Blueberry Banana Bread

I don't really remember where I found this other than it says Adapted from Joy of Cooking. I had some bananas that were on the way out and didn't want to throw them out. Plus there are scads of blueberries in my fridge. So I pulled this out and tried it. What I liked was that it was a lighter, less dense bread and bursting with fruit. It rose beautifully and the crumb topping is a nice addition. I brought some in for my baking buddy at work and she gave it a High 5. She makes a very good zucchini blueberry bread and proclaimed this as better. WOW! I have had her bread and it is super good too! With the height of berry picking going on in upstate NY now, this is a great recipe to use for a breakfast or snacking bread.

Blueberry Banana Bread

1 cup white flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

5 1/3 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 mashed very ripe bananas (2 if they are big)

1 pint washed blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.

If you want to make the crumbly topping, mix together approximately 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar and enough butter to make it stick together.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture until blended. Gradually beat in the eggs, then fold in the bananas and blueberries. Pour into a loaf pan.

Top with crumbly topping if you want. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let pan cool in a rack for about 10 minutes before taking bread out of the pan. (I left mine for about 20 minutes because it seemed very fragile. Cooling it longer before taking it out of the pan seemed to work better.)

Chocolate Cinnamon Bread.....Can you Just Smell the Aroma?

I have been away from blogging for 2 days attending to the busy-ness of life! Whew. It is nice to have the weekend appear. And weekends for me usually mean getting down to serious fun of cooking and baking. (Ahhhh.........hence the name Weekend Cook!)

So this weekend, I am making another "coffee and..." recipe. Two of our kids are home with their families for the weekend so it's a houseful and someone is always looking for a snack!

This is really good recipe for coffee. This recipe is very similar to the Chocolate Cinnamon Bread you can buy by the slice at Starbucks. And what can be better than chocolate and cinnamon? The recipe makes 2 loaves. This means you can make one for yourself and give one away, or make one for yourself and freeze the other loaf for when you need a chocolate fix (!!) or unexpected company. Serve with a steaming good cup of joe or a glass of cold milk. If you want to make this extra-chocolate-y, toss in a cup of mini-chocolate chips to the batter. And if you want to try something REALLY decadent, put a slice of this in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes and make some cinnamon butter to go on top. I have to stop now because just writing about this is making me want some, and if I don't get to work, it isn't going to get made! I wonder if this would make good French Toast? How about using some in bread pudding? Stop...stop the insanity!!!

Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

Recipe Adapted from Starbucks Coffee Company
Ingredients

Batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1¼ cups Dutch cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs

Topping:
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar
½ teaspoon Dutch cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans, line with parchment paper, then lightly grease again.

2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and cinnamon together. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, water, and vanilla. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar; cream together until mixture appears light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is thoroughly mixed. Alternately add some of the sifted flour mixture, and the buttermilk mixture to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until blended.

5. Pour batter into the loaf pans, dividing the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Set aside. Topping:

6. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar, Turbinado sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Sprinkle evenly over the batter.

7. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and let cool about 15 minutes.

Grabbing the top edges of the parchment paper, lift bread from loaf pans and place on wire racks to finish cooling.

Remove parchment paper and discard. Makes 2 loaves

Beer not served in a mug!

I don't own a bread machine and have never wanted to own one. I have heard the pros (homemade bread all the time, the house always smells so good) and the cons (I gained weight from eating and smelling the homemade bread all the time, it takes up space and now I don't use it anymore). I don't love working with yeast dough so I was really happy when Panera's moved into town a few years ago. But every now and then I come across a recipe that does not require yeast and is easy, good and not a sweet quick bread. This is one of those recipes. A couple of the home parties I have attended have these Beer Bread mixes that are convenient and good, but still have those pesky preservatives. And they want you to pour a whole lot of butter over the top, so that makes it even less figure friendly.

This particular recipe is quite nice for a weeknight dinner and doesn't require a lot of work or time. I have mixed all the dry ingredients together in the morning and covered the bowl or put them in a zip-loc bag. When I get home, I only have to grease the pan, add beer to the mix, pour into the loaf pan and pop into the oven. In an hour I have a nice fresh bread to go with a salad, soup or stew. You can even add some dill to this or some crushed red pepper for some kick and it is really good. And depending on the kind of beer you use it will take on a different flavor. So experiment! And the bonus is that you know what went into this bread with no preservatives!!

Beer Bread

Stir Together:

3 cups unsifted white flour

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1-1/4 tsp salt

Gradually add:

12 oz. beer at room temperature

Pour into a well greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until loaf is brown on the bottom and sounds hollow when you thump it.