Brown Sugar Muffins

I can't believe that we are literally staring October in the face! Right now, the weather is just amazing and the golf that corresponds with it is just as amazing.......or well, maybe a little more amazing. I love golf, probably just as much as I love cooking and especially baking this time of year.

One of the favorites around our house, (we have many by the way) is these little beauties. This is a frequent request in the fall and winter particularly, they're simple to make and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't really like them. The first time we had them, we were at Sunday dinner at my Mother-in-law's home and these were served up. Needless to say, there weren't any left and there were still requests fo more. Well, I just had to have the recipe for my own family. Thanks Karla for the wonderful recipe!

Brown Sugar Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 C Butter
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 C buttermilk
2 C flour

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer, then add egg, salt and vanilla and mix one more time. Add buttermilk and mix until well incorporated. Combine flour and soda and add to wet mixture, mix until well incorporated. Either line muffin pan with muffin paper or non-stick spray and fill each cup to about 2/3 full, bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes approximately 18 muffins.

Focaccia Bread

Okay, so for years (like over 30) I've made bread and tried different types such as honey oatmeal bread, or honey whole wheat, or just plain white bread....all of which are just wonderful, especially when it's fresh out of the oven with butter just melted all over it. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

It was just recently that I started thinking about focaccia bread, I've never had it before and I was curious but slightly hesitant to make some because I'm not one for dry breads and I've noticed that a lot of times when looking through the baked goods at the grocery store that the breads just look dry. But then I took the plunge and made this and let's just say.....Holy Cow!!!! This bread is just so yummy and wonderful to work with. The entire family fell in love too, so now it's a frequent request around here.

I started by proofing my yeast and then mixed up the spices and olive oil and then I kneaded it and placed it in the bowl with just a bit of olive oil to keep it from drying out. And here it is just sitting there letting those flavors and the yeast do their jobs.

Then I punched the dough down and put it on a baking sheet, I just worked the dough so that it spread out and then comes lots of mozzorella and parmesan cheese (those two were just made for one another). Then I baked this tasty treat for about 15 minutes. Doesn't that look cheesy and tasty? We never have any leftovers on this.

I must say, it just melts in your mouth!

Foccacia Bread

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 dash ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (grated)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (shredded

Directions:
Let bread rise with 1 Tbsp olive oil, punch down and then place on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil, sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until browned on top. Serve warm or cold, warm tastes even better, but this is awesome either way.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I just recently discovered this bread recipe - holy cow, it's so yummy! The honey gives it just a hint of something sweet while the texture and consistency couldn't be more perfect. My mom actually tried it as well and thought the same.

When I start baking bread it reminds me of when I was pretty young, like say about 9 years old. We lived in Wyoming where my Dad worked as a ranch hand, so it was Mom's job to make the pennies stretch as far as they possibly could, so she made nearly everything completely from scratch, including all of our bread. That said, I started baking bread when I was 9. Unlike most kids who start out baking cookies, Mom had me baking bread and by the time I was 11 I could cook an entire meal and have it all come off the stove at the same time. This turned out to be a really good thing because it was the summer that I was 11 that Mom fell and broke her tail bone, so I was suddenly in charge of the household cleaning and cooking. I actually learned a lot that summer and I'm glad for it as well as my mother's foresight in preparing me for it. Thank you Mom!

Well, on to the new found love......


Honey Oatmeal Bread
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
2 C water, divided
1 C oatmeal
1/3 C butter, softened
1/3 C honey
1 Tbsp. salt
2 packages (1/2 oz each) active dry yeast
1 egg
4 - 5 C all purpose flour, divided
Melted butter (optional)

Directions:
Get a sauce pan out and bring 1 cup of the water to a boil, then add the oatmeal, honey, butter and salt and give it a good stir until butter is melted. Make sure this mixture is cooled off a bit (to about 110 degrees) before adding anything else, otherwise you could ruin your yeast.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oatmeal mixture and 2 cups of flour. Stir until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

I put it in some cold water to help cool it down a little faster.

 This is what the yeast should like if it's working like it should.

  

Now the fun starts!

  

 I was taught and have since learned first hand that now matter what the recipe says (unless of course you're using a bread machine) you need to proof your yeast and that is done by taking the liquid, i.e. 1 Cup of water and making sure it's about 110 degrees, then adding a teaspoon of sugar, then your yeast. Now just a small word of advice, don't stir the yeast very much, only enough that the yeast itself ends up basically getting wet in the water. Then put it aside and let the yeast goolies do their magic. It will get bubbly if everything goes as it should, that's when you know that you're yeast is working.
  

The dough should hold together like you see here.

So looking forward to having a hot slice of that when it's done!

My family loves to have that first taste of bread fresh out of the oven with some of the left over butter. Enjoy!

Mango Nut Bread

It seems like each week I find myself hanging out at home while my husband goes with the boys to play golf. That's okay though - that's when I find myself having fun in the kitchen. This week I decided to make mango nut bread for the first time in many years and ya know, it turned out just as great as it used to.

There is just something about the smell of something baking in the oven that just makes my taste buds go crazy.

Mmmmm, mangos just give this bread such a nice flavor.

Mango Nut Bread

2 C flour

1 1/2 C sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 C. chopped mangos

1/2 C pecans (chopped)

Combine dry ingredients, in a separate bowl combine wet ingredients and pecans. Incorporate dry ingredients into the wet. Coat two loaf pans with Bakers Joy and bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This is so tasty - enjoy everyone!

Pull Apart Rolls

This is sooo gooey and yummy, everyone will be back for seconds.

Pull Apart Rolls

20 – 25 Rhodes Frozen rolls

1 small package of cook and serve butterscotch pudding.

1 stick butter

½ C brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ C pecans

Directions:

Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray, place frozen rolls in the Bundt pan and sprinkle butterscotch pudding mix over the top. Combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans in a sauce pan until butter is melted and drizzle over the top. Allow to sit out with a cloth over the top to allow the rolls to thaw and rise. Once the rolls have thawed and rose, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let rolls settle for about 10 minutes when they come out of the oven, turn out onto a plate and serve warm.

Pita Bread

We love pita bread at our house. This stuff just never lasts especially when we make hummus to go with it.

Pita Bread

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1 ¼ C warm water

3 ½ C flour

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp Oil (divided)

Directions:

Combine the first three ingredients and allow mixture to stand for about 10 minutes, just to make sure the yeast is activated. Add 1 Tbsp oil, then the flour and salt and knead by hand until fairly smooth. Put rest of the oil in a small bowl and coat the dough, allow to rise for about 20 – 30 minutes. Punch the dough down and pinch small pieces off of the dough, roll dough out with a rolling pin, this can either be friend in a pan on the stove with just a Tbsp of olive oil or they can be baked at 350 until it just starts to turn golden. Brush with olive oil and serve while warm.

Friendship Bread

I had only heard about friendship bread many times through different people, and they were all in agreement - that's it's just really yummy. So a few years ago, someone else had made some and needless to say, I've decided that yup, it's really yummy!


Friendship Bread

Day 1 – when you receive the base, pour into a large bowl, cover, not tight, and place on the counter.

Day 2, 3, 4 – stir and return to the counter.

Day 5 – add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 c milk

Day 6, 7, 8, 9 – stir and return to counter.

Day 10 – Add as in day 5, stir. Take 3 cups of base and give 1 cup to 3 friends with a copy of these directions.

To your remaining batter add:

2/3 C oil        

3 eggs

2 c flour

1 c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Beat until smooth. Fold any or all of the following; chopped nuts, apples, pineapple, raisins. Bake in greased tube pan at 350 for 60 minutes

Ciabatta Bread

Ciabatta Bread

T Tbsp active dry yeast

1 C sourdough starter

1 ¼ C warm water

¾ C milk

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp salt

6 – 8 C flour, unbleached.

Dissolve the yeast in the starter and water. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Add the milk, olive oil and salt. Stir in the flour, adding a cup at a time until you have a dough the consistency of drop cookie batter. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it 10 – 15 minutes, adding more flour as needed until you have a dough that smooth and satiny. The dough should be on the slack side but not oozy; it needs to hold it’s shape in the oven.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place bowl in a warm spot and let it rise for 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size.

Punch down dough to expel air bubbles and turn it onto a lightly floured counter. Knead dough gently and divide it into three pieces. Form the loaves into torpedo shapes and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Slash tops of loaves and cover them with a damp towel.

Let loaves rise until the look swollen, about 30 minutes. While loaves are rising, preheat oven to 425.

Brush or spray loaves with water. Bake for 10 minutes, brushing or spraying the loaves with water two more times. Turn the oven to 357 and bake your ciabatta bread recipe for 25 more minutes.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

1 ½ C sugar

¾ shortening

3 eggs

5 bananas – mashed

3 C flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 C nuts, chopped.

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix first four ingredients, then mix next four ingredients and mix together. Makes 2 loafs. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.