Blueberry Bread

On a blizzardy Monday morning in March, a little baking was required to warm up our kitchen and living room. I found this recipe online and it looked pretty healthy but it did call for white sugar and white flour, so I boldly made two alterations and a little pure maple syrup and whole wheat flour later, we had delicious and nutritious blueberry bread. As a side note, I have found a great all-purpose flour that is unbleached and 30% ultra-grain so it has more whole grains and double the amount of fiber in it as regular all purpose flour. If you look in  your grocery store's baking aisle I am sure you will be able to find something similar.

Blueberry Bread

1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose four
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c rolled oats
-Combine above dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.

1 c real maple syrup
1 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (I used half a cup of each)
2 eggs
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp vanilla

-In a large bowl whisk above wet ingredients until smooth. Mix dry ingredients into wet and stir until just combined.

1 c frozen wild blueberries
1 tsp all purpose flour
-Sprinkle flour over blueberries and toss until blueberries are coated. Gently fold blueberries into the batter. Do not over mix! Pour in a greased bread pan.

Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes. Let rest in pan for 5 minutes and then remove loaf and let cool on a cooling rack.

Original recipe found: http://goboldwithbutter.com/?p=3004

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

If your kids are like mine, they could probably snack their way through the entire day and skip meals altogether. We reached the height of our bad snacking habits a couple of months (part of the reason I started blogging again) and realized the snacks that Vaida was eating every day had up to 20 ingredients listed on them. I took a step back and realized the food she was choosing to eat was overly processed and it was my fault since I bought the foods. Now our goal for the day is to eat a big breakfast - no morning snack - lunch - a healthy snack around 3-4:00 - dinner at 6:00. Instead of buying our "snack foods" in the cracker and cereal isles at the grocery store I have been trying to make them at home. For our afternoon snack we do a lot of yogurt, fruit, banana bread, pumpkin bread, blueberry muffins, and today's recipe: bran muffins. I love this recipe! They are super moist from the buttermilk and very filling since they are made with All Bran cereal. Vaida loves that they are mini sized (and also that she can spread her favorite food, butter, on them) and I love that they are a snack that I can pronounce all of the ingredients to.

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

1 c boiling water

2 c All Bran cereal

1/4 c butter

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1 c sugar

2 eggs

2 c buttermilk

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 c All Bran cereal

Mix boiling water and 2 cups All Bran cereal in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl combine butter, sugar, applesauce and eggs. Add buttermilk. Next add baking soda, flours, and salt. Add the All Bran/boiling water mixture. Lastly, stir in 1 cup of dry All Bran cereal. Fill your greased mini-muffin tin 3/4 of the way with batter and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Freeze leftovers. : ) 

 

Recipe from superhealthykids.com

 

Quick Homemade Sticky Rolls

This weekend I finally found some time to be in the kitchen. Wahoo!! I had a very special guest come and visit: 2 1/2 week old Elliana and her mom, my cousin Jessica. I got a call from them in the morning and they said they would be at my house in a couple of hours. I wondered, is it possible to make homemade caramel rolls in two hours?! I did a google search and found a recipe that fit the bill. This sweet dough uses two packages of yeast which must speed up the process. I doubled the amount of caramel sauce listed since it didn't sound like enough and even then it didn't end up very caramely. They were light and fluffy, sticky and sweet, and made the whole house smell good!
Sweet Dough
2 packages of yeast
1/2 c. warm water (105-115 F)
1 1/2 c. milk
7 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 tsp. salt


Filling
2/3 c. sugar
4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, melted


Caramel Sauce
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
4 Tbs. corn syrup


In a stand mixer bowl, add yeast and warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes until foamy. Heat milk in microwave (30 seconds or so) until warm to the touch. Add milk and remaining sweet dough ingredients to the yeast and mix on low speed. Add additional flour if needed until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a large ball. On a floured work surface, turn dough over and roll out into a large rectangle about 1/2" thick.


For the filling, brush melted butter over dough and sprinkler with cinnamon and sugar. Starting on a long side of the rectangle, carefully roll up dough into one large log. Using a piece of string (floss works great too!) cut dough into 2-3" pieces by sliding string underneath the log and criss-crossing string to cut through dough.


In a small sauce pan, melt butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over low heat and stir until combined. Pour caramel mixture into a large cake pan (I used an 11x14). Place cinnamon rolls over caramel sauce cut side down. Cover and let rise for an hour. Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes. Let sit for 2 minutes before inverting over a half sheet pan.
Recipe adapted from http://www.cooks.com/
Printable Recipe

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I was picking up a coffee and pastry treat the other day and it hit me - I have completely forgotten about making coffee cake! When I was younger, we made coffee cake all of the time. My family took turns with others in our church to provide the "coffee and bars" (try saying that without a Minnesotan accent!) for after-church socializing. My mom would always try to come up with different coffee cake recipes to keep things interesting. My favorite was a sour cream coffee cake. While my mom made every coffee cake from scratch I am using Bisquick because it makes baking so quick and easy when time is of the essence. The sour cream makes this cake moist and the streusel topping gives it the crumble that you look for in a good coffee cake.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
1 1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbs. butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla
Streusel (below)
Grease square 8x8 pan and set aside. Mix all ingredients except streusel in a medium bowl until batter is smooth. Spread half of the mixture in your prepared pan and sprinkle with 1/2 of the streusel mixture below. Spread the remaining half of the batter in the pan and top with remaining streusel. Bake  about 35 minutes at 350 F. Cool slightly before cutting.
Streusel
5 Tbs. firm butter, sliced
1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/4. c. finely chopped pecans
4 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. allspice
pinch of ginger
pinch of cloves
Cut  butter with the remaining streusel ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
Printable Recipe

Simple Grilled Cheese

I am sure you are questioning me right now. Grilled cheese Elizabeth? You are blogging about grilled cheese?  I know there is hardly anything interesting about grilled cheese. But the fact is, we all make these wonderfully simple sandwiches every now again. My husband would (sadly) eat these every week if he could. I do a few small touches to my grilled cheese to make it stand out above the rest. I start with sourdough bread - good quality sourdough. Then I use a mixture of cheeses - havarti which melts in your mouth, Swiss for a stringy quality and American for the taste we all love. Lastly I give the bread a kiss of garlic by lightly rubbing a clove over the bread for a unique grilled cheese experience.

