Banana Mini Loaves

It's another banana bread recipe. I know I have tons, but this one really hit the mark. I love making them into cute mini loaves too, more ends to pass around! Truth be told John is a loaf end stealer. Leave a loaf out and it will be missing its bum from both ends soon enough.

He was outside working on the gigantic mulch pile that was delivered to our driveway instead of our lawn when I made these bad boys, so guess who got to steal the end this time! Don't feel bad for John, with 3 mini loaves there was still plenty of loaf bums to go around. Any guesses on how long it takes to move 12 yards of mulch? A freaking LONG time.

 
Curious about the lighting in these pics. See this post.

Mini Banana Loaves
recipe by steph chows

in a medium bowl whisk together:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 c white flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1.5 tsp cinnamon

In a small bowl cream together
3 Tbs butter
1/3 cup splenda (or white sugar)
1/3 cup brown sugar
then cream in:
3 very ripe bananas
6oz fat free yogurt (I used blueberry)
2 eggs (add one at a time)

Gently mix dry with wet, then stir in:
3/4 cup sunflower seeds

Place in 3 mini loaf pans and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done.

The winner of the Musselman's giveaway is winemaker23!! I'll be emailing you!


Tweet
Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :) Oh and make sure you type in your blog link so I can click over to you! There is a spot you can type it in.

Blackberry Loaf

I went blackberry picking in a local park last week, once I outran the cops I was home free to bake up these delicious loafs :D I actually use these loafs to bribe John's friends into helping fix things around the house. Lucky for me said friend has a sweet tooth for things like blackberry loaf. Score!
How do you bribe people to help you fix things around the house?

Blackberry Almond Streusel Quick Bread
recipe redo by steph chows
Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons agave nectar

Bread:
2 cups blackberries
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash fine grain sea salt
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup granulated splenda or white sugar
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup fat free sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add agave and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Toss blackberries with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat together apple sauce and sugars. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/blackberry mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining blackberries evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely. I actually made this in 4 mini loaf pans so they only took 30 minutes to cook!

Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :)Oh and make sure you type in your blog link so I can click over to you! There is a spot you can type it in.

Date almond loaf and Erythritol

Erythritol kinda sounds like a science experiment doesn't it? It's not though, it's a natural, almost zero calorie sweetener that isn't produced using chemicals (they ferment the sugar with yeast!). Here's more about it not in my words:

Erythritol is a natural sugar alcohol which has been approved for use in the United States and throughout much of the world. It occurs naturally in fruits and fermented foods. At the industrial level, it is produced from glucose by fermentation with a yeast, Moniliella pollinis. It is 60–70% as sweet as table sugar yet it is almost non-caloric, does not affect blood sugar, does not cause tooth decay, and is absorbed by the body, therefore unlikely to cause gastric side effects unlike other sugar alcohols. Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements, it has a caloric value of 0.2 kilocalories per gram (95% less than sugar and other carbohydrates). Source

I was very excited when Emerald Forest asked if I wanted to give this product a try. I know my current "fake" sweetener is eyeballed unapprovingly by a lot of people, so this was a great thing to try. The first recipe I tried was my go to whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've been experimenting with. They came out just as delicious but a little less sweet (makes sense since it is less sweet than table sugar). So if you are going to use this to totally replace your sugar you will want to use more. For me most recipes have too much sweet, so using this and not upping the amount would work out perfectly.

The next thing I made was a date and almond loaf I was inspired to make on What Would Cathy Eat? She used walnuts, but in all truth I'm not a huge walnut fan, so I went with almonds, YUM!


I did a half batch and came up with two mini loaves. And they came out amazing! The perfect amount of sweet and a great texture. Like the birch sugar I experimented with recently, this stuff has a similar texture to sugar, it's not airy light. Also good to know, it doesn't have a weird aftertaste.

Whole Grain Date Walnut Bread
adapted by me from What Would Cathy Eat?

1/2 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup boiling water
1 egg white
1.5 tablespoons organic canola oil
1/3 cup Erythritol (she would have used 1/4 cup sugar in the raw)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups whole wheat flour (she used ww pastry flour, I didn't have any)
1/4 cup oats (she used oat flour)
1 tablespoons ground flax
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup slivered almonds (she used walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the dates and boiling water in a small bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the egg, oil, sugar and vanilla.

