Brown Butter Soda Bread

Every Saint Patrick's Day, my family has to have Irish Soda Bread. It's tradition, and you can't mess with tradition. I typically bake a large batch in the morning for breakfast, where my family and I eat the bread hot from the oven with salted butter....Mmmm....it's truly to-die-for.  And then that night, we dip the bread in our corned beef and cabbage or stew or whatever Irish dinner we're having. Then, we have the leftovers for breakfast the following morning reheated with butter -- that is...if it makes it that long.

And I am pleased to announce that this is officially my favorite soda bread recipe. Why? Because of the browned butter. 

If you've never browned butter in a recipe before, here is your chance (and if you seriously haven't tried my Brown Butter Cookies, you really haven't lived yet). By browning the butter, you end up with a toasty, rich aroma that tastes so flavorful and savory. The rich flavor compliments the rosemary perfectly, and the whole wheat flour gives the bread an amazing texture. By brushing the top of the bread with olive oil before baking, you end up with wonderfully crisp edges, while the interior stays soft and fluffy.  You also get a delicious burst of sea salt and black pepper with every bite.

This is definitely going to be a staple in my house every Saint Patrick's Day!

*adapted from Epicurious

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper plus additional for topping
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
• Olive oil, for brushing
• Sea salt

Instructions:

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. 

2. Stir butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until melted and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Stir flour, oats, sugar, rosemary, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl to blend. Pour buttermilk and melted browned butter over flour mixture; stir with fork until flour mixture is moistened.

4. Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead gently until dough comes together, about 7 turns (the goal is to work it as little as possible -- for a fluffy texture. If you work it too much it will become dense). Divide in half. Shape each half into ball; flatten each into 6-inch round. Place rounds on ungreased baking sheet, spacing 5 inches apart. Brush tops with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with ground black pepper and sea salt. Using small sharp knife, cut 1/2-inch-deep X in top of each dough round.

5. Bake breads until deep golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Cool breads on rack at least 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Carrot-Oat Cake Bars

Who doesn't love a yummy, healthy snack?  This recipe was originally submitted from Whole Foods (best grocery store ever!!) and I figured I would try it out because I had been wanting to make a healthy recipe, since my family and I have had a little too many unhealthy things lately. (especially sweets....shocker, right?).  I love the hearty texture of this cake/bar.  It kind of reminds me of the Carrot Cake Lara Bar...only my recipe is wayyyy better.  The only fat in it is the coconut and nuts (which are healthy fats!), and a tiny bit of butter in the powdered sugar frosting - if you choose to use it. Everything else is made with extremely healthy ingredients!  This can be served for breakfast, dessert, or simply an anytime snack.  I had it warm for dessert with a powdered sugar frosting from my heavenly spice cake bars (found here) and at room temperature the next morning for breakfast with my healthy, yogurt glaze from my incredible, healthy carrot cake recipe (found here).  These bars only lasted a few hours in my house!  They are so perfect for on-the-go snacking as well!

Ingredients:

1 cup raisins

orange juice - enough to completely cover the raisins

Cooking spray 

1 cup rolled or quick cooking oats 

1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

1 cup whole wheat flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 cups grated carrots 

1/2 cup pure maple syrup 

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sweetened finely shredded coconut 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly oil a (9-inch) square baking pan with cooking spray and set it aside. 


Cover raisins with orange juice in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, simmer for about 20 minutes, or until big and plump.  Drain and cool.


Pulse oats and nuts in a food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large bowl. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt and mix well. In a second large bowl, combine carrots, maple syrup, honey, applesauce, drained raisins, coconut and vanilla. Add carrot mixture to flour mixture and stir until completely incorporated. Transfer to prepared pan and bake until cooked through and deep golden brown, about 40 -60 minutes.  Set aside to let cool before cutting into squares.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Frost if desired.

Warm with the powdered sugar glaze...












Made in muffin tins with the Greek yogurt yogurt glaze, topped with nuts and raisins (chilled)....

