Old-fashioned Homemade Bread

The weather is still a little chilly here.  We had a week in the low 60’s and then the rain, which brought back the chilly weather.  It’s a good day to bake bread.  We have company coming next week and then Easter brunch here so I will begin to bake the breads I will serve.  I usually bake it and freeze it until I need it; then simply put it in a warm oven just before serving.

This recipe comes to us via my partner, Chef Teresa.  It is a wonderful addition to any meal and is great for those leftover sandwiches.  Give it a try but be fore-warned; you ‘d better make two loaves as the first one will disappear while it is still warm from the baking.

Aunt Joanie's Blueberry Muffins

Still snowing in Cincy, for those of you keeping score this is the snowiest (is that a word?) February in history; and we are only at the 16th of the month.  Over the weekend my phone beeped, my neighbor and friend was calling to see if he could stop by with some homemade blueberry muffins.  Now this is a guy who prides himself a grill master but claims no skills at all in the kitchen.  Long story short, he shows up with a basket full of steaming hot blueberry muffins.

Just looking at the muffins you could immediately tell they were not the  standard mix the ingredients from a box muffins.  Moist, full of berries, these breakfast treats will warm your bellies and your spirits on a cold, snowy morning.  They wouldn’t be bad mid-summer either.  Mark suggests using wild blueberries, he is from Vermont, and coarse sugar on top, but they are really great no matter where you got your berries.  Mark claims they are his aunt Joanie’s recipe; wonder if he is holding back on any other of his aunt’s recipes?

(From the Easy Meals I Can Cook  Collection at emealsforyou.com)

Banana Nut Muffins

In our house we have differing opinions about just when a banana is right for eating.  My wife likes it when they are just turning from green to yellow.  The bananas are hard and crisp with a slight tart taste, perfect she would say.  I, on the other hand, like them when they are getting yellow or even when they are showing some signs of black on the skin, they are sweet and soft and everything you would want in a banana.  Which brings me to the reasoning behind this post.

When the bananas begin to go over the hill, soft and yellow/black with spots of brown on the inside, it’s then that most people throw them away.  This is a big mistake as they are just right for banana nut muffins.  These are quick to make and if you get your timing down just right you can have them out of the oven when your family comes into the kitchen to start their day. No one can resist the warm muffins.  If you are having trouble getting your kids to eat something before school; try putting a plate of the muffins out on the end of the counter, where they grab their books and head out.  Chances are they will grab one or two on the fly.  The muffins are good cold, wrap them in plastic wrap and leave them out and watch them disappear.  Just remember to hide one for yourself, warm it in the microwave and sit back for the 3 minutes relaxation you allow yourself.

Banana Nut Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray PAM in muffin tins. Reserve 1 Tb of flour. Combine remaining flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Melt butter and cool. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl; add sugar and whip until light and fluffy. Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat until blended; fold in flour ½ at a time. Mix nuts and chocolate chips with the reserved 1 Tb of flour. Fold into mixture. Scope into muffin tins and bake for 15- 18 minutes until brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Hazelnut Toffee

I thought it was right to end this series on homemade holiday treats and gifts with, what I consider, the best of the best.  This homemade candy treat is easy to make, and has magical properties, it disappears as soon as it is put out.

I started this post and then realized I had written one on the toffee last year.  So with apologies to those who remember the post I will repeat it here, I think I got it right that time. One last thing I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to remind everyone to donate what you can to a food bank or local food drive.  We support Manna Outreach, Inc in Cincinnati. Click here to go to the Manna Outreach website to donate.

Here is the post:

I used to make Hazelnut Toffee every year at Christmas.  I would make several batches and then buy some nice Christmasy tins and pass the toffee around to the neighbors.  We moved and I guess I kind of let the tradition get away from me.  The kids grow up; you move away from the comfort zone you have established and some of the little things fall by the wayside.

I could find some tins and begin again with the new neighbors but for some reason it just doesn’t feel the same.  Old friends ares still old friends but bonding with new friends takes time… histories have to be exchanged.  Mutual interests need to be defined and common causes voiced.  New lifestyle patterns are in place and time just seems to move faster.

The good news is that my kids now make the toffee and make the rounds with the Christmasy tins.  And look, I made the toffee again… now if I can only find my tins.

A word of caution; this recipe involves very  hot sugar and should not be made around children, as spills happen.

Hazelnut Toffee

Toast nuts in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes, remove immediately, cool and roll in a towel to remove husk. Place in plastic bag and hit with a flat pan to crush.

Prepping the chocolate- Place chocolate bits in a small food processor and chop into small pieces.

In a medium size, heavy pot place the butter, sugar, water and honey, heat over high heat about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 290-300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Immediately add the crushed nuts, remove from heat, and stir. Pour on a greased cookie sheet (11 X 17), spread out evenly and sprinkle the chocolate on top, when the chocolate melts sprinkle the ground nuts on top. Cool and store in airtight containers.

CAUTION: This is not a project you make with your kids. The sugar reaches 300 degrees and is very dangerous if handled improperly.

Bev's Pineapple Bread Pudding

Looking for that different something to serve along with the usual holiday suspects?  Want something easy and yet a complete surprise for those around your table?  This may be the answer.  My mother-in-law makes this wonderful side dish, good enough to serve as a dessert but perfect to cut through all the richness of the large holiday meals.  Save this for the day after and you have the perfect way to make that turkey sandwich seem more like a meal.

