Category Archives: Breakfast

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bread

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Dark Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bread

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bread

 

I can never do anything normally, can I? Nooooo, not me. Other bloggers post lovely recipes for cranberry orange this and cranberry orange that and make us all run to the store to grab 78 more bags of cranberries to add to the 312 we already have in the freezer because what they create looks so enticing. But not me… I just HAVE to change it up some. Why, you ask? You did ask, didn’t you? I heard someone mumbling out there. Why? I don’t know. I just have to be different. I’m a rebel like that. Or something.

Mind you, I love cranberry orange anything and I may post something a wee bit more “normal” before the holidays are over, but not today.

Tidbit- when my 17 year old son Zach got home from church last night, one of the first things he did was snag a slice (like half the loaf…he’s 17, after all) of this bread. He then wandered to where Russ and I were watching TV and said “Now that’s just weird. This TASTES like Christmas. What the … I took a bite and it just tastes like Christmas.” My reaction was a pleased smile and a “that’s what i was aiming for so I’ll call this recipe a success”. Coming from a young man whose usual response to food is “Snarf….gobble…snort, slurp, kjgJfJfg, more…”  I consider this a great reaction.

And he’s right. This really does taste like Christmas. You have a moist bread with a lovely dark chocolate flavor first, then you are hit with the background of orange and cranberry. The bread itself isn’t overly sweet, so the pieces of chocolate are a pleasant surprise when you get them as are the cranberries. Then the glaze just takes this over the top to complete yumminess.

You know the drill… 🙂

I love you guys!

Mrs. Cupcake, who has eaten far more of this than I should have

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bread

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 cup full fat sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons orange extract
  • zest from one orange (about 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (NOT drink mix)
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda
  • 2/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
  • 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract and orange extract. Beat until combined then add in the sour cream and beat just until combined.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, orange zest, baking powder and baking soda. Dump the chocolate chips and cranberries into the same bowl and give it a quick stir to combine and get all the pieces dusted with the flour. This helps prevent them all from settling down to the bottom of the loaf.
  4. Pour/spoon into the prepared loaf pan (this is a thick batter). Smooth the top. Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
  5. Let cool in the pan for about ten minutes, then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling.
  6. When cool, make you glaze. Combine the powdered sugar and orange zest in a small bowl. Add one tablespoon of the orange juice to it and stir. If it’s still too thick to drizzle, add the other tablespoon of o.j. Drizzle over the cooled loaf and sprinkle with some dried cranberries.

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bread

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Raspberry Chocolate Amaretto Streusel Muffins

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Raspberry Chocolate Amaretto Streusel Muffins

Raspberry Chocolate Amaretto Streusel Muffins




Mannnn, I’ve mentioned before that I hate wordy recipe titles. I prefer straight to the point and concise. But sometimes, you just need to make sure the title lets people know about all the yummy goodness in the food.

It’s funny that I am the same way with recipe titles as I am with life in general. I’ve always told my husband not to assume I fit the stereotypes of how women are “supposed” to act. If I ask you, “do I look fat in these pants?”, and I do, tell me I do. I can’t stand it when some women use phrases like that as a trap for a guy and when he answers honestly, they go on a rampage. Don’t ask the question if you don’t want a straightforward, honest answer! Point being (yes, somewhere in there there was a point) that I like people to be just as straightforward as I like my recipe titles. 😛

And no, I have absolutely no idea where that all came from. Chalk it up to being incredibly tired and as I wrote it, there seemed to be some vague connection lol. Now? Not so much. But it’s there, so…

These muffins are quite yummy if I do say so myself. I had found some fresh raspberries at the grocery store for, get this, 50 cents a pint! I was in shock but not so dumbstruck that I didn’t go ahead and grab six pints. My original thought was to make preserves, but lately, I’ve been unbelievably tired for some odd reason and the thought of making preserves just kind of died out. So I went to muffins. Nice, easy to throw together muffins lol.  And I’m glad I did. The original recipe for the raspberry and chocolate part of these came from Sallys Baking Addiction which is a blog I love. But I wanted to do them a bit differently. Imagine that…me…changing a recipe. Whoda thunk it?

