Homemade Jalapeño Cheddar Bread

 

Olé!  Spice it Up!

 

 

A slice of this bread will awaken your senses and please your palate!  

 

Tasty Banana Bread with Dried Cherries

 

Tweaking a classic banana bread 

works for me, 

particularly when 

dried cherries are in the mix!

 

 

As bananas ripen to their prime squishiness ~ when they are barely yellow ~ but streaked with black and brown, even solid black, that’s the time to make banana bread.  

 

Classic Homemade White Bread Recipe

Evidently, the COVID-19 lockdown
 has created the perfect time
for baking bread.

That is,
 if you can find yeast and bread flour...

Buttery Parker House Rolls ~ And Happy Veterans Day!

Mercy!  

Bet your taste buds will liven up 

when you make these 

dinner rolls!

With Thanksgiving nearing, it’s almost time for an entire day of the "three fabulous F’s,” food, family, and football!

Savory Sour Cream Cornbread, it's Divine!

Cornbread is the perfect vehicle 

for sopping up the things 

that are 

on your plate!

Those cracks are a good thing in cornbread!

Everyone has their foibles ~ for me, it’s that corner slab of cornbread ~ the slice with two crispy edges.  Grandma liked it crumbled, submerged in a glass of cold buttermilk, and eaten with a spoon ~ whatever floats your boat...

Woo hoo! It's Moist and Easy Cornbread Time!

I’m passionate about cornbread ~ I've tested a lot of cornbread recipes, and I’ve learned one thing about it ~ many other people get worked up about it also!

There is quite the debate as to how it should be prepared...

It’s either about the type of cornmeal:  stone ground or not; yellow or white?   

OR...
How much flour?  

How many eggs should I add?  

Which is better:  milk, buttermilk, or sour cream?  

Should I make it with butter, lard, Crisco or bacon grease?

Contaminate it with sugar, or not, or how about honey?  

Bake it in a cast iron skillet or baking tin?

And, finally ~ a 375° or 425° oven? 

In other words, give it to me if you’re not!

Presidents even reacted to it:  George Washington started by savoring hoe cakes, a simple corn bread fried in shallow grease.   

During James Polk’s presidency, of a trip to New Orleans, he wrote that "all the dishes were prepared in the French style of cooking, and to one unaccustomed to it it was difficult to tell of what they were composed... I took a cup of coffee and something on my plate to save appearances, but was careful to eat none of it.  As soon as an opportunity offered, I asked a servant in a low tone if he could give me a piece of corn-bread and broiled ham."¹

James Polk

Abraham Lincoln  loved corn cakes, and it was said he ate them “as fast as two women could make them.”   

Way back in the 1920's, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge preferred to start their day with corn muffins.  Herbert Hoover loved fried cornmeal mush, and so do I, almost as much as cornbread! 

Warren Harding

Herbert Hoover

Calvin Coolidge

As a matter of fact, cornbread was served in some of the White House’s more formal settings.   Franklin D. Roosevelt served it at a 1939 state dinner for King George VI.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

King George VI

On to the 40's, when farm boy Harry Truman had simple tastes; he favored his cornbread with sorghum molasses bought on trips home to Missouri.  We've often heard, John F. Kennedy was a small eater and nearly always had to be reminded it was dinner time, with corn muffins being his favorite.  Peanut farmer Jimmy Carter liked dining on corn fritters at the Carter family's big weekend breakfasts.

Harry Truman

Jimmy Carter

 

Then there's Paula Deen!  

 Thanks to her for this cornbread recipe!

Paula Deen’s Moist and Easy Cornbread

Flour and cornmeal

ready for the oven

It's a truly Southern melt-in-your mouth cornbread ~ especially when it's piping hot out of the oven with butter melting on it!

Give it a try!

Author: PamPin it

Moist and Easy Cornbread

This is a true Southern cornbread ~ melt-in-your-mouth good ~ especially when it's straight from the oven, slathered with butter, thanks to Paula Deen's recipe!

prep time: 15 MINScook time: 25 MINStotal time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons melted, plus butter for baking dish unsalted butter
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large lightly beaten eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425º. Lightly grease an 8-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk and butter. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture and fold together until there are no dry spots (the batter will still be lumpy). Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.

Bake until the top is golden brown and tester inserted into the middle of the corn bread comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.

¹As quoted in Mark Eaton Byrnes' James K. Polk:  A Biographical Companion



Enjoy!

The Only Cornbread Recipe You'll Need: Dragonwagon's Skillet-Sizzled Corn Bread!

She, Crescent Dragonwagon, that is, came to understand, cornbread “not only is hot, just baked cornbread delicious, it evokes ~ powerfully ~ the heart, soul, and taste of home.”

Amen!  CORNBREAD, I love cornbread!

After making this cornbread, I know why it was the single most requested recipe at the Dairy Hollow House in Eureka Springs, Arkansas!

I’ve tried what seems like a ton of cornbread recipes and I’ve made more than one from this great cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon.  I’m just trying to figure out what took me so darn long to make this one!

Crescent Dragonwagon is her real name ~ read here ~ or buy her great cookbook, if you want to know more about it.

Dragonwagon’s cookbook, The Cornbread Gospels, is a surprising eccentric read, filled with curious antidotes and tales along the cornbread trail from the Appalachians to the Rockies to the Green Mountains.  I was hooked from the beginning to the end ~ this is just not a recipe book to take up space on your kitchen counter, it’s at home in any room.

Here’s a sample of what Crescent Dragonwagon has to say about this cornbread:

"This is the cornbread I served when I owned and ran Dairy Hollow House; it was its single most requested recipe.  It is the first Southern food I ever learned to fix and the one that started me on my cornbread journey.  I learned how to make it in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1969, when I was very young and living in a brownstone with 7 other people.  Viola, the soft-spoken lady friend of a kind neighbor, taught it to me.  Viola was from Georgia, and it was she who initiated me into baking cornbread in an already-hot skillet.”

Cornbread batter over sizzling butter-oven ready!

To me, the secret of this recipe may just be the already-hot skillet that’s filled with melting butter that’s brought to a sizzle.  And stone-ground cornmeal only makes the bread even better.  If you’ve been around my blog a while, you know it’s stone-ground cornmeal and grits in my kitchen.

This cornbread truly surprised me, and Bill too.  It is simply delicious!

Thank you, Crescent Dragonwagon for the great recipe, great cookbook!

Author: Pam

Dairy Hollow House Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread

This cornbread recipe, courtesy of Crescent Dragonwagon, is the best you will ever make! Use stone-ground cornmeal for a crispy crust, made in a sizzling iron skillet. It is my "go-to" cornbread recipe!

prep time: 15 MINScook time: 20 MINStotal time: 35 mins

INGREDIENTS

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt (I added ½ teaspoon)
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1¼ cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup mild vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, or mild vegetable oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Spray a 10-inch cast iron skillet with oil and set aside.
3. Sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
4. In a smaller bowl, stir baking soda into the buttermilk.
5. Whisk in the sugar, egg and the ¼ cup oil.
6. Put the prepared skillet over medium heat, add the butter, and heat until butter melts and is just starting to sizzle.
7. Tilt the pan to coat sides and bottom.
8. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and combine them quickly, using as few strokes as possible.
9. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
10. Let cool for a few moments, and slice into wedges to serve.

This cornbread is the créme de la créme of cornbread! 

Enjoy!

Finally ~ A Great Dinner Roll

I’ve endeavored making light fluffy dinner rolls, time and again.  Loaves of bread were no problem, but dinner rolls were beyond me. 

Then I came across this recipe for dinner rolls by King Arthur Flour Company.  They’re easy, quick to make, and turn out tender and soft every time.  

They’re not just for holiday dinners; they’re good for cookouts, as buns for turkey or ham on Super Bowl Sunday, or even for a bake sale.  As the recipe yields 4 pans of 6 rolls each, you can bake the amount you need now, and freeze the rest for later use.

They’re the best thing a pat of butter ever met!

Big Batch Quick Dinner Rolls

Adapted             

Ingredients:

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 cups warm milk (100 - 110°F)

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

 2 1/2 tablespoons yeast, instant preferred

 6 to 7 cups King Arthur flour

Method:

1.   Combine the water, milk, butter, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir well and let sit for 6 to 8 minutes, or until you see the yeast begin to foam.

2.   Add 5 cups of flour and mix by hand or with the paddle attachment until the dough forms a rough, shaggy mass. The dough will not form a ball at this point, but will be just shy of coming together.

3.  Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time and blend with the dough hook until a smooth ball begins to form. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes, or by machine for 4 to 5 minutes until a soft, smooth ball of dough is formed. The dough should feel elastic and slightly tacky to the touch.

4.  Lightly spray your work bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Spritz the top of the dough with spray as well and cover lightly with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Let rise for 20 minutes at room temperature or until the dough is full and puffy.

5.  Gently deflate the dough and pat out to a rough rectangle about 8 inches by 12 inches. Cut the dough into 4 long strips, then cut each strip into 6 portions for a total of 24 dough balls. Shape into round balls as you would shape meatballs, using your cupped hands to roll the dough. Spritz your hands with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

6.  You can place the rolls into any of the following pans, well greased or lined with parchment paper or greased foil: One half-sheet baking pan or 2 quarter-sheet pans. Two 13" x 9" x 2" pans. Four 8" or 9" round baking pans OR a combination of any of these pans.

7.  After the rolls are in the pans, cover again with your plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until well rounded and full looking. If you are baking now, preheat the oven to 350°F.

8.  Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and an internal thermometer reads 190°F. You can brush the baked rolls with melted butter if desired. Serve warm, store leftovers in a plastic bag for up to 3 days.

9.  If you want to freeze the unbaked buns, place in the pans as described in step 6 and allow to rise for 10 minutes. Wrap airtight and freeze for up to 4 weeks. To bake, thaw overnight in the fridge, then unwrap and bake as directed.

Makes 24 rolls

This recipe is a keeper!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

French Toast Flavored with Triple Sec

There’s nothing like getting up early in the morning and cracking eggs for French toast, right?  It’s a thing that is usually reserved for an occasional weekend morning here.  The “kids” were all here for breakfast Christmas morning and this was what I made along with plenty of bacon and sausage, and forgot the pictures.

This is not “eggy” and not soggy either.  I added a little Triple Sec to flavor it up along with vanilla extract.  I usually make it with Texas Toast ~ not toasted as the name implies.  Stale bread works best.  You can fry it in melted butter but I usually put it on the griddle and save some calories. Either way, it has a crispy exterior with a creamy interior.

It melts in your mouth and is perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch!

French Toast Flavored with Triple Sec

Ingredients:

8 slices bread, stale 

3 eggs

1 cup milk

¼ cup Triple Sec

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

Butter for frying, optional

Method:

Beat eggs and add milk.

Whisk in Triple Sec, vanilla and salt.

Dip bread in egg mixture and place on hot griddle or fry in melted butter in a skillet on medium heat a minute or two until golden brown.

Serve

Yum!!!

Do you like your French toast with syrup, powdered sugar or both?

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips, recipes and cookbook giveaway!

Sour Lemon Scones

This recipe is from Baked:  New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Someone mentioned the cookbook on his/her blog and made a recipe from it.  Of course, I thought I bookmarked it, but didn’t, and now I don’t know whose blog it was.  Whatever recipe you made, it really got my attention!  WAS IT YOURS???

Nevertheless, this cookbook has lots of great treats in it!  There are some amazing recipes for cookies that I will be trying as well as the recipe for “Sweet and Salty Cake.”  It looks chocolaty delicious!  And a Milk Chocolate Malt Ball Cake also.

Most folks like the tangy taste of lemon and these scones definitely have it.  They are not sweet at all and that is what I like about them. 

Matt, my younger son, was sampling the scones when he commented, “They have a unique taste, but I’m not sure what it is.” I’m not sure either; if it is due to the ginger with the lemon, or the raw sugar on top, or the combination of all three. 

Here’s what Matt Lewis says about them:

“If you had to categorize our sour lemon scones, they would probably be filed under the heading ‘elegant.’  They are the kind of breakfast treat you would serve for a dressy brunch of special Sunday get-together.  The texture is light and the lemon flavor is strong and tangy without being overpowering.  For a special, serve these scones with a sweet-tart fig or berry jam.”

OK!  Now I have questions for you all:

1. I sprinkled raw sugar on top of the scones before baking --- does it have a very distinct taste after baking?  It was hard to tell since it was embedded in the scones.

2. Instead of grating lemons, I used McCormick’s lemon peel as I could not find a bottle of lemon zest in the market.  Is lemon peel stronger than lemon zest, are they interchangeable?  I should’ve used real lemons, right?

3. Do lemon and ginger combine well?  I don’t recall ever having a problem with that duo.

These sour lemon scones were delicious, especially warm but the taste is so different; I just can’t figure out what it is…

 

Ready for baking

Sour Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ginger

1½ (3 sticks) butter, cubed and cold

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk, divided

¼ cup grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)

2 tablespoons raw sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger.

Whisk until combined.

Add the butter.  Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the butter is pea-sized.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, ¾ cup of the buttermilk, and lemon zest.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and then gently knead the dough with your hands until the dough starts to come together.

Move the dough to a lightly floured surface.  Use you hands to shape the dough into two discs (about 1½ inches in height.)  Do not overwork the dough.

Cut each disk into 6 wedges. 

Place the wedges onto the prepared baking sheet.

Brush each scone with the remaining buttermilk and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes (rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time) or until the scones are golden brown.

Transfer the scones to a cooling rack; they can be served slightly warm or completely cooled.

Store in airtight container.

It’s another great cookbook for treats!