pumpkin bread balls

Pumpkin bread balls.
Why not?
I mean seriously why not.
I do tire of plain pumpkin bread, it gets a little boring.
Having made banana bread balls with huge success, why not pumpkin bread.


The only thing I did differently with the pumpkin bread cake balls is I did not dip them in chocolatesince I'm not a fan of pumpkin and chocolate together.
But if you are a fan of it then go right ahead.
These are really easy to make too; FAR EASIER than cake balls.
Cake balls they fall apart when you roll them and when you dip them in chocolate.
Banana bread balls and pumpkin bread balls are much heartier and can stand up to a chocolate
bath.
I dipped the pumpkin bread balls in a simple glaze, which will not harder BTW because pumpkin bread is very moist, but it gives it a nice layer of sweet.
Then coat in powdered sugar.
If you do want a "crunch" on your pumpkin bread balls then dip then in dark or white chocolate.
These do not keep well the next day; they are a "one day wonder".
Be oh so tasty during that "one day wonder".

Take a perfectly good baked loaf of pumpkin bread, mix with cream cheese, wrap and chill.

A nice pumpkin pie glaze bath.


Taste-testing in progress.  See I look out for you by taste-testing everything (at least 5x).

And a final roll in powdered sugar to make em look fancy.
Next time I make these, I will dip them in chocolate and report back.

pumpkin bread balls
recipe from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

1 baked loaf pumpkin bread (8 or 9-inch loaf)
8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp

glaze bath:
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 TB whole milk
pinch of sea salt
dash or two of pumpkin pie spice
plus extra powdered sugar for dusting, decorative

chocolate bath:
white or dark melted chocolate
chopped nuts or sprinkles for decoration, optional

Cook Notes:
The glaze does NOT harden on the balls because the pumpkin bread is moist.
So after they dried a bit after the glaze dip, I just rolled them in powdered sugar for a nice decorative touch.
They do not keep well the next day; still tasty but very moist.
If you want a "crunchy" coating then dip them in white, milk or dark chocolate.

Once bread is cooled. Crumble it up in a large bowl until you have crumbs—no large chunks should be remaining. Add in the softened cream cheese. Mix well. I used my hands to mix this really well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let set up, harden (I did this overnight--recipe from vanillasugarblog.com). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out 1 or 2 inch balls, roll into fairly uniform balls. If using a medium size ice cream scoop makes it easier then go ahead. Remember you don’t want balls any larger than 2 inches. Once all balls are done, place in fridge to chill.
If you are doing them plain with no chocolate dipping then prepare the glaze. If you are doing chocolate dipping then temper milk, white or dark chocolate. About 2+ cups of milk/dark/white chocolate chips. You might need a bit more. Once chocolate is tempered, using a plastic fork or chopsticks, dip balls into chocolate and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle the balls with the chopped nuts or sprinkles while chocolate is still soft. It takes a while for the chocolate to harden or you can place them in the fridge to speed up the process. They keep covered in air tight container in the fridge for about 3 days. Should make about 25 balls; dependent on the size you roll them.
If you are doing the glaze, in a shallow bowl, mix the powdered sugar with the milk and a pinch of salt.
Mix until well combined.  Dip the balls in the glaze, and place on a wire rack lined with parchment paper. The glaze will not harden because the pumpkin bread is moist. So for decorative purposes, after they were done drying I rolled them in powdered sugar.

banana-butterscotch skillet cake + Kohl's Gift Card Giveaway

Kohl's asked me to test out a few items from their Bobby Flay Cookware line.
How could I say no?

Stainless steel bowls with a non-skid bottom?
What a dream these are!
I'm never going back to plastic mixing bowls!
These are some of the best bowls I've used, and trust me I've owned a lot of mixing bowls, most of them plastic--which never last long, and tend to wilt, stain, and crack.
Never really thought of stainless steel used in a mixing bowl, but now I see why.
Good thinking Bobby Flay. When he created these, he had durability in mind.
The cast iron pan from Kohl's is my favorite.
First off it's square and holds a lot more.
Second it's a lot lighter than your traditional cast iron pan.
And thirdly, it has a handle on both sides for easy removal from the oven--love that.
You know cast iron just isn't for grilling?
You can make a banana bread with it too.
AND chocolate chip cookies.
A kicked up banana bread.
I think I prefer making my banana bread in a cast iron skillet. It bakes up moist with a nice crust to it.
I call it a cake, a bread, not sure what it is really, more of a cake as it's not as heavy as a banana bread.

You need to get the Bobby Flay Cast Iron Pan. So much easier to move, use, grill and take out of a hot oven.  Square size just holds more too. Plus it comes pre-seasoned!

Stainless steel. Just those two words had me sold. We all know stainless steel will last a lot longer and is less likely to scratch, dent and warp over time.

The Bobby Flay stoneware line is stunning. You should see the other colors!
I'm partial to the yellow color.  And this 3 1/2 quart stoneware casserole dish has a whole other stoneware line that goes with it: the cutest 4-piece ramekin set, ceramic square baking dish, and a ceramic lasagna pan.

Have you made a cake use cast iron pan?
It's really quite simple--almost one-bowl easy too.


Just mix the batter, pour into greased cast iron pan, and bake!


Kohl's was kind enough to giveaway a $25.00 gift card to any Kohl's store.
All you have to do to enter is tell us what YOU think Bobby Flay Cookware line should come up with next?
What kitchen item should be Bobby Flay's next cooking/baking idea?
Have a good idea?  Tell us.
Need some inspiration?
Visit Bobby Flay's Kohl's line and have a look around...
Please leave ONE comment, and have a valid email address in your signature line.
All anonymous comments will be deleted.
Drawing will be done May 15, 2013.
USA residents only.

CONTEST CLOSED

nutty banana-butterscotch skillet cake

print recipe

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½  TB baking powder

1 ts baking soda

¼ ts salt

1 ts ground cinnamon

½ cup shortening

½ cup sour cream

½ cup buttermilk

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, + 1 egg yolk

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup butterscotch chips, optional

½ - ¾ cup of pecans or walnuts, chopped, optional

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease with non-stick spray your cast iron skillet.

In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, mix the shortening, butter, sour cream, buttermilk, and sugar. Add in the eggs, mix, then add in the eggs, and mix.  Then by hand, mix in the mashed bananas.

Doing in batches, add in half the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mix till just combined, then add in the other half of the dry mixture and mix till just combined.  Please don’t over mix.

Gently fold in butterscotch chips, if using.

Pour the batter into prepared skillet pan. Top the batter with the chopped nuts.

Bake in oven for about 30-35 minutes.

Look for golden brown edges and non-jiggly middle. 

You can also use a cake tester to see if cake is done.

My cake was done right at the 30-minute mark.

It’s a delicate cake so it can go from done to overdone in literally a couple minutes.

Remember the cast iron heats up a lot faster and holds the heat better than a metal pan, so this cake bakes up fast.

Interview with Artisan Bread in Five authors + Giveaway!

I am extremely pleased to have the dynamic duo behind best selling cookbooks: artisan bread in five minutes a day, healthy bread in five minutes a day and artisan pizza & flatbread in five minutes a day.  Clearly this bread-genius duo has it down pat when it comes to artisan breads.  Artisan breads made lighting fast I might add.

Praise for artisan bread in 5:

“Soon the bread will be making itself…..the crust, full-flavored loaf that results may be the worlds easiest yeast bread.” – New York Times

“I love it when someone challenges conventional wisdom…and wins!  Zoe and Jeff will have you baking bread in less time than it takes to make toast…” – Stephen Durfee, CIA & James Beard Award winner.

No more working all day with yeasty breads, five minutes a day is all you need to have the same exact high-quality artisan bread you see in bakeries, bread shops, high-end grocery…this can finally all be done at home—even for all those home cooks who are, shall we say, yeast-challenged?

Bio on Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. -  has been a physician, university professor, information technology consultant, and ardent amateur baker.  He developed a love of great bread while growing up in NYC in the 60’s & 70’s.  He refined his love of baking with travels through France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Britain and Morocco.  He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two daughters.

Bio on Zoe Francois – she is a pastry chef and baker. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America.  In addition to teaching baking and pastry in the Twin Cities and consulting to restaurants, Zoe creates artful desserts and custom wedding cakes.  She also has the famous baking blog: zoebakes.com.  She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and two sons. 

Zoe and Jeff have a bread blog too!  http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ 

Given both your backgrounds, how did you two meet? 

Jeff:  Yes, our backgrounds are different, but we both spent some time at home with kids when they were little—we met because our toddlers were in a music class together.

Zoe:  Kids are the best for bringing people together, we have them to thank for this endeavor.

How did you come up with the whole “bread in 5” concept?

