Chocolate Bread

Original Recipe at: http://www.purewow.com/entry_detail/recipe/8325/Double-chocolate-bread-you-can-make-in-one-bowl.htm

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dark-chocolate chips

Confectioners’ sugar, as garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla, then mix with a whisk until well combined.

3. Gently fold in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It should fill the pan a little more than halfway.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

6. Let the bread cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then remove it from the pan while it is still warm by inverting it onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving. If desired, finish the loaf with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

RED LOBSTER CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS

Original Recipe from: http://damndelicious.net/2014/02/03/red-lobster-cheddar-bay-biscuits/

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
FOR THE TOPPING
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper, if using.
• In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and butter. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist. Gently fold in cheese.
• Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, scoop the batter evenly onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
• For the topping, whisk together butter, parsley and garlic powder in a small bowl. Working one at a time, brush the tops of the biscuits with the butter mixture.
• Serve immediately.

NOTES

Adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian

Sue's Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
4      Eggs
1 can Pumpkin
1c    Milk
1c    Oil
2/3c Water
4c    Sugar
3.5c Flour
2t     Baking Soda
1t     Salt
1T   Nutmeg
1T   Cinnamon
1t    Allspice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all wet ingredients.  Combine all dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients.  Grease loaf pans (2 or 3 standard loaf pans, or many small/mini loaf pans).  Bake 45-50 minutes for a standard loaf pan, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.  30 to 35 minutes for small loaf pans.

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: I make this with 3 cups sugar, and that is PLENTY.  This is our favorite pumpkin bread.  So moist.  The family *loves* it.  :)   With the recipe above, I fill 3 standard loaf pans, and it works quite well.  If you use the same amount of batter in two pans, they are overly full and may spill over.  And I hate oven messes! :P  I also like to use freshly grated whole nutmeg.  YUM.

Banana Bread, Kona-Island Style

Kona Inn Banana Bread Recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/kona-inn-banana-bread-recipe/index.html

One substituion: instead of using one full cup shortening, substitute 1/2 c shortening plus 1/2c unsweetened apple sauce.

Also, we usually omit the nuts.

In a pinch, I've also used half butter/half applesauce, and that turned out great, too!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 6 bananas)
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease and flour 2 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. In another larger bowl, mix together the shortening, sugar, mashed bananas, eggs and walnuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir only until the batter is thoroughly blended.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a rack and let cool completely.

Corn Bread

Original Recipe from: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/cornbread.htm#

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half and half
• ¼ cup melted butter or shortening
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.


2. Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.


3. Combine the half and half, eggs, fat, honey and sugar.


4. Thoroughly grease and flour a 9" × 9" baking pan (or use a nonstick baking pan or a flexible silicone pan).


5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix just until the flour is moistened, no more than ten seconds. The batter should be visibly lumpy — leave it that way! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter.


6. Once the liquid and dry ingredients have been combined, pan and bake the cornbread immediately.
   
   TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter must be baked right away.


7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean and the edge of the bread starts to separate from the pan.

Notes:

This bread can be modified by adding fresh or canned corn, sour cream, buttermilk, bacon — even dried blueberries!

Cornbread is a member of the quickbread family, which differs from biscuits and scones because it uses butter or shortening that is melted, not solid.

The key to a good corn bread is not overmixing the batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added to the dry, mix the batter by hand just until the flour and corn meal are moistened — no more than about ten seconds. Too much mixing can cause the final product to be dry, tough or misshapen.

Hot Mama Says: The husband wanted cornbread this evening, and I obliged him by making this recipe which was at the top of the Google results.  This recipe is delicious, but next time I would make sure to use *FINE GRAIN* instead of course grain corn meal.  It was still delicious, but the texture was a bit rough.  Also, I did not sift the flour (I am lazy and in a rush).  Additionally, I didn't have any half and half, so I substituted 1T of melted butter added into milk to fill up a cup (see below).  I also made our corn bread into muffins, so while I used the oven at the above temperature, I only baked the muffins for 18 minutes, and that was the perfect amount of time (thank you, cake mix box!).  I used cup cake liners to have less mess.   We will definitely make this recipe again (with fine grain meal)!  Grade: A.  :)