pumpkin walnut bread

OK, so again, easy and delicious.  2 bowls, no mixer and lots of yummy spices.  Not too sweet pumpkin bread with lots of healthy walnuts make this an easy staple for a breakfast treat, brunch or an afternoon snack.  And save for the icing, it is dairy free (and it is still quite good without).  I made this with my continued vertigo so you know it is simple.  I felt like purging the excess from my (somewhat excessive) pantry and I knew I would not want pumpkin in the spring and summer.  I scoured my new Sur La Table cookbook which is chock full of baking tips – really good ones – and found this.  I took out a little sugar since I wanted it to be more bread(y) than sweet and it was a great success.  Everyone really enjoyed – Mike thought too many nuts – so go easy on them if you prefer less.  These would also be great as muffins.  (Just adapt and watch baking time.)  Smart to make a double batch and pop one in the freezer since this freezes very well.  Enjoy-

pumpkin walnut bread (adapted from Sur La Table’s The Art and Soul of Baking):

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 (almost) teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs, room temp
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar (minus 3 tablespoons – if you want sweet bread, keep the tablespoons)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted chopped walnuts (or less if desired)
sprinkling of sugar for top (optional)

cream cheese frosting (you will have a leftover – hold for another occasion) –

6 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 oz butter room temp
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toast your walnuts and set aside.

Lightly coat at 9×5 loaf pan with butter or spray – and line the bottom with parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and water, then add the sugar and mix well.  Next add the pumpkin puree, oil and vanilla extract and mix well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.  Add the walnuts and mix in.  Pour batter into prepared pan and level the top with a small palate knife or back of a spoon.  Optional – sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar to the top of the loaf for a crispy slightly sugary top – especially good if you do not plan to ice the bread.

Bake for about 54-64 minutes – until the bread is firm to touch and toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 15 minutes- then turn out onto pan to cool completely before you frost (if you plan too.

icing–

Place the cream cheese, softened butter in mixer and blend until smooth (with paddle – or hand mixer).  Beat well –

Whisk the confectioners’ sugar then add to the mixture and blend on low for a minute.  add the vanilla and on medium speed beat for about a minute, scrape down sides and beat again.

Spread desired amount onto pumpkin loaf and enjoy!  (The icing does need refrigeration – so pull out of frige a half hour before you plan to serve for best flavor.)

chocolate yogurt muffin cakes

These muffins are moist and delectable – and great for a brunch treat.  They are very easy to make and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand right now.  I happen to love muffins with a textured top and the added chips and sugar (placed on top before you bake them) gives them a pretty sheen and a delicious bite.  My whole family loves these.  Ali did too – she said they are definitely blog-worthy – she brought them to a playdate and they treated her like a queen!  They were a hit with Lauren and Zach too.  Andy especially loved these – he even tried one with white chocolate chips – which I still can’t believe.  The other day he was bummed that I forgot to cook the broccolini – today, white chips!  Crazy.  Anyway – mix in white chips, semi or milk  to your liking.  And enjoy-

chocolate yogurt muffin cakes (adapted from Florence Fabricants recipe from The Great Cooks’ Guide To Cakes):

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder (natural)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk choc chips, and/or white chocolate chips – about 1-2 cups total (up to you how much you put in – I like a lot, no surprise oh, and save some for the tops)
sugar for sprinkling tops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin pans with paper.  This will make about 20 muffins I think (sorry we ate some of them too fast to count!)

Cream the butter and sugar with paddle attachment or beaters – until light and fluffy – about 4-5 minutes.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla and scrape, and beat again.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and add to the batter in thirds, alternating with the yogurt (in halves).  Mix on lowest speed or by hand and until just incorporated.

I divided my batter into three.  Then added about 1/2 cup of semisweet chips to some, about 1/2 white chips to some, and 1/2 cup milk.  Of course do what you want here – do all semi, or all white or milk.  Or mix them up in one if you choose.

Spoon into muffin liners about 3/4’s full.  Place a few chips on top of the batter and then sprinkle with a little bit of sugar (granulated).

Bake muffins for about 20-25 minutes.  But as usual check often and before – these are really good but not so great if overbaked.

