Raspberry Dark Chocolate Banana Bread

picture source same as recipe source

Okay....where do I start with this?  The picture I saw on pinterest hooked me in.   Everytime I would scroll through my recipe board, I would slightly pause at it.

I finally decided to give it a try.

Before baking most recipes, I read the reviews and this one was no exception.  There were a lot of problems, suggestions, and praises.  I read them all and sort of adapted the ideas/suggestions to work for me.  I crossed my fingers as it baked and in the end, it turned out perfect.  It was delicious.  The raspberries were a PERFECT addition.  The bread was moist and soft and full of flavour.

Here are the changes I made:

* I preheated the oven to 325 degrees and cooked it for an hour at that temperature.  Then I raised it up to 350, loosely laid tin foil over it (top was done perfectly at that point, but inside was not) and cooked it for about another 30ish minutes.  I also cooked it on the bottom rack in the oven.

* For the mashed bananas to equal 1 1/2 cups, it took 3 bananas.

* I used frozen raspberries, however, when I measured them out, I took a potato masher and sort of roughly mashed them up.  There were some chunks and some crumbs...I liked that combo.  I still tossed them in flour before adding to the dough.

* I did not add quite as much dark chocolate chips as suggested.

* I used a metal loaf pan

* When it was done baking, I let it sit in the pan for quite a while before removing it to the cooling rack.  Even after cutting around the edge and removing it at that point, one of the sides was very soft and wanted to break away.  I carefully got it out and let it sit on the rack.  This was the hard part.  Waiting.  I know we all want warm banana bread, but I think this one would fall apart until mostly cooled.   It needs to sort of all bind together.  The batter to extras ratio is pretty close, so lots of places for this thing to break and fall apart.

Either way....you need to figure out how it works for you.  Many reviews said it turned out just fine for them following the recipe exactly.  You have to give this one a shot.

Check out Recipe Boy for this treat of deliciousness!

Eggnog Biscotti

I don't really like biscotti.  So why did I include it in my Christmas baking?  Good question.  A couple of reasons...I wanted to see what it's like to make and I wanted to see if homemade tastes better...oh and I know others who like it, so this can my my gift to them.

First I have a disclosure to make.  Technically...I didn't make this....Tracey did.  Every year we get together and do a Christmas baking weekend.  We help each other with recipes, we both work on a recipe or we do one all on our own, start to finish.  This one was all Tracey.

From what I observed, it's easy enough to make.  I think the hardest part was shaping the dough on the cookie sheet....we couldn't quite figure out the correct way to do it.  It does rise a bit while it's baking, so count on that.  We used a large cookie sheet and shaped it in a rectangle but sort of rounded on top.  Oh and when I say we, I actually mean Tracey.

We used Shugary Sweets recipe for the biscotti and food.com's recipe for the glaze.  Next time I would make a lot more glaze so we'd have more to drizzle or dip...but that's just me and my sweet tooth talking.

They definitely taste better than any bought ones I've had, but still not something I love.

Try it.  Lemme know what you think.

Bloomin Onion Bread

source same as recipe

My sister has been making a version of this for a couple of years now.  It's always been a huge hit with no leftovers.  I decided to give it a whirl, since I was hosting Christmas Eve.  

I followed the recipe, didn't make any changes.  It really is too easy, but your guests will love it.

Check out The Girl Who Ate Everything for the recipe and make sure you include it in your next appetizer based party!

Perishky (Meat Buns)

The mennonite in me knew I was going to have to learn to make these eventually.  I love them and I can't keep relying on my 87 year old Grama or my Mom to make them for me.


I asked my mom for the recipe and of course I got the "there is no recipe" and she just explained how to do them.  You aren't getting a recipe either, but you are getting step by step pictures...even better!


Now I need to tell you something before you start these.  They take a long time to do...they are easy...but time consuming.


Don't start them late in the morning, then decide to go visit your in-laws that live 2 hours away and then come back too late at night to work on them...not that I would do something like that...I'm just saying...don't.


First you need to make a roast like you normally would...make sure you make the gravy too.  I did mine the day before I was planning on making these and then just put the roast and gravy (separated) in the fridge.


Then the day you want to make them, make a basic white bread.  I used my bread machine (on the "dough" cycle) and did a smaller loaf recipe.  I ended up needing to make a second larger recipe...and I used all of it up.  I guess it also depends on how much roast you  have.  It really is trial and error.  It's okay if you have to make more bread...it just adds to your time, but gives you an excuse to go have a nap.....or to be productive if you're that kind of person.


Okay so now that you have your bread made and your roast is done and cooled...the fun can begin....and I have pictures of these steps.


If you have a food processor, put your beef in it and grind it right up.  You want it completely minced.  If you don't have a food processor....go buy one...or deal with the fact that you are going to be chopping and chopping until the end of time.

Add enough gravy that it makes a mushy lovely mess.  When I make my roast gravy I add onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup, so I don't need to add much flavor to my "mix" at this point.  Depending on your gravy, you might want to add some minced up onions and garlic salt.   Actually, come to think of it, I think I added some dried minced onion flakes to it.

Now roll out your dough on a clean floured surface.  Roll it out thinner than I have pictured here...this was too thick.  Turns out I hate rolling dough.  This was the worst part for me.
 
Use a cup or something round to cut circles.  Make sure you dip the rim in flour.

Put some of the roast beef mush in the center of each circle.  Fold them up and pinch the seam together....I actually started adding more to each circle after this.  This is a high dough to meat ratio.....(do I sound fancy and smart when I use words like "ratio"...I hope I used it right).

Place them seam side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  At this point I was a little worried, because I didn't think they were looking good.

