Category Archives: Quick Breads

Coffee Cakes, Quick Breads

Chocolate Pecan Coffee Cake

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Decadent Chocolate Pecan Coffee Cake

1 cup unsalted Butter, softened
1 cup granulated Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar, packed
4 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 cup sour cream or Plain Greek Yogurt

1 cup Pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Heavy Cream or  canned Evaporated Milk
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped

Extra Pecans for garnish

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease and flour a Bundt pan or line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating with the sour cream ( or plain greek yogurt), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Fold in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the ganache, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just simmering. Remove from heat and add the chopped dark chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth.

Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and garnish with extra pecans.

Quick Breads

Corn Bread

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Corn Bread 

1 cup Flour
1 1/4 cup Cornmeal
1/4 cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 Butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup Milk
1 large Egg

Heat oven to 400F.
Prepare baking pan(s) by spraying lightly with vegetable oil spray.
9″round pan, 8″ square pan, individual loaf pans

Melt Butter and remove from heat the cool slightly.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl; set aside.

In small mixing bowl combine milk, egg and cooled melted butter.

Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.

Scoop into prepared pan(s) and bake in 400F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The individual loaves will require less baking time, check at 18 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before turning out and  cooling completely on wire

 

Breakfast, Savoury Dips and Sauces

Super Easy Blender Hollandaise

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Bring the extraordinary to your weekday breakfasts with this super easy Hollandaise Sauce!

Hollandaise Sauce

4 ounces butter, room temperature
1 large Egg Yolk
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed,  juice will do in a pinch.
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Cayenne

Melt butter then allow to cool slightly.
Blend together yolk, lemon juice and salt in the blender; pulse to combine.
With blender running, slowly stream in half the warm melted butter.
Start slowly, a few drops, allowing egg yolk to warm up then add in a steady stream.
Once half the butter has been blended in, stop blender and check the sauce.
If it looks like it broke (grainy, lumpy) then add a teaspoon of hot water and blitz for a few seconds.
Add remaining melted butter in a slow steady stream.
Taste and adjust seasonings.
Pour hollandaise over freshly poached eggs.

This is just enough for 2 serves of Eggs Benny

About, Coffee Cakes

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

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Sometimes you find yourself without eggs, and milk, and vanilla, and vinegar, and well, a whole lot of ingredients but you need to pull together a breakfast!
I have found myself in this exact position not once but twice in the past two weeks. Seriously, NOTE TO SELF: BRING VANILLA, VINEGARS, EMERGENCY POWDERED EGGS, POWDERED MILK

In the meantime, I pulled these Vegan Pancakes off and they were actually really good! I would suggest letting the batter sit for about 15 minutes before cooking. I used my electric griddle which made them turn out beautifully! I just can’t seem to get the hang of cooking pancakes in a cast iron frying pan…nor a cast iron griddle! All good, the sun was shining when I wanted to make these for breakfast AND the wind was ripping through here so the wind turbine was generating extra power too!

Without further ado….

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

2 cups Flour
4 Tbsp Coconut Sugar
2 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 cups Almond Milk
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Vanilla

Maple Syrup, to serve
Whipped Cream, to serve

In medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In small mixing bowl, combine almond milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla, stirring well.
Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk just until combined. Do not over mix to avoid rubbery pancakes.
Let batter rest for about 15 minutes.
Preheat your electric griddle or non-stick pan, or cast iron pan on stovetop; pour about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake –  my griddle accommodates cooking six at a time.
When the top begins to bubble, flip the pancake and cook second side until lovely and golden.
Serve warm with Maple Syrup, Fresh Fruit and Whipped Cream.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days: reheat in the toaster or enjoy cold with a nut butter and jam, jelly or honey.

No eggs? No worries! Delicious egg free, dairy free pancakes. 

About, Breakfast

As You Like it Granola

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I have been making Granola for years. The tried and true recipe I have been using is heavy on the fat and sugar which is probably what makes it taste so darn good! No word of a lie, I could sit down with a Modular Mate Round #2 full of Brown Sugar and eat the entire contents, no worries! I’d pay for it afterwards but man,  it sure tastes good going down! ( I may be drooling on my keyboard as I type this and also thinking of making Caramel Corn…)
We moved off the grid a year ago where I have continued to make my fave granola recipe but yesterday, for some reason, I decided to try something different. Oh, right. We are in the shoulder season out here in the bush, with limited sunshine these days so no rays to power our batts…that’s what prompted me to open an actual cookbook to source a Granola Recipe. When the Batts are running low we conserve energy in every way possible which means no turning on my computer. I usually just open up my old fave Fruit and Nut Granola .
I can cook to my hearts content because that is propane fuelled…well, let’s not go crazy there…still have to have the propane in the 100lb tanks to operate the stove and heat the water.
Yes, I could have looked in my treasure trove of hand written recipes but I have this Skinnytaste Cookbook that I paid good money for so I thought I might as well flip through the pages.
On Page 26 you will find the recipe for her Good For You Granola. I’m calling it As You Like it Granola because you can really make all kinds of substitutions…which I did…and it will still turn out wonderfully!  The thing that drew me to making this recipe is the drastic cut in fat and sugar! I didn’t think it could possibly taste as good as my old recipe but I was wrong. It is AMAZING!
I searched for her recipe online but couldn’t find it so I will write it up here for you but I strongly suggest you head over to SkinnyTaste to check out all of her fantastic recipes!  To be sure, I double the recipe and I am very glad that I did!

As You Like It Granola from Skinnytaste (Good-for-You Granola p. 26)

Because I doubled the recipe and found it to be the perfect amount for the two of us (regular Granola consumers) I am going to list the doubled amounts. And I am going to list my subs…coconut flakes, hemp hearts, pecans and as for the fruit? Your call!

1/2 cup Quinoa
3 cups Old Fashion Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Coconut Flakes
1/2 cup Hemp Hearts
1/2 cup Slivered Almonds
1/2 cup chopped Pecans
1/2 cup dried Blueberries
1/2 cup dried Cherries
1/2 cup dried Peaches, cut/torn into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup dried Strawberries

1/2 cup Honey
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper – preferable to silpat because you can chuck it away.
Rinse quinoa thoroughly under cold water in a fine mesh sieve; drain well and pat dry with paper towels.
Spread quinoa, oats, and coconut out on the baking sheet.
Toast in the oven, stirring once, until golden, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile gather together the fruit and nut combo that you prefer, toss together with the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; set aside.
In another small bowl combine the honey, melted coconut oil, and vanilla; set aside.

Remove quinoa/oat mixture from the oven.
Pour the fruit/nut and spice mixture over top and gently mix in.
Drizzle wet ingredients over all and gently toss with a large metal spatula, spreading the mixture evenly over  the entire baking sheet.
Return to oven and bake until golden brown, about 10 – 12 minutes, stirring once at the halfway mark.
Remove from oven , give it a gentle stir, and cool completely on the baking sheet before transferring to a container with an airtight lid.

Makes about 8 cups of Granola
Store in airtight container for up to a month….if it lasts that long!