Nutty butter, banana bread.

After 2 days of hearing my husband say "Do something with those bananas before they go bad" I decided to bake a banana bread, not that I know anything else to do with overly riped bananas but yeah. The bananas had been placed in the refrigerator the night before therefore I had to allow them to come down to room temperature, afraid they would go beyond the "riped" point I decided to cook the bananas with a bit of evaporated milk. The browned butter really kicks this recipe up a notch or two, if you've never tried it you really should.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup fne wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3 large very riped bananas mashed (1 cup plus 2tblsp)
1 stick butter (113grams)
4 tablespoons full cream evaporated milk
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted and finely chopped)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions
Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add 113 grams of butter cut into pieces(sliced so that the butter melts more evenly) whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter. Once the butter begins to foam up a bit, then subside, watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and place on a cool surface to help stop the butter from cooking further and perhaps burning. I strained my butter to get rid of the small milk solids but you can skip this step. Set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350* F. Butter and flour a 9x9 square cake pan or a pan of your choice. If you're baking this in a traditional loaf pan give it at least 15 extra minutes to bake. I will add a baking pan chart below.

Mash the bananas and heat in a seperate pan with 1 tablespoon of butter, condensed milk, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Whisk to combine and cook until it reaches a light boil. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl sift the flours, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl whisk the sugars, eggs, and vanilla until they become light, fluffy, and pale in color. Stream in the cooled nutty butter and whisk to combine.

Gently with a wooden spoon add the dry ingredients alternately with the banana mixture into the egg mix in 3 seperate edditions, starting and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts in your now empty dry ingredients bowl and carefully fold in to your batter. Be very careful not to overmix or you will end up with a rubbery banana bread.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pistachio sweet buns...

The recipe below was for traditional Moroccan sweet buns otherwise known as "Krachel" but being that I was going to share them with local neighbors I decided to give them a more Middle Eastern twist by topping them with crushed pistachios. When it comes to baking my mind usually takes different routes as I go along, that's when the idea or a Middle eastern "Esponja" (Mexican sweet buns) came into mind. Note that this was not my intention so stay tunned for a more traditional pistachio "Esponja" recipe but let me tell you these sweet little buns were absolutely amazing and perfect for and afternoon tea or coffee break.


Ingredients
4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup lukewarm milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds (toasted)
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
Topping
1/2 to 3/4 cups pistachios
4 heaping tablespoons powder sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Directions
sift the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside. In a seperate bowl beat your egg, oil, and vanilla. Set aside. In a small bowl or in your stand mixer mix the yeast with the milk and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of flour to the yeast mixture and beat until a smooth batter is formed. Set the mix aside for 5 more minutes. After 5 minutes whisk the egg mixture into the rested yeast batter until smooth. Slowly add the flour leaving 1/4 cup aside. Add the toasted sesame seeds and fennel seeds, and kneed to combine, add the remainder of the flour until a soft and slightly sticky dough is formed. Make sure to kneed the dough for a few minutes for better results. Place the dough on a lightly oiled bowl cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place, for 1hr or until doubled in size.

After the dough has risen, divide it into 12 to 16 smooth, evenly shaped balls. Place the balls of dough two inches apart on an oiled baking sheet, and slightly flatten the tops of the dough to form a rounded disc.

Cover the baking sheet with a towel and leave the dough to rise another hour or longer, or until the rolls are very light and puffy.

Add the pistachios and powder sugar into your food processor and pulse until a powder is formed. Melt 1/4 cup of butter and set aside.

Meanwhile preheat your oven to 370* F. Brush the rolls with the melted butter and carefully place 2 teaspoons of the sweet pistachio sugar on top of each bun to cover evenly. Press the mixture down and drizzle 1 teaspoon of butter over each pistachio covered bun. Dust again with approximately 1 teaspoon of pistachio mix. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown in color. After 15 minutes of baking test the buns by lifting with a spatula, if the bottom is golden brown and the buns appear to be baked but the tops are not quite golden, set the oven to a low broil and broil until the tops are golden brown.

Remove the baking pan from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack and dust again with the pistachio powder sugar. Serve warm....

Date stuffed rolls...