I have always loved the combo of chocolate and raspberry and the combo of chocolate and almond. Knowing that almond also goes with raspberry made this an easy decision as to what to do. Add in some streusel and these are wonderful dessert muffins, though you can of course still eat them for breakfast. Because…muffins! There is no actual Amaretto in these. I used almond flavoring but didn’t want the title to make it seem that there were nuts in here, so amaretto sufficed as a description. These are soft and tender, fairly high rising with a lovely almond flavor amidst bites of raspberry and chocolate. The original recipe called for an oven temp of 425 for the first five minutes, but I did it at 400 instead; hot enough to yield a quick rise, but not so hot as to burn the outside if ones oven runs hot, as many do (cause ovens are finicky pains in the…) Also, since I used more raspberries and more chocolate than Sally’s, I got more muffins. She got six jumbo. I got six jumbo and five regular sized.

You know the drill… 🙂

Raspberry Chocolate Amaretto Streusel Muffins

  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup milk, room temp
  • 1/2 cup neutral oil (I used vegetable)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon almond extract
  • 1 12 ounce bag semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 dry pints fresh raspberries (about 2 cups)
  • Streusel-
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray 6 large and 5 regular muffin cups with no stick spray.
  2. Make your streusel and set aside- in a medium bowl, combine the streusel ingredients. Cut the butter in using a pastry blender. You can also slice it thin and work it in using your fingers. You want small chunks, about the size of a pea.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt). Scoop out about 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture and toss it with the chocolate chips in a small bowl. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. Set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and brown sugar. Add in the oil, milk and extracts. Dump the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and gently stir just until combined. It’s ok, good actually, if there are some small lumps. Over beaten muffin batter makes for tough muffins.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips, then carefully fold in the raspberries, trying your best to break them as little as possible.
  6. Divide the mixture evenly among the prepared cups, filling each to the top. Sprinkle with streusel topping, gently pressing it down onto the muffins. If you have streusel left over, just put it in a ziploc bag and freeze it. It’s wonderful to have on hand when you need some. Place in the oven on the middle rack.
  7. Bake at 400 for five minutes, then, without taking the pans out of the oven, reduce the heat to 350. Bake for about 25 minutes for the large muffins, 18 or so for the small ones, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. let cool in the pan for three minutes, then carefully remove to a rack to finish cooling. These are even more delicious spread with some raspberry jam!

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Easy Caramel Apple Granola

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Easy Caramel Apple Granola

Easy Caramel Apple Granola

Back when I was a kid (yeah, yeah, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we wrote by chiseling on stone tablets), cereal was so much more fun. No one was worrying about whether it was gluten free, because no one knew what the heck gluten was. There was no panic over HFCS being used in cereals because we had the good stuff in our cereals… real sugar! Parents didn’t make their children start their days with food that was approved by our presidents wife (wth is up with that crap, anyway?); food that would carefully begin their days with a perfect balance of nutrients so that little Joey could go kick little Bobbys ass out on the playground when no one was looking because little Joeys mom and little Bobbys mom were in a feud over whose youth soccer league was better.
Nope… when I was a kid, we had far more fun being..well, kids. We ate Pop Tarts for breakfast (for the record, no, my son does not eat pop tarts for breakfast and yes, I know that makes me hypocritical. Ask me if I care. 😀 ), followed by a heaping bowl of something like Kaboom… aka round sugar shapes disguised with a bit of grain. Or maybe King Vitamin, aka, round sugary shapes disguised by a vitamin or two. Then there was the really fun stuff like Count Chocula, which one can only get now during the Halloween season (when the heck did Halloween become big business and even GET its own season, btw?) or one of my favorites, Super Sugar Crisp, well named because sugar made up 95% of its ingredients. In other words, damn, it tasted good! Now however, they have changed the name and the ingredients because the word sugar makes everybody freak out.
Did I forget to mention that was a child, we also played outside unattended, even after dark, and the police weren’t called on our parents, that if we acted up at school, our parents didn’t go in and blame the teacher, but actually disciplined us for what we did wrong and lets not forget the ever reliable, we walked five miles to school… uphill…. both ways.
All that being said, even when I was a kid, one of my favorite cereals has always been any type of granola. Granola has always had this strange rep as healthy. But guess what… it rarely is 😀 It has its good points nutritionally. Since it has a high proportion of fruit, nuts and grains, it has a fair amount of fiber and protein. But that comes with a price. It is also very calorie dense and if you use it like a “normal” cereal and just pour it in a bowl and douse it in milk, you will most likely end up with a 600 calorie bowl of breakfast. It’s better to use it more sparingly; portioned out for the kiddos or yourself in a baggie or mixed into yogurt, spooned over some ice cream or served as a snack with some cheese and fresh fruit.
When I got the idea for this granola, I was sure I would find 500 other incarnations of it online. But lo and behold, while there are caramel apple desserts galore, there was not one caramel apple granola that I found in like 20 pages of Google search. (Edited to add- my brother informed me that yes, there ARE a bunch of them and I realized that what I had googled was what I had originally intended to call this- caramel apple PIE granola. There are none of those, but alas, I’m not original in the other name. *sobs* Brothers! Always have to ruin ones fun!!) Yay for a brief moment of being unique!! I also originally intended to make this completely from scratch, but changed my mind. There are a TON of tasty, plain granolas out there for a decent price that are easily doctored up so I just rolled with that idea. I used my favorite plain granola- Cascadian Farms Fruit And Nut Blend. Then I added some salted caramel sauce (Trader Joes brand, but feel free to use homemade and to use a plain caramel sauce rather than salted), some chopped dried apple slices, some dried cherries, some roasted pistachio pieces for a bit of protein and crunch, mixed it all together and baked it for long enough to “set” the caramel. Let it cool, break it up and voila, you have the perfect snack!