Jeff:  Necessity was the mother of invention.  I was a busy medical resident who loved bread, and my wife taught me the traditional method so I could make my beloved rye bread in my spare time.  Since I had zero spare time, I had to economize on lengthy steps, and ultimately, what really saved time was making a large batch of dough and using it over a week or more.  Otherwise there’s too much prep, mixing, and cleaning bowls.  It takes wet dough to do that (but not too wet), and getting it just right was the hard work of these books.    

I love that part of Zoe’s background involves creating ice cream cakes at Ben & Jerry’s.  Is this where you found your love of baking?

Zoe:  When I was going to college in Burlington, Vermont I wanted to work at Ben & Jerry’s, because they gave their employees free pints of ice cream after every shift. I also discovered cake decorating at that job.

Jeff, did you set out to be an MD?  Were all your travels in and around Europe what made you really what to delve deeper into baking?  Or did you have your eyes set on bread making?

Jeff:  Sure did, I went straight from college to med school, and I expected to practice adult medicine and do research, maybe in a part-time academic practice.  But after a few years in practice, I got interested in computers in health care, trained in a research fellowship, and started a consulting practice in health care computing.  That freed up my time for family, hobbies, and delving into other interests.  Like bread-baking. 

Photo by Mark Luinenburg

sticky pecan rolls, pg. 187

Have you two thought about opening a bread shop? I’m certain it would do very well.

Jeff:  Well, it might, but the concern is that we might throw the baking pans at each other!  Seriously, I’m not sure I was destined to work that hard.  Providing great food to customers is hard, hard work with long hours, and I have so much respect for people who do it.  I’m just not sure it’s right for me. 

Zoe:  I’m not graceful enough early in the morning to open a bakery, and what Jeff said about the flying pans is probably true!  ;)

Jeff- when creating recipes, did your medical training ever come in handy?

Jeff:  It turns out that recipe-testing is a lot like the scientific method.  You have a best guess about what will work, you do some experiments, and if they don’t produce what you expected, you refine your guess—and change the ingredients list! 

When shopping around for agents for your first book--A part of me wants to say it must have been easy with such a great “bread in 5 minutes” concept, but then I think it could have also have been hard selling such a concept to an agent?  Which one was it?

Jeff:  Our agent, Jane Dystel, was sold on the concept immediately, along with our editor at Thomas Dunne Books, the late Ruth Cavin.  Without Jane and Ruth—no book series for us.  They were sure that if the method actually worked, people would flock to it.  And for some reason, they believed us, without ever having made the bread themselves.  The proof came from our readers, who propelled the book by word of mouth (we have about 500,000 copies in print for all three titles). 

Zoe: Lynne Rosetto Kasper (NPR’s The Splendid Table) generously introduced us to her agent, Jane Dystel. It is difficult to get a book idea in front of an agent these days, so we feel incredibly lucky.

Was there “bread making” research involved?  Where does one go or look for that?

Jeff:  Of course!  We both love travel, and whatever we eat and love when we’re traveling with our families, we try to recreate with our stored dough.  Between us, we’ve spent time in France, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Britain, and Greece—all countries with great traditional bread cultures.  Samples from those places are all over our books.  And of  course, there’s more mundane research, eating all the good bread we can find in our local bakeries, and reading everything on the subject that we can get our hands on.

Zoe:  The “research” is why I’m in this business. It is now officially my job to eat bread everywhere I go.  What a glorious line of work. Developing a recipe to recreate a particular loaf of bread I’ve fallen in love with is where the challenge comes in.

Zoe: your food blog at zoebakes.com, is stunning and creative; where do you find time to create recipes there?  Which ones are your favorite to create?

Zoe: Wow, thank you! Zoebakes.com is my playground for sweets, and where I go to relax. I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so baking desserts just seems to find its way into my daily routine. I like to recreate desserts I might find in a restaurant, but in a way people can easily do at home. Which means lots of step-by-step photos.

Any recipes you had a hard time with?  Which recipes were the easiest to create?  Any recipes that didn’t make the cut?

Zoe: The gluten-free breads in our books were the most challenging to develop. They use a list of ingredients I was not used to and techniques that are quite different from traditional breads.  Not only did the recipes have to taste great, but they had to be fast and easy to use. I am thrilled to say we did just that.

Favorite creation in the books?

Jeff:  Provencal Roasted Red Pepper Fougasse, a folded flatbread that’s visually stunning and unbelievably savory.  Don’t forget the salt!