Enjoy-

yummy yellow cake

This cake is sooo very good, ridiculously easy to make, and has no butter!  It is Greg’s absolute favorite but we all love it.  I was talking to my old and dear friend Michelle yesterday about the blog.  She said she’s been baking so much, loving it, and what to make next?  I told her that the yogurt cake is delicious.  A good sweet for her and her three little girls – oh and her husband too who happens to like vanilla if I’m remembering right.  I mentioned that I fear people are scared of the name – or that “yogurt cake” it turns them off.  Michelle said, “it’s true, the name is killing me and I can’t get past it.”  She said, re-post it and call it something like “yummy yellow cake.”  So here it is again with Michelle’s new title.  I’m normally not this insistent – but really, try it.  You can dress it up with some confectioners’ sugar – or make a winter sauce of figs, wine and prunes (my childhood friend Jenny’s mom Fern did that – and wrote and raved to me about it).  You can eat it plain and I’m telling you…good cake.  Just two bowls and a spoon is all you need (no mixer or beater) – and I bet you have the ingredients on hand right now.  I decided to make it in a cupcake form as well – just to see what happened.  Of course, delicious with a crispy top that both Sylvie and I especially love.  Greg – he likes his cake soft and with out the added crunch but luckily for him, I made both (I’m also more than happy to eat his top!)  So here it is again.  Enjoy-

yummy yellow cake (adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Laura Chattman):

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 (scant) teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (or whole-milk)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs (room temp)
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
mixed raspberries, blueberries or blackberries – frozen (do not thaw) or fresh – amount to your liking (fruit totally optional)
confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch round cake pan.  Place a parchment round in the buttered pan, and then lightly flour – knocking out any excess.  If making cupcake shape, line with paper and you might want to grease the top of the muffin pan so that the tops don’t get stuck.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  In another bowl, mix the yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until flour is just incorporated.  If using berries, add now.  Pour into prepped pan and bake for about 40-45 (for plain), about 50  minutes (for berries), and about 20 minutes for the cupcakes (if adding fruit check it might take a little more time).  As usual though, check often and before to avoid over baking this cake.

Let the cake sit for 5-10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack and let cool.  Dust with the confectioners’ sugar (if you’d like) and enjoy!

pumpkin cookies or cake with brown butter icing

So if you’ve been reading my blog – you’ll remember that although we all really liked the orange pumpkin cake — it wasn’t overwhelmingly pumpkiny.  I had to try again.  It’s not that I even (personally) love pumpkin flavor so much but feel that the kids should know what pumpkin tastes like.  (Since they were clueless with the last cake!)  Plus I know that many adults really like pumpkin.  I scoured my cookbooks and finally found a good looking pumpkin cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.  These cookies came out great and were a huge hit with family and the many friends who tried them.  I had a feeling that the cookies would have a cake like consistency (which many people loved, although I do not) so I also baked them in a muffin and mini loaf cake shape.  Both cakes and cookies were delicious – pumpkiny and have all the spicy warm fall flavors – ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon which round out the pumpkin so nicely.  The brown butter icing completes them.  Enjoy!

pumpkin cookies or cake with brown butter icing (barely adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies):

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cups) butter – room temp
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (14 oz)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

icing–
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 cup plus a few teaspoons evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line sheet pan with parchment.  Or, prep mini loaf tins with butter and parchment and/or line your cupcake pans.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

Cream the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed in the mixer for about 3 -4 minutes until light and fluffy.  Reduce to medium and add the eggs one at a time until each is incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl and mix again.  Reduce the speed to low and add the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, and vanilla – mix well.

Add the reserved flour mixture – and mix until just combined.  Now here Martha (Stewart) advises to put the batter in a pastry bag and pipe out the cookies.  I know this can overwhelm some people.  Soo…now you have your muffin pans or loaf pans!  Problem solved.  Or…drop by spoonfuls onto parchment.  I did a side by side comparison to show you the difference – the right side is the cookie that was piped, the left dropped.  Honestly no biggie here…right?  Plus, once you add the icing it makes even less of a difference. 🙂  If you do decide to pipe the cookies, here are some tips: 1 – do not overfill piping bag.  You will lose control of the batter.  2 – to fill the bag, place it in a large container – a glass or measuring cup or vase – so that you have two hands to fill it.  3 – twist the end of the bag and with light pressure, squeezing from the twist, gently pipe the cookies.  Use a round 1- 1 1/2 inch tip – I just used the coupler but do what makes you happy.

Bake cookies about an inch apart and for about 12-18 minutes.  As usual check often and before – and rotate the pans to ensure even baking.  The muffins took about 30 minutes and the loaf cake took about 40 minutes.  The cake or cookies should have a good spring to the top – or use a toothpick to check the crumb.

Let cool on rack.  Invert the cake (if you made a cake) after it has cooled for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime make the icing.