You know the drill… 🙂

Caramel Apple Granola

  • 4 cups (one 13.5 ounce box) of your favorite plain granola
  • 2 cups chopped dried apple slices (about 1.5 bags)
  • 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
  • 2/3 cup roasted pistachios (no shell)
  • 1 1/4 cups caramel sauce (homemade, store bought, salted or not; your choice)
  • whatever else makes you happy in the way of nuts or fruit. You could also add about 1/4 cup of flax or chia seeds or some wheat germ
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the top and using either a large wooden spoon or just your hands, mix it all together until the granola is evenly coated.
  3. Spread out onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 325 for ten minutes. Take out of the oven and break the granola up turning the pieces over, as the bottom will be getting crispy. Bake for ten more minutes at 325. Don’t over bake this. Remember, the granola was already ready to go. You are just baking this to set the caramel.
  4. Place the pan on a rack to cool completely. When cool, break this up into bite sized pieces (or chunks if that’s the way you roll… I tend to prefer smaller pieces so I can use it in yogurt). This is NOT a completely dry granola. It will have a slightly tacky feel even after baking because of the caramel sauce.
  5. When this is 199% cool, store in a tightly covered container.

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Cinnamon Sugar Crusted Applesauce Bread

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Cinnamon Sugar Crusted Applesauce Bread

Cinnamon Sugar Crusted Applesauce Bread

 

My youngest child started Kindergarten this year. He also turned six the first of this month. If you’re a parent, you know what it’s like to see your littlest being not so little anymore. You are torn between being so proud of their accomplishments and teary eyed because the last little baby is gone. For me, that’s a definite gone. No more babies here. I’m 50 and at this age, I can’t imagine starting over, no matter how tempting it may be. As it is, when Joshie (also known as “Boo”, “Boo Berry”, Boo-Boo”, “Boo Of Boo-ness”, “Joshie Of Joshie-ness” and “Berry Of Boo-ness”…. hey, what family doesn’t have weird endearments for each other? Quit laughing at us. 😛 ) graduates high school, I’ll be in my 60’s! YIKES!

When Josh started school, one of the first things he “learned” was how to sit in class (a way I don’t agree with by the way because it promotes back pain and bad posture, but that’s neither here nor there right now 😀 ). It’s called “Criss Cross Applesauce”. My older kids are quite a bit older than he is (think mostly grown and married) and I don’t recall them sitting that way or certainly not having what Urban Dictionary calls “the pansy name for sitting cross legged” for it, lol. So now any time I use applesauce in any way, that phrase pops into my head. That is though, preferable to what used to pop into my head- “pork chops and apppppleeesauceeee” from an old Brady Bunch episode. Yes, yes I am old, thankyouverymuch.

On that note, as I totally show my age…. this bread is quite yummy. Very homey, the perfect breakfast bread or after school snack. It’s moist, sweet, but not overly so, with a nice touch of spice. The cinnamon sugar topping as well as the walnuts inside the bread adds a wonderful bit of texture to this to keep it from being one dimensional. This makes 2 loaves, but it’s easily cut in half, though why bother doing so? The loaves aren’t huge and it lasts a fair amount of days wrapped well 🙂

You know the drill… 🙂

Cinnamon Sugar Crusted Applesauce Bread

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups sweetened applesauce (one 24 ounce container)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
  • For the topping- 2/3 cup sugar combined with
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8 inch loaf pans with a flour/oil baking spray; that or grease and flour the pans. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt and spices.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar for about 4 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.
  3. Add in the eggs, beating well. Add in the applesauce and vanilla, beating on low speed (this will splatter otherwise) until well combined.
  4. Add in the flour mixture and either on low speed with the mixer or using a sturdy wooden spoon,  combine until mixture is just combined. A few small lumps are fine, just no apparent floury areas. Stir in the raisins and walnuts.
  5. Divide between the two prepared pans. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the loaves, gently pressing down. If you don’t use it all, just store it in a small container. It’s great on toast or even in coffee.
  6. Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes then carefully invert onto a rack to finish cooling. You WILL lose some of the topping. Just scoop it up and sprinkle it back on the bread.

