tea-time

Summer Zucchini Bread

~ agustinaskitchen ~ 2 Comments

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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…

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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.

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Cheers!

 

Lemon Curd For the Win

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

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At some point in my early life I fell in love with lemon desserts.  I’m not sure when it happened, which dessert it was, where I was… I’ve always loved lemon desserts.  Lemon curd straight up, or served on anything, lemon bars, lemon pound cake, lemon icing, lemon cake, lemon with blueberries, lemon bundtinis.  I even cook with lemons! In chicken, fish, dressings… you get the idea.

The other day I needed a quick little something to help me say “Thank You” and show my appreciation.  I had heard through the grapevine that they enjoyed lemon curd as much as I do, so I decided to whip some up since it’d been a while.  I used this recipe as a guidepost. I added a little twine and a quick “Thank You” stamp on some cute paper.  That evening, after Chris came home, we put the kids in the car and drove out for our little delivery.  Nothing like a drive to get the kids to sleep, get a Thank You out, and have a little one on one quiet time to chat and connect – everyone wins!

P.S. This takes 5-10 minutes to cook!

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This is how I “strain” it after it’s cooked, in case you were wondering! *See recipe below
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This is how you want the curd to coat the wooden spoon, and you’ll know it’s done

INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. I used a double boiler, but you can improvise by putting a heatproof bowl over a pan of water. Cook the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest and juice, by whisking it until it becomes thick (like in the above photo, where the curd coats the wooden spoon). This should take no more than 10 minutes, be sure the water is hot hot hot – boiling even!
  2. Remove from heat and strain the curd (as seen in the picture above). Add the butter, cut into pieces, and whisk until it’s melted and mixed in.
  3. Cover, by placing saran wrap right on top of the curd, and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
  4. Enjoy! Especially, on pound cake with a cup of tea 😉

Cheers!

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Pecan Chocolate Chip Banana – nana Bread

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

 

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Here’s the deal: I thought I had a great “banana bread” recipe.  I thought I had that one figured out.  But no.  No, I didn’t.  Until tonight that is.  Tonight, my husband devoured this within minutes of its debut.  Thereby demolishing any need to cook dinner.  So, I popped open a bottle of this William Hill Chardonnay and drank it with banana bread.  Banana bread and Chardonnay? Strange.  Very strange.  But so good.

I took this recipe from Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw for Williams Sonoma and made my own pecan and chocolate chip additions… check it out.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

3 ripe, large bananas, smashed

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp of unsalted, melted butter

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/4 cup of milk chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Heat oven to 350. Butter and very  lightly flour two 9×5 loaf pans.
  2. In a large-ish bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,  and nutmeg.
  3. In a mixer (or large bowl) mix together the bananas, eggs, brown sugar, sour cream, vanilla and melted butter.
  4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer or bowl with the wet ingredients.
  5. Stir in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
  6. Divide the batter between the two buttered and floured loaf pans.
  7. Bake about 35 minutes, give our take a few minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
  8. Let cool, then proceed to devour.

 

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