Recipe: Pretzel Rolls & Bread Bowls

During our snow day this week, I decided to make bread bowls for our homemade broccoli & cheese soup. These were so good, and really easy to make. They were time consuming, but super simple. 

The only problem? 

They're pretty small. They held about one ladle of soup. Soup is one of my favorite things, and I like a lot of it. However, they're too big for rolls. So I think next time I'll divide them into 10 balls and make pretzel rolls next time we have burgers. 

Size issues aside, these were so, SO good. They're absolutely amazing right out of the oven, and two days later, they're still delicious. 

I'm really happy with how my bread baking is coming along. I used to have to throw out the ingredients about 90% of the time because I could never get the yeast to rise. I've stopped buying the jars of yeast, and now just buy the packets when I need it. So, make sure your yeast is good & make these =) 

Homemade Pretzel Bowls (Rolls)

(Original recipe found here.)

Ingredients:

• 6 C. of all-purpose flour
• 1 packet (2 1/4 t.) of dry active yeast
• 1 T. of brown sugar
• 2 C. of hot water
• 3 T. of butter
• 2 t. of salt
• 8-10 C. of water
• 1/3 C. of baking soda
• 2 T. of melted butter
• 2 T. of coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the 3 T. of butter, brown sugar and hot water. Stir to dissolve the sugar & melt the butter. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let proof (foam) for about 5 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 of the flour & 2 t. of salt to the wet ingredients, and combine using the dough hook attachment. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the rest of the flour. Mix until a dough ball forms and knead until the dough has become elastic, about 5 minutes. 
3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Move the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise for one hour. (If your kitchen is cool, heat your oven at a very low temperature while you prepare the dough. Turn the oven off, but don't open the door. Place the covered bowl in the warm oven.)
4. After an hour, punch the dough down and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 pieces & roll into evenly shaped balls. Place on a parchment/silpat lined baking sheet, cover & let rest for 20 minutes. 
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
6. In a large pot, heat the water until just boiling. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and boil each ball of dough for 45 seconds, turning each one halfway through. Place each dough ball back on the baking sheet. Cut a small "x" in the middle of each ball, and brush each one with melted butter & sprinkle on the sea salt. 
7. Bake for 15-18 minutes (I baked mine for the full 18) until browned all over.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread

When I got home from work today, I noticed there were three overly ripe bananas on the counter. I don't like ripe bananas. I prefer them still green. Once there are brown spots I lose all interest in bananas as anything other than the key ingredient in banana bread.

This banana bread is absolutely amazing. I love the combination of chocolate & bananas, so I added chocolate chips. I had some leftover pecans from a carrot cake I made yesterday, so I threw those in too. I reduced the sugar significantly, and subbed some whole wheat flour for the all purpose. You'd never miss the sugar (thanks to the sweetness from the chocolate chips), and you'd never notice the switch in the flour.

This is one of the best banana breads I've ever had and if you try it, I hope you enjoy it as well.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread
(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/3 C of butter
• 1/3 C of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t. of baking soda
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 C of whole wheat flour
• 1/4 C of chocolate chips
• 1/4 C of chopped pecans (or walnuts would be great too)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 8 x 4 loaf pan, or spray with cooking spray & set aside. 
2. Mash bananas & mix in melted butter.
3. Add in the egg & the sugar. 
4. Mix in the baking soda and then the flour. 
5. Fold in the chocolate & nuts, and pour mixture into prepared pan. 
6. Bake for one hour, or until tester comes out clean (if top is getting too brown early on, cover with foil for the remainder of baking time. 
7. Let cool on a rack for 20 minutes. 
8. Enjoy!

Sweet, Southern Cornbread

Make this cornbread. Seriously. Print the recipe, step away from your computer and go bake this right this moment.