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Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

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Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

Caramel Apple Pie Bread With Streusel Topping

 

I remember when I was a child… or maybe I’ll be poetic and say, “I be remembering when I was but a wee tyke”. No, that doesn’t work. I feel like I should be wearing a Leprechauns outfit and eating Lucky Charms. So… I remember when I was a child, back in the Stone Age. Every Autumn our school would start selling caramel apples, or “Affy Tapples” as they were named. Yes, that was the specific brand name. I think they are still available in the Midwestern area. I always loved when they came around. End of the school day, there people would be, small booth set up in the school lobby, selling Affy Tapples for 25 cents. I would wager that the kids today pay a dollar or more for theirs; damned inflation. But, I would go there, tarnished quarter grasped in my dirty little hands and then I got it…. that much loved apple. Is there anything better in Autumn than a caramel apple? You get that tart juicy apple dripping down your chin, a blanket of sweet chewy caramel that gets stuck in your teeth and then the crunchy peanuts. The perfect treat when it comes to a mix of flavors and textures.

I wanted to recreate that experience with this bread, with one exception. I don’t use nuts a whole lot, one, because I am not a huge fan, though I have my times when I like them and two, I just can’t eat them much anymore, what with aging teeth lol. So no nuts in this bread. You could easily add a half cup or so of your favorite nut (would have to be salted chopped peanuts to be authentic though) to the batter.

This is a really good quick bread that goes together fairly quickly. One tip though- don’t shred your apples until just before you get to the step of adding the flour to the batter or they may have time to turn brown. It doesn’t take long for an apple to oxidize at all.  Sweet, moist, great for dessert or a quick breakfast. Have some hot coffee waiting, or tea if you’re like me, and enjoy.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Caramel Apple Pie Bread

  • 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder (Don’t mix this till just before you need it or you could end up with a volcanic science experiment hehe)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1 /2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups shredded tart apple (I used Granny Smiths and just shredded them on a box grater, I also didn’t peel mine; feel free to peel yours if you want, but there’s really no reason to do so) (remember; shred just before using so they don’t turn brown)
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup quartered Werthers Baking Caramels (takes about 20 caramels to get that amount)
  • Streusel-
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
  2. Make your streusel first and set it aside until ready for it- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the softened butter until the mixture is crumbly.
  3. In a medium bowl on low speed with a hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add in your sugars and beat well. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. beat well.
  4. Add in the buttermilk/baking powder mixture. Mix well (darn, I’m using that phrase a lot)
  5. Dump in the flour, salt and spices. On low speed, mix just until combined.
  6. Gently fold in the caramels, the apples and the raisins. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  7. Sprinkle the top of the bread with the streusel.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. A small bit of moist crumb is ok; liquidy is NOT.
  9. Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Be aware, this one is touchy to unpan due to the streusel. Make sure you have it totally loosened before trying or most of the streusel is going to end up on your counter and not on the bread.

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Blueberry Peach Yogurt/Granola Parfaits

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Blueberry Peach Yogurt Granola Parfaits

Blueberry Peach Yogurt Granola Parfaits




Back in the day, when they first came out, I loved McDonalds Yogurt Parfaits. They were a quick fix when I wanted something light, relatively nutritious and still sweet. They were also cheap at a dollar for a good sized serving. Now though, the serving size has shrunk, the price has gone up and they just aren’t as good as they used to be anyway.

So I made my own.

A lot of blogging isn’t even recipes, it’s just helping your readers think outside the food box. This is one of those times. I am giving specifics here on amounts and fruits and the granola I used, etc etc, but unlike this recipe and when you buy these at a store for a bazillion dollars or at McDonalds and wonder if the 16 year old making it sneezed in it, this can be made to YOUR specifications, with the fruits and granola YOU like, the yogurt brand and flavor YOU favor. These just happen to be mine is all.

You know the drill… 🙂

(This makes enough fruit for quite a few parfaits. But that is deliberate. The fruit is wonderful on its own, just mixed with yogurt as is, over ice cream or frozen yogurt, etc. Feel free to halve the quantities if you don’t think you’d use it all within three days or so.)

