Cranberry Orange Quick Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze

This is the third quick bread that I have created recently. For some reason, it took me four tires to get it right. The first time, I think I used too much leavening because it rose QUICKLY and then collapsed. The second time, I used too much liquid. That one sort of reminded me of bread pudding, if bread pudding was terrible. The third time, I do not know what in the Hades I did, and we won’t talk of it anymore.

Fourth time was magic.  The texture of the Cranberry Orange Quick Bread was dense and moist. The bread itself was sweet, but not too sweet, and the presentation was wonderful. The bread was so pretty, with a toasty orangeness speckled with deep red cranberries. I made two more of these!

You can use bottled orange juice and skip the fresh zest if you want, but don’t be like that.  I added a Cream Cheese Glaze. The bread itself is sweet enough that it does not need it, but it is pretty and frosting, who doesn’t want pretty? Frosting? This makes waaaay more than you will need. Make another loaf of bread.

 Cranberry Orange Quick Bread

•  Servings:  1 loaf
• Time:  Prep: 15 minutes, cooking: 55-60 minutes, cooling time one hour
• Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, microwave proof bowl,2 mixing bowls, a mixer, a large wooden spoon, a zester and a citrus juicer (optional,) silicone spatula, a 2- 9x 5 loaf pan, a wooden skewer, and a wire cooling rack

 Ingredients

• 
  2 cups flour
• ¾  cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¾  teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ cup dried craisins
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup  milk
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• ½ cup (one stick) unsalted butter
• Butter and or Crisco and flour for the pan

1. Place a rack at the bottom of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt the butter right away to give it time to cool. Grease and flour the loaf pan. It is always better to over grease and flour than under. Zest and juice the orange if you are using fresh juice. Set aside.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and craisins in one of the mixing bowls.
3. Beat the eggs in the other mixing bowl. Then add the milk, orange juice, vanilla and orange zest. Beat until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry  ingredients. Then add the melted butter. Use the wooden spoon to mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
5. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread  it out evenly.
6. Bake, turning the pan halfway through,  for 50-60 minutes or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

  Cream Cheese Glaze

• Time:  Prep: 5 minutes
• Hardware:  Mixer, mixing bowl, measuring spoons and cups

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of room temperature cream cheese
• ½  cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 tablespoons of milk

1. Beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Beat in the sugar and extract. Add milk a tablespoon at  a time until you get the desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled bread right before serving

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

For Christmas gifts this year I am giving out quick breads. Quick breads are easy and lend themselves to endless varieties. Unlike most ‘breads’ quick breads use baking powder or baking
soda as a leavening agent rather than using yeast. They also require little to no kneading.

Today I am giving you a recipe for Pumpkin Bread. The addition of chopped candied ginger and chocolate chips give this bread an interesting texture and help it stay moist. Find candied ginger in an Asian food store or the ethnic aisle of your grocery store.

The secret to making quick breads moist is to keep the dry and wet ingredients separate until it is absolutely necessary. After you combine the wet and dry ingredients, don’t over stir. If there are a few streaks of flour, it doesn’t matter, they will cook out.

 

If you wait to cool this completely and wrap it up very tightly in plastic wrap, it will stay good for a week.

I cooked ALLLL day today. Writing up these recipes (and photographing them) is a great deal of work, so I am doling them out throughout the week. I am going to share a Lemon Blueberry Bread, an Onion Cheddar Bread and an Orange Cranberry Bread with you, one per day, starting on Tuesday.

Servings:  2 loaves
Time:  Prep: 10 minutes, cooking: 55-60 minutes, cooling time one hour
Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, 2 mixing bowls, a mixer, a large wooden spoon, a silicone spatula, a can opener and 2- 9x 5 loaf pans, a wire cooling rack

 Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 3 cups sugar
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup chopped candied ginger
• 1½  teaspoons cinnamon
• ¾  teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼  teaspoon nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ½  teaspoons salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Butter and or Crisco and flour for the pans

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour the loaf pans. It is always better to over grease and flour than under.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, chopped candied ginger, spices, baking soda and salt in one of the mixing bowls. Set aside.
3. Beat the eggs in the other mixing bowl. Add in the pumpkin, oil, apple juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
4. With the wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture. Only stir until just moistened.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
6. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

This bread is delicious butter and toasted a little in the oven. My husband is pretty picky, and he loved it.

