pecans

Last Minute Quick Breads: Foodie Gifts 18# and #19

They don’t call them quick breads for nothin’! Here are a couple of recipes I’ve used to great acclaim over the years, and my source for these is my mother–a great baker in her own right. These two breads in particular have been appreciated as Christmas gifts by my own family, and I just shipped a batch of them out–they are very good travelers, and keep wonderfully moist for a long time. So if you are looking for a couple more quick gifts, these may serve!

Dawn’s Applesauce Bread

1/2 c. shortening or butter, or half and half of each

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 1/4 c. applesauce

1/2 c. walnuts (optional)

Glaze: 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar mixed with 1 T. apple juice or cider

Cream sugar with shortening till light, mix in eggs and vanilla. Whisk together dry ingredients, and mix half into the creamed mixture till blended; stir in applesauce, then follow with the rest of the dry mixture. Stir until just well blended. Pour into a 9 x 5 loaf pan, or two 7 inch loaf pans, or four 5 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for up to an hour, testing the smaller loaves beginning at 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans and glaze. Then let cool completely.

Dawn’s Banana Bread, with Christmas Bread Option

1 cup mashed ripe banana

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1/3 c. buttermilk or sour milk

1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar (Yep, 1 1/2 cups!)

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon (optional)

1/2 t. nutmeg (optional)

Christmas bread additions: 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts, 1/2 c. chocolate chips, 1/2 c. dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, chopped apricots all work well)

Mix together banana, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Whisk together dry ingredients and combine well with the liquid mixture. Add the Christmas bread additions if desired, and pour into prepared 9 x 5 loaf pan, or two 7 inch pans, or four 5 inch pans. Bake at 350 for up to 1 hour and 15 minutes for the large loaf, and begin checking smaller loaves at 45 minutes, baking until a toothpick is clean of batter when checking for doneness. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans, then cool completely. These loaves are best served a day or more after baking.

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Nut Butters: Foodie Gift #12

Nutella was only the beginning….I’ve made homemade peanut butter for some time now — I buy 30 pound bags of Valencia peanuts and our PB is cheaper and fresher and better than what we could find at the store. It is good, quick and easy, and while I’ve made foods that incorporated pulverized cashews, almonds, pecans, etc., I don’t remember making just plain nut butters out of these. So, today was the day.

First, I have to say that except for the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting through the house, the smell of browned nuts can’t be beat–something about that toasting and browning process that seems to bring the best out of so many foods! Today I made cashew butter and macadamia butter, both incredibly easy, both incredibly good. Tonight and tomorrow I’ll be trying pecans, almonds and brazil nuts.

From what I’ve observed so far, the process for all of these is about the same. Toast the nuts (2 to 3 cups at a time) at 350 degrees for 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the nut–cashews, blanched almonds and macadamias brown more quickly than the others (I don’t blanch my almonds for this). If you have a trustworthy sense of smell, that can help here as well–when a nice nutty toasty smell comes from the oven, it’s time–the beginnings of a burnt smell do not bode well for the finished product.

Let the nuts cool for 15 to 20 minutes, place in a food processor with the chopper blade, and let ‘er rip. Depending on the speed of your processor, it will take anywhere from three to five minutes for the nuts to get to a smooth, spreadable state. If the mixture needs a little thinning, add a bit of nut oil or vegetable oil, processing until incorporated. Taste the butter, add salt and/or little sugar if you feel it could use some. Pour into a container and refrigerate if not using up in the first few days.

One note: We prefer crunchy peanut butter, so when I first get the peanuts going, I try to remember to stop and retrieve about a 1/2 cup of chopped nuts to be stirred into the final product.

Have fun playing around with the different kinds of nuts and butters–a quick and easy way to add some variety to those nut butter sandwiches! And not bad on a freshly toasted English Muffin…