Blueberry Peach Yogurt/Granola Parfaits

  • 2 cups vanilla or vanilla honey yogurt (my bottom layer was Oikos vanilla, top layer was vanilla honey from Greek Gods)
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
  • 3 peaches, chopped into bite sized chunks
  • juice and zest of one large lime (about 2 tablespoons each juice and zest)
  • 3 tablespoons honey (and a little extra for drizzling over the top)
  • 1 cup of your favorite granola (I used Trader Joes Pumpkin granola)
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the peaches, blueberries, lime juice and zest and the honey. Stir well to combine. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to get some juices going in the fruit and for the flavors to meld.
  2. Now comes the oh so hard part lol; in 4 purty glasses, layer the yogurt, fruit, granola and top with another dollop of yogurt. Drizzle with some extra honey.
  3. They can be served right away or let them sit in the fridge for a while if you prefer softer granola.
  4. Enjoy!! 🙂

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Cracked Pepper & Two Cheese Biscuits

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Cracked Pepper & Two Cheese Biscuits

Cracked Pepper & Two Cheese Biscuits



I have a thing for biscuits, scones, quick breads, all of that type of food. They are quick, they are easy and the biscuits are pure southern comfort food. There is nothing like a biscuit, spread with some fresh butter and dripping with honey or jam.

That said though, there are times I like to change it up. Biscuits are fun to play with.  Ok, that came out sounding strange. I now have a mental image of myself and the boys outside batting around a biscuit. Hmmm, back when I was first learning to make them, that actually may have been possible, though if someone got hit with one, it would have been fatal.  Asssssss I was saying before I had an “ooo, shiny thing” moment there,  biscuits are fun to play with. The normal ones are delicious, but they lend themselves to so many variations. I have made them with the addition of bacon, green onions, cheese, dried fruits, you name it, it can probably go in biscuit dough.

This time I wanted to make them a wee bit more sophisticated. Though sophistication falls by the wayside when they are being eaten by three boys whose idea of sophistication is McDonalds and whose table manners resemble a horde of hungry Hyenas attacking an elephant carcass after being on a 4 day juice fast. But hey, *I* actually took the time to savor them and enjoy the step up from plain biscuits.  I used a good amount of cracked pepper in these (enough that when my five year old actually stopped eating long enough to breathe, he said “these are spicy, momma!” I used two slightly more upscale cheese (as opposed to say, American cheese slices 😛 ) and the flavor was wonderful…. cheesy, peppery, with all the flavors of a good biscuit also. This is perfect for a fancier dinner or a family dinner or just to nosh on.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Cracked Pepper & Two Cheese Biscuits

  • 4 cups self rising flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, refrigerator cold and sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup solid shortening, chilled and sliced thin
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (use whole milk buttermilk if you can find it. It makes a far better biscuit and really, low fat milk in a biscuit is a waste of time calorie wise)
  • 2 tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper
  • 4 ounces Fontina Cheese, shredded
  • 4 ounces Havarti Cheese, shredded
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 (400 if your oven runs hot) degrees, Grease a large baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and cheeses.
  3. Drop the butter and shortening into the bowl of flour. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles pea sized crumbs.
  4. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk, all at once, Use a fork to stir and combine the milk with the flour until you have a cohesive dough. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured board or counter top. Pat it down into a flat circle. Fold it into thirds like you’re folding a letter to fit into an envelope. Pat it down again, fold it one more time. Finally, pat it into a rough circle of about 1 inch high.
  5. Cut out as many biscuits as you can get, laying them right next to each other in the baking pan if you want soft sided biscuits or about an inch apart if you want crisp sided biscuits.
  6. Bake at 400 to 425 for about 20 to 24 minutes, until they are firm on top and golden brown. Take off the pan and serve piping hot, preferably with some nice fresh homemade butter. Believe it or not, even with the cheese and the pepper, these are excellent with honey on them too; it adds to the flavor, making a sweet/savory combo.

