The BEST blueberry breakfast cake. Ever.

It's not mine, but I'm sharing and adding my notes for y'all's benefit.

Seriously delicious and crazy easy, Alexandra knocks it out of the park!  Head on over to her blog to see the recipe in all its glory.


AlexandraCooks.com | Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake
https://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/

When I don't have a fresh lemon to zest, I add 3 drops of lemon essential oil.  I think there's true magic in creaming the lemon oils (from zest or EO) with the fat of the butter - it infuses that light freshness through the entire recipe and compliments the blueberries perfectly.

I use frozen berries when I don't have fresh, I just let them thaw a bit on the counter while I'm preparing the rest - then toss with flour as directed.  (That little step keeps them from all sinking to the bottom!)

Sometimes, I make these into muffins, using If You Care large baking cups (LOVE @If_You_Care). I preheat the oven to 350F then take it down to 325F once I pop the pans in.  They take about 25-30 minutes, but start checking at 20.  You can use a toothpick to test done-ness as they won't necessarily brown a bunch.

And don't skip the sugar sprinkle on top.  They're not the same without!

Happy Blueberry Month!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

*** UPDATED ***

So, I was a little over zealous in sharing this win with you. It was so good fresh out of the oven.  A little dense, but yummy for sandwiches the next day.  But today... oh, boy.  It's turned in to a brick.  A beautiful brick, but a brick nonetheless.  *sigh*  I think it's because it uses butter instead of oil.  

I'm very sorry if any of you ran out there and whipped this up, only to be disappointed that I'd lead you astray on this one.  I'm feeling rather sad myself, really hoping I'd accomplished this rare feat - lovely, yummy, home made bread.  So... the search continues.  I will keep you posted, and please share with me in comments if you have a tried and true recipe I should give a whirl.   For now, I'm going to scratch this one off my list.  

Tracy



I have a confession to make.  I am working to overcome my fear of making yeast bread.  It's an irrational fear, considering that when I was a teenager I won medals at the county level with my challah bread... but, you know, that was years ago. And my memory? Not so hot.

As adventurous as I usually am in the kitchen, it seems a little embarrassing.

I'm also trying to downsize our "stuff", so, as Alton Brown would put it "single taskers need not apply".  I LOVE my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It is red.  I love red.  It is a gift from my in-laws.  I love my in-laws.  I usually make things like mashed potatoes or marshmallows in it (or cookie dough, or frosting...)  But a while back, while coaching me through cinnamon rolls, Aunt Mel showed me how to use the dough hook and a light bulb went on.  Breadmaker, shbreadmaker - I have a KitchenAid!

I am now also... drum roll please... a stay at home mom.  Really.  And it's amazing.  A little scary too, but amazing.  It's where God has put me. Knowing that, I am doing my very best to rest in Him and embrace my new role.  So today, when we used the last slice of bread, I thought "Tracy, why can't you just make bread".

WHAAA???  Crazy talk.  Good crazy.

Yeah, so a couple minutes on Google, a half dozen recipes critiqued, and one conglomerate emerged.  My bread.  Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, with honey and oats.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Honey Oatmeal Bread
Makes 2 loaves.

Preheat oven to 350F, grease 2 standard loaf pans.
(I have one glass and one non-stick and they both worked great.)

1-1/2 c water
1/2 c honey
1/2 c unsalted butter (if using salted butter adjust salt)

5 to 6 c all purpose flour
1 c quick cooking oats
3 tsp salt (reduce to 2 if using salted butter)
2 T dry active yeast or (2) 1/4oz packets

3 eggs, one separated

1 T water
oatmeal to sprinkle on top

In small saucepan, combine water, honey and butter - bring to 120F (this is the right temp to feed your yeast).  While this is warming, combine dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl.

Mix on speed 2 while gradually adding warm wet ingredients.  Next add 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk (reserve white to brush the top).

Continue on speed 2 while adding remaining flour, 1/3 cup at a time, until the dough clings to hook and sides of the bowl are clean.  The amount of flour can vary depending on many things, I ended up using a total 6 cups.  Knead 2 minutes.

