Sweet potato is one of those versatile vegetables that I love to have around the house. Not only that they last forever if you store them in a cool dark place, I can make them into these sweet potato fries, soup, mash them (for my daughter when she first started eating solid), or turn them into this quick bread for breakfast and snack. Just like pumpkin, I actually enjoy them throughout the year. Recently, I had a couple of small sweet potatoes leftover and was looking to find an idea on what to do with them. It was an odd amount: it wasn’t enough for me to turn them into fries or soup , so this bread was an easy solution.
Our bake-along group for September is Jenna from Jenna’s Cooking Journey, and her theme was “Bake a Quick Bread”. I was actually pretty happy when I realized that I had never posted this recipe before; it’s like finding extra $20 inside your pants’ pocket while doing laundry, or under the couch! I have been using this recipe forever, and I have also used pumpkin in place of sweet potato sometimes. When I have extra time, I’d throw in some cinnamon pecan streussel as well on the top to make it feel even more special.
Ingredients
3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 3/4 whole wheat flour (or, all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup water, plus 2 tbsp of water (if using AP flour, reduce by 2 tbsp)
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
Combine both sugar and oil; beat well. Add eggs and continue to beat. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with water.
Stir in sweet potatoes and chopped nuts.
Pour batter into greased 9×5 inch loaf pan (or 2 small loaf pans). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about one hour, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.
Yield: 1 9×5-inch loaf
Adapted from All Recipes
Recipe courtesy of Sarah Copeland and The Newlywed Cookbook
Recently, I have hit a little rut with my breakfast items on the weekends, it feels like I keep on making the same dishes to serve. Fortunately, I had some fresh blackberries in my refrigerator that I needed to use up before they go bad so I decided to make a new pancake recipe with a dressed up berries topping. I found Sarah Copeland’s recipe through Cooking Channel, and it looked promising since it incorporates all of the ingredients that I had at home, and also loved. Sarah also has a lovely blog called Edible Living that is worth checking out if you are looking for some new insipirations!
These pancakes were especially delightful: fluffy from the Greek yogurt, spread perfectly on the griddle, and actually pretty healthy thanks to the addition of oatmeal. They were extra special with the addition of fresh blackberry syrup infused into the maple syrup, and topped with the crushed blackberries. I kept on telling my husband how wonderful the blackberry flavor was mixed together with the maple syrup. I think in the future, I’d try to use strawberries or raspberries with these, which I think would be equally wonderful.
Ingredients
Blackberry Crush
2 cups/480 ml fresh blackberries
1/4 cup/50 g raw or turbinado sugar
1/4 cup/60 ml pure maple syrup, plus more if needed
Oatmeal-Yogurt Pancakes
1 2/3 cups/190 g all-purpose/plain flour
2/3 cup/55 g old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 heaping tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt or iodized salt
1 cup/240 ml Greek yogurt, plus more for garnish
1 cup/240 ml whole milk
4 tbsp/55 g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
2 large eggs
Directions
To make the Blackberry Crush: Mix together the blackberries and sugar in a medium bowl and mash slightly with a fork. Strain the juice into a small pot and reserve the berries. Heat the juice over medium heat and simmer until it is thick, syrupy, and easily coats the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes (mine was less than 8 minutes, around 5-6 minutes). Remove pot of syrup from the heat and stir in the maple syrup (off the heat). Cool the mixture slightly, and pour it over the reserved berries. Adjust the sweetness with additional maple syrup if needed. Set the syrup aside.
To make the pancakes: Mix together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a different bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, the melted butter, and eggs. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well incorporated. The batter should be thick, with little tiny bubbles on the surface.
Heat a cast-iron or nonstick griddle or heavy frying pan over medium heat. Brush the griddle lightly with melted butter or coat it with a generous spray of cooking spray. Drop about 1/3 cup/75 ml of batter per pancake onto the hot griddle, leaving about 1 in/2.5 cm or so between pancakes. When bubbles form around the edges of the batter, gently lift and flip the pancakes with a flexible spatula. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, with a total of 4 minutes. Repeat, adding more butter to the pan as needed until all the pancakes are cooked.
To serve, stack the pancakes as high as you dare, and garnish with butter or additional Greek yogurt and a generous ladle of Blackberry Crush. Serve hot and fresh.