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Savory Filled Breads- (Pepperoni Cheese & Sun Dried Tomato/Basil)

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Pepperoni Cheese Bread and Tomato/Basil Bread

Pepperoni Cheese Bread and Tomato/Basil Bread



I think we’ve come to the conclusion by now that one of my baking loves is yeast bread, be they Sweet or Savory or Let’s do sweet again. I just love homemade yeasty, soft, fluffy breads or baked goods. Store bought ones rarely are as good, though I admit to trying them to find out when I need a ‘fix”. Wal-Mart carries a pepperoni cheese bread that is sufficient when I am craving that type, but I always just KNEW I could do better. Theirs isn’t suitable for sandwiches because it’s fairly flat and it always had this slightly off sourish taste, like it was a confused sourdough bread with an attitude problem. I had made filled breads in the past but usually more in a calzone sort of a way, as a meal not as a sandwich bread with a filling. SO I had to try. Of course. And I am pretty pleased with it.  I needed to roll it a bit tighter, but otherwise, it’s really yummy. Somehow, I doubt it’s going to make it to sandwiches though. Between two teen boys, my husband and our five year old, both loaves are almost gone. But that’s ok; it gives me an excuse to make more.

This is easy as can be if you’ve made yeast bread even a couple of times before. If not, this is still a recipe that’s easy enough for a beginner. I just took my basic honey white bread recipe and changed it enough to make it more savory. The main tip? Make sure you roll TIGHTLY or you will end up with loaves that have a hole going through them as you see in mine. Still tasty as all git out, but not as pretty or as useful for sandwiches. Also, if these filling ideas don’t work for you, play around. Just don’t use anything too wet and don’t fill with too much or it will burst as it bakes. And if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can always do the mixing and kneading by hand. It can be fun to do it the old fashioned way. 🙂 And have your ingredients ready to go. I have been known to have an overflowing cup of blooming yeast because I am waiting on the milk I forgot to heat up to finish cooling.

You know the drill… 🙂

Savory Filled Breads- (Pepperoni Cheese & Sun Dried Tomato/Basil)

  • 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees or so; up to 115 is fine)
  • 2 packages dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups milk (NOT skim), heated and then cooled down to between 110 and 115 degrees
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 5 to 6 cups all purpose or bread flour (amount needed will vary- I used 5 cups for this recipe in a hot, humid house)
  • 2 tablespoons dried Italian Seasoning, crushed in your hand to release the flavors
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
  • For the pepperoni cheese-
  • 4 ounces sliced pepperoni
  • 4 ounces shredded Mozzarella or Fontina cheese
  • 2 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
  • For the Sun Dried Tomato/Basil-
  • 1 cup of julienned fresh basil
  • 4 ounces of dry sun dried tomatoes (if you use the kind packed in oil, dry them thoroughly)
  • 4 ounces Fontina cheese
  • 3 ounces shredded Parmesan
  • To top both breads-
  • Shredded Parmesan and/or Fontina
  1. Grease 2 9×5 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Add the yeast and sugar to the 1/2 cup of warm water. Stir and allow it to sit for about five minutes to activate the yeast.
  3. To the bowl of your stand mixer, with the paddle attachment on, add the milk, honey, butter and yeast. Mix on low speed just until blended.Change over to the dough hook. Add 2 cups of the flour, the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and egg yolks. Mix on low speed for five minutes.
  4. Keeping the mixer on low, add two more cups of flour. Turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl down. Raise the mixer speed to 3 and let the hook work it until the dough comes away form the side of the bowl. Feel the dough and if it’s still sticky, add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time. You do NOT want a stiff, hard dough.
  5. Knead on the speed of 2 for 6 to 8 minutes, until you have a nice glossy, just slightly tacky dough.
  6. Dump the dough into an oiled bowl, turn it to make sure both sides of the dough have oil on them, then cover with a towel or loose plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour.
  7. When doubled, punch the dough down and divide into two equal pieces. Take one out and leave the other covered until you are done with the first. Dump the one onto a very lightly floured board and knead just to get it into a ball.
  8. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, approximately 8×12 inches. Sprinkle your fillings (for whichever you’re doing first) evenly over the top of the dough. For the pepperoni, lay it out on the dough, don’t just toss it on there 😛 .
  9. From the short end of the dough, roll it up, slowly and tightly. Pinch the seams shut with your fingers, using a LITTLE bit of water to help seal them if you need to. Fold the ends of the bread under lightly, seal them also and place in one of the prepared pans.
  10. Now do the same with the other half, also sprinkling on the fillings and rolling tightly.
  11. Let the dough rise until about an inch over the top of the pan, which should take about 45 minutes. Brush each loaf with olive oil or butter and sprinkle with shredded cheese.
  12. Bake at 350 until the loaves are golden brown and firm on top, about 35 to 40 minutes.
  13. Turn the bread out onto a rack and let cool completely, or as long as you can handle it until you just have to cut one of them 😛

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Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits & The Times, They Are A’Changin’

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Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits

Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits

 