Put dough in greased bowl to rise.  I sprayed olive oil in a large glass bowl (about the same size as my stand mixer bowl) and put the dough in, then turned it over so the top and bottom got some oil on them.  Drape a clean kitchen towel over the bowl, and set it somewhere warm and dark.  I put it on the counter next to the fridge.  The motor from the fridge creates a warm draft on one side, so I took advantage of that.  Set your kitchen timer for 1 hour and walk away.

Flour a small patch of counter top.  Pour the dough out, push it around a little (get bossy) and pinch in the middle to make two loaves.  Shape them a little and put any rough edges on the bottom of your loaf.  Place in greased loaf pans and drape with clean kitchen towel.  Set aside for 20 minutes or so.  This is your second rise.  They'll rise more as they cook too.

Add 1 T water to reserved egg white and brush on to tops of loaves.  Sprinkle with oats (Cora got to help with this step).  Bake for 40 minutes at 350F.  Remove from oven and turn out onto cooling rack.  I immediately cut the heel off one, poured some milk, and Cora and I quite enjoyed ourselves.

I hope you'll try this in your home.  Turns out, baking bread isn't all that scary!!  

Easy Cranberry Bread

Ever stared blankly into your pantry wondering what you'll use to make... something... Hoping, maybe, that you'll find a new use for a tried and true pantry staple?  I have two words for you.

Cranberry sauce.

Not just for Thanksgiving, it also makes AMAZING sauce for tangy cranberry meatballs.  And, as luck would have it, quick bread!!  There's something so magical about baking yummy food without a special shopping list or trip to the store.  So here it is.  I scoured the interwebs, read dozens of recipes... and made one that we're keeping.  When I asked Stan if he liked it, he suggested it go on the blog.  We have a winner!!

Easy Cranberry Bread

Preheat oven to 325F, grease bottom of loaf pan.

2 c all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
2 drops Wild Orange essential oil (optional)
1 c chopped walnuts

Sift together flour, baking powder and spices. Set aside.

Cream together butter, sugar and essential oil.  Add eggs then cranberry sauce.

Fold in walnuts.

Bake at 325F for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

Makes 1 medium loaf.  Store covered at room temp for about 5 days (if it lasts that long).

Easy Rustic Italian Bread

This recipe comes from Stan's Aunt Melodee and her fiance David.  They came for a visit and this was their contribution to the family dinner - it is crave-worthy, crusty and chewy, and oh-so-unbelievably easy!!  I asked if I could share this recipe and they agreed.  So grateful to them, for all their help (and for this awesome recipe).

First off, you'll need some hardware - a dutch oven, cast iron or stoneware.  Enameled cast iron is their preference, but they borrowed my Pampered Chef "magic pot", aka Deep Dish Covered Baker.  It worked great.  We'll be working with some high temps, so do check use instructions on your pot first.  If you have to reduce temps, increase bake time 5-10 minutes in each step.

Then, you'll need to plan ahead.  There's no kneading, or pounding... but you will have to give the yeast time to do its magic.  Mix up the sponge, or dough, a day ahead (18 hours).  So think of this as a "before you go to bed, and when you get home from school/work the next day", kind of adventure.

Ready?!

Rustic Italian Bread

30 oz (approx. 6 cups) flour, I used whole wheat and increased the water by 2 T)
1/2 t yeast
1-1/2 t salt
3 c water

1 T cornmeal
1 T flour

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in water and stir to mix. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let sit on counter overnight, or 18 hours.

To Bake:
Put dutch oven, with lid, in oven and preheat to 450F for 30 minutes.  Just before the 30 minutes are up, put a little flour on the counter and dump the sponge/dough out onto it.  Fold all four sides into the center, use a large spatula or dough scraper if you need to.  Carefully take the dutch oven out of the hot oven, sprinkle cornmeal on the bottom.