I should start this post by warning you all about my Ramadan pictures. Since our Ramadan meal is usually served in the late hours when all the beautiful sunlight is no longer visible my pictures wont appear as vibrant. The lighting in my home is not the best and whatever pictures I do get to take in the day time will have to be of my leftovers. This dough was suppose to make a Polish buchty bread, so feel free to leave out the date filling. The date paste I make is a bit different than any others I have tasted, I make mine with milk, spices, and a little bit of butter giving it a creamy light taste and not a heavy tamarind like flavor some others tend to have. The date filling is the leftovers used for this recipe, the recipe makes approximately 3 cups date paste, you can either cut the recipe in half or store the paste to use in other recipes such as maamoul. Dusting the rolls with plenty of powder sugar straight out of the oven creates a soft, and buttery sweet topping for the rolls.

Ingredients
4 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3 eggs lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter melted
confectioners sugar for dusting


Directions
Grease am 8inch square pan or pan of choice. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl and stir in the suagar. Make a well in the center. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a small pan then remove from heat and stir in the milk. Let cool until lukewarm. Stir in the yeast into the milk mixture until it has dissolved. Pour into the center of the flour and stir in enough flour to form a thick dough. Sprinkle with a little of the surrounding flour and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Gradually beat in the eggs to the remaining flour to form a soft dough. This will take about 10 minutes. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Divide into 16 equal pieces and shape into rounds. Flatten each ball into a disk and fill the center with approximately 1 heaping teaspoon of date paste, fold all sides in and pinch to seal. Roll the filled dough into a ball and continue with the remaining balls of dough.

Melt the remaining butter and roll the rounds in to coat, then place slightly apart in the pan. Cover with slightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375* F. Spoon in any remaining melted butter evenly over the rolls and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the rolls with plenty of powdered sugar. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove onto a wire rack and dust again with sugar.

*Adapted from, Bread (Breads of the world) with some minor changes to the original recipe.

Mallorcan Ensaimadas

This wonderful recipe comes from Majorca Spain, very similar to the cinnamon bun you would think but it's far from that. These sweet little coils are crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. You may want to double up on the recipe, mine were cleared of the table before my oven even went back to normal temperature. The traditional recipe doesn't include vanilla but my vanilla bean twist on these Spanish buns gave them I would say 10 EXTRA points in flavor. Brushing with water is a MUST

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
6 tablespoons lukewark milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted
confectioners sugar for dusting (vanilla sugar recipe follows)
water for brushing

Directions
sift the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside. In a seperate bowl beat your egg, oil, and vanilla. Set aside. In a small bowl or in your stand mixer mix the yeast with the milk and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of flour to the yeast mixture and beat until a smooth batter is formed. Set the mix aside for 5 more minutes. After 5 minutes whisk the egg mixture into the rested yeast batter until smooth. Slowly add the flour until a smooth dough is formed. Make sure to kneed the dough for a few minutes for better results. Place the dough on a lightly oiled bowl cover with plastic and let rise, in a warm place, for 1hr or until doubled in size.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down and cut into 8 to 16 equal size pieces (Use a knife to cut). Shape each piece into a thin rope about 15 inches long. Dip each rope into the melted butter on the baking sheet, curl each rope into a spiral, spacing each roll well apart. Tuck the ends under to seal. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile preheat your oven to 375* F. Brush the rolls with water and dust with powder sugar. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool slightly on a wire rack and dust again with powder sugar. Serve warm....

"Sophisticated" cocoa muffins with dark chocolate and sour cherries.

Chocolate and cherries is one of my favorite combinations when it comes to desserts. As a little girl I remember getting so grossed out when my Mother would eat the infamous chocolate covered holiday cherries. My husband absolutely fell in love with these very sophisticated chocolate cherry muffins, so I will for sure be making these again.


Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract "OR" 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons butter (melted and cooled)
5 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup sour cherry jam (cut in halves)
1/2 cup dark chocolate or milk chocolate morsels


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.



In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, lightly beaten egg, oil, butter and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In another large bowl whisk together the flours, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the chocolate morsels.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the cherries and chocolate morsels. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.



Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Sweet, sesame and fennel crumpets.

