Bob’s Beer Bread

Bob is a dear co-worker of mine who has put on a St Patrick’s Day Corned Beef luncheon at work for several years.  We didn’t have one this year due to the lack of a break room at work, so I decided to make my own corned beef, accompanied by his beer bread.

• 3 cups self-rising flour (or 3 cups flour with about 2 1/2 TBSP baking powder and a good pinch of salt)
• 1/2 c sugar
• 4 TBSP melted butter, place more for the brushing on top
• 12 oz Guinness

Combine in a bowl and pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Brush with butter, then continue to bake for another 5 minutes.

Revised Zucchini Bread-still in progress

Thought I would use up some old zucchini left in the fridge.  I went back to my archives to find a recipe I made about 6 years ago.  I added a little more sugar and cinnamon to this batch.  I also used a mix of butter and oil for the fat.  The texture was pretty good, but it was on the salty side even though I didn’t add salt to it.  I think the next time, I will try adding some more natural sweetness from crushed pineapple and dried cranberries or raisins to see if it will make a difference.  Also, I felt that it needs a little more spice to bring more flavor to the bread….so there will be edits for next time:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon (consider adding 1 1/2 tsp)
• 2 zucchini, shredded (about 3 cups) + 2 TBSP sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (consider subbing with drained crushed pineapple)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 TBSP melted butter
• 3 TBSP oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins

In a small bowl, combine 2 TBSP sugar with zucchini and set aside

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Set aside

In another bowl, combine eggs, sugars, vanilla, yogurt (or pineapple), butter, oil.  Whisk till smooth.  Place zucchini in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out excess water.  Add to egg mixture.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir till almost combined.  Add raisins and nuts.

Pour into a 4-welled mini-loaf pan.  This is enough for three loaves.  Fill the empty well with hot water.  Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

pumpkin bread/muffins-includes low sugar version

The change in the weather led to my craving for autumn flavors.  I found a recipe for pumpkin bread from a popular website with 5-stars out of 4,500 reviews!  How can more than 4,000 people be wrong?  It helps that it’s almost impossible to mess it up, and there isn’t too much technique involved.

When I went to the store, I could only find the 30oz can for pumpkin puree, so I made 2 different versions:  the original recipe and a healthier version.

INGREDENTS (ORIGINAL)                                     INGREDIENTS (HEALTHIER VERSION)
15oz pumpkin                                                              15oz pumpkin
3 1/2c flour                                                                  2 1/2c flour
2c white sugar                                                              1c white whole wheat flour
1c brown sugar                                                            1c Splenda
4 eggs                                                                          1 1/2c white sugar
2/3c water                                                                   1c brown sugar
1/2c oil                                                                        1T agave
1/2c applesauce                                                           4 eggs
2t baking soda                                                             2/3c water
1 1/2t salt                                                                    1/2c oil
1t cinnamon                                                                 1/2c applesauce
1t nutmeg                                                                     2 1/2t baking soda
1/2t cloves                                                                   1t cinnamon
1/4t ginger                                                                    1t nutmeg
1/2t cloves
1/4t ginger
1 1/2t salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cream sugars and eggs till smooth
2. Then add water, pumpkin, applesauce and oil and mix until smooth
3. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients VERY well!
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just combined, but should not have pockets of flour.
5. Pour into prepare containers…I was able to make a dozen muffins and a 8in square cake.  Also yield a full loaf pan plus muffins.
6. Bake at 350 until toothpick is clean
   1. Muffins took about 28 minutes
   2. Loaf took a little over an hour.  Will yield 2 loaves.
   3. Square cake took about 35 minutes

So could I tell the difference between the two versions??  Well, in terms of texture, both versions had a tender crumb and turned out moist.
The version with the Splenda was not as sweet which I didn’t mind, but it was missing that slightly crisped edges, but a small price to pay to cut the sugar by a third.

Can you tell the difference?  Low sugar version is on the right