Banana Apple-Butter Yogurt Bread

I couldn't resist this recipe, I mean bananas and apple-butter!... Yum!

Banana Apple-Butter Yogurt Bread (yields 1 loaf)
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. spent grain flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. white sugar
2 bananas, mashed
1/2 c. apple butter
1/4 c. yogurt

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Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper (if not using parchment paper, just grease and flour a loaf pan).  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Make a well in center of the flour mixture.  Set aside.

 

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, banana, apple butter, and yogurt.  Add banana mixture to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Spoon batter into prepared pan.

 

Bake in a 350F oven about 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Glazed Grapefruit Yogurt Bread

I know... you're thinking grapefruit?!  Why?!  Hold your horses, this citrus bread is amazingly yummy.  Give this recipe a try... you'll be glad you did!

Adapted from SmittenKitchen.com's grapefruit yogurt cake.

Glazed Grapefruit Yogurt Bread (yields 1 loaf)
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. spent grain flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. plain greek yogurt
1 c. white sugar
3 large eggs
zest of 2 grapefruits
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/3 c. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 tbsp. white sugar

Glaze:
1 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

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Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper (this makes for super easy removal).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together flours, salt, and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla.  Gradually whisk in the flour mixture.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the oil until fully incorporated. 

Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

While the loaf is baking, in a small saucepan, mix the 1/3 cup grapefruit juice with the 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Stir the mixture over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.  Set aside. 

After the loaf has finished baking, let cool on a wire rack for at least ten minutes.  Remove bread and place on wire rack over a baking sheet.  Slowly drizzle grapefruit sugar mixture over loaf.  Let bread cool completely. 

While bread is cooling, prepare the glaze.  Mix together the powdered sugar and the 2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice.  Drizzle over bread. Let glaze set.

Enjoy!

Amazingly Delightful Banana Cake w/ Vanilla Bean Frosting

Forget banana bread, this cake is awesome!  It is a fabulous way to use up those last two overly ripe bananas that are laying around.  Slightly tweaked from ButterYum's recipe, this one is a keeper!

Banana Cake (yields 1 8x8 cake):

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. spent grain flour

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

 

1/2 c. sour cream

1 egg

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 mashed super ripe bananas

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 

Vanilla Bean Icing (yields approx 1/2 c.):

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2-4 tbsp. milk*

1 vanilla bean**

1 c. powdered sugar*

 

*Add more milk or powdered sugar to adjust the consistency of the icing

**Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds to use in the frosting...discard the shell

 

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Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a glass 8x8 pan.  Set aside.

 

In a large bowl, mix together flours, salt and baking soda. 

 

In a smaller bowl, cream together sugar, sour cream, egg, and butter. Add mashed bananas and vanilla extract and mix well.

 

Add banana sugar mixture to the dry flour mixture.  Mix just until all is moistened.  Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Cool completely before icing.

 

To make icing:

In a small bowl, cream butter, 2 tbsp. of milk and the seeds of the split vanilla bean.  Add powdered sugar and continue mixing till fully incorporated.  Add more milk or powdered sugar until the icing reaches your desired consistency.

 

Enjoy!

 

Glazed Yogurt Lime Quick Bread

I had some limes that needed to be used and I became inspired by this recipe for muffins.  After baking, the bread was missing something... then I realized it needed a glaze.  Viola!  Quite yummy.  The talk of friends at the local brew supply house said that it paired really well with an English Porter!  Anyway... this bread makes a bright citrus-y but sweet breakfast bread... hmm, I bet it would go well with a bacon bloody Mary as well!  ;)

Yogurt Lime Quick Bread (yields 1 loaf)
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. spent grain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. honey
zest of 2 limes
juice of 1 lime
1 egg1 c. yogurt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. canola oil

Lime Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar*
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp. milk*

*You may need to add a little bit more milk or powdered sugar to get the right consistency for the glaze.

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Preheat the oven to 375F.  Prepare a loaf pan by lightly greasing the sides and bottom.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In a smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix well. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir just until moistened.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in 375F oven for 38-42 minutes or until top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.  Let bread cool in pan for about 10 minutes.

While bread is cooling in pan, make the glaze.  In a small bowl, combine all the glaze ingredients and mix well.  Add more milk if glaze is too thick.  Add more powdered sugar if glaze is too thin. 

Remove bread from pan and move to a wire rack to completely cool.  Spread glaze over bread and allow the glaze to set. 

Enjoy!

