Cinnamon Loaf with Espresso Butter ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

This Cinnamon Loaf with Espresso Butter is the perfect treat for this time of year. The cinnamon will make you feel all warm and fuzzy, and the espresso will keep you going through the holiday home stretch.

 

Espresso Banana Quick Bread with Espresso Streusel ~ #BreadBakers

Cakes have such a terrible habit of turning out bad just when you especially want them to be good.

Glazed Cranberry, Lemon & Dried Ginger Loaf

Hands up if you still have a bag of cranberries in your refrigerator. I may have more than one.  And a few in the freezer.  And maybe a few of the bags are in the freezer are from last year.  What can I say?  I panic that I will run out of cranberries throughout the year so I always stock up.  Anyway I saw this recipe from PassThe Sushi and knew that I had to make it straight away as it has three of my favorite ingredients - cranberries, lemon, and ginger.

Fruit and Veggie Quick Bread ~ #TwelveLoaves

The theme for #TwelveLoaves this month is Summer Fun!  I don't know about you but I am definitely ready for some summer fun and can't wait for the long weekend - although honestly my idea of fun may involve catching up on sleep.

To Try Tuesday - Roasted Banana Bread with Browned Butter and Toffee Topping

Sometimes I think I want to give up my blog.  I love the cooking part but I just get so frustrated with taking photos.  They just never seem to turn out the way that I would like them to.  I have these beautiful visions in my head but what I see is not what I get.  I really have no one to blame but myself.  I should learn the ins and outs of my camera, I should take a class in photography, I should read more books on food photography, I should buy some proper lighting.  Lots of "shoulds" but not enough time or finances to do so at the moment.  One day.

Anyway, back to the task at hand.  I had lots of bananas quickly ripening in the fruit basket and I wanted something new to try rather than my go-to recipe for banana bread.  I went through my trusty "To Try" list hoping to find something.  Sure enough there was a great-sounding recipe for Roasted Banana Nut Bread with Browned Butter & Toffee Topping on Karissa's site Baking For Her Soul.

The only changes I made were to omit the nuts and I did not lay the slices of banana on the sides like she did.  The roasting of the bananas brings out the sweetness and adds such a wonderful flavor to the bread.  The crunchy topping was also good, and I can imagine a few different directions to go in if you did want a different topping - a sprinkle of coconut, a cream cheese and passionfruit frosting, even something with peanut butter would be yummy.  And should the bread last long enough to be re-purposed I think it would make an awesome base for a bread pudding.

Roasted Banana Bread with Browned Butter and Toffee Topping

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas
• ⅔ cup brown sugar, separated
• 4 tablespoons butter, separated
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅓ cup toffee pieces for sprinkling on top, optional
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar for sprinkling on top, optional

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
3. Peel and slice the bananas into ½-inch pieces and toss them with 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter in a foil-lined baking dish.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Reduce oven heat to 350°F.
7. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and set aside. 
   
8. On medium heat, brown 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, swirling the pan several times for about 5 minutes until the butter has started to brown.
9. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup brown sugar and salt.
10. Add the bananas to the browned butter and mash into mixture, until just combined.
11. Add eggs, vanilla extract, oil, and the yogurt to the butter, sugar and bananas, mix until combined.
12. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and mix to incorporate fully, but don’t mix past the point where it’s just combined.
13. Pour into prepared pan.
14. Sprinkle the toffee bits on top, and then sprinkled the entire top with sugar.
15. Bake at 350°F degrees on center rack for about 40-50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean and top is browned.
16. Remove from oven and allow to cool in loaf pan for about 10-15 minutes before removing the loaf.
17. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Baking For Her Soul.

Zucchini-Carrot-Pecan Bread

Every Friday I try to bake something for my husband to take with him the following day.  Early Saturday mornings you will find him out with his training team - a group of dedicated triathletes who find it fun to ride their bikes anywhere from 60-105 miles and then run between 5 and 9 miles (they swim on Friday mornings).  I bake because after all of this hard work they all deserve a treat.

In an effort not to sabotage their training I have been trying to incorporate some healthy elements into my baking - use less sugar, use lot fruits and/or vegetables, cut back on oil.  It is still a work in progress because I have always used lots of butter, cream, sugar, and eggs without even a second thought. One ingredient I haven't experimented with very much is flour.  That is until I was reading Kim's blog, Liv Life, a few days ago and she featured a recipe for chocolate chip cookies (made by her daughter) using spelt flour. 