Combine the flours, flax, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in the dates with their liquid, along with the egg mixture and stir just to combine. Fold in the walnuts.

Pour into two lightly oiled mini loaf pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before slicing.

Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :)

Pumpkin Garlic Knots - vegan

Heaven. That is what these things are, pure, heaven. I've had these pumpkin garlic knots bookmarked for what seems like a year now. I first saw them on (never home)maker and knew I had to make them... what took me so long to actually do it?? I have no idea.. but all I know is I'll be making them again soon for sure. Hmmmm actually maybe I'll bring them to the potluck I'll be heading to in VT next weekend... hmmmmmmm

ready to go into the oven

I made these to go along with dinner last night for Mother's Day. We had John's parents over (we would have had mine over too.. but they live out of state *sad face* ). On the menu along with these were a mustard BBQ pork tenderloin, roasted root veggies, asparagus, and a chocolate cake for dessert. (and for those of you who caught that... John didn't eat the pork, I made him cashew chicken chili instead, yup I'm a good woman to him)


I am totally smitten for this recipe and I think you will be too. Next time I'm going to sub 1/2 whole wheat, will let you know how it goes! As written these are amazingly buttery (without butter!) and so very tender. Love love love love love. (I may have eaten 4... ok I'm lying.. 5 last night - I know that goes against the moderation thing... but hell they are THAT good)

Pumpkin garlic knots
recipe by (never home)maker

What you'll need . . .

* 1 cup warm water
* 1 envelope active dry yeast
* 2 tablespoon agave nectar
* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
* 3-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (I used King Arthur)

First, you'll need to make the dough: (for step by step pics, head on over to their recipe here)

STEP 1:
Pour the warm water into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let sit until frothy -- about 10 minutes. Then add your agave nectar, olive oil, and pumpkin -- whisk until smooth.

STEP 2:
Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. With you fist, make an impression in the center -- a "bowl" that's big enough to pour your wet ingredients into. Then pour in your wet ingredients.

STEP 3:
Start pulling everything together with a spatula. When you can no longer mix, use your hands to start kneading the dough. Keep kneading -- and adding more flour as necessary -- until you have a ball that's elastic, but not sticky.

STEP 4:
Lightly oil another large bowl and put your dough ball inside it -- flipping over once to coat both sides (again -- lightly) with oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours. Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F, put in a pizza stone (you may use a pan, too, but it works best with a stone), and divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you're planning to use the other half the next day, just put it in a large Zip-Lock bag and store in the fridge. You may also freeze the dough for up to three weeks.

STEP 5:
To create the garlic knots -- just take off sections of dough (about the size of two tablespoons, if that makes sense) and roll them into a snake shape. Then tie that snake in a knot. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough. Once you've made all your knots, put them on your stone (or on your pan) and let bake until golden brown on the tops (anywhere between 10 and 15 -- or more -- minutes, depending on how big your knots are).

STEP 6:
While you're waiting, in a large bowl mix together 1/3 cup olive oil with 3 to 5 cloves of minced garlic . . . as well as some salt, pepper -- and if you're feeling cheesy, Parmesan or nutritional yeast -- to taste. There's really no right or wrong mixture, just what you like. Feel free to taste test. When the knots are done, dump them into the bowl and mix well to coat. (I just used a drizzle of olive oil, no where near 1/3 of a cup)

Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :)

Pull Apart Loaf

The smell of yeast and cinnamon filled the house while I was making this bread. I think people should stop buying air fresheners and just start baking bread at home. There is nothing compared to this smell out there. PLUS you get to eat tasty bread at the end of it... can't say that about an air freshener!


You start with a yeast based dough and roll it out thin. 1 Tbs melted butter or oil brushed on top, along with 1/3 cup sucanat and 2 Tbs cinnamon.


Slice into long strips and stack them up. This part was the hardest part... sucanat was falling all over the place, but I think it still turned out looking pretty awesome.


