Breads

Colorado Peach Muffins with Cardamom Streusel

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Eggs/Toast hot at same time: In sm skillet: Grill cut in half buttered bread; flip; add eggs, s+p; flick with water. Cover til done.

I’m an egg lover and indulge in one or two in some fashion nearly every day. That said, there is simply nothing like fresh bread or pastries for breakfast. Am I right? Biscuits and honey with sour cream (try it), cinnamon rolls, banana bread, Danish, croissants, English muffins, scones, slices off a warm whole wheat loaf slathered with butter and jam, crumpets, and — of course — muffins. I rarely bake in summer but when a cool morning finally arrives, there’s little to stop me from mixing up some certain special something (Why not a muffin starring our famous Colorado peaches?!) and scarfing it down quite warm, right out of the pan. Well, truth told, it’s husband and best sous Dave who’s more the scarfer. The man can eat; thank you, thank you. I’ll have one muffin with my coffee and call it quits. While Dave…well, you get the picture.

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FRIDAY FISH: Whole Wheat Smoked Salmon + Cheese Scones

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Sunrise at our house

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My friend Thomas, who attends a weekly Wednesday class with me, often asks, “Any scones today, Alyce?” Once in a while, given an early morning with extra time, I’ll throw together some blueberry or peach or strawberry and chocolate chip scones (or some muffins) and bake them off, bringing them along in a basket with butter for the class to enjoy with our coffee. But that’s not every week and maybe not even every month. For Thomas, however, hope springs eternal. I thought of him today as I worked on a new savory scone for this week’s FRIDAY FISH — I know, a bread for FRIDAY FISH!! — and wondered what he’d think of a not-sweet, craggy whole wheat scone featuring smoked salmon, two cheeses, and some finely chopped brightly-colored veggies. I’m guessing he’d go right ahead and eat a couple anyway but might be a little surprised to not find berries or even currants in his scones. While you might be surprised, too, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy them, especially alongside a bowl of tomato or asparagus soup, a crisp salad, a brunchy egg dish, or even spread with a bit of goat or cream cheese with a glass of sparkling wine at appetizer time. Everyone loves homemade bread but not everyone has the hours it takes to make it. Scones, a for real “quick bread” can be tossed together, baked, and in your tummy in about 45 minutes.

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Zucchini Corn Muffins

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-a savory muffin made with olive oil

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Dad

In the late ’80s — a few years after my mom had crossed the river –my dad, then in his early 80s, began to date his school sweetheart. While it felt just a wee bit odd, I wasn’t unhappy about it; the company was good for him and he seemed much happier. Maudell was a talented traditional southern Louisiana cook who was content to stir up bayou favorites but had no trouble jumping on the convenience food wagon as necessary. As my dad was also quite a cook (though you never knew what was in that soup pot), they sometimes each cooked a dish and ate together; that worked out well for them. When I’d visit, though, it was up to me to feed all of us and let the “old folks” have a break from the kitchen. One meal, when I’d thrown a pan of Jiffy cornbread (Lord) in the oven to round out the menu, Maudell was quick to ask me, “Why didn’t you make broccoli cornbread?” I’d never heard of broccoli cornbread but she, sparing no detail about the deliciousness of said bread, promptly wrote the recipe down for me, since she had it memorized! I did, for quite a while, then make broccoli cornbread many times. Who wouldn’t? It was good. It was fast. Easily stirred together with lots of butter, cottage cheese, and eggs, broccoli cornbread wasn’t as healthy as it sounds but there was never any left either. It’s been a minute or two since I opened up a box of Jiffy cornbread mix or made broccoli cornbread but I thought about it often as I worked on the recipe for ZUCCHINI CORN MUFFINS these last couple of weeks. Vegetables in bread; it’s a tasty thought!

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100% Whole Wheat Bread

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The bread that convinced me to bake more bread at home.

Alyce’s (aka Betty Crocker’s) cinnamon rolls.

I am the occasional yeast bread baker. You can look through my nearly 16 years of food blogging and while you’ll find beaucoup quick breads and muffins, biscuits, and other such deliciousness, yeast breads will not be terribly forthcoming. (Maybe my cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls are here somewhere? That would make my kids happy. My pizza is for sure on the blog.) It’s not that I don’t make yeast bread; I do. I just don’t do it every week and hence am not an expert in any way. I’ll admit I lived in Europe for a couple of years and became very used to incredible bread bakers nearly every block or two. (Why bake?) I’m also the sort of embarrassing yeast bread baker who still sometimes likes a bread machine for fun, easy bread. Truth in blogging here: I have the Cadillac of bread machines, a Zojirushi and — unlike many out there –adore it for more than just mixing dough–which is what a lot of good bread bakers use it for. I have gone through one bread machine (an Oster) and had to replace it. That’s an unusual claim to fame in today’s baking world. I also own a bread machine book by bread guru, the late, great Beth Hensperger. See: experts can like bread machines, too! (Today’s bread is, in fact, based on one of Beth’s recipes –not for the bread machine– adapted by KRISTEN BROWNING-BLAS in the Denver Post in 2014. I changed the recipe to suit my on-hand ingredients. Beth’s recipe called for both dry milk and buttermilk– neither of which I keep in the kitchen all the time. I do, however, always have plain Greek yogurt, which worked perfectly. Fun aside: my first copy of this recipe left out the yeast. I was an hour into making the bread when I realized it. I added it to the hour-old sponge and, while it took a while longer to double, double, toil, and trouble, it worked! Bread is forgiving. When I looked up the recipe a second time, the yeast was back in the ingredient deck. Hm….)

On a really special day, I’ll rev up both my slow cooker and bread machine and sit in my chair with a sleazy novel and an afghan til 5:30 when it’s time to uncork the wine and enjoy the fruits of my …non-labor. This is stretching the truth but not by much. Oh, how I love small appliances.

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KIDS BAKE THANKSGIVING: Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins

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Ginger and cranberry? You betcha!

Need other Thanksgiving dishes? Click on THANKSGIVING in the word cloud or click on/type into the search box individual words like TURKEY, BROCCOLI, PIE, SOUPS AND STEWS, PUMPKIN, etc.

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Thanksgiving breakfast gets short shrift in our world but it doesn’t mean it should. I mean, people are hungry on Thanksgiving morning, aren’t they? Or is it just a sad human bean thing to hold on for hours on holidays with nothing but coffee sloshing around in our tummies until mid-afternoon feasting? Surely we don’t need huge egg and cheese casseroles or piles of pumpkin pancakes with butter, syrup, and pork sausages (or maybe we do), but a small something like a perfectly perfecto muffin would, I think, go over a treat. Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins, based on my best blueberry muffin, can be prepped the night before by kids (or adults) — see below MUFFIN TIPS — and quickly baked long before it’s time to slide the pies, rolls, and your sweet turkey bird into the hot oven. If you’re the planning sort, they could be baked and frozen this weekend and taken out to thaw on the counter next to the big butter dish and a pile of cute napkins on Wednesday night. A little Greek yogurt with a honey drizzle would round out such a simple meal and, I think, keep you from dreaded coffee tummy. I mean, who wants that?

Just in case you want choices, I’ll include a few other muffins for you.

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Cornmeal Plum Scones with Almonds

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Scones do not keep well. Best the morning they’re made, it’s better to make/eat them at home.
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Here in the U.S.–as opposed to the UK and Ireland where scones are a little more demure– we happily load scone dough with big chocolate chunks, any sort of fruit on hand, coconut, nuts, citrus, and often a little more sugar just because. Icing or at least a drizzle–vanilla, lemon, orange, maple, dark chocolate with salt– is not out of the question on top! And we STILL could gild that lily with a little more butter. What?? We seem to always go big or go home on this side of the Atlantic. I’ve made them every which way over time, though not yet with icing, (scroll down to IF YOU LIKED THIS… to see other More Time scones ), and being an American of Scots descent, I like to consider my options. With a big box of ripe Italian plums resting in my fridge, I opted to 1. freeze most of them for later–hello, Thanksgiving desserts and 2. make some decadent, American-style scones. Had I heard of or made plum scones before? No, but that wouldn’t stop me, would it? I just might be more American than Scots.

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Peaches and Sour Cream Corn Muffins

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What makes you feel rich? Ok, well, money would work for us all; I know. But for each of us there’s a little something or a big something (maybe more than one) that creates enough comfort in our heart to make us sigh and feel as though we need nothing more at all. Could be that once in a blue moon moment when all the wash is done and folded or perhaps after the fall garden cleanup is completed and the tulip bulbs are planted. A night after a long work project ends successfully. Close friends coming to stay for a few days. The day your afghan (or toychest) is finished, washed, and mailed. A night alone with your favorite movie of all time. (Mine is: “It Happened One Night.” That or “Michael.”) A lunchtime when the whole family is together. Might also be a full freezer. Walking a 5K; you’ll note that doesn’t say run. A case of canned tomatoes stored away for winter spaghetti sauce. For me, it’s also when there’s a slow cooker full of lusciousness bubbling all day long, promising an all-you-can-eat dinner and giving me a free day. (Hello, sleazy novel!) I feel even richer if I’ve time to bake a little something to go alongside that happy pot of goodness. A bread, simple or not, made especially to go with one particular meal. That’s really rich. This week’s jalapeño-studded peach cornmeal muffins are just such a bread. Even more so as they’re not your typical muffin. With their sweet-savory profile, they’re kind of on the special side despite their easy preparation and basically simple nature. If you’re on your toes, they’re made and baked and on the table in under 45 minutes, including preheating the oven — a must for big, round-domed muffins.

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Rhubarb-Banana Olive Oil Bread

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A lighter fruit-filled treat for car trips, beach picnics, or early morning coffee.
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My friend Pam is a multi-talented woman. She enjoys a stunning alto solo voice; cooks like a fiend; entertains largely and comfortably; cultivates a wry wit; is an avid reader; makes a devoted wife, mom, church member, and friend; plays a mean piano, and –the thing I might most envy– is the epitome of organization. What most people don’t know about Miss Pam is she’s also a fine gardener who loves and generously shares the bounty of her craft. While summers here in the front range are late and short with cool nights, she still manages to get a crop or two in each year despite two black Labrador retrievers romping all over her big backyard. Best sous and husband Dave and I are often the recipients of her largesse when the weather warms and the other day Pam’s husband Lee drove over for a visit toting some of her rhubarb along as a gift to us. As rhubarb keeps pretty darned well in the fridge, I didn’t worry about using it quickly. Needing a snack on the not-too-sweet side yesterday, though, I soon heard that rhubarb calling my name, whispering, “bake, bake, bake…” and pulled it out to see just exactly how much she’d sent. To be on the safe side, I chopped it up and measured it to find I easily had a cup plus. Not enough for a pie or a cobbler, there was plenty for a simple cake or quick bread if I included another fruit in the mix. With a side-eyed sniff at the counter, it was apparent the partner needed to be bananas. Then again, I’d never heard of rhubarb and bananas. You? Turns out: It’s a match made in heaven.

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Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds For Mother’s Day

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Use mini chocolate chips so the chocolate doesn’t overwhelm the almond and strawberry flavors.
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Since the coronation of King Charles and the American Mother’s Day fall just over a week from one another, I couldn’t help but think of making scones in honor of both events. (Of course I watched the whole coronation…well, at least from the time I awoke. Enchanting it was – especially the choir.) There’s nothing like a basket of gorgeous scones to set off a festive brunch or holiday tea and they’re both easy to make (I promise!) and very fast, particularly if you use a food processor. The only big decision will be….What kind of scones will you make? Scroll down for ideas or if you’re quite serious, you can order the wondrous Scots baker and fiction writer, Sue Lawrence’s fine book, SCOTTISH BAKING for the real deal scoop. I had a basket of lovely fresh strawberries on hand and a small jar of toasted almonds leftover from a salad, so there was little question about what I’d do. I adore strawberries with chocolate, so I thought I’d toss in just a few mini chocolate chips to gild that lily and quite soon, Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds were born. And, if I do say say so myself, they’re fabulous. I want them again.

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Apple-Cheddar Corn Muffins

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Looking for a few bakers away from altitude (I’m at 6,800 ft.) to test drive this recipe and let me know how it did by commenting at the bottom of the post. Altitude bakers are welcome, too, of course–but I mostly need folks at sea level or not too far above. American east or west coasts, south, midwest –all fine. Countries abroad at sea level, you know who you are. Thanks!!

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My mom, born and raised near McComb, Mississippi, was the cornbread maker in our family. Black as coal on the outside and yellow like salty sunshine on the inside, her no-recipe cornbread — hot or cold — gave shape to our days. The cast iron pan graced the table at a tomatoes and green beans summer suppertime and then you could sneak into the kitchen of a morning and cut yourself a little piece for breakfast to keep from getting coffee tummy. If you were lucky, there might be an afternoon snack of cornbread topped with sour cream and honey. (And if there wasn’t cornbread, you’d do the same with biscuits.) In the evening, my dad would crumble a big slice into a glass and then fill the glass with buttermilk, eating the whole kit and caboodle with a big spoon.

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