Tag Archives: breakfast

Sep 25

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bread

I’ll admit it: Sometimes I like eating sweets for breakfast. I think that’s called being human. At the same time, I don’t like my breakfast sweets to be too sweet (in other words, you usually won’t find me chowing down on a heavily iced chocolate fudge cupcake along with my morning coffee). So when I found myself craving a breakfast treat the other day, I decided to try a recipe that I’d recently seen on one of my favorite baking blogs.

Although you could serve this oatmeal chocolate chip bread after dinner or as an afternoon snack, to me, it’s just perfect for breakfast. The chocolate chips add just the right amount of sweetness, and the dense yet moist nature of the bread makes it perfect for dipping in coffee (confession: I’m a bit of a serial dunker). Best of all, it’s really a cinch to make, and if you have any left over, it’ll probably keep for the better part of a week as long as you keep it tightly wrapped.

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bread
Recipe from Bake or Break

Ingredients:

2 cups AP flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temp

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until-combined. Your batter may be a little lumpy, and that’s fine.
  4. Pour your batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Let the bread cool in its pan for at least an hour before slicing and serving.
Sep 17

Allspice Crumb Muffins

I know I’ve already gone on and on about how much I absolutely love the flavors of fall, so bear with me as I say it once again, this time in the form of praise for these allspice muffins. If you’re a fan of cinnamon, sugar, and warm, buttery crumb-topped muffins, go ahead and make yourself a batch of these.

allspicemuff

Allspice Crumbs Muffins
Recipe from Eva Bakes

Ingredients:

For the crumb topping:

½ cup AP flour
½ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp ground allspice
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the muffins:

2 cups AP flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk
¼ tsp vanilla

Method:

For the crumb topping:

  1. Mix the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a small bowl. Add the chunks of cold butter and mix with your hands by pinching the mixture between your fingers until you have uneven, pea-sized crumbs. (Tip: To avoid having the mixture stick to your hands, try coating your fingers with a bit of cooking spray.)
  2. Place the topping in the refrigerator until ready to use (it can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge).

For the muffins:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin pan with 12 muffin cups.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, allspice, baking powder, and salt. Add in the brown sugar and stir until no lumps remain.
  3. In a separate large bowl, mix together the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla until well-combined. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking gently but quickly to combine. The batter may be lumpy, and that’s okay.
  4. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle the crumb topping over each muffin, and then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.
  5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  6. Let the muffins cool in their pan for about five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Although these muffins can supposedly last up to five days when stored in an airtight container at room temp, I found that they started to dry out after two or three days. My advice is to cut the recipe in half if you don’t think you’ll finish yours within a couple of days. Yes, it may seem like a lot of work for such a small amount of muffins, but trust me, these are well worth it.

Feb 20

Mom’s Carrot Loaf

Okay, I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m way overdue for a sugar detox. I blame the winter, really—the constant cold weather makes me want to spend my (limited) free time indoors, whipping up goodies and then eating them on the couch all wrapped up in a blanket. But lately I’ve been going overboard, just tossing all notions of self-control out the window in favor of frequent face-stuffing and brownies galore. It has to stop, at least for a day or two.

Of course, when I say sugar detox, I’m talking in relative terms. I mean, a girl’s still gotta eat, right? But I did decide to whip up a recipe that’s relatively light on the sugar front.

This carrot loaf is one that my mom used to make back when I was a kid. She actually used to serve it a side dish during dinner, but it’s just sweet enough to qualify as dessert. In my mind, it’s actually the perfect breakfast food. And best of all, it’s super easy to make. The toughest part is grating the carrots, and if you’ve got a food processor, that takes no time. Once your carrots are ready, it’s a simple matter of throwing the ingredients into a large bowl and mixing them together by hand.

As far as serving goes, I prefer this carrot loaf at room temperature, but I know some people like it warm. And my husband likes it cold right out of the fridge, so when I make it, I usually stick half in there for him and keep my half on the counter. In fact, another great thing about this recipe is that it’ll keep for several days stored at room temperature and up to a week in the fridge—though it never lasts that long in my house because of that self-control thing we talked about earlier. At least I’m aware of the problem.

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Mom’s Carrot Loaf

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups grated carrots
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 TB lemon juice
1 TB water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a medium-sized loaf pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda together.
3. Add egg and brown sugar; whisk to combine.
4. Stir in lemon juice, water, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and carrots.
5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

 

 

 

 

Jan 31

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread

My obsession with sweets can sometimes get out of hand. There are days where I could seriously take down half a dozen sugary frosted cupcakes in a single sitting…and then there are those days where all I want is something mildly sweet to accompany my morning coffee.

I discovered this recipe awhile back and decided to finally give it a try. It was super easy, and the result was a yummy chocolate loaf cake that’s perfect for breakfast (in other words, not too sweet). The recipe yields two loaves, so feel free to cut it in half. Or you can do what I did—make one classic chocolate chocolate chip loaf, and use the second half of the batter to get creative. I’ll explain.

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread

From Barbara Bakes

Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups AP flour, plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of softened butter
2 cups of granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups applesauce
1 and 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Optional: 1/3 cup dried cherries, cranberries, peanut butter chips, or anything else you feel like throwing into the mix that goes well with chocolate

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two medium loaf pans (I used cooking spray).
2. Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, and set aside.
3. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until it gets fluffy (about two minutes).
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla and applesauce, and mix until combined.
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
7. Coat the chocolate chips with two tablespoons of flour and stir into the batter.
8. Spoon half of the batter into one of the prepared loaf pans; add your mix-in of choice to the remaining batter, stir, and pour into the second prepared pan.
9. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.