Slice your long strip into sections and stack them into a loaf pan. Let rise 30 minutes, then bake for 30. Unmold, and have fun pulling the pieces apart and enjoying! I felt like this needed some icing to make it more dessert like... but if you are having this as a more breakfast treat it's perfect as is.

*drool*

I followed along with this recipe via Naturally Ella. I didn't have almond oil or milk on hand though so I used melted butter and fat free milk (making these not vegan) but since everyone at the party was a carnivore I wasn't worried :) I also made this in a loaf pan whereas she used a jumbo muffin tin for individual serving sizes.


Cinnamon Fantails
By: Naturally Ella

Ingredients

* 3/4 cup almond milk
* 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
* 1 tablespoon maple syrup
* 2 tablespoons almond oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
* 6 tablespoons warm water
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or regular whole wheat flour)
* 1/2-1 cup unbleached all purpose flour (I ended up adding 1.5 cups)

Filling

* 1 tablespoon almond oil
* 1/3 cup sucanat
* 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions

* In a small bowl combine ground flax seed and water, set aside. Heat almond milk (either in a sauce pan or microwave)- don't let it get too hot (I zapped mine in the microwave for about a minute.)
* In a stand mixer bowl, add milk, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for about five minutes or until yeast activates. Add in oil, flax seed mixture, salt, and the wheat flour. Give a good stir with a spoon and then turn on the mixer with the dough hook. Begin adding the all-purpose flour 1/4 cup at a time, letting it mix in before adding more. You want your dough to be soft (but not sticky) and the key to that is adding just enough flour so that it pulls away from the sides of the bowl but may still slightly stick to the bottom and letting it knead for 5-8 minutes.
* Once the dough is here, scoop out of the bowl, form into a ball, place back in the bowl, brush it with a oil, and let it sit in a warm, draft free spot for 1- 1 1/2 hours.
* Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a 8 by 12 rectangle. Brush oil over surface and sprinkle with sucanat and cinnamon. Cut the dough into 6 strips (cutting the shorter of the length-it's easier to handle.) Stack the strips on top of each other and cutting downward, cut 6 pieces for jumbo muffin tins or 8-10 for regular size muffin tins. Brush muffin tins with oil and place each piece in the tin. Cover and let rise again.
* After about a half hour of rising, pre-heat your oven to 350˚. Once rolls have risen and oven is up to temperature, bake for 15-20 minutes. Fantails should be firm to the touch and golden brown. Remove from oven and eat warm! You can also add your favorite icing but these were delicious even without the extra sugar!

Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :)

Honey Oat Bread

Dear Bread,

I'm still madly in love with you. Why do we go so long without seeing each other... I want to see you everyday and run through fields of daisies together...
Love steph chows

In all truth, if I let myself, I'd probably bake a loaf of bread 3 times a week... and I'd probably weigh a good 20 lbs more than I do right now. Who we kidding, it would be more like 5 times a week and 50 lbs. It's a good thing I have at least a tiny bit of self restraint... Not once the bread is made though, all bets are off and I'm eating half the loaf... but self restraint in allowing myself to bake said bread. As my dad always said "you've got to pick and choose your battles" I think he said this after discovering I had unstapled and torn up the carpeting in my bedroom... and I was surprised I wasn't getting yelled at for said spur of the moment redecorating session. Oh come on you know you did something similar to your parents.. spill it :)

Back to the love of my life, bread, I mean John... Hi honey! This Honey Oat Bread was hanging out over at the Baking Barrister, and if she said it was tasty, I knew it had to be, that girl knows what she's talking about. Her loaf is much prettier than mine.. and she remembered to do the egg wash with oats on top for added flair... I forgot... cause I'm awesome like that.


The other ironic thing is she warned she used too large of a loaf pan, so I haphazardly grabbed the smaller of my two loaf pans and figured i was good to go... nope, it was still too big. Score another one for me being awesome.

So if you actually follow the directions this will look like sandwich bread. The only change I made was using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour. Otherwise I stuck to the recipe.

Your email will never be displayed publicly, so don't be scared to comment! :)

Super Fast Whole Wheat Rolls & enLiven yogurt

I didn't believe this recipe... 100% whole wheat yeast rolls, without any rise time... seriously?? These things are going to taste like hockey pucks...

