baking

B&W Bread in a Can – Review

Cooking

Researching an upcoming trip to Maine, I came across a unique food item. Bread in a can. These cans of bread are apparently sold on the shelf next to the Boston baked beans. It’s an East Coast thing.

My husband affirmed the fact that people on the East Coast do indeed eat bread in a can. It is meant to be eaten alongside Boston baked beans and hot dogs. He ate this bread growing up. He brought me back a can of the bread as a souvenir from his trip so I could give it a try.

The directions on the can say to open both ends of the can. This needs to be done so the bread can be given a little push out of the can. I did so and the bread popped out easily. I put it on a serving platter and set it on the table for dinner.

B&M Bread in a Can

I must say, I was a little disgusted looking at this bread on the platter. It doesn’t look appetizing. It has the exact look of canned cranberry jelly that pops out of a can at Thanksgiving with the lines of the can marked into it’s sides. I also did not like how the bread rolls around.

The bread sliced easily. It has no crust. It was very sweet because it contains molasses. I would call it more of a sweet bread then a dinner bread. Almost more like a muffin really. Apparently, if the original flavor isn’t sweet enough, one can purchase the version with raisins.

While it tasted fine, I really do not see the point in purchasing this bread. I would be embarrassed to set it out for company as it doesn’t look appealing. It would be a good pantry staple for emergencies, however, I would prefer a fresh loaf of bread (homemade or store bought).

The bread in a can does bring up some questions for me. How does B&M get the bread in the can? How is it cooked? I looked into this and found that the bread is steamed in the can. https://www.mashed.com/270569/the-surprising-origin-of-canned-bread/ Martha Stewart even has a recipe to make homemade bread in a can. https://www.simplemost.com/make-boston-brown-bread-in-a-can-at-home/

It’s interesting how different regions have their own specific food items. I do not know of any stores in So Cal that sell bread in a can. I wonder what other unique food I am missing out on. If any of my readers have food specific to their region of the map, drop me a line and let me know what I am missing out on.

As always, Happy Eating!

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Peach Drop Cookie – Review / Revision

Cooking

I had ripe peaches and I wanted to try making peach cookies. I found a recipe for Peach Drop Cookies at: https://bakeorbreak.com/2013/08/peach-drop-cookies/ . They were peachy keen.

First off, I made the recipe exactly EXCEPT (and there’s always an except with me) I cut the recipe in half and left out the peach preserves. The recipe was cut in half because I only had one peach and two people didn’t need more cookies anyway. I left out the peach preserves because I felt they would add way too many carbohydrates to the recipe and probably were not needed since the peach should give it flavor. I was correct! The cookies were moist and flavorful and the preserves were not needed. The sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top also gave them additional flavor.

I might be heading back to Bake or Break to find some more baking ideas. She has a bunch of yummy treats to choose from.

As always, Happy Baking!

Overflowing With Cucumbers

Cooking

Wondering what I’ve been up to lately? I’ve been up to my eyeballs in cucumbers! One plant in the garden is producing way more cucumbers than I had ever imagined possible.

I have never been super crazy about cucumbers. Yes, I ate them in salads, but that was about the extent of it. Something changed this year. Now I have a new love for the green vegetable. However, things have started getting crazy. I picked eight cucumbers yesterday morning. Upon returning to the garden to collect tomatoes, I noticed three more cucumbers hidden down below tucked under leaves. What! That made eleven cucumbers in one day. By the way, my refrigerator bin was already packed with cucumbers. My children wanted to know if they could be cooked. I didn’t think so, until I did a little research. Turns out cucumbers can be cooked pretty much like a zucchini.

My favorite way of eating cucumbers this summer has been as a little salad for lunch. I chop the cucumber, add halved cherry tomatoes, a dash of fresh ground pepper, equal amounts of extra-virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, and sprinkle on some feta cheese. Oh yum! I also made a couple of jars of refrigerator pickles. I even turned to adding sliced cucumber in my water. Ah, refreshing! However, with all the cucumbers, I need some new ways to use these bad boys.

I found a recipe on-line for cucumber bread. It was yummy and used one whole cucumber (one cup). Let the baking begin! I did cut back on the sugar in the recipe. Instead of a cup of sugar, I used half a cup. I also left off the frosting. I didn’t want it to be too sweet. It tasted fine to me. The recipe can be found at: https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/sugar-glazed-cucumber-bread/

Have a great recipe for cucumbers? Please share them with me in the comment section. I need all the help I can get..