Grilled Cheese
sourdough slices
havarti, sliced
Swiss cheese sliced
American cheese, sliced
butter
fresh cracked pepper
garlic clove cut in half
Take each slice of bread and lightly rub the cut side of a garlic clove over one side. Next butter the garlic side and lightly sprinkle with black pepper. Set griddle pan to medium-low heat and place a slice of bread, buttered side down. Next layer the three different cheeses in amounts to your liking. Add the next slice of bread on top of the cheese (buttered side up). Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden
brown.
Printable Recipe

Pumpkin Spice Bread

On a quest to find the best pumpkin bread, my mom gave me this recipe. Since pumpkin is best enjoyed in the fall and winter months I am in a hurry to enjoy all of the winter season foods before it starts to warm up. The ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are the perfect blend of spices - use good quality spices and freshly ground nutmeg for the best end-result. This pumpkin bread is complimented best with a hot cup of coffee or latte in the morning. Make this on a Sunday so you can brighten up your Monday morning! 

Pumpkin Spice Bread
1 c. butter
3 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
3 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. cloves
2/3 c. water
2 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. nuts (optional)
3/4 c. raisins (optional)
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add dry mixture alternately with water and pumpkin. Mix well. Stir in half of the chopped nuts and the raisins if using. Grease two loaf pans and divide batter between the two pans. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 c. nuts over batter. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. (15-20 minutes more)
Tip: Freezes really well!
Printable Recipe

Ina's Garlic Ciabatta Bread

Up until now I have only made garlic bread one way. Up until now I have thought of garlic bread as a minor detail - just something necessary when making spaghetti or lasagna. Up until now I did not consider myself a big fan of garlic bread in general. All that changed when I made the Barefoot Contessa's garlic ciabatta bread tonight!! This recipe transforms bread from a boring side, to a meal in-itself. I used fresh parsley (very necessary) but didn't have fresh oregano so I used one teaspoon of dried. The chopped garlic and parsley fill every crevice of the ciabatta bread so each bite is packed with flavor. I obviously made more than garlic bread for dinner tonight but I thought this recipe deserved it's very own posting.

Garlic Ciabatta Bread

(From Ina Garten's, Bake to Basics)

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 c. fresh parsley

2 Tbs. fresh oregano

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 c. olive oil

1 lg. loaf ciabatta bread

2 Tbs. butter, softened

Place the first five ingredients in a food processor and chop until minced. In a small saute pan heat the olive oil and then add the garlic mixture. Cook on low for 3-5 minutes - do not let the garlic brown. Remove from heat. Cut the bread in half, horizontally and spoon the oil-garlic mixture on the bottom half. Butter the top half of bread and then place the two halves together again. Wrap in tin foil and bake at 350 for 6 minutes. Carefully remove the tin foil and place directly on the rack and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Enjoy warm!
Printable Recipe

Braided French Toast

While watching Iron Chef I saw a competitor make french toast using a beautiful loaf of brioche. That was two weeks ago and I still can’t get the image of the delicious bread out of my mind. I looked at my regular grocery store but of course they did not carry it. I find it very disheartening that the average grocery store will devote one entire isle to bread yet none of them are anything special. I want to see sourdough and baguettes that are hollow when you tap them and are rich and chewy in the center. Now, I know I could have trekked out into the cold this weekend to find a bakery that would make a suitable loaf, but instead I decided to warm my house and my spirits in a way that only kneading bread can do. I decided to make challah: a rich, egg-y, buttery, braided bread. This lightly sweetened bread worked perfectly for the  french toast I had been dreaming about.

Challah

2 pkg. rapid rise yeast

1 c. warm water (105-115 F)

1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs, plus 1 egg beaten for glaze

5 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter at room temperature

In a stand mixer bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for 5 minutes or until foamy. Add the sugar, 3 eggs, 4 1/2 c. flour, salt and butter. Attach dough hook and knead 5-7 minutes or until smooth. Form the dough into a ball and transfer into large bowl brushed with oil. Cover with towel and let rise in a warm draft-free spot for 2 hours (dough will double in size). Punch down dough and place on a floured work surface. Cut dough into 3 equal pieces. Lightly knead each ball of dough and shape into 3 ropes a little longer than the length of a baking sheet.

Place 3 ropes of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Braid dough and tuck each end under the braid. Cover braided loaf with a towel and let rise again in a warm spot until it doubles in size (45-60 min). Brush the braid with a beaten egg and bake at 350 F 30-35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking

Printable Recipe

Braided French Toast

3 eggs

3/4 c. half and half or milk

1/2 tsp. orange zest

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Challah bread

In a shallow bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and seasonings and mix until well combined. Dip thick bread slices into egg mixture and cook in a large skillet or electric skillet that has been brushed with butter. Cook approximately 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. I like to top with honey butter.