Cookie Monster's Got Nothing On Us!

I know. Shocking...it's not a bread recipe....please pick up your jaw ;) They're chocolate chip cookieeeeees!!!!!!

How is it possible to have a baking blog and NOT include these lovelies?? It's not. So I'm including them! They are just as tasty as can be and they are sooo easy to make! We make them in quadruple batches. Yup. We go big.

Don't they look mighty fine??. . .despite the less-than-spectacular photography. . . .

They are just the greatest...and they go super quick at my house!

               CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

                    2/3    cup    shortening

                    1/2    cup    sugar

                    1/2    cup    brown sugar

                      1               egg

                      1     tsp.    vanilla

                   1 1/2  cups   all-purpose flour

                    1/2    tsp     baking soda

                    1/2    tsp     salt

                    1/2    cup    chopped nuts (opt.)

~Mix shortening, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly.

~Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting.

~Stir dry ingredients together; blend in to wet mixture. Mix in nuts (completely optional. In fact I recommend leaving them out!!! But to each his own haha ) and chocolate chips (now these guys are a MUST! I mean, they ARE chocolate chip cookies after all...but uh, maybe I do leave them out occasionally...or substitute butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips...or candy)

~Place in rounded tablespoons on an un-greased cookie sheet, pressing down slightly.

~Bake @ 375 deg. for 8-10 minutes or until "delicately browned" (that phrase just sounds soooo delicious, doesn't it??)

YUMMY!! You will NOT REGRET MAKING THESE!!!

~Molly Marie

Batter Bread Up!

FINE! Sue me, sue me! What can ya do me? I love...BREAD! (haha I hope you all caught the Guys and Dolls reference. Frank Sinatra holds my heart and I don't think many will ever be able to even hold a candle to him in my mind...so you see why I'm still single and will most likely continue to be so for a while lol) Pretty much all of my baking time has gone into attempting different bread recipes.

This particular recipe is a batter bread recipe which I got out of the Taste of Home Book of Baking called, Sally Lunn's Batter Bread. The link'll take you to the Taste of Home website so if you search under the recipe name, it will take you to it. I DEFINITELY say go make this bread!! Goodness. Gracious. Amazing!

Isn't it just soooo pretty!!! 

And my family LOVED it! This one's a keeper for my recipe book.

SALLY LUNN'S BATTER BREAD

Ingredients

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  HONEY BUTTER:
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Do not knead. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Stir the dough down. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.
• Combine the honey butter ingredients until smooth. Serve with bread. Yield: 12-16 servings.

I didn't actually make the honey butter. Totally forgot and the bread was gone too fast for me to do anything about it once I did remember haha. BUT I'm sure it's delicious. I'll be sure to make it next time!

   it cut so nicely!

     and the inside was                 perrrrfect!

Advice from Molly Marie: GO MAKE THIS BREAD FOR YOURSELF!!!! You will not regret it!!

~Molly Marie

What else to do with my *FANTASTIC* roll recipe??

Make Cinnamon Rolls!!!!

Gosh and golly, I hate to brag. . . but they were INCREDIBLE! Jon helped with a lot of it. He made the filling and rolled them up. Ah. Sooo good! I'm totally making them again!!

The recipe works beautifully for cinnamon rolls and the glaze can be changed up to add variety. Maybe using the lime glaze from the banana bread a couple posts back? Or you could try adding spices, using lemon, or creating something unique!

Make food your own. It's one of the best parts of life!!!

~Molly Marie

More Roll Attempts!!

Eh...they're getting there!!

This time, using the same recipe, I tried to make them smaller. Smaller rolls = more rolls per batch = less baking at crunch time (day before Thanksgiving). I think I let them rise too much the second time and they fell back into themsleves because the texture of the bottoms was a tad off...........but the taste was de-doubldee-licious!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the AFTER the dough was baked haha. Once they were baked, they expanded A LOT! I wish I had gotten a picture!! But they went lickety split, so all I have is the pre-completed product.

A couple more goes at these rolls and I will be confidently bringing them to be judged by my extended family! I wonder what THEY will think of the roll replacement.......but I still have much more perfecting to do before I'm ready to put my work on that chopping block lol.

~Molly Marie

Touch of Lime

My adventures with BANANA COCONUT LIME BREAD from Our Best Bites ( oh how wonderful the discovery of this lovely website / blog was! ) and my personal alterations.

Now I'm not a huge banana bread fan.......but I do love to bake. And trying new things is always of big interest to me. I love to experiment! In fact my little brother was recently quoted as saying "Molly should just stop trying to find the perfect recipes for our cookies ( he was referring to snickerdoodles at the time ) we already have the perfect recipes". Which just goes to show you how subjective "perfection" really is. I LOVE our recipes, yet I keep searching to see if what is already great can be better! . . .  But I digress.

Banana Coconut Lime Bread caught my interest just by the sheer interest each flavor gave me. So I tried it...and here are the results...

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
adapted from Our Best Bites who adapted from Cooking Light

2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1/4 C (4 Tbs) real butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)
1/4 C sour cream
2 Tbs milk plus 1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C coconut

Topping: additional coconut
Glaze: 1/2 C powdered sugar whisked with 1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice

"Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add banana, sour cream or yogurt, apple juice (or milk), and vanilla. Beat until blended.
Add flour mixture and beat at a low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 C coconut.

Pour batter into a 9×5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle additional 2 Tbs coconut on top.

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a knife or skewer inserted in center comes out clean.Note: Check bread after about 40 minutes. If the top has browned and the coconut pieces are looking toasty, cover top of bread lightly with a piece of foil. Continue baking until done.

When done, remove pan from oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove from pan. Whisk powdered sugar and lime juice together for the glaze and then drizzle over top. Cool for another 15 minutes before slicing."

Overall, a decent recipe...not my family's favorite creation that I have tried. BUT the smell while it was baking was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! So I would recommend trying the recipe even if all you do it for is the aroma!! It could just be that my family isn't made up of very big banana bread fans...who knows. You could be an instant celebrity with your family and friends serving this to them! ;)

~Molly Marie