About a week ago a friend of mine asked what our favorite breakfast flat jack was. The only options that came to my mind were Pancakes, waffles, french toast, and crépes that's until a Brittish sister mentioned "Crumpets". Being that I love to try new things I immediately googled this breakfast delight and I knew it was something I just had to make. I did live in London a couple of years ago but always thought these packed cakes were English muffins. In a way I was right they are a lot like English muffins, with a pancake twist. My recipe is not a traditional British recipe, instead I made them a little sweeter and added my two favorite seeds (Fennel and Sesame) this is something you all really need to make.


Ingredients
1 cup (lukewarm) milk
1/4 cup (lukewarm) water
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup white flour (I used pastry flour)
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
Extra butter for your molds.


Directions
Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add your wet ingredients and mix vigorously until well combined. Cover with a towel and allow the batter to rest for at least 1 hour. The batter must expand and form bubbles before you begin to make your crumpets.

Butter your muffin pans. Set aside. Meanwhile heat your griddle on medium low. Lightly grease your griddle and place your muffin tins inside. Pour your batter into the tins using a buttered icecream scoop. The batter should go 1/3 up from the muffin tin. Bake for approximately 7 minutes or until bubbles begin to form and the crumpet is easily released when you shake it with a pair of tongs. Remove the rings and cook for an extra 5 minutes on the second side. Repeat the same process with the remaining batter, making sure the muffin rings are cleaned and greased each time they're used. Serve warm with butter, jam, or honey.

Pancakes with wild thyme scented honey

My recipe for these pancakes is very easy and simple to make, the honey and olive oil syrup is the star in this recipe that's for sure. Moroccans use this honey for almost all their pancake and flaky bread recipes. The first time I ever tried this I fell in love. I can no longer eat pancakes with syrup from a jar.

Pancake ingredients:
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
butter for the pan

Honey recipe:
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil (first press taste best)
1 tablespoon time (I used wild thyme in my recipe)
1 teaspoon butter (optional)

Directions:
Sift all your dry pancake ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. In a medium bowl beat your egg, milk, and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. The mix should still have a few small lumps, if you over beat this batter you will get rubbery pancakes. Heat your pan over medium heat, brush with butter before making each pancake. Using a small ladle or scoop, pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the pan. When the bottoms of the pancakes are brown and bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes (2-3 minutes), turn over. Cook until lightly browned (about 1-2 minutes).

Syrup directions:
Mix all your syrup ingredients in a small heavy duty pan, whisk until the syrup comes to a gentle boil. Pour your syrup over the warm pancakes while its still hot. Enjoy.

Harcha (Moroccan semolina bread)

Harcha is very similar to American cornbread only harcha is usually cooked on the stove top using a cast iron skillet. Some harcha recipes call for butter but this recipe is made with oil and milk to obtain that rich cornbread like taste that I love so much. Since its made using only semolina, do not expect this bread to rise like a cake. I use medium course semolina when making this recipe but fine semolina works just as good. You can very well make this with soymilk and have yourself the perfect Vegan harcha.


Ingredients
2 cups semolina
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons oil (I use a mix of sunflower and olive oil)
1 to 2 tablespoons butter (for your pan)


Directions
Set your over to 360*, butter a glass or cast iron pan with 1 to 2 tablespoons butter and dust with semolina. Sift your semolina, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Using your hands work the oil into the semolina mix until the mix is evenly coated. Add your milk and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and dust the top with more semolina. Eventhough the batter appears to be quite runny, the semolina will stay on top when sprinkled giving you that nice crunch once its baked. Bake your harcha for approximately 20 minutes or until cracks form on the top of your harcha and its golden brown in color. If you feel the harcha is already baked yet the color is not golden, place your harcha under the broiler until the color is obtained.

Monkey bread using my Sweet dough recipe...

I have been meaning to share my sweet dough recipe with you all and what better way to do it than with Monkey Bread. Monkey bread, also called African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake and bubbleloaf, is a sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast. The origin of the term monkey bread is uncertain. Possible etymologies include that the bread resembles the monkey puzzle tree, or the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behavior. Tonight I made this beautiful monkey bread for my neighbors using my all time favorite dough recipe. This dough can be used to make cinnamon buns, sweets rolls, cinnamon cresents, or any other dessert that calls for yeasted sweet dough. The technique for making Monkey bread is fairly simple so don't go getting puzzled by reading recipes that tell you to roll the dough out, cut it in small squares, roll the squares into golf size balls etc etc. All you have to do once the dough has risen the first time is flatten the dough and pinch of pieces as you go, simple as that. Below you will find a picture that shows you how to get the pieces of dough formed into the perfect little ball. Drizzle this bread with icing and top with chopped nuts and you have yourself a beautiful holiday ceterpiece.... The picture above shows you a mini Monkey bread, so expect yours to be much bigger.