Following Kim's lead on researching spelt flour I found that it is considered to have a somewhat nuttier and slightly sweeter flavor than whole-wheat flour.  Spelt is by nature a wholefood, and unlike wheat where much of the nutritional bran and germ are often removed during milling, the vital substances of spelt are found in the inner kernel of the grain. Spelt contains more protein, minerals, and amino acids than regular wheat and this superior nutrition makes it an ideal training and endurance food. Although spelt does contain gluten, studies have shown that it can be tolerated by many people who are normally gluten-intolerant.

I do make a lot of quick breads because not only are they tasty but they travel well, which is always handy when it is being thrown in a pick up truck.  Well, maybe "thrown" is not the best description but lets just say that a quick bread is a lot safer than a sponge cake.   With experience I have found that cookies, quick breads, and bar cookies/slices are the way to go when the goodies have to make a trip.

One quick bread recipe that caught my eye recently was a Zucchini-Carrot Bread that appeared on Monica's blog Lick The Bowl Good.  Actually the first thing that grabs my attention each time I visit her blog is that beautiful photo of a Meyer Lemon-Lime Bar in her banner (I can see why the post is entitled "The Best I've Ever Had").  She reached into her archives for this recipe, and it was adapted from a recipe found on Baking with Lisa, who adapted it from Sur la Table’s “Eating Local”.  I adapted it a little further by substituting some spelt flour for the all-purpose flour, adding the toasted pecans, decreasing the sugar and oil, and adding a sprinkle of raw sugar on top.  My last change was to bake one large loaf because my loaf tin is 10 inches x 5 inches.  I really wanted to use candied ginger as described in the recipe but I couldn't find it in my pantry.

Using a single pan will result in a beautiful, high-rising loaf which is just the way I like my quick bread.  I thought the flavor was great, although I may add a little apple sauce next time to add some moisture and compensate for the oil I omitted.  The spelt flour worked out great and I may even do a 50-50 split next time with the all-purpose flour.

Carrot-Zucchini-Pecan Bread

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Spelt flour
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• ½ cup minced candied ginger (optional)
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup canola oil
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup coarsely grated carrots
• 1 cup coarsely grated zucchini
• 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar, optional

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. 
2. Grease two 8.5×4.5 inch loaf pans, or line them with foil or parchment paper (I used one pan that was 10x5 inches).
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda. 
4. Whisk in the salt and candied ginger, optional.
5. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until light and foamy. 
6. Add the canola oil, sugar, and vanilla, whisking hard until well combined. 
7. Stir in the carrots and zucchini.
8. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir/fold until just blended.
9. Divide evenly between the loaf pans (or add to a single pan like I did).
10. Sprinkle with raw sugar, if desired.
11. Bake for about 1 hour, until the loaves are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine baked for approximately 75 minutes).
12. Cool in the pan(s) for 10 minutes, then unmold onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe by Lick the Bowl Good and Baking with Lisa.

To Try Tuesday - Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Here it is To Try Tuesday and I feel a little behind the eight ball.  I had actually made a few things in advance knowing that I was heading to the Big Island to see my husband compete in a Half-Ironman triathlon, but I seem to have been playing catch up ever since and my blog has suffered which has made me a little sad.



The good news is that my husbands hard work paid off and he was first in his age group (and 12th overall!) and earned a spot to the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona this October.  The girls and I were really glad to be there to cheer him on to his win and take lots (I mean lots) of photos. I always love spending time on the Big Island, and this course is just beautiful, but it is even sweeter with his victory.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled post.  I was recently searching for a recipe for a blueberry quick bread when I came across this recipe by Jamie at My Baking Addiction.   Once you visit her blog you will have a baking addiction too.  Her recipes are amazing, her photos are stunning, and she has very cool giveaways.  A few of her recent posts include Key Lime Pie Ice Cream, Cherry Crisp in Jars, and Heath Bar Cupcakes.  Let me just say that 13,379 (and counting) people on her Facebook page can't be wrong.  If you haven't guessed already I do have a blogging crush on her blog. Where is that little embarrassed smiley when you need it?

Anyway, this quick bread was a big hit with my husband's Saturday training group.  They loved the fact that it had blueberries and zucchini, and a bit of whole wheat flour in it, so it didn't totally negate all of the hard work they had put in training before consuming it. I did sneak a piece the night before and I totally agree that this is a very tasty bread.  It will definitely be a repeater in my household.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup fresh blueberries 
• 2 tablespoons of coarse sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease an 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pan.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars.
4. Fold in the zucchini.
5. Beat in the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
6. Gently fold in the blueberries.
7. Transfer to the prepared loaf pan. 
8. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar.
9. Bake 55-65 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean.
10. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe by Jamie at My Baking Addiction. 

