bread

Lemon-Blueberry Bread to Fight the Winter Blues

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

It’s been particularly rainy, cold, and windy here in the Bay Area. Normally this doesn’t bother me, as I love fall and winter and relish in this weather. However, this year I wouldn’t mind speeding up the process a bit as the thought of spring and summer sound exceptionally wonderful.

One night earlier this week, Chris came home and I came undone: I was exhausted.  It is time for summer, sunshine and a long break, I told him. The next morning my mom’s group was meeting and I was determined to bring something: I may not be able to control the weather, if my children are sick, how many more loads of laundry we have left, the TRAFFIC – oh man, the traffic is so terrible around here that it’s soul crushing…. but I can make a pretty great Lemon Blueberry Bread to turn my mood right side up again, and that alone is something worth celebrating.  I pulled out the last few lemons our sweet neighbor gave us a few weeks back at the start of February (whose lemon tree produces 20+ pounds of lemons in the dead of winter!?) and the pack of blueberries I’d randomly bought at the store last weekend and set to work.

Recipe originally from Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw

INGREDIENTS:

For the Bread:

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2  cup whole milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Syrup:

  • 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp granulated sugar

For the Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 3 tsp fresh lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
  2. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In your stand mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until light and soft. About 3 minutes.
  4. Add the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated.
  5. Add the milk and vanilla extract, and mix fully together.
  6. Slowly add the dry ingredients, and stir until just blended. Fold in the blueberries.
  7. Scrape into the loaf pan, and place in oven. Bake for about 50 minutes – I check it around 45 minutes and take it out around 50-51 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  8. Take it out of the oven, let it cool and then turn onto a plate.
  9. While the bread is in the oven, make the syrup:
    1. In a small saucepan, boil the lemon juice and granulated sugar over medium heat until syrupy.  It will bubble up and get syrupy after about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
    1. Using a wooden skewer (or toothpick), pierce the top, sides, and bottom of the bread.  Brush, or I typically pour, the syrup all over the bread. It’ll ooze into the pierced parts and be amazing, I promise.
  12. Make the glaze: in a small bowl, stir the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over the top of the bread once it’s completely cool.

NOTES:

  • The recipe states to toss the blueberries in a small bowl with a teaspoon of flour  before folding into the batter.  The idea is that this prevents the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the loaf pan while it’s baking. I don’t do this.  I’ve done it a couple of times and found that: (1) it doesn’t serve it’s purpose and (2) it’s more work and clean up.

Cheers!

Summer Zucchini Bread

~ agustinaskitchen ~ 2 Comments

IMG_9796

Zoooooochini Bread! A little while back this recipe popped up on Smitten Kitchen’s Instagram feed, I knew I had to make it.  I had a few zucchini sitting in the fridge, and I didn’t want them to go bad, bud I didn’t really feel like using them in anything.  Cue: Zucchini Bread.  Like Banana Bread is to bananas when they are starting to go past due, Zucchini Bread is to zucchini when it’s on its final days.

This recipe yields 2 loafs, which I love because you can keep one loaf for yourself and gift the other to friends, family, neighbors.  My brother lives really close, so I called him and told him there was a loaf of zucchini bread wrapped up and ready for him to pick up when he could.  A couple of hours later, he popped by and happily took his loaf home with him, to keep as a snack for his long hours studying and working.  It’s a win – win because I got to see him for 10 minutes and he got a loaf of bread.  Who wouldnt love that? Right? In fact, I think I’m going to get a few zucchini at the store this afternoon solely to make this bread again tomorrow…

IMG_9797

INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons  vanilla extract
3 cups  all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips (I used about half a cup of chocolate chips and half a cup of raisins)

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Grease two 8×4 inch loaf pans.  I always take about a tablespoon of butter and smudge it all over the pans, then I sprinkle some flour over the butter, and pat it around to make sure the pan is greased well, and that the bread will fall out when it’s done.  There’s nothing worse than taking the time and energy to bake something delicious and then not be able to get it out of the pan!! Please tell me it’s happened to you too, no?
  3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in the oil and sugar, then the zucchini and vanilla.
  4. Combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the nuts, raisins, and/or chocolate chips.  I added a combination of raisins, pecans, and chocolate chips, totaling almost 2 cups worth.
  5. Mix these dry ingredients into the wet egg mixture. Divide the batter into the prepared pans.
  6. Bake the loaves for about 60 minutes.  I start to check it around 50 minutes, then let it bake for another 10-15 before I take it out and let it cool.

IMG_9822

Cheers!