Banana Bread (with optional cran raisins)

I know that I have another banana bread recipe here, but I found another one that I liked equally as well, but for different reasons. This recipe is a bit lighter than the other one, meaning it isn't quite as moist. Also, I added cran raisins to this recipe giving it an extra flavor, which combined beautifully with the bananas.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits (Red Lobster Biscuits)

There have been times that I've gone to Red Lobster solely for their warm buttery garlic biscuits. After stuffing myself silly, I then realize that I still have a meal coming, which I usually end up taking home in a box. I just can't help myself; they're really that good. And these babies are about as close to the Red Lobster version as I've ever had.

When I made these biscuits last week, they started a string of strange dinners. After one bite, I realized there would be no meal that night. All I wanted was more garlic-cheese deliciousness. Who needs a full-course dinner anyway? Vegetables? Meat? No thank you. I'll take my biscuits with a plate of biscuits on the side, thank you. Dessert? No need. I'll just have another biscuit.

Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire pudding is one of my very favorite bread-type sides EVER. And it's so simple- think a less buttery, less sweet German pancake. So it's actually not pudding at all in the American sense, but in the British. Yes, Yorkshire Pudding hails from England (Yorkshire, actually...big shocker, eh?) and is traditionally served with roast beef. Sometimes it is baked in a pan, sometimes in a special shallow muffin tin made just for individual puddings. They usually puff beautifully when baking but fall as they cool, though my pudding sometimes struggles with the puffing bit. 

Some little old ladies I met in a kitchen supply store in northern England once told me that the key to retaining the puff was baking batter that had been very chilled. Another lady across the aisle told me I could only use eggs at room-temperature. Another admitted that she cheated by adding a bit of baking powder to the batter. I've tried all of these methods, and none have ever been consistent in their results. My conclusion: yorkshire pudding has a mind of its own and will puff if it dang well feels like it. Regardless of appearances, it's always the same buttery salty comforting pudding I crave.

Yorkshire Pudding

Recipe slightly adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook

Picture by Kelly

2 cups flour

2 cups milk

4 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place butter in 9 x 13 inch pan and melt (but do not brown).
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, milk, eggs, and salt. Pour batter into hot pan with melted butter. Bake about 25 minutes, or until deep golden brown (pudding will (hopefully) puff during baking but will deflate shortly after being removed from the oven.

Sweet Country Cornbread

Sweet delicious cornbread. Yum. I once made a pan of this goodness and ate it all myself. It's sumptuous. Delectable. My husband suggests that Caroline and I may be a little too fond of cornbread ("going overboard" were his exact words), but I don't care. It's good and I'm going to rave about it and he'll just have to listen to my ramblings.


Try serving with our vegetarian black bean chili or the garden chicken soup. Or just make it because it tastes oh so good.

Sweet Country Cornbread
Recipe from www.bettycrocker.com
Picture by Caroline

1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of 8 x 8 inch square pan.
   
2. Beat milk, butter and egg in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once, just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Pour batter into pan.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Pumpkin Bread

There are dozens of pumpkin bread recipes to be had. But in my humble opinion, this one (from my mother-in-law) trumps them all...at least of the ones I've tried.


You may also want to try our chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

The day my friend Ginny brought me a slice of this bread, I knew we would be friends. And we were. Our mutual love of food provided us with many a conversation while our husbands discussed guns and biking.

I guess this bread is really more like chocolate cake that happens to have zucchini in it than the other way around. But if you take something that already tastes pretty dang good and isn't too bad for you and then add chocolate, you know it just can't go wrong.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Do you have some fusty, black banana's laying on your counter, but you don't want to throw them out and waste them? Here is the answer. These muffins are wonderful and a change from banana bread. And, they are made from whole wheat, so they are even healthier! These muffins are not as sweet as banana bread and they will freeze well, so you can make a batch or two and freeze the rest for later. If you don't want to add the chocolate chips you can substitute them for walnuts, or just leave them out all together.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Recipe by King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking (awesome book, I highly recommend it)
Pictures by Caroline
Yield: 12 muffins

½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium-to-large bananas)
¼ cup honey
2 large eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat (I used half white and half whole wheat)
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin cups, and grease the muffin cups with nonstick vegetable oil spray.
2. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
3. Divide the batter among the muffin cups; they’ll be nearly full. Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and after a couple of minutes transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

I love to drink tea and watch English murder mysteries, such as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series starring Joan Hickson. So naturally, I have been looking for a great scone recipe to go along with my tea.

