Zucchini Cornbread

 

Ladies and gentlemen it is time for you to try your hands at making a cornbread.  Yes, a cornbread.  Not just any kind of cornbread either.  I want you to get ready to make a cornbread that has a very special ingredient.  Zucchini.  That's right ZUCCHINI.

 

 

 

 

The Browned Eyed Baker offered this recipe earlier this summer.  As soon as I saw it I had to try it right away.  I was so glad that I did as this recipe created a wonderful cornbread that was not only beautiful to the eyes but also beautiful on the taste buds.  This bread is moist and has a perfect crumb texture. I even enjoyed this bread lightly toasted the second and third day.  And it was a great way to sneak in some extra veggies into my dear daughters as they too enjoyed this bread.

 

 

 

Grab that last zucchini in your garden and make this bread!

 

Zucchini Cornbread

(recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 medium zucchini

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.  Set pan aside.

 

2. Trim ends of zucchini and cut 6 thin slices off and set aside for garnish.  Shred the remaining zucchini.  Toss grated zucchini with 1 tablespoon sugar and then place in colander and allow to drain for 30 minutes.  After at least 30 minutes, gather drained zucchini in a clean kitchen towel (or a doubled up paper towel) and squeeze out any possible remaining water.

 

3. In a large bowl combine flour,1/2 cup sugar,  cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk all together and then set aside.

 

4. In a medium bowl combine melted butter, eggs and buttermilk.  Whisk together.  Add grated zucchini to butter mixture and stir gently to combine.

 

5. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir all together with a rubber spatula until no traces of flour remain.

 

6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. Bread will be golden brown and a tester inserted in the middle will come out clean when done.  Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool further on a wire rack.  Bread can be stored at room temperature and wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

 

                                                                            

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Happy Zucchini Cornbread Baking!

 



New England Oatmeal Cookies for The Secret Recipe Club

 

 

Serious, SERIOUS happy pitter patter of my heart happened to me this past month for I was assigned through The Secret Recipe Club to a New England based food blog called, I Am Honey Bee .  That's right folks, this blog is based in the lovely city of Boston.  Less than 2 hours away from me!!! Hip, Hip, HOORAY!  I just love finding fellow food bloggers that live in New England. 

 

 

The adorable, Nicole is the brains and beauty of I Am Honey Bee.  She offers a huge variety of wonderful recipes.  I chose a cookie recipe (no surprise there!) but I was seriously on the edge of trying out Nicole's recipe for Insalata Caprese.  The cookie recipe that I chose to bake is called, Maple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies.  I mean really! - how could I NOT make such a cookie recipe!?!  Living in the heart of NH, maple anything is a delight to me.  And these cookies baked up to be a HUGE delight to me and my little family.  Yum. SERIOUS yum!

 

 

The cookies were full with maple flavor along with a soft middle with a nice crisp edge allowing for the perfect amped up oatmeal cookie.  And because I adore raisins in my oatmeal cookies I threw a bunch of those in along with the chopped walnuts that Nicole had in her cookies.  Thus the title of these cookies becomes, Maple Raisin Walnut Oatmeal Cookies....the perfect New England oatmeal cookie in my book.  Next time I may add some dry cranberries into the batter just to make it an "ALL" flavors of New England cookie. :-) 

 

 

Maple Raisin Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

(recipe slightly altered from, I Am Honey Bee)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup flour (I used all-purpose but Nicole used whole wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp real vanilla extract

1 cup maple syrup (I used 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup granulated maple syrup)

4 cups rolled oats

1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins (my addition)

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silipat.

 

2. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Set bowl aside.

 

3. Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time, beating well in between each egg. Add in vanilla extract and maple syrup.  Beat well to combine all together.

 

4. Add in sifted dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix well. 

 

5. Add in oatmeal and mix well.  Toss in nuts (and raisins if you so wish) and mix to combine.

 

6. Drop cookie batter by the rounded tablespoon onto prepared sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges of cookies start to brown and center is still slightly moist.  Cookies will continue to bake once out of the oven and cooling.

 

Enjoy!  And ENJOY some more!



While you are enjoying your cookies please be sure to browse through my fellow Secret Recipe Club-ers blogs....they seriously ROCK! Just see the great links below..... :-)

 

Happy Maple Walnut Raisin Oatmeal Cookie Baking!