P.S. If you like light, evenly golden brown pancakes, go light on the butter in the pan, and keep the heat on your griddle nice and low. If you prefer a pancake with a crisper exterior and a golden rim, cook pancakes at slightly higher heat, using enough butter to sizzle and foam in the pan between each batch.
I have been craving for blueberry muffins lately. The plain, traditional bakery-style blueberry muffins that aren’t made from whole wheat flour or uses sweetener or butter alternatives… the ones that are made from butter so they have the most decadent texture, and uses white sugar so they will have that traditional beautiful white crumbs that would be stunning against the gorgeous color of blueberries. I already have this recipe for Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins, that are fantastic as well, but I wanted a new recipe. I felt a little slight of guilt wanting this blueberry muffin, I feel like I need to stick to something like this Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins. But I decided, heck with it for now. I am going to indulge myself since blueberries have been plump, sweet, and are in the peak of their season.
These muffins turned out just like everything that I wanted: fluffy, chock-full of blueberries in every bite, tender white crumbs, and just the right amount of sweetness. I actually didn’t have enough blueberries to make a full recipe, so I split the batter into two, and put raspberries in the other half. Since the raspberries are still in the season here, they are equally plump and sweet like the blueberries. They were beautiful as well in this recipe. This recipe definitely put the berries in the front row, while the rest of the ingredients were just a backdrop! My daughter referred them as “cake” and asked for them at breakfast and snacks.
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs (preferably organic)
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Directions
Heat oven to 375°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients; fold in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups; sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp sugar. Bake until muffins are golden brown and a knife comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.
We’re officially halfway through the summer; and I have been loving all of the gorgeous summer produces. I found some organic berries over the weekend at my local grocery store for sale, and had to grab all three kinds: blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I always have blueberries at any given time in my refrigerator since they’re easy to throw into almost everything and make them “summery” (oatmeal, salad, pancakes…) and my little sous chef actually will eat them. But raspberries and blackberries are a little tricky for her, I have to cook them into something else for her to eat. But me? I can eat them raw – when they are plump, juicy, and sweet!
This cake was a perfect canvas for those sweet summer berries – it is light and has tender crumbs so it highlights the natural sweetness of berries. It is not too sweet to have for breakfast, but enough sweetness for dessert. The original recipe called for addition of whipped cream with lemon, but I skipped it. I thought it was perfect on its own. My issue though, since I didn’t roll the berries into the flour (since the direction didn’t say that I should), all of my berries sunk to the bottom of the cake (at least that was my explanation of why they all sunk as you can see on the picture). While it was delicious, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t as pretty as I thought that it could be! Duh! Since our bake along group’s theme was “summer fruits”, I thought this would be a perfect recipe to submit. 
Check out the rest of the group’s posting at the end of the month in Jaida’s blog. Have a great week everyone 
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus one large white, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk, room temperature
2 cups fresh berries: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries (avoid strawberries since they are more watery)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Position the oven rack on the middle position.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
In a stand mixer using pedal attachment, beat together butter and sugar until butter is pale and fluffy, about three minutes. Add both eggs and white, one at a time into the mixer, while mixer still runs. Add vanilla and beat until well mixed. Scrape the bowl and a paddle, if needed.
Start adding flour in three portions, alternating with milk in two portions (starting with flour, and ends with flour). Stop the mixer, and give batter a good stir to make sure all ingredients are mixed well.
Gently fold berried into the batter. Transfer batter to a well greased 9 inch pan (the recommended is spring form pan), even the top.
Bake 35-40 minutes, rotating pan in the oven half way through. When cake is done, toothpick, inserted in the middle of the cake, comes out clean.
Cool cake in the pan for 30-60 minutes, and up to 8 hours. Remove cake from pan, and enjoy!
Yield: 6-8 servings
Adapted from Best Summer Desserts
I have tried dozens of banana bread recipes, and this Easy Banana Bread is my hands down fave especially since I was able to lighten it and use white whole wheat flour without compromising its flavors and textures. However, I was interested in this recipe since it uses olive oil, a mixture of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour, plus it calls for the addition of lemon zest. Not to mention the addition of lemony icing on top. The first time I made it, I used all whole-wheat flour (and found the crumbs too strong for my taste) and substituted the dark brown sugar with a light version and skipped the frosting. But I must say that I preferred the flavors of the version that I made the second time following the exact recipe. Although both times, I used Greek yogurt, because that’s what I normally have on hand.
