Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

I love growing zucchini and having it overflowing so that I can try new recipes with them! I had a bunch of blueberries so I wanted to find a recipe that uses both the berries and zucchini and I ran across this bread recipe on AllRecipes.com. Since I had already made zucchini bread, I decided to turn these into muffins and they were delicious!

ZUCCHINI AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 24 muffin cups. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

This recipe I half-way made up. I saw a picture of a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese filling and thought that I could probably do that myself with my awesome pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe that I have. I only had half of a bag of chocolate chips so I made a dozen muffins with those and then a dozen of just pumpkin bread with pecans on top. They were both delicious!

So for the muffin, use this recipe. Then add chocolate chips (I'd recommend it) or leave it out and add nuts. Or do both if you are daring! So here's the recipe for the filling:

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix this up with your handmixer. Grease a muffin tin or insert paper lining. Fill a quarter of the muffin cup with pumpkin mix, then drop a rounded teaspoon of the cream cheese mix into the middle of the pumpkin. Finally add more pumpkin mix on top of the cream cheese until the muffin cup is about 3/4 full. You should get 2 dozen muffins with this recipe. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

Mushroom and Spinach Biscuits

I bought a huge container of mushrooms recently so I've been experimenting with different mushroom recipes that I'm finding. Have you ever checked out Tastespotting? If not, you need to right now. You can submit pictures of your wonderful food creations and then people like me peruse through the beautiful pictures and find recipes to make. I saw the picture of these biscuits which led me to this blog where they were posted. I made them to go with my baked ham last night and they were DELICIOUS! They weren't hard to make at all and they tasted like something you'd eat at a fancy restaurant. Even Colton liked these, so they made be a good way for moms to sneak some veggies into a meal. I made some slight changes to the recipe and here's my version:

MUSHROOM AND SPINACH BISCUITS

• About 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms (I used baby portobellos), chopped
  
• 1/2 cup finely-grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
  
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup butter
  
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
  
• 3/4 cup milk

Line baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Saute mushrooms and onion in olive oil on medium heat. Once mushrooms are cooked, add spinach on top. Fold in spinach and saute until wilted. Allow to cool and then mix in Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, white pepper and thyme in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pasty cutter or two forks until the mixture forms fine crumbs. Stir in milk, then stir in cooled mushroom/spinach mixture. Don't stir too much, just until dough will form a ball. Then knead ball lightly on a floured surface (it will be sticky!).

Roll dough out to 3/4-inch thick on a floured surface. Cut into circles using a biscuit cutter or a glass cup. If you use a biscuit cutter you'll get 6 biscuits and you'll want to bake them for 15 minutes. If you use a glass cup to cut out your biscuits, you'll get 8-9 and you'll only want to bake them for 12 minutes. Cool the biscuits before eating.

Zucchini Bread

One of my favorite things about summer is the plethora of zucchini that is everywhere. We grow it but you can also buy them cheap at the store/market AND if people know you enjoy cooking they bring lots to you as gifts. So I always have zucchini on hand in the summer/fall...YAY!! Here's a favorite Zucchini Bread recipe that I got and adapted from several recipes I've come across.

ZUCCHINI BREAD

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (use all-purpose if you don't have any of this)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (you can use applesauce if you want it healthier)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini (DON'T squeeze the water out of them unless you want dry bread)
• 1 cup of chocolate chips OR walnuts OR pecans (optional)

Grease and flour two bread pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl. In another bowl beat together the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Add dry sifted ingredients to this bowl and mix together. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips or nuts until combined.

Pour into bread pans and bake for 50-60 minutes (check with a toothpick to see if the middle is done). Cool bread for 30 minutes on a rack and then take it out of the pan. Let it completely cool before slicing. Enjoy!!

Hot Buttered Pretzels

Oh. My. Heavens. These are sooooo good! If you love yourself and your family at all then you will make these pronto. This recipe also came out of the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, which I would like to add has been a very useful cookbook. I've been getting lots of terrific recipes from it! Anyways, if you're a big a fan of the pretzels you can buy at the mall or at fairs, then this is your lucky day. Quick tip - the pretzels you make with this recipe come out to be half the size of the ones you'd buy at the mall/fair, so feel free to eat lots of them.

HOT BUTTERED PRETZELS

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water

Topping:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
• 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted

Place all the dough ingredients in a bowl and beat until well combined. Knead the dough, by hand or mixer, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Dust the dough with flour (to keep from sticking) and place it in a plastic bag; close the bag, leaving enough room for the dough to expand, and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray or lining them with parchment paper.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and divide it into eight equal pieces. Let the pieces rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Roll each piece of dough into a long thin rope (around 28 inches) and twist each rope into a pretzel. Dip the pretzels in the warm water mixed with 1 teaspoon sugar, and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with the salt. Let them rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 8-9 minutes, until they're golden brown, reversing the baking sheets halfway through.

Remove the pretzels from the oven and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Homemade Bagels

I was really excited to try these out. Bagels that are hot out of the oven are soooo good and I wanted to be able to make these and not have to drive to Einstein's to get them. =)

Making them is a lot like baking bread except you have an extra step at the end - boiling. I thought bagels were fried for some reason, never knew they were boiled! So these were easy to make and don't let the fact that you're using yeast scare you from trying them out. Also, I just made plain ones but you could easily make different kinds - cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, cheese, onion, sesame seed, etc. I got the recipe from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.

BAGELS

• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (I used brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Water bath

• 2 quarts (64 ounces) water
• 2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (brown sugar again)
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Combine all the dough ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead vigorously, by hand for 10-15 minutes, or by machine on medium-low speed for about 10 minutes. The dough will be quite stiff; if you're using an electric mixer it will "thwap" the sides of the bowl and hold its shape when you stop the mixer. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and set it to rise until noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (***The way I let my bread dough and this dough rise is by turning the oven on to 200 degrees then turning the oven off once it hits that temp. Right after I turn the oven off I place the dough in it. This ensures that it's rising in a warm place and isn't exposed to drafts or humidity. I also always place plastic wrap over the bowl.)

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into 8 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up very slightly.

While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water, malt powder (or brown sugar) and sugar to a very gentle boil in a large pot. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Use a bagel cutter, or use your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter. Place each bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Transfer the bagels, a couple at a time, to the simmering water bath. Increase the heat under tha pan to bring the water back up to a gently simmering boil, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, gently flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or strainer, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.

Bake the bagels for 20-25 minutes, until they're as deep a brown as you like, turning them over about 15 minutes, which will help them remain tall and round. Remove the bagels from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Zucchini Lemon Muffins

Recently I checked the King Arthur Flour's Bakers Companion cookbook and have been trying new muffins, bagels and breads out. The ones that both Joe and I and our family members (who are our guinea pigs) enjoy the most I'll share on here with you. This was our favorite muffin recipe that I tried out. It was very light and flavorful and this summer when zucchini is plentiful I'll definitely be making this one often!

ZUCCHINI LEMON MUFFINS

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulate sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Grate peel of 1 lemon or 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup packed shredded unpeeled zucchini

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon peel in a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir just until barely combined and then gently fold in the zucchini.

Spoon the batter into a greased 12-cup muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when you press them with your fingertips. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Eggnog Bread

This year we've had tons of eggnog on hand (I think Joe keeps sneaking it in) so I've been trying different recipes using the eggnog. I made this bread for Christmas Eve and it was a big hit! I made them into mini loaves and gave the extra loaves to family members. Definitely try this when you have some extra eggnog around!

EGGNOG BREAD

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups eggnog
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 small box vanilla pudding (non-instant)
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one large bread pan or mini loaf pan. Blend together the first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Slowly mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. Pour into prepared pan and cook 35-40 minutes if you're making small loaves and 40-50 minutes if making a large loaf.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Shellie made these muffins for us when she was visiting us over the summer and we all loved them - even Joe who hates both bananas and muffins! I had a bunch of bananas that were about to go bad so I requested the recipe of these amazing muffins from Shell and I'd love to share it with everyone! Seriously....make these soon.

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Shellie's tips

Don't use muffin paper liners. waste of time. and in my opinion waste of muffin. just spray pam into muffin pan and they will come right out.

Also if you have an ice cream scoop with a pushy button that releases the ice cream I use that to fill the muffins. don't get a complete scoop or it will over run. like a 3/4 scoop is perfect.

This recipe makes about 12. but you are probably want to double or triple it cause its that good.

Beer Bread

One of my favorite things to eat with chili is beer bread. The yeast-y, sweet flavor of the bread is perfect with it. This is a new recipe that I tried out on my family and everyone loved it! It's super easy to make so definitely give it a try! This recipe is adapted from this one.

BEER BREAD

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 (12 ounce) can of beer
• 1/4 cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch baking pan. In a bowl, mix the self-rising flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. Pour in the beer, and mix just until moistened. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Top with the melted butter. Bake 45 to 55 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Yogurt Muffins

So I'm still working on my goal of cooking one recipe out of each of my cookbooks and I'm still on the Bs! I need to get crackin'.

This this recipe is out the Better Homes and Garden red binder cookbook that I'm sure EVERYBODY has. I don't know why I don't refer to that cookbook more often because it has some really great ideas in there.

This muffin recipe is so terrific and is very easy to make. The yogurt makes the muffins very moist. I made some changes, using what I had on-hand, and I really liked them.

YOGURT MUFFINS

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel (I used lemon peel)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 8-ounce carton orange yogurt (I used blueberry)
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoon orange juice (I used lemon juice)

Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, orange peel, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Add mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin cups.

Meanwhile, stir together powdered sugar and enough orange juice to make a glaze that is easy enough to drizzle. Drizzle over warm muffins, serve warm.

Bleu Cheese Biscuits

For Easter dinner I wanted to do something different than the normal rolls that are always served. I was looking through Pioneer Woman's recipes and found this one. I was a bit hesitant to try the recipe because I'm not a fan of bleu cheese, but I know everyone else in my family likes it...so why not go for it.

Everyone, including me, absolutely loved it!! The bleu cheese-ness of it wasn't too strong, so it was perfect. I definitely recommend everyone to try this.

BLEU CHEESE BISCUITS

• 1 can flaky biscuits
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2-3 ounces bleu cheese

Crumble the bleu cheese. Next, place the butter on a baking sheet and throw the cheese on top of it. Place into a 350 degree oven for a couple of minutes, until the butter and cheese have melted.

Take the biscuits out of the tube and cut them in quarters. Pull the pan out of the oven and spread the cheese and butter around so it evenly distributed. Dump the quartered biscuits into the pan and toss them around to get coated.

Stick the pan in the oven for 8-12 minutes, until the biscuits are cooked and browned. Using a brush, coat the leftover cheese and butter mixture onto the biscuits.

Coffeecake

I was given the cookbook Best of the Best from Utah from my mom a few years ago. Then shortly after that, my mother-in-law brought me the cookbook Best of the Best from Georgia after a trip she took there. I then decided that I would collect all the "Best of the Best" cookbooks from every state that either Joe and I have lived in. Joe was born and lived in Denver until he was 12, so that is why we had to get this one!

I absolutely love coffeecake because it's dense, has lots of cinnamon and brown sugar, and when I was a kid it made me think that I was a grown-up while eating it. I felt that way because I imagined grown-ups just sitting around visiting all morning, drinking hot chocolate and eating coffeecake, while us kids were in school. I wish it really was that way!

COFFEECAKE

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream

Filling:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I like to use pecans)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease tube or Bundt pan or 2 loaf pans. In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Mix in flour, baking powder, soda, and salt alternatively with sour cream. For tube or Bundt pan, spread 1/3 of batter in pan and sprinkle with 1/3 of filling; repeat twice. For loaf pans, spread 1/4 of batter in each pan and sprinkle with 1/4 of filling; repeat. Bake about 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Vince Gill's Favorite Rolls