Ingredients
5 to 5 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons butter (melted)
1/4 cup oil
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)


Ingredients for the Monkey bread
1 cup melted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
1 cup Nuts and Raisins (optional)


Directions
Activate you yeast in 2 tablespoons lukewarm water and a pinch of sugar. Meanwhile sift your flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer (if kneeding by hand use a large bowl) add your milk, water, butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until well blended. Add 2 cups of flour and mix on medium speed until a smooth "batter" has formed. Add your yeast and continue to mix. Switch the speed to medium low and slowly add the remainder of your flour until a smooth and sticky dough forms. The dough should still stick a little to the sides of your electric mixer but most of the dough should be sticking to your dough hook attachment. If you feel the dough is too sticky to handle, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before you handle the dough by hand. With oiled hands remove the dough from your mixer and kneed for 3 minutes on a oiled countertop. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, oiled bowl. Turn dough over in bowl to coat with the oil from the bowl. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. After the dough has risen, punch down before using.

To make the monkey bread,
Butter a bunt pan or a regular round cake pan, set aside. Mix your sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl. Metl your butter and pour into a seperate bowl. Pinch off pieces of dough to make golf size balls, pass the dough through your fingers like such,



Dip the ball into your melted butter then roll in your sugar mix, place the ball in your prepared pan and continue to do the same until you have used up the entire dough.




If you are using nuts or raisins, place them among the dough pieces as you are layering. Allow your Monkey bread to rise for approximately 45 minutes before baking.



Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden in color.



Allow the loaf to cool for about 10-15 minutes before turning it over onto a plate. If it doesn’t slide right down onto the plate, give it a few taps until it plops.
It’ll hold.

Here's a picture of tonights Monkey bread made in a sunflower cake pan. I was in a rush so its only a two layer Monkey bread.

Mango lassi

If you know me your eyes will pop out when you read the recipe to this very easy refreshing Indian shake. I used non fat yogurt, low fat milk, and best of all no sugar. Yes, Zelia is having a drink with NO sugar. But of course the only reason for this is that the Mango's are so sweet adding sugar to this drink would have been a sin. So, I sit here with guilt free mind drinking my lassi.


Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt (I used non fat)
2 cups milk
1 cup chopped ripe mango (placed in the freezer for 2 hours)


Directions
Combine all your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and well blended.
You can add 1 cup of ice and 1 tablespoon of sugar for a colder shake like drink.

Banana date and nut bread.

This bread is an amazing way to start your Ramadan daily fast. It's packed with nuts and dates and will keep your tummy full and energy going throughout the day. Eat it with a tall cup of cold milk and call it Sahoor.


Ingredients
2 cups self rising flour
3/4 teapoon baking soda
1/4 teapoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teapoon ginger powder
1/4 teapoon cardamon powder
1/2 cup butter (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup chopped medjool dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (toasted and cooled)


Directions
Preheat your oven to 350*. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside. In a large bowl combine your flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and walnuts. Set aside. In a medium bowl whisk your eggs with the butter, vanilla, buttermilk, and banana puree. With a rubber spatula gently fold in half of your wet ingredients into your dry mix. Add your chopped dates and fold twice. Add the remainder of your wet ingredients and fold just until combined. Be carful not to overmix this batter or you will end up with a rubber like loaf of bread. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean (the loaf should be golden brown). Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Monkey bread using my Sweet dough recipe...

I have been meaning to share my sweet dough recipe with you all and what better way to do it than with Monkey Bread. Monkey bread, also called African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake and bubbleloaf, is a sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast. The origin of the term monkey bread is uncertain. Possible etymologies include that the bread resembles the monkey puzzle tree, or the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behavior. Tonight I made this beautiful monkey bread for my neighbors using my all time favorite dough recipe. This dough can be used to make cinnamon buns, sweets rolls, cinnamon cresents, or any other dessert that calls for yeasted sweet dough. The technique for making Monkey bread is faily simple so don't go getting puzzled by reading recipes that tell you to roll the dough out, cut it in small squares, roll the squares into golf size balls etc etc. All you have to do once the dough has risen the first time is flatten the dough and pinch of pieces as you go, simple as that. Below you will find a picture that shows you how to get the pieces of dough formed into the perfect little ball. Drizzle this bread with icing and top with chopped nuts and you have yourself a beautiful holiday ceterpiece.... The picture above shows you a mini Monkey, so expect yours to be much bigger.