It occurred to me earlier today that I have been cooking for about 40 years now. I’m not quite sure whether to be proud of that fact or to go get my walker and economy size bottle of Geritol. I look back to when I was first starting when I was about ten and it amazes me how much grocery stores have changed. Back when I was a kid, you could still find a fair amount of mom and pop stores that carried the basics and a lot of cheap candy but not much else. Then you had the chain stores, which in the case of where I lived, were Jewel and Dominicks. You could fit two or three of those quite neatly into say, a Super Wal-Mart. They sold more than the mom and pop stores but the variety back in the ’70’s just was NOT what it is now. We take it all for granted and just blithely walk through huge grocery stores without batting an eye, but those of us who are older (as well as those who have lived in other countries that don’t have mega marts like we do) remember it being much different back in the days of the dinosaurs :-P  Stores had about ten aisles and if you wanted something fancy, you’d better have access to a large city with small gourmet shops.

Now however, you can go to any large chain grocery store and get gourmet cheeses, artisan breads, fancy meats and some even sell a good variety of decent wines. One of my favorite things about the here and now is the variety of ice cream hehe. When I was a kid, you got vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, Neapolitan, butter pecan, rocky road and that was about it. My favorite then was Neapolitan , my sisters was Butter Pecan and my brothers was vanilla. He was the boring one 😛 NOW however, I can easily spend 20 minutes in the ice cream aisle choosing from gourmet gelatos and ice creams of every flavor under the sun.

Another thing that has changed is biscuits. You know those four packs of the canned biscuits that make biscuits with very little flavor and that are the size of a silver dollar? That was IT as far as the selection went. Those and *shudders* the prepackaged “Brown N Serve” rolls. My mom got those every holiday and I hated them. Even then I knew there had to be better out there somewhere. And now you can get some pretty good biscuits in the frozen section. But even then, they aren’t homemade. It took me literally years to learn to make a good buttermilk biscuit. Mine were….edible… but rather too hard and dense, to say the least. Now, if I do say so myself, I make some darn good biscuits. I’ve even taught my daughter and one other family member (who prefers not to admit they were schooled by me 😛 ) how to do so. Now I’m writing it down for the rest of you. They are NOT difficult. The main thing to remember with biscuits? A light touch and don’t overwork your dough. It took me forever to figure that out. I used to knead it about a dozen times the way some recipes said to do. Now, I just dump the dough out, press it into shape, fold it a couple of times, press again and cut them. That’s it. Overworking is the death of a biscuit. Plus, as counter intuitive as it sounds, too much fat in the dough will make for a tougher, flatter biscuit. Stick to the ingredients and ratios here and you’ll have great biscuits. It may take a few times to learn to work the dough properly so if these don’t look like my photo right away, don’t sweat it. They will. I promise.

This makes about ten LARGE biscuits. If you want smaller and aren’t feeding an army, you may want to cup the recipe in half. If not, freeze the leftovers, securely wrapped.

You know the drill… 🙂

Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits

  • 4 cups self rising flour (please, if you have access, use  White Lily brand flour. If you can’t find it, then Martha White is a decent substitute.)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (yes, even though the flour is self rising)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, refrigerator cold and sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup solid shortening, chilled and sliced thin
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (use whole milk buttermilk if you can find it. It makes a far better biscuit and really, low fat milk in a biscuit is a waste of time calorie wise)
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, Grease a large baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder and salt.
  3. Drop the butter and shortening into the bowl of flour. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles pea sized crumbs.
  4. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk, all at once, Use a fork to stir and combine the milk with the flour until you have a cohesive dough. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured board or counter top. Pat it down into a flat circle. Fold it into thirds like you’re folding a letter to fit into an envelope. Pat it down again, fold it one more time. Finally, pat it into a rough circle of about 1 inch to 1 1/4 inches high.
  5. Cut out as many biscuits as you can get, laying them right next to each other in the baking pan if you want soft sided biscuits or about an inch apart if you want crisp sided biscuits.
  6. Bake at 425 for about 20 to 24 minutes, until they are firm on top and golden brown. Take off the pan and serve piping hot, preferably with some nice fresh homemade butter (in the background of my photo and yes, it will be a later post) and good quality jam, preferably something like my homemade Apple Pie Jam because homemade is always better 😀

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Chocolate Iced Yeast Doughnuts With Blood Orange Filling

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Chocolate Iced Yeast Doughnuts With Blood Orange Filling

