You are here: Home / bread

Zucchini Muffins

August 1, 2011 By Steph 12 Comments

My garden is exploding with zucchini.  If you don’t pick them while they ready, like if you wait 2 extra days like I do a little too often, they end up being as big as a Buick.  So we have been having a LOT of zucchini bread in our house lately.  But out of everything I have made, these muffins are definitely my favorite.  Perfectly moist, perfectly sweet and oh so delicious! They puff up beautifully and you cannot resist them the second they come out of the oven.  The tops are my favorite, so if you come to my house, you may see a lot of just muffin bottoms lying around.

Zucchini Muffins
makes 12

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest from 1 small lemon (about a 1/2 tablespoon)
3 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. Using a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and butter. Add in Zucchini. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
**This part is super important. Instead of using non stick spray for your muffin tins, melt a little butter and using pastry brush cover the entire surface of the muffin cups. Distribute the batter evenly between the muffin cups. They will be full, and it’s okay! If you are nervous about that, feel free to use another 2 muffin cups, but mine turned out perfect. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. They will get brown and beautiful. Cool for about 5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack. These will stay good for a couple of days if stored in some tupperware.

Enjoy!

 

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, muffins

Orange Sweet Rolls

January 9, 2011 By Steph 7 Comments

I have been trying to master cinnamon rolls for who knows how long now.  It seems an impossible task to get them with just the right ooey-gooey factor.  It’s seriously keeping me up at night. ;) So I decided to go a different route this time and make some killer Orange Sweet Rolls.  These did not dissapoint.  They taste just like they are titled.  Orangy, sweet soft rolls.  I kept the drizzle simple with just a mixture of powdered sugar and fresh orange juice.

Have an awesome week!

Orange Sweet Rolls

makes about 24 smaller sized orange rolls

For the Dough:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4-5 cups all purpose flour (may need a bit more)

Orange-Butter for the inside of the rolls
Mix together until well blended:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
zest from 2 large oranges

In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the milk. Set aside to cool. Using a mixer, add the package of yeast, the warm water and 1 tablespoon of sugar and let it sit until bubbly and foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar, salt, eggs, cooled milk/butter mixture and half the flour. Mix until smooth. Add remaining flour and any more extra flour until dough is just slightly sticky. It will become less sticky when kneading it. So don’t add too much or your dough will be tough. Knead for about 5-7 minutes. (I use the mixer to do this, but you can do it by hand if you want) Transfer to a glass bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, cover and leave in a warm place to rise double in size. Punch down and let rise again. Divide the dough in half and transfer the dough to your counter that has been sprinkled with flour. Roll out half of the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Spread half of the orange butter mixture onto the dough and spread evenly all the way to the edges. Roll your dough up lengthwise and pinch the edges to seal. Using a sharp knife or dental floss, separate the dough into 12 rolls and place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise double in size. Cook for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees until just lightly golden. Drizzle with a simple glaze of powdered sugar and fresh orange juice and enjoy!

Steph xoxoxo

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, rolls

Monkey Bread Muffin Cups

March 12, 2010 By Steph 22 Comments

DSC05454

Monkey Bread.  If you have never had this ultra tasty treat before, here are a few keywords to descibe this evil addiction of mine:

addicting
sweet crunchy edges
caramel-y
cinnamon-y
lil’ bit of heaven

These are only a few of many I could probably use to describe these little heavenly buns. It’s like a cinnamon roll you can take a part piece by piece and there is nothing in this world quite like it. Just remember – you’ve been warned. I’m not going to lie that you can eat the entire thing without even blinking an eye.

I decided that because I can eat an entire recipe when I make it using a bundt pan, that I needed to make them in individual portions so that I can ‘somewhat’ control myself. So I used the jumbo muffin tins. It makes 6. Just to make it extra evil I drizzled some icing over the top. They totally don’t need it. They are amazing on their own. Trust me.

Monkey Bread Muffin Cups
makes 6 jumbo muffins

2 tubes of biscuit dough (I like pillsbury) (20 biscuits in total)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar

Spray your muffin tin with non-stick spray. Cut each biscuit into 4ths. So in total you should have 80 little pieces of dough. In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Dip each piece of dough into the cinnamon-sugar mixture until totally covered. Divide evenly between the 6 cups. (about 13-14 in each cup) In a saucepan boil the butter and brown sugar. Spoon about a tablespoon of the brown sugar/butter mixture over each muffin cup. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until baked through. Best when hot and fresh out of the oven!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread, desserts, muffins

The Best Banana Muffins

March 4, 2010 By Steph 7 Comments

DSC05445

I crave banana bread on occasion. This is really strange for me because until I became an adult, I never really liked bread that had even a hint of fruits or vegetables in it…banana bread, zucchini bread, carrot cake, you know what I’m talking about. But now, I crave it. My kids love it. They have no idea what is in it, but they love it. And I can totally justify them eating it because it is awesome when you can feed them something and you secretly know it has some nutritional value (minus the sugar) to it. But anyways, I made these the other day and I have to say it is some of the best banana bread (muffins) that I’ve ever had.

I’m going to let you in on a cool trick too. Maybe you already know it, but I didn’t. I had to google how to ripen bananas quick, because I was craving these so badly. Yes, I’ve heard the whole paper bag with an apple trick, but I was just not feeling that. So I threw them into the freezer overnight and took them out the following morning to thaw out. They were perfectly ripen and I didn’t have to wait around impatiently. I also like my banana bread to have a little banana chunks in it. I use a whisk to get it all smoothed out but I like to leave it just tad chunky. So much better this way in my opinion.

Add some nuts or chocolate chips to it if you like, but I personally like these as just plain ole’ banana muffins. I sprinkle a little turbinaro sugar over the top before I pop them into the oven to add a yummy sweet touch.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo
Steph

Banana Muffins
makes 12

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
3 or 4 ripened bananas (about 1 cup mashed bananas)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, mash the bananas and add the sugars, egg and melted butter. Whisk together until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix. Evenly distribute between 12 muffin cups that have been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fruit, muffins, snacks

White Bread Loaf

March 25, 2009 By Steph 10 Comments

dsc03908

I know the whole world is in carb-conscious mode right now and probably will be forever but every once in a while I just crave a warm fresh loaf of white bread.  There is nothing quite like it.  Fresh and hot out of the oven slathered in butter.  Mmmm.  So this is the easiest recipe in the world and in an hour and thirty minutes you have hot fresh bread.  Of course you can substitute whole wheat flour for the all purpose but this is just the way I like it.  A little white bread once in while isn’t going to hurt you, it might just make you so happy you’ll be making it every week.

Happy Baking!

dsc03910

White Bread
makes 2 loafs

6-7 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 .25 ounce packets of Active Yeast
2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter

Using a small saucepan, heat water, milk and butter until hot to the touch. Using a mixer, mix 5 cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add hot liquids and mix until well combined. Add in the remaining flour and any extra you might need to make a soft dough that does not stick to the bowl. Either knead in your mixer or knead on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes. Cut dough in half and shape into 2 loaves. Place in 2, greased 9X5 loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 40-50 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. (For the last 5-10 minutes I cover my loaves with aluminum foil to prevent it from getting too brown) Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread
« Older Posts