Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

Funny my only holiday recipe left to post about is a recipe from this week's most talked about chef, Paula Deen. While a lot of Paula's recipes are way too rich for me, I've always enjoyed and respected her as a chef. This week she revealed she has diabetes which apparently she has had for three years. We also found out she recently signed an endorsement deal with a diabetes drug company. Coincidence or not?

Christmas week I wanted to make something for my neighbors. Pumpkin is perfect for the holidays but I wanted to make something different. I searched and found Paula's recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread. The cream cheese gives the bread a more subtle pumpkin flavor. I chose to omit the nuts and raisins. It's a great spin on traditional pumpkin bread.




Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread
Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.
In a medium bowl and with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add sugar, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a medium bowl, combine flour and next 5 ingredients, stirring to combine. Gradually add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture, mixing until blended. Stir in pumpkin, pecans, and raisins.
Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday, Full Plate Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday and Let's Do Brunch!

Chocolate Nut Loaf - Chocolate With Francois

Most of the recipes we've made so far from Chocolate With Francois have been shall we say a little challenging. I was thrilled when I read this month's recipe. The recipe read like a basic quick bread recipe and except for the almond paste, I had all of the ingredients on hand.

I decided to make my own almond paste, of sorts. I combined the "dust" from the almonds I had chopped for the bread, with a teaspoon of almond extract and a little powdered sugar. As well, I substituted macadamia nuts for the hazelnuts. The baking time for this recipe is 50 - 60 minutes. When I checked my bread at 45 minutes, the butter was bubbling around the sides of the pan and had run over in the oven. Fortunately, I use an oven liner. If you don't have one, I strongly recommend buying one!!! After the bread cooled, most of the butter seemed to absorb back into the bread. It did create an interesting crisp edge around the bread. I decided to skip glazing the bread. The bread was moist and the combination of nuts were delicious.


Thanks to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for hosting this month. You can find the recipe on her blog. The links to the other Chocolate With Francois Bakers can be found here!

Countdown to 2011 - Bread

Today is day two in SnoWhite's blogging event, Countdown to 2011. Check it out, there's still time to participate.

Bread is today's category. My choice for favorite bread recipe is Pumpkin Sage Quick Bread. I've been eating pumpkin bread since I was a child. I think one of the reasons I love this bread is the amazing flavor the sage and brown butter adds to the pumpkin. What's your favorite bread?

Have you entered my CSN Stores giveaway?

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread

If you follow my blog you know I planted sage for the first time this year. I've been searching for new and interesting ways to use my sage. I've made this pasta and these muffins. Before this year, I am not sure I've used sage for much except dressing. Thinking of sage and dressing always brings a smile to my face. When I was about ten, I was helping my mom with Thanksgiving dinner. We were making dressing and pumpkin pie. We had the sage and probably the nutmeg out on the counter. Mom told me to put some of that in the pie. I thought that was the sage. I think we were able to scoop out the sage and save the pie.

One of my favorite pumpkin recipes is my mom's pumpkin bread. She used to make it every year about this time. When I saw this Martha Stewart recipe, I decided to break tradition and try it. I love browned butter. I think I am still trying to master the art of getting it just the right shade of brown. Sometimes, it's a little too brown and other times it's not brown enough. Do you have any tips to share with me?


I love this recipe. It reminds me a lot of my mom's recipe. The sage flavor isn't overwhelming. Actually, next time I will add a little more sage. I shared this with my co-workers. I was quick to point out the green flecks in the bread were sage!!