Mary N's Baked French Toast

With the holidays rapidly approaching we find ourselves thinking about company coming to town to enjoy a visit and immediately our brains turn to food.  What to feed them?  The dinner meals are usually pretty straight forward;  large extravaganzas with turkeys, hams or roasts taking center stage.  Fill in around these and you are all set.

It’s the other meals that drive us up a wall.  Beyond juice and coffee what to serve for breakfast.  You know that meal first thing in the morning that you usually skip save for a cup of coffee.  Company changes all that.  Bagels and doughnuts only go so far, and besides you what them to think you care about starting the day off right, right?  The answer may lie in make ahead breakfast casseroles.  Do all the work ahead when you have the time.  Company morning get up, turn the coffee pot on and preheat the oven.  Pop in your pre-made casserole and let the aroma drift through the house.  Chances are everyone will show up with a smile on their face and exclaim, “boy, I can’t believe you got up early and made breakfast for us!”

This recipe comes to us via my wife’s aunt Mary.  She brought some cream cheese brownies to a family function recently and this recipe was a bonus recipe from her.  Both recipes are on the emealsforyou.com website. This recipe is somewhere between French Toast and OMG Sticky Buns.  You can’t beat the French toast for the ease of preparing it and it is certain to become a new family favorite.

Mary N’s Baked French Toast Casserole

Slice French bread into 1-inch slices. Butter a 9 X 13 baking dish. Place slices in 2 overlapping rows. Mix the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt ion a large bowl until just mixed. Pour over the bread, making sure to get mixture between and all over bread slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate over night.

For the Praline Topping: Combine butter, brown sugar, pecans, light corn syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl, mix and allow to sit covered on a countertop over night.

Baking instructions: Spread the praline topping evenly over the casserole. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; bake casserole for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Sticky Buns

Okay, so now that you have your homemade Kahlua and Lemmoncello “maturing” in your dark closet we need to move on to other ideas for  holiday gifts you can make and the recipient will love.  Next in my mind, on the easy but really appreciated homemade gifts list are sticky buns.  I give these year-round when I think they would be an ideal surprise for breakfast.  Delivered hot and sticky on a holiday morning or just to be nice,  they fill the house with that sweet smell you remember from visits to the corner bakery when you were growing up.  You may also package them in a nice basket unbaked to be baked later.  Frozen they last forever and when defrosted offer the perfect touch for a special morning.

The great part about these sticky buns is that they are very easy to make.  Make the recipe for yourself and you will still have some leftover to share.

start with these

Today’s suggestion for homemade liqueur is Lemoncello.  This is a wonderfully smooth, lemony nectar that can be used in many ways.  Besides serving as an after dinner drink it offers a unique flavor to sautéed garlic shrimp,  (See  Lemoncello Shrimp at emealsforyou.com) may be poured over cake or served with fresh fruit.  Start this now and you will be all set to wow your friends at Thanksgiving dinner.

Creating gifts for the holidays for our friends and family requires a little foresight.  Besides allowing for the time it will take for the homemade liqueur to mature you should be looking for interesting bottles to hold the finished product.  Craft stores have numerous containers and bottles to choose from and you may be able to find interesting bottles in small antique and gift shops.  Remember we taste first with our eyes so take the time to dress up your gift to make it special.

I found a new bread recipe the other day and decided I needed to get back into the bread baking mode.  Maybe I overdid it a little but once you have flour all over the kitchen why not make more.  My wife mentioned she would like to have some date nut bread; I call it date and nut bread but then again she “knows” better. ( updated correction: she looked it up on the Internet and looks like she is right and I am wrong; for the first time I might add)  Anyway, so there I was making rye bread and the date  nut bread and why not add some ciabatti to the mix.

I especially like the ciabatti and rye breads as they develop their taste and “crumb” texture by resting overnight on the counter.  Once you learn how to deal with the really moist, sticky dough it is a simple task to shape the loaves and bake them.  The date / nut bread takes about 5 minutes to mix; although you have to let the dates and nuts sit in hot water for 15 minutes.  I usually bake them in small loaves, then freeze them.  A minute in the microwave when I feel like eating some is quick and always a special treat.

The recipes are on the website: emealsforyou.com along with many more.  Now that Fall is coming I will begin to try different artisan breads and pass along the ones that work to you.

Date & Nut Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 81/2 X 41/2 X 3 inch loaf pan.

Put dates, walnuts, baking soda, salt, karo syrup and butter in a bowl. Heat water to the boil and pour on top of date mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Beat eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the flours and stir. Add in the date mixture and stir until well blended. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake 40 -50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slide a knife around pan and invert over a serving plate. May be frozen.

Artichoke Potato Salad

In a recent post I told you that my NY City son, make that Tony Award winning son (apologies for the bragging but you gotta do what you gotta do), asked me to come up with a cookie recipe for a cookie he had in NY City.  So it was not a total shock when my mother-in-law was speaking to my wife about a delicious potato salad she had just had at a luncheon and wanted to know if I could re-create it.  Here is what was given to me to help in coming up with the recipe, ” it was a potato salad with artichokes but mainly the dressing was the oil that the artichokes came in.”

I look at these requests as challenges; although it does make it easier if I have actually tasted the food.  Not having that advantage I try to think about what would taste good using those particular ingredients.  I think I got pretty close but won’t know for sure until my mother-in-law makes this herself.  What I can tell you is that the recipe below is really good, different and easy to make.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.