Blueberry Cheese Danish

Blueberry season is upon us. So, is Independence Day. So, I did a twofer-used up blueberries, made a patriotic looking breakfast. These pastries are as delicious as they are beautiful. They are very easy to make but look complicated. No one needs to know.

This Danish can be made without the fruit. You can also forego the pie filling and use just fresh fruit at the end. If you choose to do this, use more berries. You can use other types of fruit-peaches, raspberries, strawberries-if you want.

If you really  want to make them look more luxurious, you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar OR drizzle a little glaze over the top.

Servings:  11 Danishes
Time: Active time: 10 minutes; Thaw: 20 minutes Cook: 13-15minutes; Danishes in about an hour
Hardware:  Measuring spoons and cups, a clean flat surface, a rolling pin, a mixer and mixing bowl, a silicone spatula, a zester, a can opener, a 4.5 inch round cookie cutter (I used a Tupperware lid), a drinking glass, parchment paper or silicone baking mat, and a baking sheet

 

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen puff pastry sheets-thawed (one box)
  
• 1-8-ounce package of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1¼  cups of blueberry pie filling
• 5 ounces fresh blueberries (rinsed0
• Flour 

 

 
 
 
 

1.  Read through the recipe before beginning. Allow the puff pastry to thaw for about 20 minutes. Set out the cream cheese, too. Zest and juice the lime. Set aside about 1 teaspoon of the lime zest for garnish. Open the blueberry pie filling. Cover the baking sheet in parchment paper (or the silicone mat) and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Place the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lime juice and lime zest into the mixing bowl. Blend until the texture is completely creamy. Set aside.
3. Unfold one puff pastry sheet onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the sheet until it is about 1x1 inch larger on each side. With the 4.5-inch cookie cutter, cut out four circles. Using the drinking class score a smaller circle in the middle of each larger circle by pressing down but NOT through. You just want the smaller circle to be an outline. Do this with the second puff pastry sheet as well. Roll out the scrap dough to make 3 more Danishes. Place them on the baking sheet, not touching.
4. You may need to cook in batches. Place the waiting Danishes in the fridge until you are ready to use them. Make sure they aren't touching.
   
5. Place 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each Danish. Use the spatula to spread the filling to the edge of the inner circle. Top the cream cheese mixture with 1½ tablespoons of the pie filling. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the Danishes are golden brown. Top with fresh berries and a sprinkle of lime zest.
6. Allow the Danishes to cool to room temperature before serving.

Banana Bran Muffins

I love to cook. One of my favorite aspects of cooking is the freedom to be creative. Just add a dash of this, a bit of that and keep tasting until you have something delicious. Baking is not as forgiving. Baking requires much more science than does regular cooking. And not being a patient person, I never really learned to bake.

The lockdown gave me time to teach myself to bake. I watched every baking video imaginable. I read a gazillion cookbooks. And I baked recipe after recipe after recipe. We were all gaining doughy middles when my husband decided he wanted to start eating better.

Long pause. I am not a patient person, but I am also not one to pass up a challenge. When I saw baking something healthy as a dare, it was on!

Banana Bran Muffins are my first original baked good! I am so proud of myself. Not only did these muffins rise, they were really tasty! I used Kellogg’s All Bran cereal. These look like little twigs-not flakes. Fiber One makes a twiggy bran cereal, too. I usually give ideas for making changes to my recipes so you can personalize them to your own tastes. However, I am not comfortable enough with baking to do that yet. Good things these are delicous just like they are!

Servings:  12 muffins (2 muffins have less than 400 calories)
Time:  prep time: 20 minutes, cook time: 20 minutes, muffins in 45 minutes
Hardware:  Measuring cups and spoons, two mixing bowls, a rubber spatula, a fork, a muffin tin, a cooling rack, paper muffin cups (optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 ½ cups bran cereal
• ⅓ cup brown sugar + extra for sprinkling
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼  teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ripe bananas
• Cooking spray

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400˚. If you are using muffin cups put them in the muffin tin. Spray the paper or the tin. Make sure that the spray is in the edges of the cups.
2. In one mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cereal, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In the other mixing bowl, mash the bananas with the fork. Mix in the milk, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix until everything is completely combined.
3. Gently stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Stir just enough to combine. Over stirring will make the muffins dense.
4. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups or tins. If you want, sprinkle a tiny pinch of brown sugar onto the top of each muffin.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are evenly a toasty brown. Serve warm with butter, apple butter, jelly or jam.