great aunt eddie's coconut bread

Another weight gainer. This bread is incredible. It is soft, moist, and just the right balance of flavor. The special thing about this recipe however, is that it's from my great aunt Eddie. She is also the person behind another favorite recipe of mine. I guess it's safe to say that Aunt Eddie knows her sweet breads. If you love coconut, you will adore this bread. I modified the recipe a little bit. I replaced the buttermilk with almond milk (and 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice) and next time I might try coconut milk in place of the buttermilk, although that might make it too coconutty. Oh, and don't bother trying to find pure coconut extract. It doesn't really exist. This bread makes 2 large loaves. I made these in 4 miniature loaf pans. That was pushing it. I would do 5 next time.

Aunt Eddie's Coconut Bread

4 eggs

2 cups sugar (I used organic

1 cup oil

2 tsp. coconut extract

3 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 1/2 tsp. salt (I used a little less than 2 tsp.)

1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup almond milk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice)

1 cup flaked coconut (I used shredded)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two large bread pans (9 1/4 x 5 1/4). In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, and extract. Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Beat in alternately the buttermilk, coconut, and walnuts. Bake for 1 hour. When almost finished baking, make the glaze:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. coconut extract

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, water, and butter to a boil. Remove from heat and add the coconut extract. Mix and pour over warm bread. Let stand for one hour before removing from pans.

pani popo

Do you need to gain 10 pounds in 1 day? Then look no further! Have I got the solution for you. It's called Pani Popo. It's Polynesian coconut bread. Or dessert, as we like to call it.

This week we have been enjoying lots of recipes with coconut. I think I associate summertime with coconut. But this bread recipe was perfect for today. It was rainy and cold, and these were perfect right out of the oven. There are a number of ways to make these, but I usually opt for the easiest and quickest method possible. It is only 3 ingredients.

favorite sweet bread dough from scratch, or Frozen Rhodes rolls

1 can of unsweetened coocnut milk (found in the Asian aisle of any grocery store)

1/2 cup sugar (we use raw organic sugar. think of me saying that in an ultra snooty tone of voice)

Place 15-18 frozen rhodes rolls in a 9x13 casserole dish. Thaw accoding to package instructions. I always do the speed method. While dough is rising, you will mix together in a small bowl the can of coconut milk, and 1/2 cup of sugar. When the dough has doubled in size, you will pour the coconut milk mixture over the rolls and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Spoon creamy coconut mixture from the bottom of pan over the top of the rolls when serving. Best served warm.

orange poppy seed bread

I made this orange poppy seed bread this weekend and it was to die for! Making the orange "magic" dust is totally worth it. The only thing I might do differently next time is cut the almond extract down to 1/2 teaspoon in both the batter and the glaze, instead of the 1 teaspoon for each that it calls for. But I'm not an almond extract fan. So it would be more powerful to me than to others perhaps. This is my favorite bread right now. I think about eating  it all the time. Obsess much? Recipe from here. And of course, her bread is more beautiful than mine. I don't know how to get it not to crack down the middle and sink. But it all goes to the same place. My stomach.

orange rolls

We make these every Easter.

Orange Rolls
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 orange peel, grated
18 frozen dinner rolls (like Rhodes)
1 recipe Orange Glaze

Combine melted butter, sugar, and grated peel in a bowl. Dip rolls in mixture and place in muffin tins. Allow to rise for three hours. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Frost wtih Orange Glaze while still warm. Makes 18 rolls.

Orange Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. orange juice

Mix ingredients together until smooth.

the giant jam sandwich

Remember this? My giant loaf of bread? This is why I made it:

The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord, 1975. This is a book I read a lot as a little girl. I loved the illustrations and was fascinated by the story. 

One hot summer in Itching Down,

Four million wasps flew into town.

They drove the picnickers away,

They chased the farmers from their hay,

They stung Lord Swell on his fat bald pate,

They dived and hummed and buzzed and ate,

And the noisy, nasty nuisance grew

Till the villagers cried, "What can we do?"

So the villagers decide that since wasps love jam, they would build a giant loaf of bread and spread strawberry jam on it and lure the wasps to the jam and as soon as they land the plan is to splat the top slice of bread down on top of the wasps, sticking them to the jam and smashing them inside.

The story ends with just three wasps getting away, and the birds carrying off the giant sandwich to "have a feast for a hundred weeks". In my opinion, this is a must have book for little children. Check it out for yourself at your local library in the children's picture books.

