Category: BREADS, BISCUITS & MUFFINS

PUMPKIN WALNUT BREAD

Hi there! I am Emily Z. from EZ’s Recipes, where I blog about my adventures in the kitchen, as well as the occasional restaurant review. I have been blogging for almost a year now and have enjoyed every minute of it. I am flattered and thrilled to be able to be a contributor to OuR KrAzy kItChEn. I will be posting here the 4th Sunday of every month.
Fall is my favorite season. If you read my blog, you will see that clearly as I talk about it often. I feel that Fall offers so much… the pretty weather, the change in colors, the activities (football! Halloween!), and the foods. One of my favorite fall foods is pumpkin.
This time of year also brings out my desire to use my bread maker and my crock pot. I got this recipe out of the little cookbook that came with my bread maker. I love using my bread maker! It fills the house with such lovely smells and so far I have not been disappointed with a single loaf of bread that I have made! This one included; the addition of the walnuts and the cranberries in the pumpkin bread is fantastic.
Please also join me over at EZ’s Recipes for lots of fun and delicious recipes in between my posts here! I have some fun stuff up my sleeve for Halloween coming up, so please stay tuned!
Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Place ingredients, in order listed, in bread pan fitted with kneading paddle. Place in bread maker and select Quick Bread/Cake. Press Crust and select Medium (or to taste). Press Loaf and select dough size (I generally go with 2 pound loafs myself).
2. After batter has mixed for about 4 minutes, stir sides and bottom of bread pan with rubber spatula to ensure complete mixing. Allow to continue mixing.
3. When cycle is completed, remove bread from machine and transfer to wire rack to cool. Bread slices best when allowed to cool. If not serving after cooling, wrap in foil to maintain freshness when completely cooled.

OATMEAL NUT MUFFINS

OATMEAL NUT MUFFINS
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Jumbo eggs
1 cup flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a large bowl layer the oats.
  • Pour the buttermilk over the oats and let them soak for an hour.
  • Cream the butter.
  • Add the sugar and cream until smooth.
  • Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet until well blended.
  • Fill muffin tins 2/3 full.
  • Sprinkle nuts on top.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes.

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Fire Day Friday: Banana Nut Bread

Wait….what in the heck does Fire Day Friday and bread have in common?

Bread has been around since the Neolithic era, how do you reckon they made bread back then? No, they did not have fancy stand mixers with bread hooks, instant yeast, bread machines, and convection ovens. It may have been the Stone Age but they didn’t have stoneware. They had the best cooking element ever…..FIRE!

But they didn’t have a Big Green Egg either, so I’ll let it slide if you make this one in your oven. But Alexis is having fun with her Egg and this is one she made for the boys last weekend. It is one of their favorites.

Alexis’ Gelded Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from www.cookingbread.com

3 ripe bananas, peeled and broken into pieces
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten (they were bad, they deserved it)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour (or all-porpoise flour if you like that marine mammal flavor)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp fresh ground cinnamon

Mix the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar all together. Add in the eggs and mix until smooth.

The buttermilk and vanilla are feeling left out so put them in, too. Get them well mixed. Let’s let the bananas into the party too, mix them in.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Pour into the butter/sugar/sugar/egg/buttermilk/vanilla/banana mixture. (Yes I could have said something like the “wet mixture” but we get paid by the word here at Our Krazy Kitchen.) [Totally kidding there, we don’t get paid but we have a great health and dental plan.]

Where was I? Oh yeah, mix all that together.

Now pour all of that happy mixture into one greased 9 x 5 loaf pan or a 4 mini-loaf stoneware thing like this.

Place in at preheated wood fired ceramic oven or other oven of your choice and bake at 350f for 55-60 minutes. It’s done when a test skewer pulls out cleanly.

Allow to rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Slice and serve.

Delicious of Neolithic proportions. Can ya tell I’m proud of my awesome wife?

Bittman Batter is Better – Corn Fritters

Sorry Tami and Martha.  I tried to schedule this but it kept showing up here.
Stop by and taste my newest gluten free creation at Comfy Cook.
Join me at My Sweet and Savory where all the baked goods are.
I love corn fritters even though they are fried or maybe because they are fried. Mark Bittman has a recipe for what is now my favorite corn fritter recipe. To continue, in this month’s theme, of pancakes, I am going to share his recipe with you.
Every corn fritter, I have made has had sugar in it and even when it is not called for, I add a little but not with this recipe. If I am going to follow a Bittman recipe, I will try to stay as true, as I can. (It did not need the sugar)
I think, what made this so good, is that the eggs are separated and it has some heat to it.
I guess, every recipe has a story, and this is no different. I had cooked two batches of the pancakes and was happy with that extra height, coming from the beaten egg whites. It is important to be gentle with this batter so as not to lose this. My hubby, who is one of those men, who always helps, when necessary. He will throw a wash in the washing machine, do dishes, vacuum. He is great. Sometimes, he helps when I don’t want him to and that is what happened.
I had a cake in the oven, at the same time, I was making the pancakes and I muttered something like, “I have to take the cake out.” Harmless, one would think. He asked if he could get the cake for me and I said, no because I wanted to check it for doneness. Then, he offered to make some more pancakes and I said that he did not know how to do it and went to get the cake. When I stood up, there he was, beating the mixture in the bowl with a joy, you would not believe – you know that batter that should be gently handled.
Bottom line – Maybe it does not have to be handled so gently or maybe, I screeched early enough to save it but the pancakes turned out fine.
Thai Style Corn Pancakes (ever so slightly adapted)

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 chopped scallion
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
2 cups frozen corn
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used gluten free rice flour mix)
3 to 4 tablespoons canola oil, as needed

Method:

Combine the egg yolks, scallions, hot paprika, corn, soy sauce, and flour in a large bowl.