Ingredients
5 to 5 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons butter (melted)
1/4 cup oil
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)


Ingredients for the Monkey bread
1 cup melted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
1 cup Nuts and Raisins (optional)


Directions
Activate you yeast in 2 tablespoons lukewarm water and a pinch of sugar. Meanwhile sift your flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer (if kneeding by hand use a large bowl) add your milk, water, butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until well blended. Add 2 cups of flour and mix on medium speed until a smooth "batter" has formed. Add your yeast and continue to mix. Switch the speed to medium low and slowly add the remainder of your flour until a smooth and sticky dough forms. The dough should still stick a little to the sides of your electric mixer but most of the dough should be sticking to your dough hook attachment. If you feel the dough is too sticky to handle, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before you handle the dough by hand. With oiled hands remove the dough from your mixer and kneed for 3 minutes on a oiled countertop. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, oiled bowl. Turn dough over in bowl to coat with the oil from the bowl. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. After the dough has risen, punch down before using.

To make the monkey bread,
Butter a bunt pan or a regular round cake pan, set aside. Mix your sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl. Metl your butter and pour into a seperate bowl. Pinch off pieces of dough to make golf size balls, pass the dough through your fingers like such,



Dip the ball into your melted butter then roll in your sugar mix, place the ball in your prepared pan and continue to do the same until you have used up the entire dough.




If you are using nuts or raisins, place them among the dough pieces as you are layering. Allow your Monkey bread to rise for approximately 45 minutes before baking.



Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden in color.



Allow the loaf to cool for about 10-15 minutes before turning it over onto a plate. If it doesn’t slide right down onto the plate, give it a few taps until it plops.
It’ll hold.

Here's a picture of tonights Monkey bread made in a sunflower cake pan. I was in a rush so its only a two layer Monkey bread.

Sweet crépes and black forest hot chocolate.

My dream has always been to walk the streets of France with a hot crépe in hand oozing with warm nutella spread. But like I said, it's just my dream. Sadly the last time I was in France my husband had just bought a brand new Mercedes and what do you all think his "lovely" wife did? She pumped gas into the vehicle instead of diesel so we had to spend a cold night in a small French village. After that mess my husband was not in the mood to take me down no French street eating hot crépes, let me tell you. We were there a couple of days and that was it. I was lucky to eat a gas station "Croissant". Ok, so back to my recipe. These crépes are really easy to make and the black forest hot chocolate is simply amazing. I'm in chocolate heaven as I type.



Crépe recipe



Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter (melted and cooled)
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Directions
In a medium bowl sift your flour, salt and sugar. Mix your flour with the eggs and 1 tablespoon or two of water. Mix until the batter is thick but smooth and clear of any lumps. Add your milk (1 1/4 cup), vanilla, melted butter, and oil. Mix well to combine until smooth and lump free. Allow your batter to rest for 30 to 45 minutes. After the batter has rested if you feel it's too thick add more milk. The batter should be pourable but not too liquid. When you're ready to make your crépes make sure the pan (non stick) is well heated under medium high heat before you pour the batter. Use a ladle to pour the batter into the pan and swirl the pan with the other hand. You'll learn as you go how far to fill up the ladle so that the batter just covers the bottom of the pan. Wait until the crepe has nearly cooked through before flipping. The second side of the crépe will cook in a few seconds, so keep a close eye. Stack your crépes to keep them warm. Eat with jam, nutella, whip cream, strawberries or with a filling of your choice.



Black Forest, hot chocolate




Ingredients
2 1/2 to 3 cups milk
2 teaspoons corn starch
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon chocolate ganache or nutella
1 tablespoon Maraschino cherry syrup

Mix all your ingredients in a heavy duty sauce pan and whisk until combined and hot. Serve in a coffee cup and top with whip cream or drink as is.


