.chocolate zucchini bread.

Now before you turn your nose up and close the browser, I want you to give zucchini a chance. You don't taste it and it provides not only nutrients to your bread, it makes it moist and delicious!

I've been making this recipe for years now and it's one of my favorites. I'm sure it will become one of your favorites, as well.

This recipe makes 2 loaves, or about 1 dozen large, Texas sized muffins. (Those are the kinds of muffins we made at my bakery -- we like em big!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine:


1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

In another bowl, mix together:
3 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup oil (you can substitute applesauce, if you like)
2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 bag mini chocolate chips

Dump all the wet ingredients into the dry and mix using a fork just until the dry ingredients are slightly wet. Don't overmix.

Spoon into prepared bread or muffin pans and pop in a 375* oven and bake 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350* and continue baking until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Trust me... you're going to love this bread! (you can thank me later. ;) )

.irish soda bread.

I adore bread and I especially adore Irish Soda Bread. It's made more like a big giant biscuit - using no yeast for leavening, but with, strangely, baking powder. The recipe I use comes from a book I picked up years ago called 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood. I have tweaked his recipe a little bit, but it's one that we like.

In a large bowl, mix together:

4 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt

Cut in 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly and no big pieces of butter remain.

In another bowl, add 1 cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup milk, and 2 eggs. At this point, if you want golden raisins and/or caraway seeds, add them now. About 1 1/2 tsp of caraway seeds and 1/2 cup raisins. Whisk and add to the flour mixture. Using a fork, mix the wet into the dry until a dough begins to form. Using your hand, continue to work the dough until it pulls together and there's no more flour in the bottom of the bowl.

Dump contents onto a lightly floured counter. Split the dough in half and form into a nice smooth ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place each ball of dough on it. Take a sharp knife and score the tops of each mound with a criss cross.

Let sit for 20 minutes then pop into a well preheated 400* oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. The top of the bread should be beautifully browned. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.

.navajo tacos.

You know those chalupa things you can get at Taco Bell? I love those. My ultimate favorite was the Santa Fe chalupa, but they stopped making and selling them. What gives? That was my #1 craving when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter.

I remember as a little girl having Navajo tacos, which are really just a chalupa. Indian fry bread with some chili, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, onion and avocado. Mm hmm. It really can't get any better than this!

Making fry bread is very simple. Mix together:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered milk
1 tsp baking powder

Add in 1 cup of warm water and mix it all together using your hands. When it comes together, form into a ball and cover with saran. Let this sit for about 10 minutes to relax the gluten in the flour. Make sure you don't knead this dough like you would bread dough. That will work the gluten too much and you'll have a tougher, denser fry bread.

This recipe makes 4 shells so if you want more than this, double or triple (or quadruple!) the recipe.

Divide the ball into four separate balls. Cover again and let rest 5 minutes.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll each ball of dough until it's almost paper thin. No worries, it will puff up a LOT in the fryer.

While you were letting the dough rest, I hope you put a pot of oil on to heat. You need it at 350*. When the oil is warm and your dough has been rolled out, carefully lower one piece into the oil and fry until both sides are lightly golden. Remove and let drain on a paper towel or newspaper. Repeat until all the dough has been fried.

I used my basic chili recipe for these and all that's left to do is top with your favorite toppings!

**A special tip I like when we have Navajo tacos is to make extra fry bread dough. Fry some up for your tacos, then fry up more and slather with butter and honey, or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. My fav! Enjoy!

.buttery croissants.

When I had the bakery, we made a lot of things with or croissants -- breakfast sandwiches, chicken sandwiches... you know.. those types of things.  However, we usually *bought* them from our supplier because making croissant dough is a feat and when you're expecting to make a bazillion sandwiches each week, there's just no way to keep up *and* run a bakery.

However, we did make enough croissant dough for our danishes.  The flaky, buttery goodness just melts in your mouth.  If you would like to try your hand at this, it's not hard... just time consuming!  Trust me.. the results are well worth the effort.

First you want to start out by making your dough.  I use the same recipe I use for my french bread.  It's a very simple dough.  Let it rise in the fridge until double.

Flour your counter and roll the dough into a rectangular shape as best you can.  Don't roll too thin.

I used only half the dough because we just didn't need that many croissants.  If you make the whole batch at once, you'll need to double the butter measurement below.

Take 2 sticks butter (1 cup) and flatten them.  I used the palm but you can use your rolling pin.