Place the confectioners’ sugar in a bowl and melt the butter in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Cook the butter swirling it occasionally and keep cooking until you brown the butter.  Now I went very far here – and really took it as brown as I could go because I love the nutty taste of brown butter.  But be careful, you do NOT want to burn the butter.  Cook it as long as deep as you want – or feel comfortable with (at least a golden brown) which should take about 3 minutes.  When browned, immediately add to the confectioners’ sugar and mix – add the evaporated milk, vanilla and the pinch of salt and mix and whisk until smooth.  Add evaporated milk as you see fit – you can make this loose here and just like a glaze – or keep it thick – more like a frosting.  I like it runny and glazy.  Again, do what you like!

Once the cookies/muffins/cakes are cool – frost with the brown butter icing.  If the frosting gets too hard to work with, you can heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds to re-soften – or add more evaporated milk if too dry.

Yum.  Jason was here just now (the guy and friend who inspired my first post on oatmeal cookies) and said – “Oh, I LOVED those cookies.  I just love that pumpkin with all those flavors…my favorite!”  I hope you like them too!

berry or plain yogurt cake

I loved the write-up of this recipe in Cake Keeper Cakes – in that you usually have the ingredients for it on hand.  This is a great simple plain cake.  One that my son Greg loves.  He said “mom, this is amazing – it is just perfect for me!”  Every day this week there was a piece in his lunch – and he was a very happy person.  Laura Chattman’s recipe calls for the cake plain which is delicious, but I happen to have some mixed frozen berries and I added them to half the batter (I doubled the recipe and made two cakes).  The result was equally as great.  Greg’s friend Jamie was over and exclaimed that he loved berries and cake and “oh, Lisi, this is really really good.”  My daughter Sylvie loved the berries in it too.  I like this cake because there is no butter, and the low fat yogurt and eggs somehow make this feel like a healthy treat despite the sugar and white flour.  (So I didn’t scold my au pair Alisa for eating it for breakfast.)  Enjoy!

(berry) yogurt cake (adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Laura Chattman):

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 (scant) teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (or whole-milk)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs (room temp)
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
mixed raspberries, blueberries or blackberries – frozen (do not thaw) or fresh – amount to your liking
confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch round cake pan.  Place a parchment round in the buttered pan, and then lightly flour – knocking out any excess.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  In another bowl, mix the yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until flour is just incorporated.  If using berries, add now.  Pour into prepped pan and bake for about 40-45 (for plain) and about 50  minutes (for berries).  As usual check often and before to avoid over baking this cake.

Let the cake sit for 5-10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack and let cool.  Dust with the confectioners’ sugar (if you’d like) and enjoy!

banana bread (quick and easy)

This recipe was given to me by my sis-in-law Sandy and it is a keeper!  I make it for bake sales, morning coffees, afternoon snacks and dessert.  I make it with or with out chocolate chips or nuts and in various sizes and shapes.  My kids seem to love them in a muffin shape and that helps with quantity control – otherwise they just might eat the loaf.  Zach and Lauren were over and that trick didn’t work, as Zach who’s 13 tried to convince me that I should cut into the loaf and that he should get thirds.  I gave in!

(aunt sandy’s) banana bread:

(This makes 2 (9×5) loaves or 1 loaf, 12 muffins, and one mini-loaf, but switch it up and see what shapes you want to make.  I imagine the recipe yields about 30 muffins if you forgo the loaves.  The banana bread freezes very well too – just wrap well and freeze.  Home-made banana bread on the fly.)

4 cups flour (look @baking tips for flour measurement)
2  teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups oil
2 7/8 cup sugar
4 eggs well beaten
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
chocolate chips to taste  (optional but I usually add a lot!)
chopped walnuts to tast (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter or spray your loaf pans and line bottom with parchment.  (As you are cutting, cut some extras for the next time you bake.)  If using muffin pans, line with cupcake liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Combine oil, sugar and eggs and gently add to the flour mixture until almost incorporated.  Add the mashed bananas (and chocolate chips and/or nuts if using) and mix until combined.  Try not to over mix.

Pour into your prepared pans and bake the 9×5 loaf for about 1 hour, but as usual please check before that and often.  The bread is done when it pulls away from sides and has a nice spring to it.

The muffins took about 30 minutes – and the mini-loaf about 40 but again, check early and often.  The mini loaf is a nice little gift for a friend, teacher or for someone that you appreciate.  A little cake brings a lot of smiles.