Oven-Baked Brown Ale Chimichangas w/ Spinach Tortillas

I am in the middle of transitioning over to my new website.  For the details of this recipe, visit http://foodbeerlove.com/Beer_Recipes.html#Oven-Baked_Brown_Ale_Chimichangas

Spinach Tortillas

I have been experimenting with different spinach tortilla recipes for some time and I think I have finally found the one.  This recipe is adapted from this spinach tortilla recipe. 

Spent Grain Spinach Tortillas (yields approx 10-12):
2 c. fresh spinach
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour*
3/4 c. spent grain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. water*

*You may need to add a little more of these ingredients to obtain the right consistency.

In a saucepan or skillet over med-lo heat, add spinach and water.  Cook till spinach has wilted down.  Set aside.

In a food processor, add flours, baking powder and salt.  Pulse to combine.  Add oil and pulse to combine again.  Turn on food processor and add the spinach with the cooking water.  Continue to run the processor until a soft dough ball forms and it whipping around the processor.  If this does not happen, add either more flour or water (in small increments) until the dough ball forms inside the processor.

On a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough ball and coat it with just enough flour to keep it from sticking to you.  Divide the ball into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls.  Let the dough balls rest on a plate for about 10 minutes.

Take each ball and roll it out as thin as possible or use a tortilla press.  Cook tortillas over medium-high heat for about 20 seconds on each side in a large skillet (do not use any grease, butter, oil, or cooking spray).  Do not over cook.  You want the tortillas to just begin to get those little brown spots. Overcooking makes them drier and more brittle. 

Keep cooked tortillas on a plate lined with a clean towel and keep covered with a towel.  Use in your favorite dish or store in a resealable plastic bag for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Saison Black Bread

This bread is a spin off of a Russian black bread.  It is similar to a rye bread.  I used saison as the beer because it is what I had on tap, but a Rye PA would work really well.

Saison Black Bread (yields 2 loaves)
1 c. very warm water (not boiling)
1/2 c. saison or any other beer
2 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. corn syrup (dark if you have it, but light will work just as well)
2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2 1/4 c. bread flour
3/4 c. rye flour
1/2 c. spent grain flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
1 tbsp. caraway seeds


In a stand mixer bowl, mix water and beer and yeast.  Let sit for about 5 minutes or until it gets foamy. 

Using the dough hook attachment, begin to mix in the remainder of the ingredients - scraping the sides as needed.  Once everything has mixed, knead for about 8 minutes.  Keep an eye on the dough.  Add more bread flour if needed - you want the dough to start to clean off of the sides of the bowl.  Once you have reached this stage, empty out dough on a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a ball.  Place ball of dough in a large oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Set in warm place and allow to rise till at least doubled in size; about one hour. 

After the dough has doubled, punch down.  Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a rectangle.  Cut dough in half.  Shape each piece into a loaf by folding it into thirds and place it seam side down in a greased loaf pan.  Cover loaf pans with a towel and let rise again; about another 30-45 minutes. 

Place an oven-safe shallow dish in oven on lowest rack.  Fill with water.  Heat oven to 400F.  After oven heats, place both loaves in oven on the middle rack.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or when lightly browned and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. 

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10-15 minutes.  Take bread out of pans and let cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy! 

Yogurt Banana Bread

Oh my!  This has to be my favorite banana bread that I have made yet!  It is so good!  Based off the Better Banana Bread recipe, this version of banana bread uses vanilla yogurt and spent grain to give this old time favorite quick bread a delicious twist that is moist and sweet.  So good!

Yogurt Banana Bread (yields: 1 loaf)
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. spent grain flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 tbsp. butter, softened
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 c. vanilla yogurt
2/3 c. sugar

Grease a loaf 9x5" loaf pan.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together.

In another bowl, add the butter, eggs, bananas, yogurt, and sugar.  Mash with a potato masher till everything is combined and bananas are now only small chunks. 

Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and mix just until everything is moistened.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until top is browned and when a toothpick is inserted in the middle of loaf, it comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.

Serve warm or completely cooled.... either way, it is good!

Enjoy!

Churro Cake Bites

The other day, my daughter checked out a cake bites cookbook from the library.  She was drooling by the time she even got halfway through it.  I promised her that we would make something and her first pick was the churro cake bites.  So the recipe in the book, 101 Gourmet Cake Bites, all of the recipes call for boxed cake mix.  I'm not a fan of boxed cakes, but it gave me the inspiration that I needed to do the 'Churro' cake.  I found a cake recipe made from scratch in which I could adapt to include spent grain and some cinnamon.

These by the way were a HUGE hit with the family and with those lucky enough to snag one while out for sample at Wilmington Homebrew Supply.

You are going to love these!

 

Churro Cake Bites (yields 3-4 dozen)

Cake:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. spent grain flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting:
8 tbsp. butter, softened
3 c. powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. half and half
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

Coating:
1 pkg. white chocolate bark
cinnamon sugar

Okay, first we need to make and bake the cake. 

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Prepare 2 round cake pans or one sheet pan with shortening and dust with flour.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry flours, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.  Using a pastry cutter or with your hands, work the shortening in until the mix resembles course sand.  Add the eggs, milk and vanilla extract and mix to combine. 

Pour into prepared cake pan(s).  Cook in 350F oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

When cakes are done, set them on a wire rack to cool.  After 10 minutes, remove the cakes from the pan(s) and let cool completely on a wire rack.

After the cake is completely cooled, crumble the cake into small pieces in a large bowl.


To make the frosting:  Beat butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add 3 tablespoons of half & half, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar.  Beat on low speed until the frosting begins to develop.  Then increase the speed to make it nice and creamy.  If necessary, add more half & half or powdered sugar to get it to the right consistency.

Now, take the frosting and dump it into the bowl with the crumbled cake.  Mix with the back of a spoon until a thick dough consistency forms.  Shape into equally sized balls, about 2 tablespoons.  Set formed balls onto a plate covered with wax paper and put in the freezer for about 20 minutes. 

Melt the chocolate bark either in a microwave or using a double boiler.  Take chilled cake bites and dip into the melted chocolate using two forks.  Allow for some of the excess chocolate to drip off back into the bowl of melted chocolate.  Placed the freshly coated cake bite onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar.  Repeat this process for all of the bites. 

Enjoy! 

Spent Grain Honey Bread

I found an awesome recipe for Simple Honey Wheat bread that I tweaked to make a spent grain version.

Spent Grain Honey Bread (yields 2 loaves)
2 c. warm water (110F)
1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. active dry yeast

1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. honey
2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. spent grain flour
5 c. bread flour*

*use additional flour as needed during the kneading process

In a small bowl, dissolve sugar into warm water.  Stir in yeast.  Let sit for about 5 minutes or until the yeast mixture is foamy.

In the mixer bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, honey, and salt.  Stir in the foamy yeast mixture. 

With the mixer bowl set up on your stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to mix the spent grain flour in with the honey yeast mixture.  Add bread flour in 1/2 cup increments till mixture just begins to thickens and covers the whisk.  At this point, change out the attachment to the dough hook and continue to add bread flour in 1/2 cup increments till the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  At this point, increase the speed on the mixer to a 4 and begin the kneading process.  Knead the dough for about 6 minutes.  Keep an eye on the bowl and dust with more bread flour as needed.

Turn oven on to lowest setting (I used the 'warm' setting).  Transfer dough to a large lightly oil bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Turn oven off.  Place bowl on the lowest rack in the oven and let rise for about 45 minutes.  **Make sure your oven isn't too hot.  If it is too hot to touch, leave oven door open for a minute, then place bowl in oven.

After 45 minutes or when dough has doubled in size, remove bowl from oven.  Punch down dough.  Prepare to loaf pans by spraying them with a non-stick spray.  Divide dough into two equal portions.  Shape each portion into a loaf and place in pan.  Turn oven back on to warm for a few minutes, then turn off oven.  Place loaf pans in oven for about 30 minutes to rise again.

Once the loaves have risen, remove from oven.  Turn oven on to 365F or halfway in between 350F and 375F.  Once oven has heated, return loaves to oven and bake for 25 minutes or until tops are lightly browned and bread sounds hollow when tapped.  If your loaves are browning too quickly, loosely lay aluminum foil over the loaves. 

Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pans and finish cooling on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Maple Bacon Cornbread Muffins

Maple Bacon Cornbread Muffins (yields 1 dozen)
1 1/2 c. corn meal
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. spent grain
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 strips bacon, cooked and chopped

2/3 c. yogurt
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. maple syrup
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400F.  Prepare muffin cups, either lining them with paper cups or greasing the pan.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and bacon.  In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients - just until combined.  Spoon batter evenly into the prepared cups.  Bake at 400F for 18 minutes.

Enjoy!

Applesauce Bread

This bread is a hit! Whether you make your own applesauce or have some on hand, this bread is sure to be a favorite. Adapted from blondenblue1.

Applesauce Bread (yields 1 loaf)
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. spent grain flour
1 1/3 c. brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. cinnamon, ground
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg, grated
1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. applesauce
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9x5" loaf pan and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. 

Pour contents into prepared pan and bake in heated oven for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. 

Cool in loaf pan for 15 minutes.  Transfer bread to wire rack and cool completely.

Enjoy!

Pita Bread

 

In the mood for some Greek tonight and need some pitas?  This recipe is for you.  It takes some time from start to finish because of the rise time, but it is well worth the wait.  This recipe is a spent grain version of basic pita recipe. 

Pita Bread (yields:  10-12 pitas)
1/4 oz. of active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp. white sugar

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. spent grain flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. warm water


In a small bowl, mix yeast and 1/2 cup of warm water.  Add sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved.  Set aside for 5-10 minutes or until yeast water is frothy.

In a large bowl, combine flours and salt.  Make a well in center and add the yeast water.  Add the remaining cup of warm water as well.  Mix with a wooden spoon till well combined and elastic. 

If you like doing things by hand, knead on a flour surface for 15-20 minutes or dough is smooth and elastic.  I'm going to skip this part and make use of my stand mixer. 

Transfer the dough to the stand mixer bowl.  Make sure your mixer is attached with the dough hook.  Mix on low speed.  Every minute or so, check the dough.  You probably need to add some more flour to it (the hand method is working additional flour into the dough).  Keep doing this till the dough no longer sticks on the bottom of the bowl, BUT do this in increments of a few tablespoons or so - checking every minute or so on the dough.  For this particular batch, I ended up adding 6 heaping tablespoons of flour and took about 10 minutes of kneading in the stand mixer.

Coat a clean large bowl with oil.  Add the dough ball, turning once to coat.  Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for a few hours, or until doubled in size.  For me, this only took a little over one hour.

 

Once dough has doubled, roll out into a log.  Divide dough into 10-12 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball and let rest for about 10 minutes.  Move oven rack to lowest position.  Heat oven to 500F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball out into a circle approximately 6" in diameter.  Place on a baking sheet.  Bake in heated oven for 4 minutes or until puffy; turn pitas over using a spatula and bake for another 2 minutes.  Remove from oven and transfer baked pitas to a plate to cool for 1 minute.  Repeat process with remaining unbaked pitas.  After pitas have cooled for a minute or so, transfer them to a plastic storage bag.  Pitas can be stored in the bag for about a week at room temperature; or use in the freezer for up to a month.

Enjoy!

Texas Bacon Cheeseburgers

Sometimes you just want a burger.  Last night was one of those nights.  I tweaked this recipe from a Rachael Ray burger recipe.

Texas Bacon Cheeseburgers (yields 4-6 burgers)
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 lb. ground pork

4-6 slices of bacon, cut in half (a slice for each burger)
2-3 slices of bacon, finely chopped

1/2 sm. onion, finely chopped
1 chili, finely chopped*
4 cloves garlic, grated

1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
1/2 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. oregano

4-6 slices of cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, etc.)

4-6 spent grain buns

*Use more chilies depending on how much heat you want in your burgers

Preheat oven to 375F.
Take the 1/2 slices of bacon and lay them across a wire rack on top of a rimmed baking sheet.  In 375F oven, bake slices of bacon till crisp; about 12-15 minutes. 

Cook the shredded bacon in a skillet till crisp.  Remove bacon to paper towel.  In drippings still in pan, cook the onion, chili and garlic for about 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat.

In a medium bowl, combine ground turkey, ground pork, finely chopped bacon, onion mixture, and spices.  Mix well. 

Make and shape 4-6 even patties.  The number of burgers really depends on how big you want them and of course, how many mouths you're feeding.

I like to bake my burgers, but you could just as easily cook them on the stove top or on a grill.  For the oven method, I lay the patties on a wire rack inside of a rimmed baking sheet and cook them for about 20-40 minutes (depending on their size and how well I want the meat cooked) in a 350F oven.  For stove top, heat skillet or griddle or grill over medium-high heat.  Add patties and cook 8-12 minutes, turning once until they have reached desired doneness.  For any method, add slices of cheese the last minute or two of cooking.

Dress your burgers with bacon and veggies.  I like to use a kicked up ketchup.  To make a kicked-up ketchup, in a small saucepan, heat up about 1/2 cup - 1 cup of ketchup (the amount depends on how many of those burgers will have some).  Add about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and cider vinegar, and a dash to a teaspoon full of ground cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you want it).

Enjoy.