Place the butter down the center of the dough.

Fold half the dough over the butter.

Then fold the other side over.

Then fold one end up 1/3 of the way.

Then fold the other half over.  All cute and snug as a bug. :)

Wrap the dough with saran and put in the fridge.

It's important to keep the dough cold.  This keeps the butter from working into the dough too much each time you roll.  This gives you those wonderful flaky layers that make croissants sooooo desireable!

After the dough has been held in the fridge for about an hour to hour and half, pull out and roll out again into a rectangle.  Repeat the folding steps. 

Re-wrap with the saran and put in the fridge.  You need to roll and fold another 5-6 times.  Wrap well after the last time and keep in the fridge overnight.

The next day, your dough whill be all ready to go!

Unwrap and roll out into a rectangle again.

Cut into triangles.  I made my croissants small because we had them with breakfast.  If I were using these for danish or sandwiches, I would cut the slices much bigger.

Roll the dough up and bend into crescent shapes.

Make sure you either butter your baking sheet or spray with Pam.

Put in a 400* oven and bake for about 30 minutes.  When they are beautiful golden, pull them out and let cool.

Serve with jam.

.honey wheat bread.

Hey Linda Jones! This one is for you! :D :D

Last Friday I got to meet my neighbor across the street. Her name is Mary and she's a very nice lady. Paige and I thought she and her husband, Joe, might like some fresh bread! (Did you get that.. I live across the street from Mary and Joseph. LOL!!!)

When I had the bakery, there was a gal who came in every other day to buy wheat bread. She loved it. She even said her husband would send her in even if she didn't feel like it because he NEEDED the bread. Now that I think of it, they must have consumed a lot of bread on a daily basis if she was coming in every other day. She was a great customer.

I love wheat bread too. For some reason it just screams "healthy" to me.. even though I still use a little white bread flour, and honey. You will probably find that this bread rises like crazy. You would think the opposite when it comes to wheat because whole wheat has virtually NO gluten. (Remember? Gluten is that thing that helps give bread dough elasticity. It's a good thing.)


Start with 1 cup heated milk. Put that in a bowl with 3 Tbsp butter and 1 tsp sugar. Yeast loves sugar so don't leave it out. It's just 1 tsp!!










Add 1 cup warm water and 4 tsp yeast (or two of those little pouches). Let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.










Add 1/3 cup honey.












And then break in 2 eggs.












It's time to put the bowl on the mixer and add the flour. I use a little white bread flour *and* wheat flour. Wheat flour is really heavy and I have found through trial and error that it just.won't.rise if you use all wheat.

Once you attach the dough hook and have the bowl on. Add 3 cups regular bread flour. Once you've added the flour turn on low speed. Add 1 tsp salt.

Switching the wheat flour, add 1/2 cup at a time until the dough starts pulling together.








This is what it will look like. Remove from the bowl and knead. Don't add too much more wheat flour as you knead because it won't rise well.
















You should be able to see a slight indentation in the top of the dough if you push your fingers in. And then it will disappear.

Spray your mixing bowl with PAM and put your dough back in. Let rise for an hour or until double in size. It's a cold day here in New York so it took a little longer to rise.





Once it's risen, punch the dough down and split in half.

If the dough is really sticky, knead a little more flour into it.








I use my rolling pin to roll the dough out a little. Roll up like a log.











Spray bread pans with Pam and put the formed dough in. Cover and let rise. Turn on the oven to 375* at this time.











When the dough starts peaking over the top of the pan, it's time to put in the oven. Bake for about 30-40 minutes.

When the bread is done, the tops will be really golden brown. See how much this domes up when it bakes? So awesome. I love bread and the smell that will be wafting through your house is just amazing. Wouldn't your husband be in love if he came home to that smell? I bet you he might even take the garbage out for you if you made him some of this! Pure mana.

Now don't leave these loaves in the pans. The heat won't be able to escape and the bottoms of your bread will be so soggy. Trust me... I learned the hard way. Dump the bread out of the pans and let cool on a rack. Keep stored in plastic bags (zip loc bags will work just fine). Enjoy with butter and some jam. :)

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_125cwjc4bc7

.sweet potato bread.

It feels great to be back in business!!! My new lens is going to take some getting use to. I have already decided I need another one, but for now this works.