I covered mine with sprayed wax paper and a tea towel and let them sit until they were double in size.   Okay...I lied and didn't have the patience to wait for them to double...but I did let them rise for 2 hours.  Maybe they would have gotten bigger faster if I kept them in the oven like my mom suggested...but of course, I had to do it my way.  They need to be in a draft free area. 

Preheat your oven to 350 or 375 degrees.  This is when I moved these on top of my oven so they could feel the warmth and rise a bit more.


Bake them for about 20 minutes...or until golden brown.  A basic bun recipe says to do 375 for 20 minutes and since your meat is cooked already, you're just needing to make sure you bread is.

This is when they taste the best....fresh out of the oven.

If you were to start these late on a Sunday morning and then run out of dough and have to make more....

If you decided to go visit your in-laws (who live 2 hours away) before you were done....

If you didn't get home until after 10 pm.....

If you put the dough into the fridge so you can use it for when you had time....

If the next day was Monday so you wouldn't be able to finish them until after work....

If the dough had still kept rising in the fridge this whole time....


They could turn out to look like this...

Again...not that this happened to me...I'm just saying.


I like mine with ketchup.  My mom and sister like them with mayo and mustard...which I do too...but this time I was all about the ketchup.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Seriously, though...time consuming but easy...especially with a bread machine and a food processor.


I love them and it's a perfect alternative to roast leftovers.

Scones? Biscuits?

I don't know if these are called scones or biscuits.  I'm not familiar with the differences because I'm a total rookie at baking, so I'm sorry if I'm confusing you.


Whatever they are, they are delicious and perfect to serve alongside a bowl of chili or soup. 


The original recipe is from Betty Crocker, however, I've sort of changed it over time and customized it and made it my own.


It's a perfect "base" recipe.  I've made ham and cheese, just cheese, lemon poppyseed, lemon raspberry, blueberry, lemon blueberry...and so on and so on.  My sister did an apple cinnamon one.....those were good.  I sprinkle the tops with salt before baking if they are a savory one and if they are sweet I do sugar.  I've also made a lemon glaze and when they come out of the oven and are still warm, I put them on a cooling wire rack and pour the glaze over top.


You can really play around with it....and if I can make these and be successful at it, you can too!  Believe me...really easy.   The hardest most frustrating part it cutting in the butter...but that's only because I have no patience and don't like things that take time.


Printable recipe here.


Let me know if you try it and how they turn out!

Focaccia Bread

I'm not sure if I've ever told you this or not, but I don't bake. I love to cook and I'm really good at one or two cookie recipes and last year I discovered how easy it is to make scones and play around with the recipe. So, I'm pretty good at a variety of scones now but other than that...I don't bake. I wreck bread machine bread...I don't know how, but I do.

So when I saw this recipe with step by step instruction pictures showing how easy it is, I immediately printed it off and was determined to give it a whirl. I saw how she did it and knew I could do it if that's all there really is to it. I figured we'd have fresh bread with Saturday's dinner....yum!

I read over all the ingredients and realized I had all of it except the the active dry yeast. I only had bread machine yeast. My Mom was out of town and my sister wasn't answering the phone, so I called Michelle (she's good at the baking stuff). Michelle told me not to mess around with yeast and to follow the recipe. So I quit. I wasn't going to go to the store to just buy yeast.

Then about an hour or so later, Ang called back. She saw I had tried calling on the caller ID. Ang told me that bread machine yeast is good in traditional recipes....and what do you know...it says so right on the jar! I was pumped again. I was ready to give it another try.

I got my expired yeast out (I keep it in the freezer so I figured it was okay) and the rest of the ingredients. I then read the second step and it says to use a mixer with paddle attachment. I don't have a mixer with a paddle attachment. I have a little hand mixer thingy. So I was almost ready to quit again. I call Ang...no answer. Mom is still out of town...so I bothered Michelle again. Michelle told me that before there were mixers they used their hands. Who knew! So I start the first step of sprinkling the yeast in warm water. Then Ang calls me back and she tells me I can also use a wooden spoon too. What a grand idea! Michelle and Ang were just too helpful.

So by this time it's after 4pm and I'm just starting this 4 hour process of baking bread. It turns out I didn't have enough olives, but I had some sundried tomatoes so I used both. I had a hard time getting the olives and tomatoes combined into the bread so I'm pretty sure I did overknead it. Doesn't matter....mistakes will happen the first time someone bakes bread from scratch.

I also added some parmesan to the top of it with the salt. I figured it would make a nice little touch to it.

So dinner was ready just after 8pm...fresh bread and all....and guess what....the bread turned out!! It was delicious...well a little over salty. I don't think I'd sprinkle the salt on top next time.




I'm all about foccacia now. I want to try it with tomatoes and onions....tomatoes and mozza....herbs and whatever else I can think of...artichoke hearts....idea overload!!

This recipe was so easy!! I loved it. And let me tell you...I'm not an olive fan. I don't mind it on pizza or in things...but I can't eat them straight up...but I liked them in this! I needed this in my life...and so do you...so go check it out...make it and come back and report. You'll thank me for it! Let me know what flavors you try.

I'd also like to try sweet focaccia. Is there such a thing? Like cinnamon or something? I like sweet things...sweet bread...with chocolate. I'll have to look into that.

Oh and I did have to call Michelle one more time. I didn't know how you store it once you're done. Did you know that all you have to do is let it cool, put it in a ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. Boom! Done!

There...no excuses....go do it. If I can do this...you can do this!



I've tried this many times since I posted it originally.  It's a great "base" recipe.  I've done basil, tomato and mozza....feta and sundried tomato....just herbs...it's too easy!


I think I want to try it as a pizza crust.


UPDATE:  I used it as a pizza crust and it turned out delicious!!  We loved it!