So onto the "meat" of this post. This was how we spent one of our recent dark rainy days indoors. We constructed a giant loaf of bread. I made luscious bread and put all of the dough, minus 2 regular sized loaves into a disposable roasting pan. The dimensions were approximately 15 X 11 and 4 inches deep. I think. If I ever do this again, I will go ahead and put all the dough in the roasting pan. I was worried about it being too much, but it could've definitely been a lot taller. I was worried about the temperature and the amount of time to cook it, but it was decided to keep it at the standard temperature given in the recipe, but cook it 15-20 minutes longer. I covered the top with tinfoil so that it wouldn't get too dark on top. It worked! It was one giant luscious loaf.

We didn't have our own homemade strawberry jam, but we used a GIANT bottle of organic strawberry jam from Costco. We spread a nice thick layer across a thick slice of our bread.

Luckily, the Dinoco chopper was on hand to help carry the top slice of bread that we would be "splatting" on top.

splat!

Mmmmm.

We were brainstorming what to do for wasps, and while browsing at the grocery store we found Honey Maid Honey Bees. Perfect. So the flew in and landed on top of the bread. (the kids decided that they didn't actually want them to be inside the sandwich. Wimps.

I'm thinking these are some happy looking "wasps".

The kids loved their snack and they loved making the book come alive. We've done this with other books. It is a lot of fun. Here's some of the ones we posted about.

James and the Giant Peach

Tacky the Penguin

Matilda and How to Eat Fried Worms

While looking for images of the story, I found this homeschool list of activities for the Giant Jam Sandwich.

luscious bread

If you're looking for one of those whole wheat and sweetened with honey bread recipes, this isn't one of those. For this "project", I needed a large batch of white bread. So I went to the family cookbook and decided to use my Aunt's Luscious Bread recipe which yields 5 large, luscious loaves.

The 16 month old boy was bery helpful in testing each loaf.

Luscious Bread

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast (2 packages)

1 cup lukewarm water

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 cup oil

3 tsp. salt

4 cup lukewarm water

2 beaten eggs

1 cup sugar

12-14  cups unbleached flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar and 1 cup water; let stand. Add oil, salt, 4 cups water, eggs and sugar; mix well. Blend in yeast mixture. Add flour. Knead with dough hook for 10 minutes. Remove dough to greased bowl, cover and let rise until double. Punch down and let rise until double again. Divide into 5 pans; let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I only made 2 loaves and then the rest went into a giant roasting pan to make 1 GIANT loaf of bread! But I will show you what I did with it tomorrow. The tops of my loaves aren't very smooth because I didn't smooth over the dough when I placed it in the pans. I just sort of slopped it in there and it made marks or knots on top. My mother would never approve. I hae only made bread a few times in my life. My mother always brings this up. She has guilt because she never taught me to make bread and sew and all that. But what she doesn't remember is that I rebelled against learning those things and only now wish I had sat down and learned.

more man-pleasin' (and kids too) food: cornbread muffins

These were some of the best cornbread muffins I've ever had. I loved the addition of whole kernel corn mixed into the batter. They can also be left out and taste just as good. This is another recipe from the Sur La Table cookbook, Baking Kids Love by Cindy Mushet. She bakes the recipes in the book with the help of her tween daughter, Bella. The recipes are delightful so far and this is a great book for a child that loves to cook. There are lots of explanations and tips throughout the book.

This recipe calls for a 24-cup mini muffin pan. I just used a standard sized muffin pan and ended up with 12 muffins.

Mini Cornbread Muffins
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup fine conrmeal (we used coarse, but I would recommend using the fine, especially for kids)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (leave out if you use salted butter)
1 cup milk ir heavy whipping cream (we used the cream because we had some)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (optional)

Position over rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees, Lightly grease the muffin pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour the milk into a 2 cup measuring cup. Crack the eggs into the milk, then stir with a fork until the eggs are fully blended with the milk.

Pour the milk mixtre and melted butter into the dry ingredients. Whisk gently at first, and then, as the mixture blends, whisk faster, until the batter is smooth and no dry patches are visible. Use a silicone spatula to stur in the corn kernels.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (2 Tbsp. per cup if doing mini muffins) If doing standard size muffins, fill them 2/3 full. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

these whole wheat muffins are good! And healthy too.

 

  

  

  

WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS

5 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups All-Bran cereal
2 cups bran flakes (not the cereal-located in health food store bulk section)*
1/2 Tbsp. salt

Mix dry ingredients in LARGE bowl.

Mix the following ingredients in separate bowl:
2 cups boiling water
5 tsp. baking soda (soda will bubble and roll when added to the boiling water)
1 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
1 cup brown sugar
5 cups buttermilk
4 eggs

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Cover batter and let rest overnight or several hours in refrigerator before baking. Grease or line with muffin papers a 12 cup muffin tin. Fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake on middle oven rack at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes. Batter will keep for weeks in refrigerator and makes 4+ dozen.*Bran flakes should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. They will go rancid if left in the cupboard for more than a few months. I mixed the wet ingredients in my kitchenaid. I put the baking soda in first and then added my boiling water to it so that it didn't bubble over. 