Mix everything together and season well with salt and pepper.
Beat the egg whites in a different bowl until they are stiff and form peaks.
Slowly and gently fold the egg whites into the corn mixture. You want the whites to be loosely folded in with the rest of the ingredients so they do not lose any of their airiness.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter or oil is hot, spoon in pancake-sized dollops into the pan, around 4 to 6 at a time. (I got six in my electric fry pan, each time and made one jumbo one, for the fun of it. These would make great crepes. I will have to try making them.)
Cook each pancake until they are nicely browned on one side, around 3 to 5 minutes, and then turn and brown on the other side. Add additional oil as needed in between each batch until you have cooked all of your corn mixture.
Drain on paper towels.
I would serve these plain although Bittman gives choices of sauces or just a squirt of lime. I would also add some more heat, whether it be additional hot paprika or chili powder of cayenne.

Mexican French Bread Pizza: Lovin’ From the Oven

Thank goodness for good online recipe sites. My favorite two are Taste of Home and All Recipes. If I am in a cooking rut, I am almost 100% guaranteed to find something delicious there. Here is an easy meal that all the family is sure to love. Add or subtract ingredients according to your tastes.

Mexican French Bread Pizza:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 1 can (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 loaf (1 pound) unsliced French bread
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Colby Jack cheese
In a large skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Add salsa, olives, salt, chili powder, garlic powder and cumin. Slice the loaf of French bread in half lengthwise. Spread equal amounts of the ground beef mixture on each half. Sprinkle one cup of cheese on each half. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

What makes biscuits rise?
Baking Powder and Baking Soda are both leaveners and when activated create carbon dioxide which produces the rise. Baking Soda aka sodium bicarbonate has been commonly used for 200 years and works by simple chemistry. It’s reaction is immediate, but does not continue once the biscuits are in the oven. Ironically Baking Powder is the main ingredient in Baking Soda, but baking powder also includes an acid or two. Double acting baking powder is the perfect one for biscuits because it has the immediate acting acid as well as the heat activated acid. In order to use baking powder alone you have to use way too much and it dries out the dough. So finding the perfect combination of baking powder and baking soda is the key to tall and fluffy biscuits.

PERFECT TALL & FLUFFY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS  
2 cups flour + 1 cup flour  
1 tablespoon double acting baking powder  
1 tablespoon sugar  
1 teaspoon salt  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, diced  
2 tablespoons butter, melted  
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  • Spray a 9 inch cake pan with PURE.
  • In a food processor pulse dry ingredients several times to combine.
  • Add butter pieces scattered over dry ingredients and pulse until crumbly.
  • Transfer to a medium bowl.
  • Stir in buttermilk. (Dough will be wet and lumpy).
  • Spray a 1/4 cup measure with PURE.
  • In a mixing bowl add the remaining 1 cup flour.
  • Drop the dough 1/4 cup at a time into the flour.
  • Shape into 12 balls. Shaking off excess flour.
  • Arrange balls (9 around the perimeter and 3 in the center) in the pan.
  • Brush tops of dough with melted butter.
  • Bake 5 minutes.
  • Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees.
  • Bake another 15 minutes.
  • Cool 2 minutes.
  • Invert biscuits into a clean towel, turn right side up breakaing them apart and cool another 5 minutes.

final blog signature. ♥

BLUEBERRY CORN MUFFINS with a HINT OF CHOCOALTE



1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Jumbo eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/4 cup Bacardi rum
1/3 cup dried wild blueberries
1/4 cup chocolate pieces

  • Pour rum over the blueberries and let sit an hour or so at room temperature.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners or use a new toy like mine!
  • In a large bowl, sift together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt.
  • Add eggs, oil and milk; whisking gently to combine.
  • Drain blueberries.
  • Fold in blueberries and chocolate pieces.
  • Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups or pans.
  • Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

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PEANUT BUTTER BANANA RUM RAISIN BREAD

It’s National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a new recipe. The only thing that would make this better was to add some milk chocolate chips – always next time.

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA RUM RAISIN BREAD
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 jumbo eggs
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup Parrot Bay coconut rum
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 large, RIPE bananas, pureed
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 hour to 1 day before pour rum over raisins and let sit at room temperature.
  • In a medium saucepan melt butter.
  • Add brown sugar and bananas in a sauce pan.
  • Cook until smooth and then add nuts and raisins.
  • Stir until well coated & set aside to cool.
  • Cream peanut butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy.
  • Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
  • Add this to the creamed mixture gradually until well blended.
  • Add cooled banana mixture.
  • Pour into greased and floured pan(s)*
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 45+ minutes.