Chocolate Iced Yeast Doughnuts With Blood Orange Filling



I’ve always been a doughnut fan. I mean, it’s fried dough which is then usually covered in a glaze or frosting. What’s not to love, right? Back when I was a kid (heck, even now. I admit it) getting a treat of Dunkin Donuts made my day. My favorite was always the Bavarian Creme. And the Boston Creme. And the ones with the thick vanilla filling. And the ones with…. erhmmm, ok, I liked them all. As I got older though, and my palate become more sophisticated (saith the woman who brags about loving Cheetos) I would wish they had more interesting flavors. Not that that stopped me from eating 98 doughnuts in one sitting, just that I wanted more variety. So how do you get more interesting flavors? You make them yourself. Or live in a city with a gourmet Doughnut shop, but that’s not here in rural Kentucky. Gourmet here is “Franks Doughnuts”; good but not fancy.

I made this recipe for Orange Curd knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it. Other than spoon bites of it into my waiting mouth at 2am when no one is looking, that is. Along with Lil’ Smokies sausages. Don’t ask… just don’t ask.

I wanted to use the curd (gosh, curd is a word that soooo doesn’t do justice to the smooth creamy, buttery topping that it is.) as a doughnut filling. And what better way to do that then a yeast doughnut covered in chocolate. Chocolate…orange…classic, right? While my doughnut shapes leave something to be desired, namely, symmetry lol, they taste fantastic. You have a puffy, fluffy and tender yeast doughnut that is mildly sweet with a subtle hint of orange, then a smooth rich chocolate icing and finally that wonderful slightly tangy orange filling. Pure heaven. And oh so easy to eat way more than you need, this why I don’t make doughnuts often. I’d weigh 800 pounds. This is a multi step recipe, but none of the steps is difficult. If you’ve made any recipes using a yeast dough before, this is no different. You’re just frying it instead of baking it. Just make the curd the day before, so that it’s thoroughly chilled when you fill the doughnuts. If orange curd isn’t to your liking, you could use jam or pastry cream or even instant pudding if you’re feeling lazy lol.

You know the drill… 🙂

Chocolate Iced Yeast Doughnuts With Blood Orange Filling

  • Doughnuts-
  • 2 tablespoons warm water
  • 1 envelope dry yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk, warmed to between 115-120 degrees
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon Boyajian Orange Oil
  •  1 egg
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • vegetable oil (enough to fill a pot about 4 inches deep)
  • Icing- (Alton Browns Recipe)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Filling- Orange Curd
  1. For the doughnuts- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the yeast and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add in the milk, egg, sugar, vanilla, softened butter, orange zest and orange oil and one cup of the flour. Mix with the paddle attachment just until it is mixed.
  2. Switch over to the dough hook, then add the rest of the flour. Mix at low speed until the dough pulls away cleanly from the side of the bowl. Scrape once or twice if you need to. When the dough is smooth and elastic looking, dump it out into a lightly greased bowl. Turn to coat all sides, then cover with a clean cloth and set somewhere warm to rise. Let rise until doubled in bulk.
  3. After is rises, pat or roll it into a circle that is about 3/4 of an inch thick. Use a 2.5 inch cutter (obviously, if you want smaller or larger doughnuts, change the cutter size but remember to watch your frying time in that case). Cut out the doughnuts, then set them aside on a clean baking sheet. Allow them to rise again until they are doubled in bulk.
  4. While they are rising, slowly heat 4 inches of oil in a large pot to 350 degrees.
  5. When the doughnuts are risen, carefully slide a few at a time into the hot oil. Let cook for one minute on each side (if making 2.5 inch doughnuts), until nicely browned on both sides.
  6. Carefully scoop the doughnuts out and lay them on a wire rack set over a cookie sheet. While they cool, make your icing.
  7. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla. Heat until the butter is totally melted. Add in the chopped chocolate and swirl the pan around, then let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir to finish incorporating the chocolate, then sift in the powdered sugar. Whisk well until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
  8. Filling the doughnuts is easy- pour the orange curd into a plastic squeeze bottle, the type you see ketchup in. You can find them for a dollar at Wal-mart. Poke the top of the squeeze bottle into the side of the doughnut. Squeeze the bottle gently, pulling back as you do so, until the tip comes out of the doughnut. If it looks like you need more filling, squeeze a little more in.
  9. Dip each filled doughnut into the warm icing, swirling as you lift up to get rid of the excess.
  10. Set the doughnuts aside to let the icing dry…. or just eat them. I’m fine with that.

Copyright Notice: From Cupcakes To Caviar images and original content are copyright protected. Please do not publish these materials anywhere without prior permission.