A SUPER Moist Blueberry Cake

As a baker living in New England I can always appreciate discovering a new and successfully delicious recipe that calls for blueberries. I adore baking with fresh blueberries.  Baking with frozen blueberries isn't too shabby either.....especially if I have picked them fresh myself and frozen them for later use.

I whipped up this lovely blueberry yumminess of a cake with some freshly picked blueberries.  And the recipe that I used did not disappoint.  The cake came out with a wonderful flavor and gorgeous texture.  What more could you ask for in a cake?!  I do have to say that having both yogurt and sour cream as ingredients in this recipe leaves NO room for a dry cake.  This cake is super moist.  Greek or regular yogurt can be used along side the sour cream.  I chose to use Greek lemon yogurt as I thought it was pair well with the blueberries.  Plain or vanilla Greek yogurt would work fine too if you wish to tone down the lemon flavoring in the cake.

  I do have to admit that I was patting myself on the back when I took my first bite of this cake as it tasted SO good.  I remember thinking, "Goodness, I could sell this cake with NO problem!" - meaning that it came out so nicely that I envisioned setting up shop in front of my house and holding out a sign advertising "Blueberry Lemon Cake For Sale" because I was so impressed with the cake.  I highly recommend you make this cake yourself! 

I topped off the cake with a dusting of powdered sugar.  Next time I think I will drizzle it with a lemon glaze. YUM.

Blueberry Lemon Cake

(recipe discovered on the blog, The Martha in Me)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup yogurt (Greek or regular is fine...I used lemon Greek yogurt)

2 cups blueberries (I used FRESH)

2 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour well your cake pan(s) of your choice.  I used my favorite kind of cake pan....a bundt cake pan.

2.In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set bowl aside.

3. Combine sour cream and yogurt in a small bowl.  Set bowl aside.

3. Cream together butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

4.  Add in flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternately with the sour cream/yogurt mixture.

5.In a medium bowl toss together the blueberries, lemon zest and 1 tsp flour.  Gently fold in blueberries to the cake batter.

6. Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes.  Cool in pan for 20 minutes before inverting cake to a serving plate.

Happy Blueberry Lemon Cake Baking!



Brownie Pies for July's Secret Recipe Club

Recently I have had a hankering for good old fashioned brownie sundae.  Yeah, that's right a decadently rich chocolate brownie with a nice big scoop of ice cream on top and maybe even a little hot fudge sauce drizzled all over it.  Y. U. M.  Some dreams do come true.  Yes indeed.

 I was perusing through my assigned food blog for the Secret Recipe Club this past month and guess what recipe I came upon!?! That's right....a brownie recipe!  Not just any brrrrownie recipe either.  I discovered on Lynsey Lou's blog a brownie recipe called, "Brownie Pie".   My prayers had been answered.  A Brownie Sundae was in my near future.  Hooray!

Lynsey Lou's recipe for Brownie Pie did NOT disappoint.  It was whipped up in a jiffy, the ingredients were all simple and the taste was OUT OF THIS WORLD dee-lish!  I ended up making personal size brownie pies for all four members of my little family instead of just one 9" pie.  It's kind of fun to have your own brownie pie.  My girls sure thought so!  Their eyes practically popped out of their heads when I placed one of these little treasures in front them.  Having a personal size brownie pie with a scoop of ice cream on top was HEAVEN for them. 

  

I was extremely pleased with the texture and taste of the little chocolate pies.  They had a lovely thin crisp shell on top like all good brownies do and then the inside  was perfectly moist and rich with chocolate.  As many may feel, brownies are not complete with out some chopped walnuts, so I added in a couple handfuls to the batter.  It was a delightful addition I do have to say.

Take a couple minutes out of your day and stir up this recipe.  While the pies (or pie if you chose to make a single 9" brownie pie) are baking go check out Lynsey Lou's blog.  You will find a wonderful amount of scrumptious recipes on it such as, Brown Butter Banana Carmel Muffins, Hot Buttered Rum Pancakes and White Cake with Apricot Filling to name a few that has my mouth watering.  Be sure to keep your eyes open for all the gorgeous napkins, tablecloths and props that she uses in her pictures.  I am such a sucker for pretty linens and Lynsey's collection is just gorgeous! :-)

Mini Walnut Brownie Pies

(oh so slightly altered from Lynsey Lou's recipe)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/8 sea salt + more for sprinkling on top if you so wish

1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

1/2 -1 cup chopped walnuts (my addition)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease well 4 mini pie plates or one 9" pie plate.

2. Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in vanilla extract and eggs.  Beat well all together.

3. Add in flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Mix well.  

4. Add in chocolate chips and chopped walnuts (if you wish)

5. Pour batter into prepared pie pans (pan) and bake for 30 minutes.  My minis took just under 30 minutes to bake.

6. Cool slightly and serve with freshly whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce - all of the above is just fine too!

Enjoy!

Happy Mini Walnute Brownie Pie Baking!

The EASIEST Granola ever!

Granola has always been one of my very favorite things to eat.  Especially the granola my mom makes. She loads it with all kinds of dried fruit, toasted nuts and shredded coconut....yum.  And this may sound weird but having granola with milk about 30 minutes after it is fresh from the oven is one of my all time favorite and comforting snacks.  The granola is still warm and all the flavors are just popping with deliciousness.  A definite must for all of you "granola lovers" out there if you have yet to have granola warm from the oven (or skillet).

 

 

 

My mom has always made her granola in the oven. She coats the ingredients with honey and oil and then gently roasts them - tossing the oats and fruit every 15 minutes so that they become evenly browned and seasoned.  So good!  About a month ago I discovered that a couple of my favorite food blogs were featuring a wonderful granola recipe.  And not just any granola recipe.  Quick and easy granola made in a SKILLET on the stove. What a brilliant concept.  I couldn't wait to try it out myself.  I have now made skillet granola multiply times.  I have given away batches as gifts and I have shared many a bowl topped with fresh berries   with my girls.  Lots and lots of happy tummies have rejoiced with my new discover of making granola on the stove rather than in the oven. You should do the for the tummies in your life that you care and adore.

The beauty of  this recipe is that it is versatile.  You can sweeten the ingredients as you wish using either honey or maple syrup and you can add any kind of dried fruit or nut to your liking.  The sky's the limit here with this granola recipe.

 Fruit and Nut Skillet Granola

(similar recipes can be found on Let's Dish and Lick the Bowl)

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (if you wish to reduce the butter to 3/4 of a stick it will be just fine)

1/2 cup honey or maple syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cups rolled oats (not the quick kind)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped dates or chopped dried apricots (any or all of these)

1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened is fine)

1 cup silvered almonds or chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

1. In a large skillet melt butter.  Add in honey (or maple syrup), brown sugar, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon.  Stir all together until well combined.

 

2. Add in oats and stir to coat thoroughly.  Cook over low heat for about 10-12 minutes until oats are light brown and toasted.

 

3. Take pan off of heat and stir in dried fruit, nuts and coconut.  Happiness has arrived...your granola is complete.  Scoop up a handful and enjoy.

 

 

 

Happy Fruit and Nut Skillet Granola Making!

Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins

Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins....what a mouthful!  A delicious mouthful for sure.  Tart blueberries, sweet white chocolate and the nuttiness of browned butter all surrounded by tender crumbs topped off with a sweet crumble.  A blueberry muffin recipe that is a MUST. 

 

How is it that I have missed the boat for so long on browning butter?!?!  Oh. My. Goodness. Do I LOVE browned butter!!! The taste that it adds to this muffin recipe is wonderful. I can not wait to bake more with browned butter! That being said be warned as you will most likely see many more recipes in the future on my blog with browned butter.  Do you have a favorite recipe that uses browned butter?  PLEASE do share!!!


I love that Joy the Baker has come out with her first cookbook as this is where I found this lovely muffin recipe.  If you have yet to purchase this book do yourself a favor and treat yourself to it.  It is packed full of GORGEOUSLY scrumptious recipes.  A talented and oh-so-sweet blogging friend of my mine, Carrie from Bakeaholic Mama, hosts a fabulous blogging event every Sunday that features a recipe from Joy's cookbook.  This event is called, Sunday's with Joy.  Take a peek at it as I am sure you will find lots of fun and delicious recipes from Joy The Baker that you will want to try. :-)

Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins
(Slightly altered from the recipe found in Joy The Baker Cookbook)

Muffin Ingredients:

7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup white chocolate chips (my addition)
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen bb's and it worked just fine)

Topping Ingredients:

3 Tbsps unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsps sugar


Directions:

1.  Place oven rack onto the upper third of the oven and then preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners and then set aside.