Years ago when my husband and I went to Ohio to visit his family, his dad took us to Young's Dairy for dinner. It's an actual dairy farm with a petting area and ice creamery and a restaurant. When you sit down, they bring out a loaf of warm sweet potato bread and cinnamon honey butter. We loved it so much that I wanted to try and recreate this for us to enjoy whenever we wanted.

After much trial and error, I came up with this recipe. I even made it everyday at the bakery and it was a big hit. We even made it up as french toast and drizzled with a little honey. Delicious! I'm sure this will be a hit in your own homes as it is in ours.


In a sieve, sift 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp cloves.









I sifted right onto a piece of parchment paper because I didn't want to dirty up another bowl.
















Sorry blurry picture! In a mixing bowl, put 2/3 cup shortening, 2 cups sugar, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.










Mix until it's crumbly.

Add 3 eggs and mix until nice and creamy. Sorry for these blurry pictures! They look so clear on my little lcd screen.

I like to make a bunch of sweet potato mash ahead of time. I divide it into ziplocs and freeze so all I have to do is pull one bag out of the freezer and thaw and it's ready for use. To make your sweet potato mash, cut up sweet potatoes (with the skins on). Put them in a big ol pot and fill up with water. Boil until they're soft. Dump into a colander and let strain until they are dry. Pull the skins off and mash the flesh in a bowl. I have found that if you fill one of those plastic produce bags at the grocery store full of sweet potatoes, you'll have enough for about 8 loaves of bread.



Add 2 cups sweet potatoes to the mixing bowl and mix well.
















Dump in the dry ingredients all at once.


















Turn the mixer onto the lowest speed setting and mix only until the wet and dry are combined. Don't overmix this. The batter will be slightly thick.















Spray two medium sized bread pans with Pam and divide the batter between the two. See how lumpy I put it in there? One of the gals at my bakery used to try and make it so nice and smooth on top and I told her to not do that. It all works out on its own in the oven and you actually do want a little peak in the center.

Put these into a hot 400* oven. As soon as you put the loaves in, turn the heat down to 350* and bake for about 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.








See how beautiful these turn out? When you pull these out of the oven, remove them from the pans and let cool on baking racks.

Serve with whipped cinnamon honey butter.




To make this honey butter, put 2 semi soft sticks of butter in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Begin mixing on low speed to incorporate the butter and sugar. Drizzle honey in and turn onto high speed. Keep drizzling until the butter becomes nice and fluffy.

Transfer to a tupperware bowl and hold in the fridge when not using.



Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_123dnj9tvcc

.chicken cordon bleu pockets.

I love Chicken Cordon Blue. Traditionally it's a pounded out chicken breast a layer of ham and a slice of swiss cheese all rolled up. Then breaded and baked. I was in the mood to try something a little different and take these three ingredients but wrap them in bread dough.

Recently, another company contacted me asking if I would try their product too. This company is J.B. Dough. They're located in Benton Harbor, Michigan and I have to say, their bread mixes are pretty tasty. You can make them by hand, or using a bread machine, but with this recipe, I used my Kitchen Aid.


Open the package and put the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast packet in warm water. Follow the directions on the package.


Knead out on a floured counter and cover to let rise until almost double. Punch dough down and knead again.


Chop up some slices of ham.


Cut up some swiss cheese.


And then chop up some chicken breasts. You want to cut them into chunks to ensure they're baked thoroughly. If you used whole chicken breast, you run the risk of the bread pocket overbaking and having raw chicken in the middle. Ick.


Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces. You can make some larger and some smaller for kids if you want.

Take each piece and roll out into a circle.


Put some chicken, ham, and swiss cheese in the center. Season well with salt and pepper.


Pull all the edges up into a little pouch and pinch closed.


Turn the pouch upside down so the seam is on the bottom. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam. Repeat until all the dough and filling ingredients are used up.


In a bowl, put one egg and one Tablespoon water. Mix up.


Brush the eggwash on top of each of the bread pouches. Make sure you get as much of the surface as you can. Place the sheet in a 350* oven for about 40-45 minutes. If the tops start browning too much, put a sheet of foil on top.


The tops will be beautifully golden. Pull from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.


See how yummy that looks. The chicken was so tender and moist. The swiss cheese coated the chicken and ham and the fresh baked bread surrounding it soaked in all of the flavors. A perfect twist on a traditional meal.

Something that would be really awesome? Make these mini sized for parties! I think you'll have people inviting themselves to your get togethers if you start serving these. Enjoy!