*This recipe will make 2 large loaves or 1 cake.

FROSTING
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
juice of 1 small lemon
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  • In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  • Add lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended.
  • Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended and smooth.
  • Refrigerate 1 hour to set icing before serving.

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Babka: Lovin’ From the Oven

Have you ever picked up an old cookbook off of your shelf, you know, one that you have used for decades and turned it to a recipe you haven’t seen for ages and suddenly been transported to the last time you tasted that dish? That happened to me recently with this recipe. It is excellent. It’s not quite a bread and it’s not quite a cake. It can be served for breakfast, brunch or dessert.

Babka:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water
2 pkg yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup raisins
topping:
1 egg white
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
In a small sauce pan, heat milk until bubbles form around edge of pan. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, combine warm water and yeast, stirring until dissolved. Add lukewarm milk, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, stick of butter, eggs, egg yolk and 3 cups flour. With electric mixer, beat until smooth and blended. Stir in remaining flour, stirring until dough leaved side of bowl. Mix in raisins. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Turn dough into prepared pan. Cover and let rise until dough is 1/2 inch from the top of the pan. Meanwhile, make the topping by mixing flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter in a bowl with a pastry blender. Brush the egg white on top of the babka and then sprinkle on the topping. Bake 350 degrees 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack 15 minutes. To serve, remove from the pan and cut in wedges.

This is SO good!!!!

APRICOT RUM RAISINS

APRICOT RUM RAISINS

1 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons yeast
4 eggs, beaten
7 1/2 cups flour
  • In a saucepan melt butter.
  • Add milk and water whisking until smooth consistency and JUST boiling.
  • Cool 5-10 minutes so you don’t kill the yeast.
  • Add the sugar, salt and yeast to form a sponge like blob.
  • Add the eggs until uniform consisitency.
  • In a mixer with a dough hook attached, combine flour and yeast mixture.
  • Knead well. Put in refrigerator for at least several hours, but overnight is better.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Roll a ball of dough the size of a golf ball into a rope and coil into a circle. Make sure the center is thinner than the outer edges to hold the filling in. Sometimes I prefer squares, but you just have to work with your dough after you have it coiled.
  • Fill with a heaping tablespoon of filling per danish (recipe below).
  • Let rise an hour in a warm place.
  • Bake 15 minutes.
  • Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. If you prefer a drizzle thin out this frosting with a couple extra tablespoons of milk until desired consistency.
Cream cheese apricot raisin filling
1 bag large dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins, chopped

1/4 cup golden rum

  • Soak apricots and raisins in rum for an hour or overnight.
  • Drain off rum.
  • Set aside.
8oz pkg cream cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
  • Blend cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar and orange peel together until smooth.
  • Fold in apricots and raisins into the cream cheese mixture. Or my favorite is to fill them as 2 separate fillings with the cream cheese first and the apricot in the center of that.

BANANA PINEAPPLE RAISIN NUT BREAD OR CAKE & PINEAPPLE MOJITOS

BANANA RAISIN NUT BREAD OR CAKE
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, 1/2 soft & 1/2 melted
2 jumbo eggs
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins, currants or craisins
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 large, RIPE bananas
1 small can pineapple, well drained BUT RESERVED
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  • Combine the melted butter, brown sugar and bananas in a sauce pan.
  • Cook until smooth and then add pineapple, nuts and raisins.
  • Stir until well coated & set aside to cool.
  • Cream softened butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy.
  • Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
  • Add this to the creamed mixture gradually until well blended.
  • Add cooled banana mixture.
  • Pour into greased and floured pan(s)*
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 45+ minutes.

*This recipe will make 2 large loaves or 1 cake. If making bread, skip the frosting.









FROSTING
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
juice of 1 small lemon
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  • In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  • Add lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended.
  • Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended and smooth.
  • Refrigerate 1 hour to set icing before serving.

PINEAPPLE MOJITOS
reserved pineapple juice
jigger rum
jigger mojito mix

  • Mix and enjoy!

ORANGE BANANA NUT BREAD or LEMON BANANA NUT BREAD


ORANGE BANANA NUT BREAD or LEMON BANANA NUT BREAD
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1/3 cup shredded coconut
2 medium or 3 small RIPE bananas
2 eggs
6 oz. can unsweetened orange juice concentrate*
1 tablespoon butter, melted

  • Sift together the dry ingredients.
  • In a large mixing bowl blend together the orange juice concentrate, bananas and eggs.
  • Blend in nuts, coconut and raisins.
  • Add flour mixture until well mixed.
  • Pour into greased loaf pan.
  • Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
  • Immediately top with melted butter.

*I use a large can as the small cans are getting hard to find, but using a large serrated knife, cut it in half and then make juice out of the other half. This recipe is also good if you substitute lemonade for the orange juice.