These are incredibly moist, hearty, and delicious! I could seriously eat these all day. This is a healthy muffin. It made 54 regular sized muffins. I made up all the muffins this morning and hope that it will make for a healthy breakfast and snack for the coming week for all of us.

guest blogger: mrs. Officer's pumpkin bread with brown sugar glaze

*It's that time of year. Time to whip up the pumpkin recipes. This is a guest post from a fellow police wife, Michelle, aka Mrs. Officer. She blogs over at MRS OFFICER 2 U. She posts lots of yummy recipes, talks about her husband, family, and their daily adventures together. She has a happy life and you can tell just from reading her blog. A couple of days ago she posted this pumpkin bread picture on her blog and mentioned that this family recipe is coveted by friends and family and that she's lucky if she ends up with one loaf out of six. I knew I had to have this recipe when I saw it. It looks and sounds so delicious. Thanks for sharing Michelle!

PUMPKIN BREAD WITH BROWN SUGAR GLAZE

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 16 ounces canned unsweetened pumpkin
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 2/3 cup water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 9x5 loaf pans. Stir together sugar and oil. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, alternating. Divide batter between two loaf pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cool.

Glaze
3 Tbsp. water
3 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. brown sugar

Place in a small sauce pan and stir until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Then drizzle over pumpkin loaves!


*Do you have a favorite Fall or pumpkin recipe you would like to share? Email me at apolicewife@gmail.com and be a guest blogger!

zucchini bread with miniature chocolate chips

In my freezer right now are at least a dozen if not more of these ziploc bags of shredded zucchini. One bag is a serving for a batch of zucchini bread. And I still have a few more giant zucchinis to work with!


I adapted this recipe from one I found online at allrecipes.com.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs (I always use medium eggs when baking now. For some reason it seems to work better)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 -3 cups grated zucchini, do not squeeze or drain excess moisture or liquid
1 cup miniature chocolate chips, semi-sweet (optional)

1. Grease two 8 x 4 inch bread pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes (mine is always at least 1 hour), or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

scones

with honey

with cinnamon & sugar

with powdered sugar

My mom would sometimes make what we called scones. I know the British version of scones and what is sold in bakeries and coffee shops are more what I consider biscuits. Then once again, biscuits to the British are what we call cookies. I know, very confusing! I'm not sure how many other people consider these to be scones, but I do. So I'll stick with it. Another name for my version of scones is Fry Bread or depending on what toppings you put on top, Navajo tacos. I had a couple of Native roommates that made fry bread often and would put taco toppings on top. It was really good. But this is a dessert here folks.

My mom used just any old bread dough recipe to make these. Use a sweet dough if you want to make it sweeter instead of more savoury. My version is much easier and faster than making your own dough and waiting for it to rise. I use frozen Rhode Rolls.

Rhodes Rolls (I usually make 20 in a 9X13 pan, but you can do as many or as little as you desire) vegetable oil for frying
suggested toppings: cinnamon & sugar powdered sugar honey & butter jam

Use the speed method for thawing the rolls. Directions are on the back of the bag. It actually takes at least half of the time recommended, because you don't have to let the rise. As soon as they are soft enough, and beginning to rise, they will be pliable in your hands. Heat the vegetable oil 1-2 inches deep on medium heat in a pot on your stove. When it's ready for frying, take a section of dough (1 roll) and flatten it in your hands until it is flattened relatively thin the same thickness all around, but not see through. Gently drop into hot oil and fry until golden. Flip over using tongs, and fry that side until golden. It takes 1-2 minutes per side depending on how hot your oil is. Remove from oil and place on a plate with paper towels to absorb oil. You can fry 2-3 scones at a time. Serve while still warm.

Banana Bread to rival Grandma's

I thought Grandma's Banana Bread was the best I'd ever had. That was until I made Grandma's sister's banana bread. That's right. Great Aunt Eddie has her own recipe that is fantastic. Sorry Grandma. The best word I can use to describe it is light. I think because it uses less eggs, and 3 Tablespoons of sour cream. Sour cream makes everything better and softer. My favorite pancakes and my favorite sugar cookie recipes call for sour cream.

Aunt Eddie's Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 bananas, mashed
3 Tbsp. sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt
1 cup chopped nuts (My family uses walnuts, I never put nuts in my bread)

(She says to mix by hand-I don't) Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, bananas, and sour cream. Combine dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Fold in nuts. Pour into large loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.