Zoe: One of my favorite recipes in the book is the “Bostock,” and for some reason I don’t think many people have tried it.  It is almond cream rolled up in brioche and baked with an almond crunch topping. Simply divine.

I love that when I do these interviews with food authors I get to find out that most of their recipes were/are created by simply what they were craving!

Can this be true of you two as well when creating Artisan Pizza in 5 Minutes and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes?

Jeff:  That is exactly it for me.  I moved to Minneapolis in 1987 and couldn’t find New York deli-style rye bread that I’d grown up with.  So I had to learn to make it myself. 

Zoe: That’s why we continue to create more recipes; the cravings and inspiration just never go away.

Who are/were your taste-testers?

Jeff:  Friends, family, and each other.

Zoe: My mom was my first tester. I knew if she could do it, anyone could. She was not much of a baker until she started making our bread. Now she bakes almost daily.

Photo by Mark Luinenburg

european peasant bread, pg. 46

What other foods do you two enjoy?

Jeff:  I love Vietnamese, French, Italian, and Mexican.  Underneath it all, the blend of influences that has made American food so interesting right now. 

Zoe: I intend to spend my life figuring out this question. I love to eat.

Favorite places to travel just for the food?

Jeff:  France, hands down.

Zoe: Turkey or Italy or France or NYC or San Francisco or Nicollet Ave in Minneapolis.  There is good food to be had in nearly every town.

If you were stranded on a desert island and had the choice of one (or two) comfort foods—what would they be?

Jeff:  Rye bread with sweet butter

Zoe: Ice cream and fresh baguettes (Assuming coffee will already be on the island).

Favorite chefs? And did both of you get to meet any of your favorite chefs while on book tours? 

Jeff:  James Beard, because of Beardon Bread.  Like Julia Child in Mastering the Art…, James was saying that great homemade food doesn’t need to be hard for amateurs to achieve.  He fitted his bread recipes so they’d sit on two facing sheets, which influenced us greatly.  James never experimented with stored dough, but I like to think he’d have been open to it. 

Zoe: Oh, I have been influenced by so many pastry chefs and have had the enormous good fortune to meet several of them: Dorie Greenspan, Abby Dodge, Sherry Yard, Nancy Silverton, Michelle Gayer, Stephen Durfee and many, many more. Their work and generosity has inspired my career.

In your downtime what do you like to do?

Jeff:  Travel, eat, cook, run, and bike.  Bike commuting’s my new thing.

Zoe: Down time??? I don’t understand the question. ;)

Any advice to your fans who wish to someday get published?  

It takes more than hard work and a good idea.  You need a bit of luck.  We had a unique idea, but if we hadn’t had some luck—getting the New York Times, the Today Show, and Associated Press to cover us—the book would never have gotten wide exposure.  But if you have a unique cooking idea, and you’re willing to do the networking to get the idea out there, you have a shot.  And self-publishing may make it easier to break into this business—don’t discount that.

Dare I ask—is there a fourth book in the works?  And will it be bread-related?  There is!  But alas, the publisher will kill us if we talk about it so early in its development…

Thank you both for the interview.

For the giveaway:
one lucky person will win one copy of each of their books (3 books total)
please leave a comment telling us what kind of homemade bread you'd like to make or have made.
one comment per person please. 
no anonymous comments please; have a valid name & email in signature line!
we'll do the drawing on Friday November 2, 2012.

banana bread balls

Cake balls.
I like them, they're ok. I prefer cake balls made with real chocolate not dipping melts.
Something about that flavor of dipping melts is just not right--chemically? metallic?
The one thing that I hated about making cake balls is the batter is a little too delicate, sure I'm not a professional and really haven't made them a lot, so I could get better with practice.
With these banana bread balls, the dough/batter is so much easier to dip. Heartier, less chances of it falling apart when you dip them in chocolate.
Who doesn't love easier?

(sorry for the moisture droplets on the chocolate; it's been a hot & humid summer on cape cod)

So yes, these banana bread balls were a HUGE success; I was truly happy with the first run.
I'm certain you will be too.
Great idea to make with the kids. Just have your dipping station set up and it's so easy.
I highly recommend using the nuts--you really want that texture. You could also stick them on a stick.
So easy to make really. If you want to find a 'hard part'? It would dipping the balls in chocolate.


Take a perfectly cooked loaf of banana bread, smash it up and mix with cream cheese.


Roll into 1-2 inch size balls. And keep in fridge till ready to dip. Make sure the balls are always kept cold before dipping.