Pick up the sponge and plop it down into the hot dutch oven. Yes, plop.  Do a happy dance that you didn't have to knead dough.  Put the lid on and return it to the oven.  After 30 minutes, remove the lid.  Continue baking for an additional 30 minutes at 450F.

The bread should be nice and toasty brown with a total cook time of about an hour.

Let cool for a few minutes then take out and put on a cooling rack. Allow to cool on rack (if you can bear to wait that long before digging in).  Slice and enjoy!  We had ours with a little butter and honey.

-- Sponge Cryostasis --
If, for some reason, you can't get to baking the sponge in the proper time, seal the bowl well with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for up to 12 hours.  Return the sponge to room temperature before baking as directed above.

Cranberry-Orange Chocolate Bread Pudding

As my friend Helen put it:  What do you do when life gives you overdone muffins?  Make bread pudding!

Yes, it all started when I overcooked a double batch of muffins.  I didn't trust my gut.  I'd been baking all day and knew the oven was retaining heat well, but I didn't set the timer at the low end of the recipe time.  The top two-thirds of them were still fantastic (but that doesn't make a very nice gift, bottomless muffins) so I needed to find something to do with them. Bread Pudding! Of course. Never made bread pudding before. Since they were cranberry-orange muffins, those flavors were in my search terms and this came up. And I already had a bowl full of orange-cranberry relish!

So I quickly chopped up the 23 day-old muffins (24, minus the one I ate, and the too-dark bottoms) and the rest is history.  Now, don't be turned off by all the from-scratch ingredients.  Everything can be made in advance, pace yourself.  The muffins are supposed to be a little dried out, so day old is good.  And you could make the relish a whole week ahead. 
 
Cranberry-Orange Chocolate Bread Pudding
Start with 2 batches (24) Orange-Cranberry Delicate Muffins and 1 batch Cranberry-Orange Relish

Middle
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 c orange-cranberry relish
3/4 c chopped cranberries

Custard
6 eggs
2 c milk
1-1/2 c cream
3/4 c sugar
2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
2 T unsalted butter
1-2 T orange liquer (optional)

Chocolate Sauce
4 oz chocolate - I used 2 oz chopped bittersweet and 2 oz regular semi-sweet chips
1/4 c cream or half and half
pinch salt

Lightly grease bottom of 9x13 glass pan.  Cut muffins into pieces, set aside. 

Chop chocolate, set aside. In a food processor chop cranberries with relish. Arrange half of chopped-up muffins in one layer in baking dish and sprinkle evenly with chocolate and all of cranberry relish mix. Top with remaining muffin pieces. 

In a bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, milk, cream, vanilla, and salt and pour slowly and evenly over bread. Cut butter into bits and dot pudding with it. Chill, covered, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. (I love make ahead recipes!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake on middle rack, about 40 minutes.

Sauce (takes about 10 minutes):
In a double boiler (small metal bowl set over a small pot of not-quite simmering water) melt chocolate then whisk in 1/4 cup cream and a pinch of salt until combined well. Keep sauce warm, covered.

Serve pudding warm with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Makes 12 generous servings.

Breadstick Snakes

Today is Alex's class party. Not being sold on all the usual sugar and creepy that accompanies Halloween, I have made it my mission to find cool alternatives. Check out these little guys - inspired by these little guys. 

Alex helped by rolling and wrapping the dough and by drawing the eyes on (with food coloring markers). I manned the green color mist and the carrot tongues.  They each have their own little personality and Alex is so excited to share them with his friends!

We bought wooden dowels at our local home improvement store and cut them to fit the length of my baking sheets.  Then I covered them in foil and lightly greased them with a little spray olive oil.  We used store-bought breadstick dough and rolled them a little before wrapping them around the sticks.  They baked according to directions and I removed them from the sticks as soon as they were cool enough to touch.