You'll notice that my cookbook collection is very random. If it looks funny, is related to something I like, or looks very unique I'll buy it. Even if the recipes look gross, I still buy it. This is one of those cookbooks that I ran across in a used book store that I thought was really cool. It has various music artists' favorite recipes. You can find out how the Grateful Dead like their corn, learn about Peter Gabriel's favorite minestrone, or view how Keith Richards likes his shepard pie.
I decided to try out Vince Gill's Favorite Rolls. I have a love/hate relationship with rolls. I love to eat them but I hate to make them because they never turn out right for me! I decided to take a break for a few years and tried again for my first time this afternoon. I was semi-successful. The recipe wants you to make clover rolls, where you put three small dough balls in a muffin tin and they bake together. I did a dozen rolls like this and another dozen in regular fashion of just one ball. For some reason the regular-shaped rolls rose but the clover rolls did not. Don't ask me why - this is why I'm not a baker. Overall, the rolls tasted great and actually weren't too hard to make!

VINCE GILL'S FAVORITE ROLLS

• 2 cups scalded milk, cooled to 105-115 degrees
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 24 muffin-pan cups.

Mix together milk, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add salt and egg, mix well. Add shortening, mix well. Work in the flour. Knead dough until smooth. Cut dough in half, cut each half into 36 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, place 3 balls in each muffin-pan cup. Repeat with remaining dough. Let rise, about 30 minutes, until doubled in size. Brush rolls with melted butter and bake 12-15 minutes until golden.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ok, ok....this is my last pumpkin recipe. I promise! I made a batch of these mini-loaves to give to neighbors yesterday and somehow ended up eating one myself. It was too good to pass up. =)

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans or six of the smaller size loaf pans (I don't know the size mine are).

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, and sugars until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin puree until just blended. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Peach Jam

My friend Kim is pregnant and has been craving fruit, so her family keeps bringing her loads of it. She has generously shared this bounty with me and gave me a ton of peaches. What do you do when you have a lot of fruit on hand - make jam!

This is hands down my favorite jam recipe. Very easy to make and it tastes wonderful!

PEACH JAM

• 3 cup diced, peeled peaches
  
• 3 cup sugar
  
• 1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple with juice
  
• 1 small package peach Jello

Bring peaches, sugar and pineapple to boil. Cook, stirring for 10 minutes. I like my jam more smooth than chunky, so at this point I used an immersion blender and blended until smooth. Remove from heat and add Jello. Stir and pour into containers. Freeze.

Hawaiian Bread

This is a good way to use overly ripe bananas if you don't want regular ol' banana bread. Joe is not a fan of banana bread, so I'm always trying to find new recipes that he will enjoy. This one was a winner for him.

HAWAIIAN BREAD

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups white sugar (I used 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups mashed very ripe banana
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup maraschino cherries, diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon. Add the walnuts, eggs, oil, banana, pineapple, vanilla, coconut and cherries; stir just until blended. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Bread

I ran across this recipe and was intrigued because it uses sour cream in the recipe and I hadn't seen that in a banana bread recipe before. The sour cream made this bread so moist and very delicious!

BANANA BREAD

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (vanilla extract works well also)
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
• 3 bananas, smashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch bread pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, nuts, and bananas. Spread evenly into the bread pan.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cowboy Batter Bread

Yee haw! We got us some delicious and EASY bread ya'll! I got this recipe out a newspaper, but I cut it out and didn't put anywhere which newspaper I got it from. Oh well.

Seriously folks, this is a fool-proof and simple bread to make and goes deliciously with chili. I've even experimented by adding Italian seasoning to the batter to make it more like a focaccia bread.

COWBOY BATTER BREAD

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 6 tablespoons shortening, butter, or lard
• 1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a cast-iron skillet. You may also use a square or round baking pan. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut in shortening, butter or lard until flour is consistency of large peas. Stir in milk. Dough will be sticky.

Spread dough into prepared skillet or pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Brush lightly with soft butter. Cut into squares or wedges and serve immediately.

Pain Francais (French Bread)

This, by far, has been the hardest Daring Baking challenge yet! Not only is it a bread recipe, but it's a Julia Child recipe! This is expert level baking here!! Truth be told, if I need French bread in the future, I will be heading over to the grocery and buying it. Holy cow is all I have to say.

To save those who don't care how to make French bread from reading the longest post in the world, go to this link: BreadChick and all the instructions are there! Enjoy!!