To Try Tuesday - Vanilla Bean Banana-Passionfruit Bread

I do love a good quick bread.  The recipe for Vanilla Bean Bread first appeared on Baking Bites back in December and quickly went on my To Try list.  I love that it is a different take on banana bread.  And let's face it - variety is the spice of life!

It seems to be either feast or famine in my house when it comes to bananas.  The apple bananas do seem to be eaten way before the run-of-the-mill Cavendish bananas, but that is fine with me because I think that they make much better banana bread.

The only change I made to this recipe was to add some passionfruit pulp.  I have about 6 passionfruit that I need to use up, so the pulp of one went into the bread.  I am a big fan of the seeds, but feel free to push the pulp through a fine sieve to dispose of them if you prefer.

We all loved this bread and the tropical taste to it.  It freezes well too, so you can always have a loaf of banana bread on hand.

To Try Tuesday - Vanilla Bean Banana-Passionfruit Bread

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup vanilla sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed banana (2-3 medium)
• pulp of 1 passionfruit
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven 350F and lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together vanilla sugar and eggs until well combined, then whisk in the mashed banana, passionfruit, milk, butter and vanilla extract.
4. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined, making sure no streaks of flour remain. 
5. Pour batter out into prepared baking pan. 
6. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, with only a few moist crumbs attached.
7. Turn loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

Recipe by Nicole Weston from Baking Bites. 

Banana-Orange-Cranberry Bread

As soon as I saw cream cheese as an ingredient I was hooked.  I first saw this recipe on What's Cookin' Italian Style.   I also loved the sound of the combination of banana, orange, and cranberry.  If you get a chance take a look at this site.  I am amazed that there is a new recipe every day, which I could only dream about.



I decided that I would take the opportunity to use some Ocean Spray Craisins Pomegranate Juice Infused Dried Cranberries.  I don't know if I could really taste the pomegranate, but they may have been a little sweeter.  One thing I did love was the creaminess of the batter for this cake.  You know when you just look at the batter and think yes, this is going to be a good cake.  This was that kind of batter.




Before I knew it had all come together and was ready to be baked.  I loved that it made two loaves, but in hindsight I should have made a double batch.  Not to worry as I always have bananas ready for some toe of bread.

Banana-Orange-Cranberry Bread

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

Bread

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed (about 4 medium)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped, toasted optional
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 1 cup of fresh or dried cranberries
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons orange juice, fresh
• 1 teaspoon orange rind, grated

Preparation

Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter mixing well. 
3. Blend in bananas and eggs. 
4. Add remaining ingredients; mix well until moistened. 
5. Pour into 2 greased and floured pans. 
6. Bake till toothpick is clean in the center, at least an hour or more depending on the size pan.  
7. After bread is cooled pour glaze over the top, if desired.

Glaze

1. Mix together and drizzle over bread.

To Try Tuesday - Blackberry Streusel Quick Bread

Did you know that the term streusel comes from the German word streuen meaning 'something scattered or sprinkled'?  I love baked goods that have streusel on top, so when I saw this recipe on the San Jose Examiner website I just knew that streusel times two had to be good.

We have been really lucky to have blackberries at our local Costco for the past few months.  Usually they are eaten before I can use them in my baking, so this time I made sure that everyone knew to leave half of the container for me.




I decided to use pecans in my bread because I like the taste of them more than walnuts, and I still have a big bag of them that I need to use before they go stale.  Rather than chop the nuts separately I just put them in my mini food processor and gave them a rough chop.  I then added the remainder of the streusel ingredients and gave it another quick whirl and it was ready.

The smell of the quick bread baking quickly spread throughout the house, and everyone was soon asking when they could have a piece.   I have to say that it was delicious warm from the oven.  It would be great made with raspberries too, or maybe even a combination of  oth blackberries and raspberries.

Blackberry Pecan Streusel Quick Bread

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

Streusel:

• 1 cup lightly toasted pecan halves, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Quick Bread: 

• 2 cups fresh blackberries, divided
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon), at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• ½ cup sour cream

Preparation

Make the Streusel: 

1. Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. 
2. Add melted butter and stir until combined. 
3. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: 

1. Arrange oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray; thoroughly coat with flour, removing any excess.
3. Chop 1 cup of blackberries and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.
5. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until soft and creamy. 
6. Add sugar and brown sugar and beat until combined. 
7. Beat in vanilla extract. 
8. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
9. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.
10. Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. 
11. Top with streusel/chopped blackberry mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. 
12. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining whole blackberries evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.
13. Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. 
14. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely. 
15. Wrap in aluminum foil to store at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes 1 9x5” loaf.

 

Recipe adapted from a recipe by Dede Wilson