I made this to go alongside the chicken chili I made and it was the highlight of the meal. Remember Graham's reaction to the chicken pesto pizza? I got the same reaction to this cornbread. He spread butter on his first slice, and I told him it didn't really need it. So, his next slice was butter-less, and he was still moaning and salivating. His initial reaction: "Ahhhhhhh."

This really was fantastic. It was sweet and moist and makes the dry, crumbly cornbread that passes for edible at so many places really sad to me. Because this was amazing. The ONLY change I would make would be to puree the corn before adding it. The kernels of corn bugged me, but the flavor was epic.

So yeah. GO. MAKE. THIS. NOW.

Sweet, Southern Cornbread

Original Recipe from A Sweet Pea Chef.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 2.5 t. baking powder
• 1 T. brown sugar 
• 1 t. kosher salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of pureed creamed corn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. 
3. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
4. In a smaller bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. 
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix together thoroughly. However, do not overmix. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Pesto Crescent Rolls

I know using canned rolls/breads is frowned upon in the foodie world.

Two words: Don't hate.

I saw this on Pinterest today, and I instantly knew I had to make these to go with our dinner tonight (homemade spaghetti & meatballs... yum!)

The only problem? When Graham picked me up from work, I was starving and not about to make these from scratch. Not to mention the original recipe is in Turkish...) The person who had pinned these mentioned using crescent rolls, so I decided to give that a try. They turned out absolutely delicious and they were SO easy. Literally two ingredients! My husband RAVED about them and I probably ate more than I should have...

Pesto Crescent Rolls
(Recipe adapted from this one)

Ingredients:

• Two 11.25 ounce cans of crescent rolls
• Pesto (homemade is best, but I was lazy and used store bought)

Directions

1. To start, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Unroll the first can of crescents onto a sheet of wax paper. Press the pieces together, making one long sheet of dough. 
3. Drop spoonfuls of the pesto onto the sheet of dough. Spread the pesto over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border of the dough uncovered.
4. Carefully roll the dough and pesto up tightly & place in the freezer for about 10 minutes (it makes the dough much easier to cut).
5. Cut into the rolled dough with a serrated knife, and arrange the pieces into the pan.
6. Repeat with the second can of crescents. 
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.

       

 

These were seriously SO good! Make them as soon as possible. Really. Either start making homemade dough, or run to the grocery store right now for some!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Click here for the recipe.

It seems like banana bread is in the air right about now. Emily over at Daily Garnish blogged about a beautiful blueberry banana bread last week and then a few days ago Christina over at Hungry Meets Healthy blogged about banana bread as well. I had some ripening bananas on the counter and Sunday Fresh Market had organic blueberries on sale, so I knew I had to make Emily's recipe.

This bread is light, moist and so delicious. The fresh blueberries gave the most delicious, pop of freshness. The bread wasn't incredibly sweet, but that's okay in my opinion. I don't like overly sweet breads, after all, if I were looking for a dessert, I would have made cupcakes.

I tried something different this time though. I threw the bananas in the food processor instead of mashing them, and I was really happy with how well that worked. I had never pureed bananas for a bread before, but this worked out really well. I made very few changes to the recipe. I used three smallish bananas instead of 2 large ones, and I used one 6 ounce container of Greek Yogurt instead of 1/2 a cup.

This bread is delicious and so summery. I definitely recommend it!

Easiest Banana Bread EVER!

Recipe courtesy of Simply Recipes

I had some over ripe bananas sitting on the counter, and I can only eat bananas that are so fresh they're still practically green. So I googled banana bread recipes and made the very first one that popped up.

This bread was so simple to make and was so, so delicious. It was super moist and flavorful. I wanted to add chocolate chips, but I didn't remember until the loaf was already in the oven. I just decided if I wanted to try banana bread with chocolate, I could just slather some Nutella on it... which I did. And it was amazing. Banana bread and Nutella are now an epic combination. Just so you know.

Please ignore the hideous counter tops & paper plates... focus on the Nutella.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix butter into the mashed bananas together. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and slice to serve.