Get your dipping station ready.


For dipping, I used a plastic fork. Chopsticks also work well too.

Make sure to sprinkle tops with chopped walnuts!

Let set up until chocolate hardens.

I used milk chocolate for dipping. But dark might work too.


I think these lasted a day in the house? They are really good. A real treat.

I'll be taking a small blogging break for a few days.
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

banana bread balls
print recipe

I used one of my favorite banana breads: Mama Dips’ Banana Bread.
Feel free to use whatever banan bread recipe you prefer.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium; the browner, the better!)
3 TB sour cream
1 TB lemon juice
2 cups flour
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts baking soda

8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp
2 cups +/- of milk chocolate chips (for dipping)
1 cup of crushed walnuts or pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In bowl of stand mixer, cream shortening and sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time; then bananas, sour cream, and lemon juice.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
Slowly add dry ingredients to mixture.

Pour into greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pan.
Bake for 60 minutes.

Once bread is cooled. Crumble it up in a large bowl until you have crumbs—no large chunks should be remaining.
Add in the softened cream cheese. Mix well. I used my hands to mix this really well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let set up, harden.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop out 1 or 2 inch balls, roll into fairly uniform balls. If using a medium size ice cream scoop makes it easier then go ahead. Remember you don’t want balls any larger than 2 inches.
Once all balls are done, place in fridge to chill.
Temper milk or dark chocolate. I used about 2+ cups of milk chocolate chips.
You might need a bit more.
Once chocolate is tempered, using a plastic fork or chopsticks, dip balls into chocolate and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Sprinkle the balls with the chopped nuts while chocolate is still soft.
It takes a while for the chocolate to harden or you can place them in the fridge to speed up the process.

They keep covered in air tight container in the fridge for about 3 days.
Should make about 25 balls; dependent on the size you roll them.

wordless wednesday (artichoke melts)

print recipe

quick and easy chocolate-gingerbread

As in very quick and easy. As in the fastest quick bread I've ever made 'quick & easy'.

I probably should have posted this a while back for the holiday season. And I think Trader Joe's will stop carrying this for the season soon.
But saw these photos sitting in the archives and said "why not post it--someone out there will dig it".
Remember what I did with the gingerbread mix last year? The gingerbread cupcakes with white chocolate ganache frosting? Tres fab.
Did you also know that I made a batch of waffles with this box mix too? Pretty good. No photos on that one. If you do try it, use fresh whipped cream, not syrup--you already knew that didn't you?

Easy peasy. Follow box directions, pour in 1/2 the batter into greased loaf pan, put down as much or as little chocolate as you like, then pour remaining batter on top and bake according to box directions.

pumpkin bread w/ cream cheese filling

I have to admit, I've never been a big fan of cake mixes, bread mixes for fear of crappy taste. But hands down this instant pumpkin bread mix from Trader Joe's is really good. Has really good pumpkin flavor and definitely not too sweet. It rises perfectly and holds up well to add in's. I've experimented with this bread mix before, adding in chips, spices, nuts and now cream cheese swirl. It's really good. And if you're strapped for time this is it; so quick and easy to assemble, the only long part is the baking. I've made the cream cheese swirl with espresso and plain using a hint of vanilla extract. Feel free to experiment here. One could even add in pumpkin pie spice to the cream cheese filling; just taste test as you go along as pumpkin pie spice is strong and can dominate flavor fast.
I also love the Trader Joe's Gingerbread mix--come see what I did to that one!
Gingerbread cupcakes with white chocolate-cream cheese ganache

As you can clearly see it's a moist bread. Give this one a go, I'm certain you'll love it no matter how you kick it up.

pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling
print recipe

Pumpkin bread batter:
1 box of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread
A dash or two of cinnamon

Cream cheese filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, very soft
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
3-4 TB white sugar (more if you like it sweet)
If you want espresso flavor use a ½ of a Starbuck’s Via
If you want plain flavor use 1 oversize teaspoon vanilla extract
If you want pumpkin pie flavor use a couple dashes of pumpkin pie spice blend

Mix bread mix according to directions on box. Set aside. Preheat oven to what it says on box.
In a separate bowl mix the cream cheese with the egg yolk, salt and flavor of your choice. Mix well.

