French Bread

This french bread recipe comes from a book my Mom gave me about 16 or 17 years ago when she was getting ready to move out of my childhood home.

The book is called Once-a-Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. The book I had was the original 1986 edition. I wish I kept this book, but I must have been in a purging mood and got rid of it. That was most likely when we moved to PA from IL. It had some great ideas and I still make the granola and Balkan Meatballs recipe from this cookbook. I see there are newer additions out. I may have to pick one up. You can find it on Barnes & Noble's website.

French Bread from: Once-a-Month Cooking

3 cups warm water

1 package of yeast

3 tablespoons of sugar or honey

1 tablespoon of salt

7 ½ to 8 cups of all purpose or bread flour

Dissolve the yeast in one cup of warm water. Add the sugar and salt and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the additional 2 cups of warm water and 3 cups of flour. Add the rest of the flour a cup at a time. Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes on a well floured surface. Grease a very large bowl and the top of the dough. Cover and let rise until the dough has almost tripled. Sometimes I make the dough before work and do the last rise when I get home.  You can shape into 4 baguettes or put into 3 ungreased 8x4 loaf pans (my lazy, preferred way). Let rise for another 45 minutes, covered. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and bake the loaves for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake another 30 to 35 minutes. Once I reduce the oven temperature, I lay a piece of foil over the tops of the loaves so they do not brown too much.  This is a nice, sturdy bread. I like to slice the extra and put it in a freezer bag. That way we can have homemade bread any night of the week. I just pop it into the microwave. It also makes great toast.

Basil Butter Garlic Bread

This bread was great on the grill! It is a good way to use up some of that basil in your garden.

The topping was easy to mix up in the food processor.

Spread it out on some soft, but chewy bread and bake, then broil, or grill.

Basil Butter Garlic Bread from: Two Peas & Their Pod

¼ cup butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 cup loosely packed basil leaves

1/3 of a cup loosely packed parsley

2 cloves of garlic or to teaspoons of diced

1 green onion

salt and pepper (to your liking)

1 loaf of french bread or some focaccia is what I used

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the butter through the pepper together in the food processor. I am sure you could also just mix it all together in a bowl if you softened the butter just a little and finely chopped the basil, parsley and green onion. Sometimes the idea of cleaning that food processor bowl makes me think twice about using it. Cut apart the bread horizontally. Spread each half with the mixture. Put the halves back together and wrap in foil. Bake for 10 minutes. Unwrap and separate. Sprinkle with the cheese and broil until golden on top (2-5 minutes). I have also done this on the grill and just let the cheese melt on top. It gives the bread a good smokey flavor.

Coconut Macroons

I have always wanted to make these, but it took me a long time to finally get around to it. I used the recipe off the back of a bag of Baker's sweetened, shredded coconut.  The recipe is very simple to put together. If I visit our hometown in the Fall,  I am going to make sure to take some of these to my Mom. She told me she really likes coconut macaroons.  The Castles and Carriages blog has a great ideas of adding almonds to the cookie so it tastes like an Almond Joy when the bottoms are dipped in chocolate. You can't go wrong there!

Coconut Macaroons From: Baker's

1 14 ounce package of sweetened, flaked coconut
 2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon of almond extract (or use vanilla instead)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all of the ingredients together and drop tablespoon sized mounds on to parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool and dip bottoms or drizzle the tops with melted semi sweet baking chocolate or chips. This makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't believe it has been so long since I have made this recipe. I love these things. This is another recipe I got from my sister G. I know I have had the recipe for around 10 years, maybe longer. Every time I think of baking with zucchini, I think of making these before I think of anything else such as zucchini bread. I have no idea where this recipe originally came from.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 to 3/4 cup mini or regular chocolate chips

Mix the flour through the cinnamon together in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the sugar, egg, oil, milk and lemon juice. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake in very well greased or lined muffin cups.

Note: This make one dozen muffins and they freeze very well in a freezer ziplock. The recipe also calls for 1/4 cup chopped walnut but I have never tried it with the nuts. Mini chocolate chips work well here, but I took a tip I heard somewhere ( some blog I can't remember) and mixed a tablespoon of the flour from the recipe with the regular sized chocolate chips before adding to the dough. It did seem to help keep them from all sinking to the bottom, like they had in the past. I also sprinkled a few chips on top of each muffin. Makes them look even better to me, plus more chocolate is always good!

