Breakfast Puffs

I used to make these a long time ago when I was first getting my baking-legs.  Today, I revisited these and I still love them!

Topping Mixture:

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Ingredient and Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together:

• 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

2.  In a small bowl combine:

• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup melted butter

3. Add wet mixture to flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

4. Lightly grease muffin cups or line with paper cups. Fill 2/3 full.

5. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. 

6. Immediately dip tops in 3 tablespoons melted butter then dip into topping mixture. Serve warm.

Squash Bread

I love squash.  Butternut, pumpkin or any pumpkin like squash.  I make sauces for pasta, pancakes, soups...just about anything from it.

So, once again using one of my grandmother's recipes as inspiration, here is my lower in sugar, higher in squash recipe.  This recipe is better if made a day or two in advance.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg
• 3 cups cooked squash (pumpkin, butternut, kuri, etc)
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup cold milk
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350
• Grease two loaf pans
• In a medium bowl, mix first four ingredients and set aside.
• In large bowl, mix squash and sugar til sugar is mostly dissolved. Add in oil, milk, and eggs.
• Add in dry ingredients and mix til smooth.
• Pour into greased loaf pans and bake 45 to 60 mins.
• Cool 10 mins in pans, then wrap in aluminum foil while warm and refrigerate 24 hours.

Banana Bread - the sequel

Awhile back I took a stab at making the recipe for banana bread that my grandmother gave me. The result was delicious, but more like banana cake.  I really wanted a recipe that I could make and not feel guilty about eating for breakfast. Something with not as much sugar and more banana.  Here's my result.  I generally make this in a loaf pan, but you can also bake them as muffins.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, soft
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Mix dry ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
• Whip bananas in mixer 3 to 5 mins til fluffy, transfer to another bowl and set aside.
• In same bowl, cream butter and sugar til fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time.
• Add bananas til blended
• Add dry ingredients to wet
• Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 45 to 50 mins.

Banana Bread - the Original

Before my grandmother passed away, she let me go through her recipe cards and pick out my favorites.  Having her recipes in her handwriting is one of my greatest treasures.  One of my goals is to try out all the recipes.  So, when a bunch of bananas got over-ripe... Banana Bread!  Now this is more like banana cake. It has a TON of sugar.  This time I stuck to the recipe, mostly - I added cinnamon and used butter instead of shortening and no nuts because then Tom wouldn't eat it.  But otherwise withheld my usual inclination to change everything.  I wanted to see what the original recipe was like before I went mucking with it.

Well, the result was SUPER YUMMY!  It's all I want to eat!  However, next time I'm going to cut the sugar in half and be more purposeful about how I put it all together; cream butter and sugar, mix dry ingredients together first, etc.  We'll see if there's a difference and I'll post it here!

Click on picture for larger view.

What the card says:

   1 1/2 cups sugar

   1 3/4 cups flour

   1 tsp vanilla

   1 tsp salt

   1 tsp soda (aka. baking soda)

   2 whole eggs

   1 cup chopped nuts

   1/2 cup shortening (or butter)

   1 cup mashed bananas

   4 tablespoons milk

 Bake in a 350 oven for 40 - 45 min.  Use tube pans or loaf pans.