All lined up on a baking rack, I held them over the sink and sprayed them with Color Mist in green (they're not kidding about that overspray warning- it's so fine you almost can't tell it's there -until you add water- so be very careful.  I laughed when I blew my nose before bed and had bright green snot!).  Then, Alex used a food-coloring marker to draw on the eyes.  The markers came in a set and were a bit pricey, but they're what really made the whole process interactive for Alex.  He was able to help with the dough and with the decorating.  He's been complimented by his teachers for having excellent spacial skills, specifically the ability to put facial features where they belong, so I got to employ one of his talents.  He did such a great job.

I wasn't going to put tongues on them, but when I explained the project to Alex he informed me "Mommy, snakes have tongues" and I'm so glad he did.  They'd just be worms otherwise.  I added a little sliver of carrot for a tongue (using a veggie peeler on baby carrots, then just notched a little v out, and I had to cut a little slit in the breadstick with the paring knife before pushing the carrot into place). 

We had a lot of fun working on this project together.  As Alex drew the eyes on, he would speculate about each snake - "this one's sleepy", "this one's looking up at the sky", "this one's funny".   And we managed to get all but the last batch (9 of 36) done between dinner and bedtime.  I'd call that a success.

Apple Sausage Strata

I created this for Christmas brunch 2003.  It was something I could just wake up and pop in the oven, and it was a big hit.  I've since made it for retreats and family gatherings with rave reviews.  (It's easy too.)

Apple Sausage Strata
1 loaf french bread, sliced 1-1/2" thick
10 large eggs
3 c half and half (if you use non-fat, spray the pan with cooking oil)
2 t dijon mustard
1 t salt

Lay bread slices to cover bottom of dish, cut to fill smaller spaces.

Whisk together eggs with half and half and seasonings, pour over bread.  Let sit covered overnight, or at least 2 hours.

Topping:
2 c grated cheddar cheese
3 apples, diced with peels on (braeburn are my favorite)
2 c cubed smoked turkey sausage (or turkey kielbasa)

Top bread with some cheese, then apples and sausage and more cheese.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes covered with foil, then remove foil and bake until bread springs back in middle (20-30 minutes more). Cool 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Serves 8-10 hungry people.

Peach French Toast Bake

Make this breakfast the night before... stumble out of bed and pop it into the oven. TahDah!

Peach French Toast Bake
1 loaf french bread
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 c milk
1 t vanilla
5 c frozen sliced peaches
1/2 lemon or about 1-1/2 T lemon juice
3 T brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Spray 9x13" pan with cooking spray.  Slice bread about 1" think and cover entire bottom of pan. Mix eggs, milk and vanilla.  Pour over bread, pressing down on any bread that floats and using little pieces of bread to fill in all gaps.

Toss the still mostly frozen peach slices with lemon juice and brown sugar.  Arrange in a single layer on top of bread and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Bake at 350F for 20 covered with foil then 20 minutes uncovered, or until bread springs back in middle.

Easter Bread

A Russian Easter Bread (round) and Challah (long). They were marvelous! The Challah's tried and true. The Russian Easter Bread is a new recipe but sounded really interesting, from Epicurious.com.  It's dense, and sweet and Granddad's fresh whole wheat flour is what really made it WOW.  Grandmother said that I would have won a blue ribbon on the Challah, it was funny to inform her that I already had!  Hooray for a home-made Easter.
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Irish Soda Bread

This is courtesy my S-I-L. She made it for St. Patrick's Day and I'm suddenly craving it so I had to dig out the recipe. It's on the list for this weekend now. Maybe it will make it on to yours too!

Irish Soda Bread
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour (or use 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour plus 1 cup unbleached)
1/2 to 3/4 cup raw or brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
1 egg
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup golden raisins, cranberries or currants (soaked to plump)
1 teaspoon dried caraway seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, until crumbly. Add egg and buttermilk. Mix until moistened. Add raisins or currants and caraway seeds if desired.

Form into a round loaf on a greased baking sheet. Use a knife to cut a spiral or cross on the top. Bake one hour.

(She said that she only baked it for about 45 minutes and used all whole wheat flour. The original recipe called to soak the currants in whiskey I think, but she just used water overnight and it was oh, so tasty!)