Luckily for me (and John) these rolls did NOT taste like rocks! They have a very mild flavor that is for sure, not the same yeasty goodness of a slow rise roll. But I must admit... for the time required to make them, this recipe is going to stick around for sure.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when I realized I forgot to pick up rolls for the workweek. I was lazy... and there wasn't enough time for a couple hours of rise time... so a quick search found this recipe for quick yeasted whole wheat rolls. I figured... if nothing else John would just have to buy lunch Monday :D lucky for us both, he got tasty rolls instead.

I wont lie, the next day they aren't as great, but a trip in the toaster fixes that problem right up!

Super Quick whole wheat buns
recipe from Food.com

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour


Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

1 Combine water, yeast, oil and sugar or honey; let rest for 15 minutes.
2 Add salt, egg, and flour to yeast mixture and mix well.
3 Roll out 3/4 inch thick and cut into 10-12 rounds.
4 Place rolls on cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
5 Bake at 400-425 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Be careful not to overbake or they will be too dry. Every oven is different.

(picture from enliven.com)

I also wanted to tell you guys about a new yogurt I got to try. Full disclosure: the company sent me a box of 4 yogurts to try and blog about. It's called enLiven, here's a little about it "Today, a new low-cost, all-natural yogurt branded as enLiven launches exclusively in Walmart stores. The low-fat yogurt from Ganeden, the nation’s leading distributor of over-the-counter probiotic products, is available in four delicious flavors and features GanedenBC30 probiotics."

I love yogurt as a snack and eat it most days. I'm always up for a new flavor or brand to try. The texture was spot on, not too thin, not too thick, and you could tell they used real strawberries (no unnatural red dyes here) actually I was interested to see they use beet juice to help keep the strawberries red! That's pretty fun if you ask me. I don't normally find myself in Walmart, but if I was I'd grab a box of these and know it was going to taste great :)

Banana Bread - the winner

John loves banana bread that has a nice crisp to the top. I've explained to him that you can't get that nice crisp when you don't add fat to the recipe... we've had this discussion many a time... but he doesn't believe me. To proove this point I made this recipe last week and he said it was amazing, perfect texture inside, perfect crisp on top. The secret, I used butter.

Now don't get all excited, I only used 3 Tbs. But it was enough to get that glorious crisp texture. John wasn't too pleased about that, or the fact there is 1/2 white flour 1/2 whole wheat, but lets face the facts, he loved it, and it's still not horrible for you. I'm not saying I don't love my fat free banana breads, but this one does win out for that top layer crunchy texture.

In the past week I've made this twice... both loaves lasted under 24 hours in our house...


New Favorite Banana Bread
recipe by steph chows

In a medium bowl whisk together dry (then set aside):
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream together:
3 tbs butter (softened)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup splenda (or another 1/2 cup white sugar)
2 Tbs brown sugar

Then beat in:
2 eggs (one at a time)
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt (look at the label, buy a brand with the least amount of sugar in it)
1 1/2 cups mashed super ripe bananas (about 4)
1 tsp vanilla

Gently mix dry into wet and pour into a greased 8.5 x 4 loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

Na Na Naan

Happy New Year!!! It's 1:11 am on 1-1-11! Fun right? Ok well dorks like me think it's fun.

In celebrating the new year I have a brand new recipe I recently tried. Whole wheat naan! John and I eat just about every cuisine but Indian is one we've never gone to together. In reality I've only had it once... it was on a first date... and it did not sit well... and the date only got more awkward as the night went on... so yeah, me and Indian food don't have a very good history. :) Ok who else has fun awkward first date stories??? anyone? anyone?


I probably still would not have made naan if it wasn't for a friend who asked if I'd ever made it. I had offered to bake them some fresh bread and asked what kind they would like. Naan. Hmmm never made it before but we all know that wasn't about to stop me!

Naan is a flat bread that in this recipe is cooked on a stove top in a skillet. It's easy to make and I'd highly recommend it. I've already made another batch and have been using it as a new base for sandwiches, and pizza! Think of all the delicious sandwiches you could pack up into your laptop messenger bag for lunch at work!