Please Excuse my poor photography skills, I'm fasting this month so the last thing I want to do is get creative with my pics. I just want to snap a quick one and devour what sits in front of me. :)

This is what I do once the cameras are off.

Chocolate chip Granola bars...

Here is another lunch box favorite a sweet and chewy "CHOCOLATE" granola bar. These are so simple to make you'll think twice next time you want to buy boxed granola bars. Not only is it cheaper to make them homemade but you know exactly what goes in them.


Ingredients
1 3/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1 1/2 Rice Krispies cereal (or any other rice cereal)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey

Directions
Spray or butter and 8x8 cooking sheet. In a large bowl mix your cereal and oatmeal. Set aside. In a medium sauce pan mix together the oil, sugar, and honey. Cook and stir to a gentle boil. Pour mix into your oat and cereal mix and stir to combine, making sure all oats and cereal are fully coated. Evenly pour oatmeal mixture into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with chocolate chips. When mixture is cool enough to touch, press down into pan. Let cool to room temperature. Cut into 16 (1-by-4-inch) bars. Granola bars can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week, and frozen up to six months.




adapted from, Martha Stewarts.

Healthy "Dolled up" yogurt.

This yogurt is perfect for the Holly month of Ramadan, each 8oz serving provides you with 30% to 40% of your daily calcium intake and because the live-active cultures in yogurt increase the absorption of calcium, an 8-ounce serving of yogurt gets more calcium into the body than the same volume of milk can. The hazelnuts offer a nice crunch to the topping but did you know that Hazelnuts have been deemed the most beneficial nut for heart health? So weather you celebrate the fasting month of Ramadan or not this yogurt is still great for breakfast and a good way to start your day.


Ingredients
2 cups plain yogurt (I use lowfat)
4 apricots (diced)
4 dates(pitted and diced)
1/5 cup hazelnuts (toasted and chopped)
1/4 cup granola
2 teaspoon "Spoon for Spoon" sweet and low.
2 to 4 teaspoons of honey.

Directions
In a small bowl mix your yogurt with the 2 teaspoons of sweet and low. set aside. Mix your diced dates and apricots with your chopped hazelnuts. Add half of your fruit and nut mix to your yogurt and mix to combine. Pour the yogurt into 2 bowls or serving glasses, top with the remainder of the fruit, nuts, and granola. Drizzle with honey and enjoy..

Cantaloupe smoothie

This smoothie is so healthy and refreshing and "Oh so Perfect" for this summer heat. You can replace the 1 1/2 cups of frozen milk with plain yogurt or even icecream, this version is just a bit healthier. I have tons of smoothie recipes so please come back in a couple of days for the recipes. :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups frozen milk
2 cups cold milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 small to medium cantaloupe (seeded and diced)


Directions
Freeze 1 1/2 cups of milk for approximately 2 to 3 hours or overnight. When you're ready to prepare the smoothie allow the milk to thaw for at least 10 minutes before adding it to your blender. Cut your melon into cubes and mix all the ingredients in a blender, blend well and serve immediately.

Mini cinnamon and sugar doughnuts

So we have new neighbors and what better way to welcome your new neighbors than with a nice big platter of home baked goodies, right? I baked 2 different types of cupcakes but for some reason I wasn't satified and felt I needed one extra item. I didn't really feel like turning my oven on nore did I feel like waiting for yeasted doughnuts to rise, so I searched for a simple no yeast doughnut recipe and came accross this recipe from "Family Circle" now the original recipe is for regular sized doughnuts "but" I remembered this neat photo I seen on Martha Stewarts wedding's site and decided to make them mini doughnuts and by mini I mean mini.



Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
6 cups vegetable oil, for frying

Coating:
1/2 cup superfine sugar blended with
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon


Directions
1. In medium-size bowl, whisk together the 3-1/2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, lightly beat yolks on medium speed. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until pale and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Mix in butter. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, stirring with wooden spoon until combined.
3. On well-floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll dough into 1/4-inch thickness. Let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out doughnuts; using the 1/2-inch round end of a pastry tip, cut out centers.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil to 365 F (a cube of bread will be browned and crisp after 1 minute) in a heavy-duty saucepan over medium-high heat.
6. Fry 6 to 8 doughnuts at a time, turning once, until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Coat with sugar/cinnamon while warm, and serve immediately.