Linking up to Sweets for a Saturday and Breakfast Ideas Monday

Irish Car Bombs

I am not big on drinking alcohol, but cooking with it is another story! And this recipe has 3 different kinds. I think I say that every time I cook with alcohol! I got this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. I was eyeing it for a while and ended up baking them with a friend. The recipe make 24, so we both had plenty to share with our families.


Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes From: Brown Eyed Baker

Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness Stout
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used semisweet)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons of butter, softened
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Frosting
2 cups butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Cupcakes-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cups with cupcake liners. Put Guinness and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and heat to a simmer. Whisk in the cocoa until smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk the flour, sugar, soda and salt together. In another large bowl-mix the eggs and sour cream together. Add the Guinness mixture to the eggs and then add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Use a rubber spatula to fold the batter until combined. Put the batter in the liners and bake about 17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack.
Ganache-chop the chocolate and put it in a heat proof bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer and then pour over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute and stir until smooth. Add in the butter and whiskey. Let cool until thickened but still able to be piped. Use the bottom of a large decorating tip to cut out the centers of the cupcakes about 2/3 of the way down. Pipe the ganache into the holes, level with the top of the cupcake.
Frosting-Whip/beat the butter on medium speed for 5 minutes. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and then the Bailey's. Turn the mixer up higher and whip another 2-3 minutes. Use a decorator's tip to pipe the frosting into a swirl. Use sprinkles immediately after piping. I stored these in the fridge in an airtight container.

Linking up with: Sweets for a Saturday

Lemon Bundt Cake

If you like lemon, then you will love this moist cake. It's from the March 2006 Good Housekeeping magazine. Thanks to Michael Ann at The Big Green Bowl for the heads up on where this recipe came from. I tried to find this on the the magazine's website, but I couldn't get it to come up. I have made it several times now. I would love to make it every week. It is that good!

Lemon Bundt Cake From: Good Housekeeping
3 lemons
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grate 2 tablespoons of lemon peel and squeeze out 3 tablespoons of juice (and another 2 tablespoons for the frosting). Set aside. Mix the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs one at a time on low. Add the vanilla. Separately mix the flour, salt and baking soda together and add to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Fold in the 2 tablespoons of peel and the 3 tablespoons of juice. Bake in a well greased and floured bundt pan for 60-70 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes and then on a rack.

For the frosting. Cream the butter and cream cheese together and slowly add the sugar until smooth. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice, beating on high until fluffy. Frost the cake.

Linking up to: Sweets for a Saturday

Vanilla-Caramel Ice Cream

I made this for a birthday. It was the first time I used eggs to make homemade ice cream and I was scared I would mess it up. It was easy and turned out so creamy.

First I cooked the custard on the stove.

I baked sweetened condensed milk for the caramel. I heard you can boil the cans, but I have also heard horror stories of exploding cans. Since I tend to get easily distracted, I thought I would go the safer route. The recipe comes from the Blue Eyed Bakers blog and they call it Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. That's a little too fancy for me! Ha! This vanilla ice cream would be a great base for all kinds of mix-ins.

Vanilla-Caramel Ice Cream from: Blue-Eyed Bakers
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Pour the condensed milk into a glass pan (I actually used a medal pie pan and it was fine) and cover tightly with foil. Place the pan in a larger pan and fill half way up the smaller pan with boiling water. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, checking water occasionally to make sure there is plenty in there. Allow to cool and whisk until smooth. Store in the fridge until ready to use. This can be softened in the microwave if necessary.

For the custard-In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks through the vanilla together. Pour the milk and cream into a small sauce pan and heat over low until hot but not boiling. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pan so it doesn't stick. Slowly stir the hot mixture into the eggs and whisk until smooth. Put the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat until thick and it bubbles around the edges. This will coat the back of the spoon and you will see that it has thickened some. Strain through a fine mesh sieve/strainer. Cover and chill the mixture overnight. Put into your ice cream maker. Mine is a Cuisinart and it takes about 30 minutes to process. Stop the machine and mix in dollops of the caramel mixture. Freeze for a few hours. If you are like us though, it will not get that much time before it is eaten.

Linking up to: Sweets for a Saturday