English Muffin Bread

English Muffin Bread

This morning at 7 o'clock it was in the 40’s. Brrrr!
A thick slice of toasted English Muffin bread
slathered with butter and strawberry jam
would have tasted delicious.
Add a mug of hot caramel apple cider.
Yum, yum, yum!

 

If you love 
 a toasted English muffin
and the soft inside chewiness,
and all the nooks and crannies
for the butter and jam to hide in,
then you will love this bread.
We first noticed the recipe on a bag of King Arthur’s flour.
English muffins in bread form?? What??
So glad we tried it!

It’s even delicious as a sandwich,
especially a grilled sandwich for lunch.
Probably really good with sausage and egg on it
for a breakfast sandwich.
Mmm! I think I’ll go make some now.
Super quick and easy.

English Muffin Bread
Print Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable 
cornmeal to dust pan

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, 
and instant yeast in a large bowl.

Put the milk, water, and oil in a bowl 
and heat to 120°-130°F in the microwave.

Add the hot liquid to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.
Beat at high speed for 1 minute.
  The dough will be very soft.

Grease a loaf pan
and sprinkle the bottom and sides with cornmeal.
Put the dough in the loaf pan and try to get it level.

Cover the pan and let the dough rise until its just above the rim of the pan.
Let it rise to about 1/4" above the pan.
This will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour, if you heated the liquid 
to the correct temperature and your kitchen isn't very cold.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
It takes about 45 - 60 minutes to rise. 

Remove the cover and bake the bread for 22 to 27 minutes,
until its golden brown.

Wait 5 minutes after taking the bread out,
turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.
Let the bread cool completely before slicing.


Enjoy!

"Twix" Bars

"Twix" Bars

Cookie.

Caramel.

Chocolate.

Three of our favorite foods.

Especially when you put them all together.

We love "copycat" recipes,

especially when we think they are better than the original!

Don't get us wrong, Twix bars are great.

(Especially the dark chocolate ones!)

But these are better

and only a little more difficult

than unwrapping a candy bar.

Start by baking a shortbread cookie base.

By the way,

have we shared this binder clip trick with you before?

They are perfect for holding parchment paper in place.

Then, add a quick and easy caramel.

The hardest part is constantly stirring it.

And don't worry if it gets dark flecks in it...

ours did and it still tastes great.

Finish by topping it with chocolate.

We used semi-sweet here,

but use whatever type of chocolate you like.

Use milk chocolate for a more traditional "Twix" bar.

We prefer the darker chocolates though.

Next time, we think we will sprinkle a little sea salt on top!

And make a double batch.

Because these disappeared quick!

"Twix" Bars

Print Recipe

Shortbread:

2/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

Caramel:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate Topping:

2 cups chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Shortbread:

Mix together sugar and flour by hand.

Cut in the 2/3 cup butter with a fork or knife 

(or however you like to cut in butter) until it is evenly crumbly.

Press into the bottom of a 9x9" pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Caramel:

Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk

in a sauce pan over medium heat.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once it boils, continue stirring for five more minutes.

Remove from heat and stir for 2-3 more minutes.

Pour the caramel mixture over the cooled shortbread.

Let cool (in the fridge to speed the process up).

Chocolate Topping:

Microwave chocolate chips and vegetable oil for 1 minute.

Remove and stir.

Continue to microwave the chocolate mixture in 15-30 second intervals,

stirring between each one until it is completely smooth.

Pour the chocolate over the caramel layer and let cool until firm.

Enjoy!

Check out the original recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff.

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread

It is the end of summer. Gardens are overflowing with zucchini. 

Farmers markets, roadside stands, friends and neighbors giving it away! 

We will take it!!

A few facts:

Low in saturated fat

Low in cholesterol & sodium

Good source of Thiamin, Niacin, and Dietary Fiber

But most importantly...it tastes great when baked in loaf form 

with sugar, cinnamon, and crunchy nuts.

Our friend Dianna came over a few weeks ago for dinner

 and brought us a loaf of this zucchini bread.

It was delicious.

 Moist, sweet, cinnamony (is that a word?), 

with crunchy nuts throughout. 

A few days later I asked for the recipe.

She took a picture of her recipe card and said 

"It's a good recipe. As you can see from the stains it has been used a lot."

That's the best kind of recipe.
Recipe cards handwritten and worn from use.

Cookbook pages that are dog eared,
splattered with chocolate stains, and notes in the margins.

Zucchini Bread

Print Recipe

2 eggs, well beaten

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil (we used canola)

2 1/2 cups grated zucchini 

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup nuts (was 1/2 cup but we doubled it)

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the eggs, vanilla, and sugar together. 

Add the oil, zucchini, flour, soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Mix well.

Finally mix in your choice of nuts.

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.

Bake for about 1 hour at 325 degrees. 

Let cool a little bit in the pan then remove and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Original recipe.
Thanks Dianna