Monkey Bread

Next on the agenda is Monkey Bread! It is a crowd pleaser and children's favorite! This recipe is from SW Steakhouse @ Wynn Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. The recipe calls for bundt pan but I've decided to give it a shot and bake it in a loaf pan. It is semi-homemade recipe as it calls for refridgerator biscuits.



* Flour, for pan
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 30 buttermilk canned refrigerator biscuits
* 1 stick butter, plus more for pan
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup walnuts

Directions

Butter and flour a bundt pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Cut refrigerator biscuits in half and toss in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Melt the 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar and bring to a boil; then add nuts. Line the bundt pan with biscuits and pour butter mixture over them.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan when it's still hot to avoid sticking. It might take longer to bake depending on your oven.

Banana Bread

For the past few weeks I cooked, taken pictures and enjoyed all kinds of amazing dishes, but I did not have time to do any posting...So, here it is: few weeks back Kim of Stirring the Pot who has a great blog, posted a recipe for banana bread with cream cheese glaze I thought sounded delicious! Since I've had some bananas lying around I thought it would be a great opportunity to give it a try! I was not sorry. The bread was great and cream cheese glaze made it extra special! If you are a fan of banana bread definitely give this recipe a try. This recipe is from Flour Bakery & Cafe in Boston, MA.



* 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
* 2 1/3 cups sugar
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (6 large)
* 1/4 cup crème fraîche
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 1/3 cups walnuts (4 ounces), toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 (9- by 5- by 3-inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together 3 1/4 cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.

Beat together eggs and sugar in bowl of electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, crème fraîche, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and walnuts gently but thoroughly.

Divide batter between loaf pans, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Cool loaves in pans on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.

Cream cheese glaze recipe you can find @ Stirring the Pot

Pumpkin Ribbon Bread with dried cranberries and walnuts

I've been doing some fall baking lately and since it is a pumpkin season, I had to make a my very favorite Pumpkin Ribbon Bread with dried cranberries and walnuts. It is a very easy and quick recipe that produces amazing results. The bread is very moist and delicious. The cream cheese and cranberries provide a little tang to balance the sweetness of the pumpkin...very yummy.



Filling:

6 oz of softened cream cheese
1/3 cup of sugar
1 TBSP of flour
1 egg
2 tsp. of grated orange peel

Beat cream cheese, sugar and flour in a bowl. Add egg and orange peel and mix together. Set aside.


Bread:

1 cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of cloves
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 2/3 cup of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 cup of chopped walnuts
1 cup of dried cranberries

Prepare two medium loaf pans by spraying it with non stick spray. Combine pumpkin, oil and eggs in a bowl. Add sugar, spices, flour and baking soda. Mix till combine. Add walnuts and cranberries. Mix to blend. Pour 1/4 of the bread batter into each loaf pan. Carefully add cream cheese batter and follow it with the reminder of the bread batter. Bake @ 325'F for 1 1/2 hours or until the tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy!!!

Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread

Yes, you guessed it- My oven finally works!!! After much aggravation and frustration trying get it up and running, it was finally fixed last week. I had huge baking extravaganza planned for the weekend but with temperatures over 115'F, I wasn't really into using my oven too much. I did manage to bake this lovely bread, with the leftover zucchini I had in a fridge and was somewhat surprised at how well it turned out. The recipe called for zucchini and sweet potato, which I would never thought of combining but what a delicious mix! This recipe was adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, November of 1992 issue. I did modify recipe a little... I used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar instead of 2 cups of granulated sugar, recipe called for. I felt that it was plenty sweet but you can adjust it for your own taste. I also used 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 1/4 cup of yogurt in lieu of 3/4 cup of oil asked for in the original recipe. I served it with homemade Apple Butter (recipe follows)

SWEET POTATO & ZUCCHINI BREAD



* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups sugar( I used 1/2 cup brown & 3/4 cup of granulated sugar instead)
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil ( I used 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1/4 of plain yogurt)
* 3 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
* 1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato
* 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla to blend in large bowl. Mix in zucchini and sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature.)

SPICED APPLE BUTTER



4 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
1 cup apple cider
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp each ground cloves and allspice

Combine apples and cider in a very large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half.
Stir in sugar, spices and lemon juice. Return to a boil, reduce heat, and boil gently for about 25 minutes or until mixture is very thick. There should still be some tender apple chunks remaining. Remove from heat. You can puree if you'd like a smooth butter

Almost No- Knead Bread

3 cups (15 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp rapid rise or instant yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4 water, at room temp
1/2 cup mild flavored beer (I used harpoon ale)
1 TBSP vinegar
vegtable spray

1) Whisk the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Fold in the water, beer and vinegar with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temp for at least 8 hours, or up to 18 hours.

2) Lay an 18 by 12 inch sheet of parchment paper inside a 10 inch skillet and spray with vegtable oil. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface adn knead by hand to form a smooth ball, 10-15 times. Shape dough into a ball by pulling the edges into the middle with floured hands (there is a picture in the mag). Transfer dough, seam side down, to the prepared skillet.

3) Mist dough with vegtable oil,and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temp until doubled in size and the dough barely springs back when poked with a knuckle, about 2 hours. (It didn't seem doubled in size to me and I let it sit maybe 4 hours and it still came out great)

4) about 30 minutes before baking, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position,place a large covered dutch oven on the rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees (not all knobs on dutch ovens are heatproof to 500 degrees- there are inexpensive replacement knobs available from manufactures.)

5) lightly flour the top of the dough and score it with a knife or razor blade. Carefully remove the pot from the oven and remove the lid. Pick up the parchment paper and dough and carefully lower into the hot pot, letting any excess parchement hang over the edge. Cover the pot.

6) Place the pot in the oven, reduce the oven temp to 425 degrees, and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake till the center of the loaf registers 210 degrees on an instant read thermometer and the crust is a deep golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Carefully remove the bread from the pot, transfer to a wire rack, and cook to room temp. About 2 hours, before serving.