Chocolate Florentine Cookies

One night last week, I was in a baking mood (when am I not??) and browsed through my recipe folder, but everything was just kind of boring and same-old, same-old, when this caught my eye.  I'd heard of Florentine cookies, but they always seemed kind of difficult to make, so I never really gave them a shot.  I'm so glad I did though because they're amazingly delicious!! And way easier than I thought.  The hardest part was waiting for them to cool because I wanted to eat them so badly!   I did change up the original recipe to make it my own based on what I thought would taste best...and the result was perfect(: They're not very filling, so my dad and I (us being the chocoholics of the house) ate almost the entire batch that one night.  I've never had anything like them before, which makes me like them even more since they're so unique.  One suggestion: Make sure to follow the recipe exactly when it says drop by TEASPOONFULS THREE INCHES APART.  I didn't think they'd be big enough since the batter looks so small when you drop it, but they spread out a lot.  I did heaping teaspoonfuls for my first batch, and I ended up with one giant sheet of cookie since it spread out so much, so I had to break it into deformed pieces.  But hey - It's the taste that counts though, right?

Yield: about 20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips (i used half semi-sweet, half dark)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil and grease the foil.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir together the oats, flour, salt and sugar; mix into the melted butter until well blended. Stir in the corn syrup, milk and vanilla. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls 3 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, until medium brown. Cool completely before removing from the cookie sheets. In the microwave or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt chocolate chips, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat. Spread chocolate onto the bottoms of cookies and sandwich them together.

Chocolate Fudge Balls

 

I made these fudge balls for a party at my school, and they were a huge hit!  I made half coated with coconut and the other half coated with powdered sugar (in case some people didn't like coconut...what freaks).  They are nice and sweet on the outside, and fudgey and chocolatey and slightly chewy and rich on the inside. The addition of melted bittersweet chocolate (i used Ghiradelli) and coffee powder makes the chocolate incredibly delicious. They literally melt in your mouth and you have to stop and treasure the moment when you pop them into your mouth.  I was skeptical before I made them because they use raw oats, and I thought it would give them a weird, chewy, texture...but the result was so amazing.  You don't taste the oats; they just hold the balls together and make them chewy like fudge. 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups regular rolled oats
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons strong coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup 60% bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes or 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Mix the oats, sugar, and cocoa together in a bowl. Add the butter, and use your hands to mix the ingredients together to make a thick dough. Mix in the coffee, vanilla, and chocolate until thoroughly blended.
2. Place the coconut flakes or powdered sugar in a small bowl. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll between your hands to make small balls, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Roll the balls in the coconut flakes or powdered sugar. Balls are ready to eat, or may be refrigerated 2 hours to become firmer.

Guinness® Bread

    

 

In honors of Saint Patrick's Day last weekend, I wanted to make some beer recipes. I don't know why, but I absolutely love the flavor of alcohol in foods.  Like chocolate bourbon balls?  Oh my gosh...those are my favorite.  And for those of you that don't know...alcohol burns off when you cook it, just giving the food an incredible flavor. But I came across this recipe from allrecipes.com, and it looked super easy, so I decided to make it for breakfast on Saint Patty's Day.  I was extremely impressed.  This bread is so perfect...not to mention healthy!  It's made with whole wheat flour and rolled oats, and is very low fat.   It reminds me of the brown bread you get at the Cheesecake Factory, only this has a slightly different flavor from the beer and it's way more moist and a lot better!  And that's saying so much because I absolutely adore that brown bread at the Cheesecake Factory.  This is amazing served warm with >butter<.  I had it for breakfast with butter, honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon...sooo good.  However, it would be perfect any time of the day, like as a side for lunch, dinner, soups, etc.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup regular rolled oats, plus additional
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Guinness® beer

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, stir together the butter, vanilla, buttermilk, and Guinness® beer. Pour the flour mixture into the beer mixture, and gently stir until well blended. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan, and sprinkle with additional oats if desired.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Turn the oven off, open the door, and allow to cool for 30 minutes in the oven before turning out onto a wire rack.

Vanilla Almond Granola

If you've ever made granola, you probably know that it's pretty hard to mess up: just throw in a little this and that and bake it till it's browned and crunchy. So I wasn't worried when I threw this together.  This was my first time ever making granola, and I was really happy with the way it turned out. It's vanilla-almond-coconut-crispy-goodness.  You can eat it as cereal, add it to your oatmeal, have it as an ice cream topping, top it over applesauce or fruit, add it to yogurt (I add it to Greek yogurt every time I make it), or just grab a handful as a snack.  Any way you have it, it's always deee-lishh.  

Yield: about 10 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons honey
• 1.5 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/6 cup water
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients; mix well. In a saucepan, cook oil, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, water and vanilla until sugar is dissolved. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a greased baking pan. Bake at 275 degrees F for 1 hour or until golden, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely.