Merry Christmas! and Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread
December 25, 2011 | Filed Under Baking, Bread, Christmas, Holidays, Lemons | 10 Comments

A funny thing happened on the way to the oven to bake this bread.
I saw this Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread recipe on mischief mari’s blog. The idea of how the flavors of the main ingredients would taste intrigued me. Lemon, pineapple and zucchini? Together? Hmm… I don’t know about that. Would it really taste good? I wanted to know and set out to make my bread.
Following the instructions, I put all the ingredients together. As I mixed the batter and looked at it, I kept thinking to myself, “Hmm… I don’t see any green.” The batter was the normal pale yellow. I could have sworn that I’d used all the ingredients, so I dismissed my thoughts and poured the light-colored batter into the baking pan.
After I put the batter in the oven, I started cleaning up. I washed the bowls, measuring cups, spoons… and put them away. I wiped the sink and stove top and looked around the kitchen to see if I’d missed any other dirty dishes. That’s when I saw the two cups of zucchini, patiently waiting to be mixed into the batter. Yikes! I’d forgotten one of the main ingredients of the bread! Fer cryin’ out loud! I chastised myself. This recipe is called Lemon Pineapple ZUCCHINI Bread NOT Lemon Pineapple Bread. I, quickly, pulled out the hot bread pan and placed it on the stovetop. By this time, the bread had been baking for about 10 minutes. It hadn’t taken shape yet, so I mixed the zucchini into the heated batter, returned the pan to the oven, and prayed that I wasn’t too late to save the bread.
My Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread did not turn out nicely. The zucchini didn’t spread in the batter and stayed mainly on the top. The rest of the bread had baked properly but the zucchini portion of the bread didn’t bake all the way through. I returned the loaf into the oven. The top portion of the bread never completely baked, while the rest of the bread became over-baked and even turned too dry. What a mess! We ate pieces of the bread but no one wanted to finish it.
The next day, I was determined to try again. Luckily I had extra zucchini and pineapple to use. I put the ingredients together, attentively, and placed them in the oven. Voila! A perfect Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread loaf. I’m happy to write that we were able to eat and enjoy this second loaf of bread. The lemon, pineapple and zucchini taste good together. Mari’s description was accurate, "It’s got a nice, light, slightly zingy flava. So yum." Yup! Delicious. The bread tasted perfect with a nice, hot cup of tea, Ovaltine or hot chocolate.
Morals of my story: 1- Don’t bake (or cook) if you’re tired or pre-occupied. 2- If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Thanks Mari, for the recipe. By the way, folks: Mari has a recently published book called the coolest cookies on the planet. It’s a gem of a book! I enjoyed reading her stories that inspired some of her cookie designs. Her baking and design tutorials are easy to follow (I like easy!) and the photos are absolutely fantastic. Check it out HERE.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone! I wish you all a wonderful celebration.
Paz


My first bread did NOT turn out well. Portions were unbaked. So, I tried again.
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I’m so glad my Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread turned out well the second time around. Yay!
Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread
as seen on cha no ma-ri
original recipe from Feral Kitchen
3 c. all purpose flour
1 1/4 c. sugar
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2/3 c. canola oil
1 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained well. (I found fresh pineapple at my local store. Chopped it up in with a super sharp kitchen knife. Perfect).
2 c. zucchini grated
1 Tbls. lemon zest
Directions:
Mari’s recommendations:
*I recommends having your zucchini grated, your pineapple crushed and your lemon zested BEFORE you start. Just makes the combining of all ingredients easier. Grate the zucchini with the grating blade on a food processor because it’ll take you ages if you do this by hand. And I sure hope you have a super sharp microplane zester because dull ones are no fun.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grab two 4″ X 8″ baking pans and grease well.
- In a medium-sized bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, pineapple, zucchini and lemon zest.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until moistened. Do not over mix. This will look like a thick cake batter, and that is okay, it’s supposed to be that way.
- Add the mixture to the two baking pans and bake for 1 hour.
- Cool on wire racks then remove loaves from pans. Makes two fabulous loaves.
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A fabulous loaf of Lemon Pineapple Zucchini Bread!
Cranberry Muffins
August 15, 2011 | Filed Under Baking, Muffins | 11 Comments

Actually the title of the original recipe says “Raisin Muffins”. That is what caught my eye since I like raisins. I like muffins, too, but I avoid the ready-made/store-bought ones, since the ones I come across are normally filled with preservatives and who knows what else. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten a muffin and felt like eating a raisin muffin. However, I didn’t have any raisins in the pantry. <Pause for dramatic sigh> Instead, I had dried cranberries, which I’d bought earlier in the week for a salad recipe I made. Ugh! I didn’t like the cranberries in my salad. They didn’t enhance the taste of the salad. Since the dried cranberries were all I had, I decided to go for it. Boy, was I glad I did!
The recipe calls for soaking the raisins (“or any other kind of dried fruit that loves to be plumped”). So, I soaked the cranberries. What a big difference in the taste for me. They became succulent and I discovered that I liked the cranberries, after all!
Surprise!
I loved the taste of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the muffin!
Mmm!
I loved how delicious the muffins tasted straight out of the oven (I immediately ate two).
Yum!
The muffins tasted just as good, maybe even better, the next day.
Yum, yum, yum!
All in all, I think I’ll be making muffins more often.
Yes!
Paz


Raisin Muffins
from Bake My Day!
Recipe:
1.1/2 cup water
1 cup raisins (or any other kind of dried fruit that loves to be plumped)
1 ts baking soda
1.1/2 flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 ts nutmeg
1 ts cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil (4 tbs)
1 egg, somewhat whisked
- In a small saucepan get the water to a soft rolling boil, add raisins, turn down the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Drain, reserving the liquid!
- Add baking soda to liquid and stir to dissolve
- Combine and whisk dry ingredients, add raisins, give a quick stir
- Mix wet ingredients (reserved liquid, oil and egg)
- Add wet to dry and stir like any muffin batter; not too much, just until combined.
Using a muffin tin, bake these for approx. 20 minutes at 350F or 175C.

Chocolate Mint Cake (Also Called “Thin Mint” Cake)
August 2, 2011 | Filed Under Baking, Cakes, Chocolate Cakes | 13 Comments
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I’ve never really cared for chocolate cake (or chocolate frosting). I’ve always been more of a yellow- cake-vanilla-icing kinda gal. Up until the past year or so I started making chocolate cakes (like the one here) and spreading lots of chocolate frosting on them and eating them all! I’m not sure what happened, but I’ve started enjoying the taste of chocolate. I guess it’s never too late to like chocolate, huh?
The other day, I saw an enticing-looking chocolate cake on Cha no ma-ri. It was a Chocolate Mint Cake, covered in an electric green frosting with multi-colored sprinkles. Oh, what a fun-looking chocolate cake. I liked that not only was it chocolate but mint as well. I wanted to try it.
It turned out that the ingredients were easily available and the preparation method was simple. Best of all, the cake tasted really good. The mint flavor in the chocolate cake made it an extra special-tasting cake.
I had enough icing to cover both layers of cake, but I only spread the icing on the top of both layers of cake. I didn’t place it around the cakes. I liked the brown and white look and less icing allowed me to enjoy the mint in the cake. Delicious!
Initially, I had planned to make my cake look exactly like Mari’s. However, I never got a chance to add the dye to the icing. I never got to use the sprinkles. That’s okay, though. It gives me another reason to make the cake again.
Paz
Ed. Note: In the comment section, Mari brings out a good observation that she found the amount of the peppermint extract a "scant too much". I forgot about that when I first wrote this post. I would have to agree that I, too, found the amount a tad bit much. It wasn’t overwhelming and no one complained about it. Everyone truly enjoyed the cake. However, the next time I make this cake, I will experiment and see if I can come up with the perfect peppermint amount to my liking. The ingredients call for 1 Tbs. + 1/4 tsp peppermint extract. Next time, I may just try 1 Tbs. (and leave out the 1/4 tsp) and see how that works.
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Chocolate Mint Cake
from Cha no ma-ri
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
2 sticks butter (softened)
4 eggs
1/2 ripe banana (I mashed mine before adding to avoid banana lumping)
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. + 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a mixer on low for thirty seconds, then increase speed to medium and mix until just combined. I recommend first creaming the butter, then adding the ingredients in the order listed above until just combined.
Pour into prepared pans (I used two 8in pans) and bake for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. I recommend buttering and flouring the pans. Also, use a wax paper liner. I baked mine for 35 minutes and everything turned out perfectly.
Challah, again
November 23, 2010 | Filed Under Baking, Bread, Challah | 9 Comments

The other day, I felt like baking. I felt like baking challah. I’d baked challah only twice before — one sprinkled with sesame seeds and a honey-vanilla challah. My braids always turn out very interesting-looking. This current braid improved but I could still use more practice. Also, I didn’t care for the color of my challah. It seemed to come out darker than my last two. I wasn’t sure what I’d done differently. When I complained to Simona, she gave me some tips, which I’ll use the next time I bake. I learned from her that the color of challah depends a lot on the kind of egg wash used. She uses Peter Reinhart’s recipe and he specifically recommends not to use the color to estimate the doneness. Instead he recommends that you use your thermometer. Simona mentioned that she makes her egg wash with whole egg and her challah comes out a nice color. Last tip was that the crust softens after it is allowed to cool. Thanks, Simona! I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I bake challah.
Paz