The dark brown sugar added such a nice rich dark molasses note that contrasted nicely with the bright lemon zest in the bread. The texture was moist but still had nice crumbs that were able to hold the chopped dark chocolate chunks that I added. I also used the bundt pan the first time, but preferred my loaf pan for the second time. Overall, a very good new banana bread recipe that I’m sure that I’d make again before too long. Have a great weekend!
Ingredients
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125g all-purpose flour
1 cup / 5 oz / 140g whole wheat flour
3/4 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g dark muscovado or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup / 4 oz / 115 g coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup / 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups / 12 oz / 340 g mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
1/4 cup / 60 ml plain, whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the glaze:
1/2 cup / 3 oz / 85 g sifted dark muscovado or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup / 2 oz / 55g confectioners’ sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. Grease a 9- by 5- inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan, or equivalent.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate pieces and combine well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, zest, and vanilla. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes. You want to get that beautiful color on the cake, but at the same time you don’t want to bake all the moisture out of it. So the minute you’re in that zone, pull it. Erring on the side of under-baking versus over.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover.
Yield: 10
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
My oven had been collecting dust for over two weeks; and trust me, it wasn’t by choice. My hubby was gone again for two weeks on a business trip; and my “mini-me” at home had the worst time adjusting to her “Daeeee” (read: Daddy) being gone. I thought that it was a “terrible-two” stage, and I was practicing the “patient-mom” techniques that every parenting book, website, etc. has suggested: ignore, diffuse, distract. But none seemed to have worked; she had the determination that can move a mountain when she doesn’t get her way. Whining was all around the clock. Naps are out of the window. No bedtime without two episodes of her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (gasp! When did this start? I gave in. Only to end up with the worst guilt in the world that maybe one day my daughter will become obese. Isn’t that what everyone says? The amount of time a child spends in front of a computer or a TV can potentially impact her weight as an adult?).
Thankfully, he came back to her relief (and mine). Over the course of a couple of days, things were starting to come back to normal. And I was ready to to bake again; and as a special treat for breakfast, I decided on this special cake. If you are on Pinterest, I’m sure that you have seen pictures of this cake pinned all over the boards. The recipe’s title that says “buttermilk” almost guarantees a fluffy cake with tender crumbs. But with blueberries? Now you got me. I don’t normally go for anything that says “cake” on its title for breakfast, but I thought, we all needed a little celebratory breakfast. This whole cake is just like a big fluffy blueberry muffin baked in a pan. With even lighter and more delicate crumbs. My daughter, who has been in the “I will spit out blueberries” stage, actually gobbled this up. She took big forkfuls of this cake for breakfast; with barely a quick rest in between bites.
A few notes on this recipe: it took me extra 15 minutes to get the center completely baked. I also used a cup of frozen wild blueberries and a cup of fresh blueberries. I was very surprised at how well they turned out. The frozen blueberries were smaller than their fresh counterparts, but they didn’t bleed as much as I thought they would. And you’re not going to believe what I’m about to say as well… this was a little bit too sweet for my taste, especially at breakfast. Red definitely disagreed with me on this – but I would reduce the amount of sugar when I make this again in the future!
Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.
Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining
tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes.
(Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving).
Yield: 6-8 servings
Adapted from Alexandra Cooks
I used to love grocery shopping. But now… I totally dread it! I try to get our sitter pick up some missing ingredients or items throughout the week if I can so that I don’t have to go run out and get them myself. What has happened to me? I used to enjoy walking slowly in and out of different isles of the grocery store, browsing for new products, and sipping my drink. Now? Between checking my grocery list (which I must have now, or I may as well go back home), trying to find all of the items I need, and having a toddler who can stay still for a few long seconds unless she has a chocolate croissant on her hand, I now only make one big grocery trip on the weekend. And I try my best to get everything I need in one trip, even if that means I stop at three different stores to get it!
