweet, it can do double duty as a grab-and-go breakfast or snack for later in the day. (Click "Read More" below for the full recipe.)

Unless it was for work, I've only made apple pie once in my life. It was a leaf lard, double-crust beauty, but it was an elaborate labor of love. That pie isn't happening again anytime soon, so I channeled my craving for it into making apple pie pancakes instead!

To justify having these for breakfast, I use a combination of regular and whole-wheat flour, and there's a double punch of apple flavor from applesauce and grated apple. Make the easy cinnamon maple syrup to drizzle over the top, and it's a bit like having dessert for breakfast. My daughter loves having smaller versions of these moist and apple-y pancakes, and since they freeze really well, having a ready-made breakfast for hectic mornings when we need to get out the door makes all the difference in the world. (Click "Read More" below for the full recipe.)

While it's hard to resist a classic sweet monkey bread in all its gooey, sticky glory, this recipe is a savory version that has all the cheesy goodness of pizza and makes an impressive party or game day snack. Form an easy yeasted dough into balls, stuff them with cubes of mozzarella cheese, and roll each in lots of butter, Parmesan cheese, and oregano. Bake until golden brown, then pull each cheese-filled nugget off and dip into marinara sauce. (Click "Read More" below for the full recipe.)