You can find the recipe here at The Little Red House.

What new recipe would you like to tackle this year?

Back to baking

Man between looking at houses, putting in offers, going to the wedding dinner tasting, oh and did I mention my parents were in town too for it?? Yup they made it OUT of DC just in time before they were hit with 2 feet... getting back was the issue though! They were suppose to fly home sunday... yeah that didn't happen. Two canceled flights later they were finally home and are now snowed in even more!! Another foot yesterday anyone?? CRAZY!!! I told them they should live up north like me where we don't get crazy snow like that :D

With all that craziness I didn't bake again this weekend... let alone cook! We seriously ate out lunch and dinner every night... oh and did I mention I also had my wedding dress fitting? Yup no working out, eating like mad... now lets go try a dress on! Who the hell made this appointment... oh wait it was me...



Anyway... in celebration of my parents getting back to DC... but now being snowed in and without a large variety of things to eat.. I bring you whole wheat yeastless foccacia bread! Mom IM'ed me today and said... we don't have bread... but we want to make some.. oh and we don't have yeast. Well mom I have the perfect bread for you!!


Whole Wheat Yeastless Focaccia
recipe by: Food for Laughter slightly adapted by me

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 T raw sugar ( I used 1Tbs splenda blend)
1 tsp salt (I used a little less of Kosher salt)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano and thyme leaves I bet red pepper flakes would be good too! (I added this in my version)
1 (12 oz) bottle dark beer (I used Yuengling Black and Tan)
1/4 cup water
2-3 T olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried oregano (I also added thyme leaves)
1/4 tsp salt (I used large grain sea salt)

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray. (Next time I'm going to use a bigger pan and spread it thinner, the top crust was my favorite part... I want more of it next time :) )
~ Stir together the flours, raw sugar, 1 tsp salt, baking powder, and spices.
~ Pour in the beer and the water, and stir until just combined.
~ Spread the dough into the baking pan.
~ Drizzle the olive oil across the top of the dough.
~ Sprinkle the dough with the oregano and 1/4 tsp salt.
~ Bake for 30 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
~ Serve warm, sliced from the pan, and dipped in olive oil and herbs...

Be prepared to have to hide this so you don't eat the whole thing.

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

I've said it before... and I'll say it again, there is nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house. I'm addicted to it, seriously. I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it, and I was off to kneading first thing. You may be wondering... why didn't you use your stand mixer... because I was at John's... and my stand mixer was at my house.. booo Really though this wasn't bad to do by hand, so don't give the excuse of not having a mixer for not making it! :D


Since this was my first time making cinnamon raisin bread I figured I'd stick to the recipe... well mostly to the recipe :D Next time this is getting some whole wheat flour for sure! Things I changed up...

Added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the dough
Used agave nectar instead of maple syrup
Added more raisins... LOVE raisins. and soaked them in amaretto... (what why are you looking at me like that... tasty!)

Agave spread out on the dough

Another helpful hint... We keep our house on the cool side... so it's not very conducive to having bread rise. If you are in the same camp here's what you should do. Before you start kneading your bread put a bowl of water in the microwave and set it for 10 minutes. Once you are done kneading place your bread in a big bowl and cover with a towel, open up the microwave door and quickly put your bowl in, close the door (this way you don't let out all the nice hot air). The warm/humid environment will help your bread puff up perfectly!

I mean look at my cute baby?? I'm such a proud mama.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Slightly adapted from Sugar Plum

2 tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar + 1/4 cup
3/4 cup warm milk (not hot)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons agave + 2 tablespoons (she used pure maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt (she used 1/2 teaspoon salt)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (I just realized I used melted butter... worked fine!)
3 1/4 cups bread flour, plus additional for rolling
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I added another tsp into the dough in addition)
1/2 cup raisins (I soaked mine in amaretto for a few hours.. YUM!)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and warm milk until well combined; allow to sit 5 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, egg, 3 tablespoons maple syrup (agave), vanilla, salt, and butter, and mix using a dough hook, until well combined - about 1-2 minutes. Add flour and mix on medium speed for 10 minutes.