These doughnuts can be made regular size or dusted with powder sugar. If you preffer to cover in powder sugar please allow doughnuts to cool down a bit before dusting or the sugar will become glaze.

Moroccan mint and tyme tea

Moroccans are known for making some of the best tea in the world and they swear no "Mint" is better than "Moroccan mint". Tea is usually served for breakfast along with homemade breads, honey, olive oil, and a variety of olives. Tea in Morocco is a sign of hospitality to refuse a cup is not only impolite but worse than a slap in the face. No matter what home you visit in Morocco you will always be offered a cup of tea.


5 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon loose green tea leaves
2 teaspoons dried tyme leaves (Moroccan za'atar)
1 handfull Moroccan mint or regular mint
sugar to taste (about 1/2 cup)


Directions
Boil water, add tea leaves and tyme into your tea pot along with 1/4 cup boiling hot water. Swirl the pot to rinse the tea leaves and discard the water. Add a handfull of mint, enough water to fill the pot and sugar to taste. Place the tea pot over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (make sure not to boil the tea or it will be bitter) remove from heat and serve hot.

Belgian waffles

Belgian waffles are the true waffles if you ask me, those yellow boxed waffles don't compare to an authentic Belgian waffle. I remember walking the streets of London with my son and picking one of these hot off the waffle griddle. Unlike pancakes and crepés (can be reheated) I believe waffles taste better when eaten right off the griddle, there's just something about that crunchy outside and soft inside that makes me go Mmmmmmmm. :)

Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups milk
non-stick cooking spray (this is a must when making Belgian waffles)

Directions
Preheat your waffle iron. Sift together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl beat your sugar and egg yolks until the mixture is light and creamy in color.
Add your milk, vanilla, and melted butter and whisk until blended . Combine your egg mixture and flour mixture and blend to combine (do not overmix batter). Set aside. In a separate bowl beat your egg whites with a small pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Gently fold your egg whites into the waffle batter with a rubber spatula, make sure not to overmix batter or waffles will become rubbery. Spray your waffle griddle with cooking spray and pour enough batter to cover waffle grid. Cover and cook until golden brown. Serve hot off the griddle.

Note. Please make sure to follow your waffle machines manufacturer's instructions....

Cinnamon and raisin swirl bread

I must have been a little too excited to eat my morning breakfast because I just realized I published my recipe without telling you all anything about it. :) This bread is so amazing and a great way to start your morning, I was pretty determined to have my self a nice bread for breakfast that I was up until 1am making this loaf. The recipe calls for the raisins used as a stuffing but you can certainly add them into your dough and fill the loaf with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoon butter (melted)
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast

Filling
1 tablespoon butter (meted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cups raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon


Directions

Sift together your flour, sugar, salt, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Set aside.

Meanwhile activate your yeast with 3 tablespoons of lukewarm water and 1/4 teaspoon of sugar.

Once your yeast has been activated in a large bowl or the bowl from your electric mixer combine the egg, yogurt, oil, melted butter, and warm water. Beat until well combined.

Add your yeast and beat again until combined. Slowly add your flour and mix on med speed until the dough slightly comes together (the dough will come together but it should still be a little on the sticky side). If you're mixing by hand add the flour mix to your wet ingredients mixing with a large wooden spoon. Once the dough comes together allow it to sit for 5 minutes before you transfer it to a lightly oiled surface. Kneed the dough by hand (oiled hands) for approximately 5-7 minutes or until it's smooth and elastic. I honestly didn't have to add any extra flour to the dough, but if it still sticks to your hands after you have oiled them feel free to add more flour (1 tablespoon at a time) but the dough must be smooth and not tough.

Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in size. Once your dough is ready, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and roll it out (with a floured rolling pin) into a large rectangle. Brush with 1 tablespoon butter and sprinkle with 3/4 cup sugar and  2 tablespoons cinnamon. Evenly place the raisins over your brown sugar and press down gently. Starting with the short end of the rectangle roll your dough into a log. Make sure the ends of the log are gently pressed before you transfer it  to a buttered bread pan.

Preheat your oven to 350*
Cover the loaf pan with a cloth and allow it to rise for 45 minutes or until almost doubles in size. 10 minutes before placing the loaf into your oven turn up the heat to 370*. Brush with milk and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Bake for approximately 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool bread on a wire rack and allow it to cool before slicing.