As always, Happy Cooking/Baking!

Oreo Cheesecake Review

Cooking

I love cheesecake, and this Oreo Cheesecake recipe from https://www.browneyedbaker.com/oreo-cheesecake/ did not disappoint. It was simple to put together and tasted great. One of the things that drew me to this recipe, besides the Oreos, was that it did not call for a water bath.

Water baths are used in making some recipes of cheesecake by wrapping the cheesecake pan in foil and then emerging it into another pan filled with water. Common sense tells me this might be a disaster waiting to happen. If the pan is not wrapped well, and somehow the slightest bit of water gets in, the cheesecake is ruined. I was not willing to take the chance, so I found a recipe that would be a bit more forgiving.

This recipe calls for the cheesecake to be baked for 40-55 minutes until the outer two inches are puffed and browned and the center is still jiggly. The oven is then turned off and the oven door is slightly left ajar for another hour while the cheesecake continues to slowly finish baking and the center is done.

The only changes I made to the recipe were….I substituted lactose-free cream cheese for regular cream cheese, I also substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream, and I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup instead of the 1 cup that it called for. Basically dairy-free, except for the crust. The silliest change I made was to the amount of slices. Although I KNOW that cheesecake is filling, I had the cheesecake cut into 9 slices instead of the recommended 12 servings. The boys and I agreed that maybe that was going a bit overboard. Silly me! So, keep the slices at 12 so as not to get overstuffed.

The recipe worked well and I will use it again. I think I will try it with a graham cracker crust and a plain cheesecake version as well. The possibilites are endless.

As always, Happy Baking!

Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock Recipe Review

Cooking

I picked-up a copy of the May/June 2021 issue of Victoria Magazine – Special French Issue the other day. This issue being devoted to all things French, including the recipes, I was sure to be in for a treat. Oh yummy!

I saw the photo for the Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock and my mouth was watering. While this recipe is suggested as a breakfast item (and I would agree), I decided to make it for a dessert last night. It worked quite well in that department as well. The pairings of the apricots (which I substituted for the nectarines), raspberries, and almond was quite delicious.

The Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock is made up of fruit on top of an almond-paste creme spread over raspberry preserves on a slice of brioche. This is baked in the oven, cooled, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The only substitutes I made to this recipe where (as stated above) using canned apricots instead of nectarines (not in season), frozen raspberries instead of fresh, almonds instead of pistachios, and instead of the vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract. The recipe itself is very easy to make and takes very little time to put together an impressive looking pastry.

The other recipes from the ‘French Breadbasket’ article also look delicious and will soon be put to the test in my kitchen. These recipes include: Chaussons Aux Pommes, Ginger-Cardamom Kouign-Amann, and Escargot Au Chocolat. This issue of Victoria also has recipes for Macarons. Included are: Blackberry-Thyme, Earl Grey, White Chocolate-Mint, Strawberries and Cream, and Raspberry Lemonade. Looks like I will not be coming out of the kitchen for a while.

I highly recommend the recipe for Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock from Victoria Magazine. I am quite sure I will be making this recipe again. As always, Happy Baking!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Cooking

Raspberries and white chocolate sounded yummy so I decided to make them into cookies.

Ingredients:

1 c. All Purpose Flour

1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 c. shortening + 1 Tbsp water (mixed)

1/4 c. light brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. frozen raspberries (keep them frozen)

1/4 c. white chocolate chips

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, mix with hand mixer the shortening, sugars, egg, and vanilla. To this add the flours, baking soda and salt; mix until dough is formed. With a spoon, mix in the chips. Very gently, fold in the raspberries.

Scoop out dough into heaping tablespoons onto parchment lined baking sheet. (Makes 18 cookies)

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F. for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

As always, Happy Baking!

Making English Muffins

Cooking

My husband and I decided to make English muffins. Could these compare to those bought in the store? We had to find out.

To make the English muffins, we started the day before as they needed time to rise and rest. The dough was made using a stand mixer with dough hook. No kneading involved. Gotta love that! The dough was set to rise and then divided into twelve balls and placed on a sheet with cornmeal and covered with plastic wrap. The next step was interesting. Another cookie sheet was placed on top of this, to weigh down the muffins. All this was set in the refrigerator to rest overnight.

In the morning, my husband and I browned batches in cast iron pans on the stove top, flipping to cook both sides. The muffins were then put into the oven to finish cooking until they reached around 205 degrees when poked with a thermometer.

So, how did the English muffins turn out? I really enjoyed them. They were delicious. Mine was cut in half and toasted in the toaster. I then smeared margarine on top. This is my muffin topping of choice. In my opinion, these were much better than any brand of English muffin I have purchased before. The texture was good, they toasted well, and they were fresh. A keeper, I would say.

The recipe (which includes helpful pictures) can be found in the cookbook: America’s Test Kitchen – Bread Illustrated.

My English Muffin

As always, Happy Baking!

Baking Bagels for the First Time

Cooking

I decided to try making homemade bagels. I opted for a recipe I found for Montreal Style bagels. https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/homemade-bagels/ The recipe looked simple enough, and it was.

The bagels were put together quickly using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. After that, they were set to rest for half an hour, shaped into bagels, and set to rest for another half hour. They were then tossed into a pot of boiling honey water, flipped to boil the other side, sprinkled with sesame seeds, and popped into the oven for fifteen minutes.

My taste testers agreed that they were good enough to make again. I was quite pleased as to how fool-proof they were to make. I think I shall be trying other versions of bagels soon. My son has requested his favorite cinnamon raisin bagel. I am sure the options are endless…

Boiling the bagels.
Out of the pot and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Ready to eat!

As always, Happy Baking!

Recipe Review: Streusel-Topped Plum Muffins

Cooking

I purchased some plums at the store with the intent of making a plum cake. I decided on a breakfast treat instead. A Streusel-Topped Plum Muffin recipe caught my eye. Oh yum!

The drawback in the recipe for me was that it called for heavy cream, which we try to avoid. But wait! I just found a list of dairy-based heavy cream substitues. This list had more options than I dreamed possible. So onto the muffins…

Of course, knowing me, I changed a few things in the recipe. First off, I felt that a whole cup of sugar seemed a bit more than enough for me. I dropped that down to 3/4 cup. Next off, instead of the half cup of heavy cream, I mixed together 1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup lactose free milk (or any milk would do). My plums were pale yellow, not purple. For the topping, I left out the walnuts and the coarse sugar.

Instead of 15 muffins, this batter made 18 muffins for me. Bonus! I LOVED these muffins! They had a wonderful, cake-like, soft, delicate, moist texture. They have stayed perfectly fresh a couple of days now after baking. No need to rush scarfing these down. They are great served with coffee or tea.

Would I have changed anything else? Well, next time I might add a bit more fruit. Although they are perfectly lovely as they are, I would probably use three plums next time instead of the two that I used. The recipe could also be quite nice with other fruit as well.

Check-out the recipe at: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/streusel-topped-plum-muffins/print/

As always, Happy Baking!

Recipe Review: Zucchini Snack Cake with Orange Glaze

Cooking, gardening

Yesterday, I wrote about my crazy baking day in the kitchen in order to use a zucchini. I made three different recipes. I decided to put the Zucchini Muffins and the Zucchini Brownies in the freezer. We would have the Zucchini Snack Cake with Orange Glaze for dessert.

There were two reasons for this decision. One being this was a new recipe and I wanted to taste it while it was at its peak. I have made the other two recipes before and already knew how they tasted. The second being that I was not craving chocolate, or desiring a muffin for dessert (more of a breakfast thing). So cake it would be!

I picked the snack cake recipe mainly because it did not contain chocolate. It seems as though all the recipes for zucchini cake throw in a bit of chocolate. But I did not want chocolate. Love chocolate, just not all the time. This recipe also contained orange. Bingo! I was sold. We have an orange tree out back and I not only need to use the zucchini but the oranges as well. Then I saw that the recipe came from a familiar blog (Barefeet in the Kitchen) that I have made recipes from before and they were always delicious.

So here is the recipe:

Zucchini Snack Cake with Orange Glaze

Did I make any changes? Yes, two very minor changes. The baker said that she prefered to use store bought orange juice as it had more flavor in the cake. Well, I know that the flavor is not in the juice but in the zest. So instead of just using my freshly squeezed orange from our orchard, I also added the zest of the orange to boot. The only other change I made was in the amount of glaze I used on the cake. I wanted to cut down on the sugar content so I reduced the glaze by half and it was plenty. The glaze covered the top of the cake completely. If wanting to cover the sides as well, then use the whole recipe for the glaze.

The cake was easy to make and tasted good. The aroma of oranges flooded my kitchen as this baked. Wonderful! So, if wanting to use up some zucchini and oranges, why not give this recipe a try.

As always, Happy Baking!