Friday, June 19, 2015

Quick Hamburger Buns


Quick Hamburger Buns

2 Tbsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour

1.  Dissolve yeast in water.  Add oil and sugar.  Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in egg and salt.
2.  Add wheat flour and 1 cup bread flour; mix well.  Add last cup of flour - a little at a time - until you have a soft dough.
3.  Turn onto floured board and knead for 3 to 5 minutes.
4.  Divide into 8 to 10 pieces and shape into balls.*
5.  Place 3 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
6.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on rack.

*I made 6 huge buns out of this. When I say huge, I mean HUGE!!!! If I had realized they would be that big, I would have made 8. These are soooooo good! 

I haven't tried this in the bread machine, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Just make sure you add the ingredients per manufacturers instructions. Set on the "Dough" cycle. When done, take out the dough, shape and set on the baking sheet. Let rise for 20 minutes and bake.

Adapted from a recipe from letsdishrecipes.com




Nutella Bundt Cake



Nutella Bundt Cake

2 3/3 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup Nutella
1 cup milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
2.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3.  In mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat well.
4.  Add eggs (one at a time) and then the Nutella. Beat until fluffy.
5.  Mix in flour and milk. Mix just to combine.  Batter will be very thick.
6.  Spread into the bundt pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Test with a toothpick. It'll come out clean.
7.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then turn out of pan.

I covered mine with chocolate icing. I had a can of Hershey's Dark Chocolate icing and it was wonderful! Normally, I would make my own. You can find a great recipe here.

Adapted from a recipe from fromaway.com 


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Six Banana Banana Bread


Six Banana Banana Bread

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. vanilla
6 medium bananas, mashed (2 1/2 cups)
1 (3.4 oz) package vanilla instant pudding
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 cup mini cinnamon chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Texas-size muffin pan or a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2.  Melt butter; cool. Add eggs, sugars, sour cream and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
3. Add bananas; stir.
4.  Add pudding mix, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir to combine.
5.  Spoon enough batter into muffin tins to make them about 3/4 full. Bake for about 28 minutes. For a loaf, pour into pan and bake about 68 minutes. It's done when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Tent with foil the last 15 minutes if it's beginning to get too brown.
6.  Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Then, turn onto rack to finish cooling.

Variations:
For Strawberry-Banana Bread
Add a pint of diced strawberries to the batter.


Another variation is for Apple Pie Muffins (bread).
Instead of the bananas, add 2 1/2 cups of peeled and finely diced apples.
Substitute apple pie spice for the cinnamon. 
I haven't tried that idea yet, but I will as soon as I can. It just sounds so good!




Ultimate Pasta Salad


Ultimate Pasta Salad

3 cups dry pasta
cheddar cheese, fine diced
red onion, fine diced
bell pepper, fine diced
celery, fine dices
cucumber, fine diced
carrots, fine diced
zucchini, fine diced
black olives, sliced
grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Dressing
1 3/4 cup mayonnaise*
1 Tbsp. creole seasoning
1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. celery salt
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
olive oil

1.  Cook pasta al dente, according to package directions. Drain and rinse thoroughly in cold water.
2.  Get all your ingredients ready in a big bowl and toss with cold pasta.
3.  Mix together all the dressing ingredients. Drizzle in olive oil - a little at a time - until you get the good consistency for mixing.
4.  Gently mix the dressing in with the pasta and veggies. Chill several hours or overnight.

*I used the Kraft mayo with olive oil. It has a much better flavor.