Yummy Pumpkin Bread

Here is another recipe that I love but haven’t made in ages. I don’t really have a whole lot to say about this recipe so this post will be short…..bet you’re happy about that. I got this recipe out of my favorite, all-purpose cookbook, the Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham. This is my go to book for answers to any baking and cooking questions I have like, “How to truss a chicken or turkey”, and other questions. I also used to give copies of this book as housewarming gifts. 

I like making this recipe and the Cranberry Nut Bread recipe that is in here, and which I hope to make sometime within the next few weeks, in mini loaf pans and give them to family and friends. Back when I baked this a lot, Reynolds was still making plastic wrap and I could buy it in red and green and I would use it to wrap my small loaves of bread,which made them look quite festive.

I apologize for the quality of my photos, which aren’t always good anyway, but are worse than normal. This time of year since the days are getting shorter my chance of using natural light is slim. That’s what happened here, by the time my bread was done, it was dark outside. Then, at the time, I wasn’t sure what was wrong with my camera, but I must have gotten something on the lense because it looks like there is smear of some sort in most of my pictures…the hazards of taking food pictures. At least it wasn’t a problem with my camera.

Pumpkin Bread
Print Recipe

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda
3. Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
4. Pour into a well-buttered 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a straw comes out clean.
5. Turn out of the pan and cool on a rack

Sift together the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda.

Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice

 Add spices, to pumpkin mixture.

 Then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. If adding nuts, stir them in next.

 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5 inch loaf pan.

 Bake 50-60 minutes until a straw comes out clean...or in my case, a toothpick.

 Turn out of the pan and cool on a rack.

Mmmmm....this smelled so good while it was baking. It tasted even better....I love pumpkin and all those delicious spices that are used in this bread.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This summer, now that I'm retired and have more time, Michael and I have been able to go to several different Farmer’s Markets and enjoyed all the fresh fruit and vegetables that we’ve found. During one of our last trips to the local market I picked up a couple of zucchini. I’ve only baked with zucchini once, a long time ago, and was getting the urge to bake with it again. So I searched my recipes and found this one for Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

I imagine this will be the one of the last times that I’ll be able to purchase zucchini or other summer fruit and vegetables. The market was in transition….along with the zucchini, tomatoes, corn, beans and cantaloupe, they had pumpkins and some of the early fall apples. I love the fall, it’s my favorite time of year, and I also love the fall produce, but here in Ohio, there isn’t a lot to choose from. I’ll really miss the summer harvest…..

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Print Recipe

3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 cups zucchini, grated
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended. In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 6 tablespoons cocoa powder and blend together until smooth. Set aside to cool. Peel and grate the zucchini. Add zucchini and cooled cocoa mixture to the large mixing bowl and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the batter. Stir only enough to blend in all the dry ingredients. In another small bowl, coat the chocolate chips with 2 teaspoons flour. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Add the flour-coated chocolate chips to the batter. Spoon the batter into two generously greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pans and continue to cool on a wire rack.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 60-70 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves

Mix together the eggs, sugar and oil.

The vanilla should have been mixed in with the other ingredients but I forgot so mixed it in next. At least I didn't forget to put it in at all.

I don't have pictures of the next step where the recipe says to melt two tablespoons of butter and then mix in the cocoa. When I did this the cocoa ended up in large clumps, not smooth at all and then it was difficult to mix in the rest of the ingredients. Next time I make this, I'm just going to add the melted butter to the liquid ingredients and the cocoa to the dry. I wouldn't think it would matter and would definitely mix in better.

Add peeled and grated zucchini and the cooled cocoa mixture to the large bow. See how awful the cocoa butter mixture did? Maybe I did something wrong but I just didn't like how it turned out.

I took a whisk to mix the dry ingredients together.

Add dry ingredients to the large bowl and stir only until blended. You don't want to overmix the batter.

In a small bowl coat the chocolate chips with the 2 teaspoons of flour. This is supposed to keep the chips from sinking to the bottom of the pan.

Add chocolate chips to the batter.

When I first started baking, I used to grease and flour my baking pans... a job that I didn't like at all. Then Bakers Joy and soon after that,  Pam Baking spray came out and I rarely do the grease and flour thing now. The baking spray makes life so much easier.....I love that stuff!

Spoon the batter into two generously greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. When I first put the batter together it wasn't thick but by the time I sprayed my pans (I usually do this step first) it was. Time for the oven!

 When done, remove from oven and cool in the pans for 5-10 minustes.

Remove from pans and allow to cool.

Or at least try to.... If you're like me, you have someone who, as soon as he got a whiff of chocolate while the bread was baking, kept asking if it was done yet and was hovering around me as I removed the bread from the pans. He couldn't wait for the bread to cool before digging in.

I really liked this chocolate zucchini bread...it was nice and chocolately and also, due to the zucchini, moist. The only things I didn't like, one that I've already mentioned is the mixing in of the cocoa....I'm definitely doing that differently. Another thing is I didn't like the flat bread...next time I make this, I'm going to either put all of the batter in one of the 9x5 pans or use two 8 1/2x4 loaf pans instead.

Red Lobsters Cheddar Biscuits

I don't go to Red Lobster often but when I do, I usually eat so many of their biscuits that I don't have room for my food and end up taking it home in a box for later. I've never really been much of a biscuit person, and when I do eat them, it's mostly at breakfast, but these are not your normal biscuits. I've wanted to attempt to make these biscuits and I've saved several recipes for them over the years, but never made them.

The November Challenge on BakeSpace was to make soup and bread. Well I'm not much of a bread baker...I make quick breads and have made yeast breads in the bread machine, but that's as far as it goes. I knew I would be making my recipes for the challenge while I was at Michael's and he doesn't eat much bread, so I didn't want to go to the trouble of attempting to make a yeast bread. After looking through my recipes, which is a daunting task in itself, I came across the recipe for Red Lobster's Cheddar Biscuits from the cookbook, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur. Since I already knew I liked these biscuits and it looked easy enough, I chose this to make along with Texas White Chili.

Red Lobster's Cheddar Biscuits
from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Bush on Top:
2 tablespoons butter -- melted
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.

I know it's hard to tell, but this is after cutting the butter into the Bisquick...there are little pea size bits of butter in there.

Milk, cheese and butter have been added and lightly mixed.

Micheal doesn't have an ice cream scoop so I just used the 1/4 cup measure and my fingers to drop the biscuits.

Before buttering

Brush with butter, garlic, parsley flakes and salt....Yummy!

Michael and I both liked these. They didn't taste exactly like the Red Lobster biscuits that I've had at the restaurant, but they came very close. The difference in the taste could be that I substituted Reduced Fat Bisquick for the regular and used low-fat cheddar cheese. They are definitely worth making again!