Anyways, I decided to make this bread last weekend when I found out on Sunday night that we didn’t have any bread for the following week, and I was too lazy to go out to the grocery store. The dough was also pretty easy to work with, and it rose as it was supposed to: nice and tall. And what I ended with was what I would envision as an ideal sandwich bread, it cuts beautifully and has medium-texture crumb (not too soft, but also not too dense). It is also slightly sweet, so it is wonderful toasted and slathered with peanut butter or just butter.
Ingredients
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups “quick” rolled oats
2 packets “highly active” dry yeast; or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast; or 2 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
2 tablespoons oats, to sprinkle on top, optional
Directions
Combine the 3/4 cup water and oats, and let rest for 20 minutes. This gives the oats a chance to absorb the water and soften up.
If you’re using active or “highly active” dry yeast, dissolve it in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. It should start to bubble as the oats and water rest.
Add the remaining ingredients to the oats (including the yeast/water/sugar mixture, if you’re using active dry yeast), and mix and knead—by hand, electric mixer, or bread machine set on the dough cycle—until the dough feels springy; it will be quite stiff.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and allow it to rise, covered, for 2 hours; it’s a slow riser.
Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into an 8″ log. Place it in a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. Cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.
Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, till it’s crowned about 1 1/2″ over the rim of the pan. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Brush the top of the loaf with milk, and sprinkle with oats, if desired.
Bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent it loosely with aluminum foil, and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes. When the bread is done, it’ll be golden brown, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will register 190°F.
Remove the bread from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing. Store well-wrapped at room temperature.
Yield: 1 loaf
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
A couple of weekends ago, Red and I decided to go out for breakfast on Sunday. It’s either that we hit the restaurant at the wrong time, or we picked the only place in town with lines, we waited for over an hour total before we finally got our food. At that time, I was pretty grumpy and ready to eat. This past weekend then, I decided to cook a new breakfast item at home. I’m not normally a hash fan; it seems like it is just a plate of “mushy food”. But this one dear reader, will make you into a convert, even if you don’t normally love hash. I stumbled upon this recipe because I had several sweet potatoes laying around. This recipe uses sweet potatoes, which was perfect. It then added some sliced chiles, diced peppers, chorizo, and a handful of fresh herbs which creates a wonderful combination of sweet and spicy goodness. The lime juice was definitely a must since it added a wonderful brightness to the dish, and definitely helped cut the sweetness of the potatoes. While I love my sweet breakfast options, like waffles, pancakes, and the like… this one, I must say takes the win for all. The only downside is that it takes a little time to prep. As soon as I saw the recipe, I decided to chop all of the ingredients the night before. Even with that, I’d say that it took me a good 40 minutes to get this on the table. While it was worth the time, it is probably more ideal for a brunch, when you have a little time in the morning, and you don’t need to serve it until closer to 10 or 11. In the future, I may go even as far as boiling the sweet potatoes the night before so that in the morning I can toss everything in the pan. I also would cut my potatoes smaller I cut them probably closer to an inch-cube size. Regardless, it was wonderful, and I was glad to have found another new recipe that I can keep in my rotation.
Ingredients
1.5 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 lb of chorizo sausages in casting, sliced
6 Tbs. olive oil; more as needed
1 small onion, diced (to yield 1 cup)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (to yield 1/2-cup)
2 small fresh poblano or 4 Anaheim chiles (or other medium-hot chiles), cored, seeded, and diced (to yield 3/4 cup)
2 Tbs. minced garlic
1 to 2 jalapeños, cored, seeded, and minced
2 tsp. coarse salt; more to taste
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice
Freshly ground black pepper
3-4 eggs
3-4 sprigs fresh cilantro
Directions
Cook the diced sweet potatoes in boiling salted water until firm-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 3 Tbs. of the oil over medium heat. Cook the onion, red pepper, and diced chiles, stirring frequently, until all are well softened and the onion is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in the garlic and jalapeños, cook for 1 minute. Transfer to a plate.
Increase the heat to medium and heat the remaining 3 Tbs. oil in the pan. When the oil is hot, add the sweet potatoes and cook, tossing frequently, until the edges begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the sliced chorizo. Saute for about a few minutes until they are browned. Return the onion and pepper mixture to the pan, cooking until warmed through.
Stir in the salt, cilantro, oregano, and lime juice; season with pepper to taste. Transfer to a warmed plate or bowl; cover and keep warm. Add more oil to the pan if needed.