Remove dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for an additional 8 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, lightly cover, and allow to rise in a warm area for 1 1/2 hours.

In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins until combined.
Roll dough out using a rolling pin, into a rectangle, 1/4-inch thick. Brush remaining 2 tablespoons syrup (agave) over dough. Sprinkle raisin mixture over dough. Roll up, jellyroll style, pinch and tuck ends under, and place in a greased loaf pan. Lightly cover and allow to rise in a warm area for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together an egg and a teaspoon of water and brush over the top of bread (optional). Bake for 40-45 minutes or until deep golden brown and well risen. Cover with foil if bread browns too quickly. Cool for 30 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.


Want more chow like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed, follow me on twitter, or become a fan on facebook! Can't wait to see you there!

Peach quick loaf

So remember that delicious raspberry loaf I made a little while ago? MMMMM SO GOOD. Well, raspberries are darn expensive, so I tried making it with some cheep and cheerful canned peaches (not packed in syrup!) I made the loaf half raspberry half peach... just in case the peach side came out gross for some reason. The verdict, YUM!


This peach loaf is perfect for dessert, breakfast, snack time, you name it! And now that you can make it with peaches... it's even more economical :) OH I made a version with frozen blueberries too (no pictures) also a total good to go version! Don't you just love recipes were you can toss in a new fruit and it's like a whole new thing!


love it.

PS don't forget to enter the giveaway!!



Peach Almond Streusel Quick Bread
recipe redo by steph chows
Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons agave nectar

Bread:
2 cups canned peach slices, drained and divided
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash fine grain sea salt
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used Musselman's)
1/3 cup granulated organic zero (or granulated splenda or white sugar)
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup fat free sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add agave and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Chop 1 cup peaches and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat together apple sauce and sugars. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/chopped peach mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining peach slices evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely.

Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a Day

So when I was at the Foodbuzz festival I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book, and I was SO EXCITED that I did!! By now you know I love bread, and I normally eat wheat, but when I make it at home, it's just so much easier to make white bread... not anymore!!!

Seriously ask for this for you holiday gift, you wont be sorry.

PB chocolate swirl Loaf

oh yeah... you see that title... makes me want to chow, how about you? Unfortunatly I didn't have any chocolate or PB chips on hand... I just used up the last of the chips the other day... so I tried making it without them... not such a great idea, it needs those chips. I'd make this again for sure, but I'd make sure I had the chips on hand!


I found this recipe over at Sugar Plum. As for my changes... since you know I made some. I used organic zero for the sugar, and used half whole wheat flour... oh and I used Better n' Peanut Butter instead of normal PB. But don't try making this without the chips, it just tastes like it's missing something LOL which it was :D

You know how you make it taste good though without the chips? You toast up a slice and add some cream cheese on top, totally yum.

You can find her recipe here.


Don't forget to sign up for the cookie exchange! All the info here :)

Amish Friendship Bread

When I got back from NJ there were a few surprises waiting for me back at my townhouse... the first was that the entire house was decked out in full blown Christmas glory (Roomie Steph loves her some christmas). I have to say it looks beautiful, but still made me laugh when I walked into it all :) (also funny I'm not used to expecting it since we've been living together for 6 years now!) The second surprise was a weird bag of white goo on the kitchen table... there was a sheet of paper under it with these instructions:

(click to see a larger image - yes I'm lazy and don't feel like retyping it)

Steph was given said goo (a bag of starter) from her John's sister. Lucky for me, Steph was planning on making said goo into a cake that night! We were both a bit sceptical of the whole thing... but away she went stiring and mixing. I accidentally left our loaf pan at my John's... so she made this in a 9x9 pan and a small loaf pan. It was supposed to make 2 normal sized loaves. And can I tell you... The crumb... so tender... the crust... a sweet crisp!! AMAZING!!!


Now don't go thinking it's super healthy or anything... Steph did health it up a little though. Instead of a cup of oil she used 1/2 oil 1/2 apple sauce. She also used skim instead of whole milk YUM! Oh and she upped the vanilla to 1 tsp instead of a 1/2. Good job Steph GOOD JOB!!!! I'm totally going to try to health it up more with another bag of starter she has! Can't wait to see how it comes out!