Spray a bread loaf pan with non stick spray. Pour in half the batter, then dollop the middle with clumps of the cream cheese mixture; don’t let the cream cheese mixture go to the ends as it will run out as it bakes. Cover top with remaining batter. Bake according to box directions. You’ll know when it’s done when you see light brown edges and the bread mix when tested with toothpick comes out clean. Don’t test the middle of the bread is it has the cream cheese and no batter.
You have to let this cool for a while before slicing as the cream cheese filling needs to firm up.

white chocolate-cranberry quick bread w/ lemon glaze

Quick and easy coming right up! And let me just say this was super tasty too. I know we all love our Trader Joes, but what I love more is a bargain AND something super-tasty. This bread when I first baked it was ok, just a little dry, and a little bland. They do put a lot of cranberries in the mix, thankfully. I decided to jazz it up a bit, with white chocolate chips since they, when melted have a nice buttery taste. Perfect! And then the gentle lemon glaze made it fabulous. You simply have to try this. This is the perfect last minute gift for whatever pops up. They'll never know it was from a box. Never never know I swear. My friends didn't--well they do now.

A big congrats to the winner of the giveaway. It was Valerie, lucky #99, She won the over-sized boxes of Guylian Chocolates and the amazing Nespresso machine. Congrats Val! Let us know what espresso and chocolate creations you make with it? What a fabulous machine. A very special "thank you" to Guylian Chocolates for donating these prizes.

I am working on getting another BIG PRIZE giveaway coming up soon. Only the biggest and best gifts for my fans!





white chocolate-cranberry quick bread w/ lemon glaze
print recipe

1 box of Trader Joe’s Cranberry Bread
(plus all the ingredients the box direction calls for)
½ cup – ¾ cup good quality white choco chips

Glaze
1 large lemon
3-4 TB of confectioners sugar, sifted

Cook notes: the glaze is very very mild. I only wanted a hint of lemon on there as the bread is very sweet on it’s on; so I did not use a strong glaze. Feel free to use whatever you want. The white chocolate chips make this cake very moist and almost buttery-like tasting. You could probably do this in a bundt pan, just reduce the cooking time by 5 – 10 minutes.

Mix cranberry bread according to box directions. Preheat oven according to box directions. Grease up or butter up a loaf pan, pour ¾ batter into pan, sprinkle the white chocolate chips, then pour on the remaining ¼ batter. Tap pan to get out excess air. Bake according to box directions or until cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool in pan about 10 minutes then flip onto wire rack. Prepare the glaze by mixing the lemon juice with the confectioners sugar. It’s a very mild and gentle glaze. If you want a stronger/thicker glaze then add in more confectioners sugar and/or lemon juice.

browned butter soda bread

I like soda bread, I do, but not as much as the average person might? I find it a little bland, I know it's supposed to be bland by nature; a perfect vehicle rather for warm salty butter, jam or even ham. I just kicked up this soda bread up by adding in a bit of sugar and some browned butter to the top of it halfway thru baking. One could easily argue that I took the classic white soda bread paired it with the Irish version minus the caraway seeds and raisins, AND also a mixing of the browned butter soda bread minus the rosemary. Finding a happy middle in there somewhere. If you'd like a little history on the various types of soda breads and how they came about click here at epicurious. It's quite a good read and it tells you why you need to score a cross on the top of the bread before baking. What's your favorite soda bread(s)?





browned butter soda bread
print recipe

3 cups white all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 TB of baking soda
1 ts baking powder
1 ts cream of tartar
¼ cup of superfine sugar*
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 and ½ cups buttermilk, room temp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease up a regular loaf pan with olive oil.
Sift all of the dry ingredients, (not the oatmeal), into a large mixing bowl. Next add in the oatmeal and mix. Add in (slowly) the buttermilk. Mix with your hands until you have a very loose dough. I gave it about 4-6 turns. You do not want to overmix as you will start the gluten process and this will give you a dense loaf. No kneading! Recipe from dawn finicane of vanillasugarblog.com Put dough into greased loaf pan. Push batter down gently into the corners. Then score a cross on the top. You’re going to cook this loaf for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester in middle comes out clean. But halfway thru baking you pour on the browned butter.

browned butter:
6 TB unsalted butter cut into TB chunks. Place in med-heat saucepan. Watch until butter is browned, has brown specks on bottom all the while whisking while it’s browning away. Just when it turns golden brown and has a nutty aroma – it’s done. Take off heat. Let cool a bit then pour on load halfway thru cooking. Ok to poke a few small tiny tiny holes in bread to let butter slide in there nice and happy.
*Note: if you don’t have superfine sugar, just run regular white sugar thru a food processer until fine.