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread
Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Makes eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaves
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
1/4 cup fresh sage, cut into thin strips, plus more, whole, for garnish
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup solid-pack pumpkin (from one 15-ounce can)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaf pans. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips, and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl, and let cool slightly.
2.Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
3.Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and browned butter with sage. Add flour mixture, and whisk until incorporated. Divide mixture evenly among 8 pans. Smooth tops gently using an offset spatula.
4.Place pans on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pans to remove breads, transfer to wire rack, top sides up, and let cool completely. (Breads can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days.) Garnish with whole sage leaves before serving.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

Chocolate Spice Bread - Modern Baker Challenge

How many blogs do you follow? Not sure the number I follow but it’s quite a few. There’s so many great bloggers out there, it's so hard to choose. One blog I particularly enjoy is Sweet and Savory. Chaya is amazing. She blogs almost every day, sometimes more than once a day and belongs to an endless number of groups. A few weeks ago, Chaya’s post was about The Modern Baker Challenge, a new group she’d joined. She and I exchanged emails about the group and the cookbook. She suggested this group would help me with My 50. I emailed Phyl, the organizer of the group, who was so welcoming and excited to have me join. It’s a small group and there aren’t a lot of rules. The group is baking through the cookbook, one section at a time. Each section will be available for baking for 90 days. You can bake as much or as little as you want. I did some reading about the author, Nick Malgieri . I really like his style of writing and baking. What's one more group? I ordered the book.

This cookbook could easily be one of those coffee table books we all love. It’s a large, beautiful hardback. The recipes are concise and easy to follow. Nick gives some hints and extra tips for each recipe. I can read a cookbook like a novel. I sat down one night, thumbed through the first section and used those great little post it note tabs to mark the recipes I wanted to try. Being the total chocolate lover, the first recipe had to be the Chocolate Spice Bread.

I am not sure why but I don’t own any metal bread pans. I think they were old and didn’t make the move from KC to Omaha. I used a glass baking pan of approximately the same size. Because I was baking in glass, I set the oven at 325. Nick cautions in this recipe not to bake it too long or it will be dry. I checked the bread at 25 minutes and it was still very wet. I checked it every five minutes and at 45 minutes it was done. Unfortunately, I think it was overdone. Maybe I need to start pulling my breads out when they’re ALMOST done? The flavor of this bread is delicious. My concern was the spice flavor would be too heavy but it’s not. The chocolate blends nicely with the spices. This bread, like a lot of quick breads, is best eaten on the day it is made. It dries out quickly. Since mine was a little too dry to begin with, it was really dry on day three. I froze the leftovers, thinking maybe I will add it to the next batch of cake pops? I hate to throw things away!!! This bread has lots of possibilities. You could add nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, sunflower seeds. I will be making this one again!

Stop by The Modern Baker Challenge to see the other bakers thoughts on this bread.

The Victorian Sampler Tea Room Cookbook

Remember the time when the only way to find a recipe was to go to your recipe box or flip through cookbooks?? I miss those times! It's faster and easier to google for a recipe than flipping through cookbooks. I have over 100 cookbooks and most of them are collecting dust. In an effort to force me to flip through those cookbooks, going forward each week, Little Bit of Everything will feature a recipe from one of those cookbooks.

This week's recipe is from The Victorian Sampler Tea Room cookbook. The book is a collection of recipes from a wonderful little tea room that used to be in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.






Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking power
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups sifted flour
1 cup nuts (optional)

Beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar, oil and vanilla, beat well. Sift dry ingredients together. Fold zucchini and nuts into dry ingredients. Pour into greased pans (1 tube pan or 2 loaf pans). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Frost with cream cheese frosting if desired.

Mrs. Flint's Banana Bread

My friend Larry's mother made the best banana bread. I was thrilled when she gave me the recipe. She was one of those old fashioned cooks that didn't always cook with a recipe. Like the time I asked for her bread pudding recipe...all she could say was well I put a some bread, some eggs, cinnamon, etc. in a bowl, you know just enough of each until it seems right. I think the secret to good banana bread is really ripe bananas and glazing the bread while warm.




Mrs. Flint's Banana Bread

Cream together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Add two eggs, 3 mashed RIPE bananas, pinch of sale, 1 teaspoon of soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1 3/4 cup flour.

Bake in greased and floured loaf pans at 350 for 45 - 60 minutes. Makes two medium size loaves.

Glaze while still warm with a glaze of powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and milk.