2. Make muffin batter first by browning the butter.  Place 7 Tbsps of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Butter will first melt, then forth and then lastly crackle - which is the water cooking out of the butter. The crackling will subside and then the butter will start to brown - this happens quite quickly so keep your eye on the butter so that it doesn't burn. Remove saucepan from heat when you see that it becomes a medium brown color and it has the wonderful nutty smell.  Immediately pour hot butter into a small bowl and set aside.  This will allow your butter to not continue to cook and possibly burn.

3. In a small bowl whisk to combine,  milk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add in browned butter and whisk to combine.  Set bowl aside.

4. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar and baking powder.  Whisk all together.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once. Stir to combine. Do not over mix.  Add in white chocolate chips and blueberries and gently but thoroughly stir all together. .

6. Scoop muffin batter into prepared muffin tins.  I used my lovely medium scoop for this step.

7. Make crumble topping but combining cold butter, flour and sugar all together in a medium bowl. Incorporate butter with the dry ingredients by either using a pastry cutter or your fingers.

8. Sprinkle crumble topping over muffins.  Pop muffins into preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and when a toothpick is inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Happy Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins Baking!

Jammers for June's Secret Recipe Club

 Now just to be clear I am not talking about the kind of jammers that you wear to bed.  I'm talking about the kind that you eat.  That's right Jammers are cookies!  I had never heard of such a cookie until I was browsing through Fran's Favs for a recipe to make for my June 

Secret Recipe Club choice.  Imagine my delight when I came across such a cookie recipe!  I love the idea of a tender shortbread crust with a layer of sweet jam and then a sprinkling of brown sugar crumble all coming together to create a cookie.  Magic!

I was just as delighted to be assigned Fran's wonderful blog as I was to find this recipe for Jammers.  Her blog is completely packed with mouth watering recipes.  Honestly, it was very hard to chose just one recipe to make from her blog.  I really look forward to making her Carrot Cake -which looks like the moistest carrot cake I have seen in a LONG time! - and then the Coffee and Donuts Cake she created is out-of-this-world adorably yummy looking!  Such talent that gal Fran has!  I have a special little soft spot for Fran because she too originates from New England as a Bostonian.  Hooray for Boston!  I live just under 2 hours away from Boston in Southern NH. Let's meet up Fran next time you visit Boston.  I would love to meet you in person! :-)

Fran suggested using either english muffin rings or whoopie pie molds to make these cookies.  Muffin top molds would also work well for these cookies.  I used my whoopie pie mold to make my Jammers.  Yup, I really enjoy saying that word - "Jammers"...sorry that was just a side note. :-)

Jammers

(recipe from Fran's Favs)

Shortbread Dough Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

Jam of your choice - I used Strawberry and Peach-Mango

Brown Sugar Crumble Topping Ingredients:

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Beat butter until smooth in a large bowl.  Add in sugars, cinnamon and salt and beat all together until well blended, about 1 minute.  Mixture will be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy.

2. Add in egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix on low speed.  Beat until mixture is homogeneous.

3. Add in flour all at once.  Cover mixer with a clean dish towel to protect yourself from any flying flour.  Pulse mixer on low speed a couple of times to incorporate flour into batter.  Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds more - just enough for the dough to look uniformly moist.  The dough will have the consistency of play-doh - soft, moist and clumpy.

4. In the mold of your choice (whoopie or muffin top molds or english muffin rings) fill each cup with dough and flatten with your fingers.  The dough should be slightly lower than the top of the pan.  Chill mold or rings in freezer for about 15 minutes until dough firms up.

5. Make streusel while dough is chilling.....

Melt butter in small saucepan on stove or in microwave.  Add to melted butter the remaining streusel ingredients all at once.  Stir all together with a fork to form coarse crumbs.  Cover streusel and set aside until ready to use.  The crumbs will harden a litthe as the mixture cools off.

6. Spread a couple of teaspoons of jam on top of chilled shortbreads.  Sprinkle with streusel....

Pop pan in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until edges of cookies are light brown.  Larger molds will take longer.  Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from molds.  Allow cookies to cool completely before serving.

Share these cookies with those that you adore, cherish and love.  They are some special cookies. Above and beyond d'lish!

Happy Jammers Baking!