As you see the note says you can't know how to make the starter... Amish secret recipe... well good thing the Amish don't use the internet, otherwise they would not be happy to see someone leaked said secret recipe on All Recipes!!! You can find it here. :D

Sage Dinner Rolls

So I just realized I never told you guys about these sage dinner rolls I made two weekends ago! SO TASTY! We used them with chicken sandwiches. I shreaded my chicked along with some BBQ sauce. John had his with some roasted red peppers, hummus, and feta. Mmmmm sandwiches mmmmmm. Don't tell anyone but I polished another two rolls off after said sandwich... I'm sorry I'm a carboholic for you!

The recipe comes from Sugarlaws... and she wasn't kidding when she says the dough is very sticky


Hence the heavy handed well floured counter!


The rolls were easy to toss together and totally delicious. I ate the reminder throughout the week. Taylor ham and egg sandwich anyone??


Sage Ciabatta Rolls
recipe found via sugarlaws
(I used 1.5 cups whole wheat and 1 cup APF... yum)

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of 100% whole wheat flour
1 cup plus 2 tbsp of hot water (110 degrees)
1 package of instant yeast (11 grams) (2 1/4 tsp)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves ( I did 1 Tbs dried sage)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, mix white flour, wheat flour, salt, sugar, sage and yeast.
3. Turn on faucet until water is as hot as it gets. Measure a cup of water and add water to the flour mixture and knead until blended. Add olive oil and knead for 2-3 minutes more, or until blended (the dough is very sticky at this stage).
4. Place the dough in a greased bowl, coating all sides of dough. Cover bowl with saran wrap, and let rise somewhere warm for 20 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size.
5. Punch down dough. On a well-floured surface, pull off approximately 3/4 cup of dough and form into a rounded or oval roll shape. Coat roll dough with flour, and place on a greased cookie sheet.
6. Repeat with the remainder of the dough. There should be approximately 12 rolls total.
7. Cover all the rolls with saran wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes, or until doubled again.
8. Bake bread for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bottoms of loaves are golden.

Peanut butter and chocolate bread pudding

So I'm headed to the foodbuzz festival in a few weeks WOOHOO!!! Foodbuzz has partnered with Natures Pride to help six lucky food bloggers with their travel expenses!!! In order to become a Natures Pride Ambassador you have to come up with a recipe featuring one of their breads!! I was totally up for the challenge and wanted to come up with something other than a sandwich (although I do really love sandwiches).

Bread puddings are not normally something I would get excited about... they seem kind ho-hum to me... until I made this bread pudding muffin hybrid... OMG it's amazing. Melt in your mouth, blast of flavor amazing!!! I made a half batch (6 muffins) and each person who had one was looking for more. Delicious!!! I was a little skeptical of my mad tossing together or randomness... but trust me, in the end, these things are AMAZING!

It's like a peanut butter cup met up with a bottle of rum at a party and this was their love child.

steph chows and natures pride present: peanut butter and chocolate chip bread pudding muffins
(could I make the title any longer?)
Makes 6 muffins: you could easily double triple... whatnot this recipe and make it in a large baking pan instead of muffin tins, or make them in mini muffin tins! You'll just need to play with the time for it.

You will need:
4 slices natures pride 100% whole wheat bread
1 cup low fat butter milk
2 Tbs rum (I used captain morgans spiced rum)
3 Tbs brown sugar
2 eggs
3 Tbs all natural chunky peanut butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips


Toast and let cool then slice into 1/2 inch cubes:
4 slices natures pride whole wheat bread

In a blender, blend together:
1 cup low fat butter milk
2 Tbs rum (I used captain morgans spiced rum)
3 Tbs brown sugar
2 eggs
3 Tbs all natural chunky peanut butter (room temperature)

Pour blended liquid over bread and let sit for 20 minutes, toss to make sure all the bread gets coated and absorbed everything.

Fold in:
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Pack mixture firmly into 6 muffin tins (they will be very full). Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

CHOW!!!!!