When the oil is hot, crack the eggs into the pan (in batches, if necessary) and fry them sunny side up or over easy; the yolks should still be runny.
Divide the hash among three to four plates, top each portion with a fried egg, and a cilantro sprig. Serve at once.
Yield: 3-4 servings
Slightly Adapted from Fine Cooking
I haven’t tried a new bread recipe in a while, since this No Knead Harvest Bread. This time, my husband really wanted to try a rye bread. I was hesitated at first, because I didn’t know how well it would turn out. I was so skeptical that I ended up making a half recipe, since the original recipe states that this will yield two loaves. But what was funny was that while this bread turned out perfectly, it barely filled up my 8×3-pan. The dough was very sticky, so I was almost sure that this will be a flop. I let the dough rise twice per the instruction, and it created this perfect “mini-loaf”. The recipe recommended that this bread be baked free-standing on top a baking sheet without a pan, but I wanted this to look like a loaf for sandwich.
The flavor was very authentic rye, and the aroma filled up the kitchen. We loved this so much that we finished our “mini loaf” for lunch one day, and we enjoyed them toasted and topped them with this cold Creamy Egg Salad. We loved it so much that we ended up making another loaf for the week. According to my hubby, this was the best loaf that we have ever made: easy to slice, made great sandwich breads, moist, and tasted like the type that you can get in New York delis. Last but not least, I am going to submit this post for my bake-along group, What’s Baking. Our theme in April is to bake with yeast! Yeah! Guess who was happy with this theme?? ME!
Ingredients
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups white rye, medium rye or pumpernickel flour (I used medium rye)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup sour cream (low-fat is fine, and I used it in this recipe )
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour or first clear flour (I used the latter)
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
Directions
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the water, sugar, rye flour and yeast, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix and knead the dough together — by hand, mixer or bread machine — till it’s fairly smooth. (Remember, the nature of rye dough is to be sticky, so don’t be tempted to add too much flour.) Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Gently deflate the dough, knead it briefly, and shape it into two smooth oval loaves. Place the loaves on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise until they’re almost doubled, about 1 hour. Gently slash the tops of the loaves in two or three places just before baking.
Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 190°F to 200°F. Remove the bread from the oven, and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
Yield: 2 loaves.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Happy Easter everyone! I thought it would be appropriate for me to post a recipe using eggs today for Easter. I have always loved egg salads. Adding eggs to my menu is a very quick and delicious way to add protein to my meal. I ate a ton of egg salads in my single days, since they are very easy to put together: chop up a few hard-boiled eggs, add a handful chopped celery stalks, and some fat free mayo… and voila! My hubby actually didn’t really care for them, until a couple of years ago, I decided to just make them anyways, and let him make his own meal He ended up trying it and liking them!
When I saw this recipe, I wanted to use try the technique of actually slightly under-cooking the yolks and mashing up the yolks together with the mayonnaise prior to mixing them with the chopped egg whites. It also calls for a little bit of Dijon mustard and lemon juice (which I ended up omitting, because I felt like I had enough acid from the mustard). The egg salad was creamy, has beautiful bright yellow color from the yolks, and I really liked the addition of Dijon mustard. I’d definitely use this method again in the future. I enjoyed these on toasted homemade rye bread (and I will post the recipe for that next week!), which made a heavenly lunch! This is definitely a great way to use up those hard-boiled Easter eggs you have in the house.
Ingredients
10 large eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise (the recipe highly recommends the Hellman’s full-fat mayo, or Light-Mayo, but not fat free).
2/3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper
1 celery rib, chopped fine
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
Directions
Combine 4 cups water and 4 cups ice cubes in a large bowl and set aside. Place eggs in a large saucepan; add water to cover by 1 inch and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand for 8 minutes.
Pour off water from saucepan and gently shake pan back and forth to crack eggshells. Transfer eggs to the ice water and cool for 5 minutes.
Peel eggs and halve lengthwise. Transfer egg yolks to a bowl. Using a potato masher, mash yolks with mayonnaise, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Whisk mixture until smooth; set aside.
Chop egg whites into 1/4-inch pieces. Fold whites, celery, and chivesinto yolk mixture and refrigerate for 30 minuets. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Yield: 6-8 servings
Slightly Adapted from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2012