This particular scone recipe mixes the sweetness of orange with the tartness of cranberries. To make them even tastier, cut them apart, slather on some butter and honey and enjoy!


Cranberry-Orange Scones
Recipe by Bon Appétit, Nov 1998
Pictures by Caroline

Recipe
3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon grated orange peel (double this amount for a stronger orange flavor)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup dried cranberries (I used frozen cranberries and blended them into small pieces)
1 cup chilled buttermilk (I substituted1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus enough milk to make 1 cup)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Mix in orange peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

*Note: I followed the directions and formed a dough ball and cut it into 8 wedges, however, this dough is very sticky and hard to work with. In the future, I plan to make individual balls and flatten them on the baking sheet with the palm of my hand. Also, I think I will make 16 medium sized scones, rather than the 8 large scones the directions advise.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Poppy-seeds, poppy-seeds, what do you do with a poppy-seed? Combine them with lemon of course and make a sweet bread.

Last week I had a craving for lemon-poppy seed something, so I made this bread. The original recipe was not lemony enough, so I have doubled the amount of lemon juice in this recipe to make it more lemony. And while the original recipe puts the lemon-sugar topping as optional, I did not, because it makes the bread so much better. It provides a great top crust for your loaf. This sweet-bread makes a great snack to serve to company while sitting outside enjoying a cool breeze.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

Pictures by Caroline

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar

1. Grease the bottom and ½ inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, the ¾ cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Set aside.
2. In another medium bowl combine the egg, milk, oil, lemon peel, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy; don’t over mix). Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in a 350° oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
4. Stir together the 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon sugar. While bread is still in the pan, brush lemon-sugar mixture over the top of the loaf. Cool in pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack and then wrap and store before serving.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Both Caroline and I have a weakness for biscuits. Between the two of us, we could probably eat this whole batch. Tonight we enjoyed them with butter, stawberry freezer jam, apple butter, and plain along with our Tortellini and Bean Soup. Yes, sure, you could make Bisquick biscuits that would serve the same purpose. But they won't be as good as these. And they won't taste as good tomorrow. And you won't have the experience of making a dang good biscuit.

Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
Pictures by Caroline

3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups buttermilk*

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
3. Using pastry blender (or your fingers), cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add buttermilk all at once and stir just until moistened.
5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing dough 4-5 times or until dough just holds together. Pat dough flat until 3/4 inch thick. Cut dough with a floured biscuit cutter (or, if you lack a biscuit cutter like we do, use a drinking glass). Be careful not to add too much flour to the dough or you will end up with tougher biscuits than desired.
6. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately.

*If you don't happen to have buttermilk in your fridge (which, if you're like most people, you probably don't), you can make buttermilk by adding about 2 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar to your milk. Just be sure you pour about 2 tablespoons less milk in so you don't add too much liquid to your biscuits.

Banana Bread

If you have some old, brown, past-their-prime bananas laying around...here's your solution: Banana Bread. This is a pretty standard recipe, but it is great, especially if you put the streusel topping on top. This bread freezes well, so you can make several loaves and pull it out the next time you have people over.

Oh, one last thing I learned from my brother-in-law; try toasting the bread and putting butter on it, it is delicious!

Banana Bread

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (75th Anniversary Edition)

Pictures by Caroline
Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 55 minutes
Oven: 350°
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (5 medium)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil or melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 recipe Streusel-Nut Topping (optional, although a must in my opinion)

1. Grease bottom and ½ inch up sides of one 9x5x3-inch pan or two 7 ½x 3 ½ x2-inch loaf pans; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy as shown in picture above). Fold in nuts (if you are doing two loafs you can make one with nuts one without, just add the nuts after you spoon the batter into the pan). Spoon batter into prepared pan. If desired, sprinkle Streusel-Nut Topping over batter.
3. Bake in a 350° oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a 9x5x3-inch pan, or 40 to 45 minutes for a 7 ½x3 ½x2-inch pans, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (if necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning; I always do this). Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Streusel-Nut Topping:

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour. Using a pastry blender (I just use the back of a spoon or my hands), cut in 2 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional).