Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Maple Glaze

This recipe originated at www.laurenslatest.com if you would like to check it out. I adapted it slightly. Further, I made it in a bundt pan, but if you use an angel food cake pan with a removable bottom, make sure to wrap the bottom of the pan in foil first so butter and sugar do not leak out and make a mess of your oven. This monkey bread (as most monkey breads, I would guess) is best eaten while still warm. Hey, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it! Enjoy...we sure did!

Ingredients:

for the dough-
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup warm milk
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 2/3-3 1/3 cups bread flour

for the coating-
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

for the glaze-
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons half & half {or milk}
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In large stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir milk, water, yeast and sugar together.

Stir in salt, egg, butter, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and half the flour and mix. With mixer on, pour in remaining flour bit by bit until dough pulls away from the sides and is sticky but when touched doesn’t really stick to your hands. {For me, that was 2 tablespoons shy of 3 cups of flour.} Once you reach this stage, turn mixer on for 4-5 minutes to knead. Lightly grease dough and bowl and cover to rise for 1 hour. Stick it somewhere warm and draft-free.

Lightly grease a bundt or angel food cake pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside. Create a coating station by placing sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and melting the butter in another bowl. Punch down dough and remove from bowl. Cut dough into small pieces about 1 tablespoon in size. Roll in butter, coat in cinnamon sugar and place into prepared pan. Repeat until no dough remains. If there is extra butter or sugar, pour over the top of the dough pieces in the pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise another hour in a warm spot in your kitchen.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake monkey bread for 25 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes.

While monkey bread is cooling, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar, maple syrup, half & half and vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth.

Remove warm pull aparts onto serving dish and drizzle with glaze. Serve warm.

Sufganiyot

Jelly doughnuts called sufganiyot in Israel, are a popular Hanukkah treat. Although fried foods are often associated with this holiday, these are baked. I have eaten these when I was a little girl but have never seen a baked version. After trying them, I can tell you they are really delicious. I filled some with apple butter (thanks Julianna!), some with lime curd (thanks, Laura!) and some with doctored Nutella (just add some powdered sugar, cocoa and a little water to Nutella to get it the right consistency). See directions on how to fill them...if you have piping bags for cake decorating, that would be easiest. But if worse comes to worst, I suggest just splitting them and making little doughnut sandwiches. This recipe makes 16. The recipe comes from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook 125th Anniversary edition.

Sufganiyot

3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
5 teaspoons yeast (2 packages)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk (preferably whole, but I used 1%), warm (120-130 degrees)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup filling (jam such a sour cherry or see above)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

In electric stand mixer bowl, combine flour sugar, yeast cinnamon, and salt. With paddle attachment add oil and milk, and beat medium low for 3-5 minutes (mixture will be stiff). Add eggs one at a time and beat 10 minutes, scraping sides of bowl (mixture will be quite soft, to sticky...if too sticky to work with knead in a little flour by hand). Transfer to large greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place 40 minutes or until doubled.

Lightly grease 2 large cookie sheets. Gently punch down dough and roll into a 16" log. Cut into 16 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place each ball on cookie sheet (8 per sheet). Let rise 20-30 minutes or until slightly puffed.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush tops of dough with milk. Bake one sheet at a time, 12-15 minutes or until pale golden. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes.

To fill, cut off corner of self-sealing plastic bag to make 1/4" diameter hole; fit with 1/4-1/2" plain piping tip, and fill bag with filling. Slide paring knife horizontally into one side of each doughnut and, using sawing motion, carefully cut pocket in pastry. Fit piping tip into hole, and pipe filling into it until filled. Repeat. Dust doughnuts with powdered sugar to serve.

Ono Butter Mochi

On campus at the Seasider Snack Bar, a common delicacy are these little cake-looking little square things that are easily one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.  Or as they say in pidgin Hawaiian, it 'broke da mouth!'  The texture is so unusual.. it looks like a square cupcake but it's much chewier and the flavor much milder and less sweet than a cupcake.  Me and my friend Kaitlyn bought one as a little treat earlier this week and decided we should try making our own. So thanks to allrecipes.com, we found this recipe for ono (or 'the best' in Hawaiian) butter mochi.

• 1 pound mochiko (glutinous rice flour, can be found at your local asian market or pretty much anywhere in Hawaii)
• 2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups whole milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut (optional, if you're like me and hate coconut)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

-In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and milk. In a separate larger bowl, stir together the rice flour, sugar, and baking powder. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir to blend. Mix in the melted butter and coconut (again, optional). Pour into prepared pan.

-Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Cool completely, then cut into squares. Serves 12.

This is just an image from google, but that's what it looks like.  If you don't like mochi or other squishy foods, then this probably would not be the best recipe to try.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

This recipe was the winning cookie on an L.D.S. Web site. I tried it and thought it was very good. I love chocolate crinkles, but this lemon version is light, crisp and has just enough lemon to say it is Spring...bring on the citrus. Not too sweet either, but rolled in powdered sugar to give them the typical crinkled look. I am also glad to say that this cookie, when stored covered, did not dry out but remained chewy. Oh, go on, give it a try!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon each baking powder and salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar. Mix well and chill for 30 minutes. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into balls and roll dough balls in powdered sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees until barely browned on edges and matte (not shiny and damp looking). Cool 3 minutes before removing to cookie racks to cool. Makes about 40? Can't really remember and now we have eaten them all!

Jacked up banana bread

For years I've been making different banana breads, in hopes of finding a really great one and saving that recipe. And for years, I've made banana breads that weren't banana-y enough. Even the highest-rated ones on allrecipes.com, which is my go-to site for recipes, weren't that great.

Last night I was bored and decided to do something with my overripe bananas. On a whim, I went to one of the ultimate great food blogs, smittenkitchen, for inspiration. Thankfully, she had a banana bread recipe, and more thankfully, it's fantastic! I've learned that the secret to better banana bread is (and please don't laugh if this sounds silly).... MORE BANANAS. WHO KNEW. Most of the banana bread recipes out there use 2 or 3 bananas for a 9x5 loaf. This one uses 4 for a 8x4 loaf. So here 'tis:

JACKED UP BANANA BREAD

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 to 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you prefer, she uses the smaller amount, I use the larger of course)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

YUM.

T's White Chicken Chili

Back in October, Steve and I went to a ward chili cook-off and someone made an awesome white chicken chili. We've been meaning to make our own ever since, but never got around to it until last night. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and then made quite a few modifications. you can find the original recipe here. We had our neighbors over last night, and served it to them for dinner. It was a big hit.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken
1 cup sour cream
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the cream of chicken and sour cream. Add the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in cheese until melted. Serve warm.

NOTE: Even with the modifications I made to the original recipe, it's a bit spicy. Try using less cayenne pepper or replacing the green chiles with some green peppers if you're not big on spicy foods.

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
3 eggs
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

For glaze:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon each: melted butter, vanilla and almond extract

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in large bowl. In medium bowl combine eggs, oil, butter and flavorings and beat two minutes. Add wet mixture to dry mixture alternating with milk until all is smooth. Pour into well greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on racks. Glaze with ingredients above for glaze. Makes two loaves 9"x5"x3" or at least 6 mini loaves (mini loaves bake only for about 35 minutes or less).