Homemade English Muffin Bread

Hello and Happy New Year from the Barbershop! I hope your 2011 is off to a great start so far. You know what would make an even better start to 2011? If you try this English muffin bread! ;-)

This is a delicious recipe I got from my boyfriend Mike's mother, Linda. Mike wanted to make this bread to give to my parents over the holidays, and I happily joined him to make it. What can I say? I can't resist time in the kitchen that's devoted to baking! :)

Here's the super simple recipe for you:

-5 and 1/2 to 6 cups of flour (all-purpose or a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat)

-2 packages active dry yeast (equal to 4 and 1/2 tsp.)

-1 Tbsp. sugar

-2 tsp. salt

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-2 cups milk (probably any kind will do! we used skim)

-1/2 cup water

-cornmeal

Combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Heat the liquids (milk and water) until warm (about 120 to 130 degrees). Add liquids to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in enough more flour to make the dough stiff (you may mix by hand with a spoon or spatula, or you can use a food processor; if you use the food processor, there's no need to knead the dough - haha, need to knead - but if you mix by hand you should knead the dough too). Prepare two loaf pans (9 x 5 or 8.5 x 4.5) by greasing with cooking spray and sprinkling with cornmeal. Put the dough in the prepared pans, and cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and let cool. Slice, toast, and enjoy!!

A few points of note from when Mike and I made this recipe... Total, we probably only used about 5 cups of flour, and we used a combination of all-purpose and wheat flours. We mixed the dough with a spoon by hand and it wasn't difficult at all! Finally, our bread was done after just 20 minutes, so I'd recommend setting your oven timer to 20 minutes and checking it then even though the recipe calls for baking it for 25 minutes.

Picture time!

Chef, er... Baker, er... Santa Mike!

The "risen" dough, ready for the oven!

Nice golden brown color!

Oh my gosh, sooo good.

You have to toast this bread...it's a must! I like that it has all the nooks and crannies of actual English muffins too. :) I enjoyed this bread toasted with margarine, jam, and peanut butter (not all at once though!). It was yummy with each one of those toppings!! It's such an easy yeast bread that takes no time at all. Ya gotta go try it. ;-)

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

Hi again!! Well, this post will complete the trifecta! Are you saying to yourself, "what" or "huh"?!?! My last two posts involved Barbershop goodies that I gave to my coworkers this year (i.e., chocolate graham toffee treats and cranberry white chocolate cinnamon bars). And this next post represents the third and final item I gave to them; hence, the trifecta. ;-) Okay, so I'm stretching the meaning of trifecta a bit. But I thought it was kinda fun!

I made peanut butter fudge for the first time ever this holiday season! It's hard to believe I haven't made it before. Let me tell you...thanks to how easy and delicious this recipe was, I will be making it again! This recipe is from the dependable blog of the Brown Eyed Baker. You have probably heard me mention her blog several times before! Check out her peanut butter fudge recipe that I followed here.

There are only five ingredients in this fudge, folks! The recipe calls for butter, peanut butter, salt, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. That's it!

First step...heat the butter and peanut butter on the stove.

After the mixture is brought to a boil, remove it from the heat and stir in the salt, vanilla, and powdered sugar until the mixture is smooth.

Put the fudge in a prepared pan that's been buttered.

Cover with saran wrap and put in the fridge. That's it!! It only needs to be in the fridge for about an hour or so.

This recipe made about 60 pieces for me...enough for each coworker to get two pieces! Yummmm. Are you hosting or attending a New Year's Eve party? I bet this would be a delicious sweet treat to have at your get-together. You should go make some... ;-)

See you again soon, hopefully. I have a couple non-dessert recipes I've been wanting to share with you!!

Cranberry White Chocolate Cinnamon Chip Bars

Am I really back in the Barbershop so soon? Yes! I am relaxing at home with my parents and thankful that I did not have to drive back to Boston today in the BLIZZARD! I took a couple extra days off from work, and I'm very glad I did. So, as I have some extra time here relaxing, I thought I'd share another tasty treat with you. And also, guess what I just realized? This recipe is my 85th blog post!! Neat. :)

This recipe is another one of the treats I made for my coworkers over the holidays. And they're yet another super easy and delicious goodie!! I loved the process of making these bars. All you had to do was put one layer on top of another and then bake! Seriously. It was that simple. These bars were a bit on the sweet side, but if you just have a bite-sized size bar, then it's not too sweet, I promise. I loved the combination of flavors in these bars too...white chocolate, graham cracker, cranberry, coconut, cinnamon...yummmm. The recipe is from an awesome blog, Our Best Bites (I've referenced it a few times at the Barbershop already). Here's the recipe!

Okay, enough talking - onto pics!

Ingredients!

The butter needs to be melted; save a dish and just melt it in the pan in the preheating oven!

While the butter is melting, prepare the remaining ingredients like the chopped pecans.

The other ingredients, ready to go...

 Melted butter!

Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over top, and press them down into the butter evenly.

Next up is sweetened condensed milk.

Coconut!

Cinnamon chips - LOVE these.

White chocolate chips.

Chopped pecans.

And finally, dried cranberries (I used craisins)!

Here are the bars, fresh out of the oven! They browned a bit more than I would have liked on the edges, but it didn't really affect the taste at all since they weren't actually burned.

It's important to let the bars cool completely before you cut them. I cut about 40 bars or so out of my 13 x 9 pan. I laid out these bars for my "assembly line" when I was putting together treats (30 bags worth!) for my coworkers.

You must try these bars. You just must! ;-)

See you again soon!

Chocolate Graham Toffee Treats

Hello and a belated Merry Christmas to you!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. :) I know I did! Love love love my time with family.

I have a very simple and incredibly tasty treat for you here - chocolate graham toffee treats! These were one item that I gave to my coworkers this year in the Barbershop goodie bags they all received (the other two items were peanut butter fudge and cranberry white chocolate cinnamon chip bars - those blog posts will be in the near future ;-)). The chocolate graham toffee treats were a big hit!! They take no time at all really. If you need to make a sweet treat in a flash, I'd recommend that you try these! A warning for you though: they are a bit addicting...

The recipe I followed can be found here. And as always, pictures for you. :)

I'd definitely recommend lining the pan with foil - makes it so much easier!

Finely chopped pecans, thanks to my mini chopper!

Butter and sugar brought to a boil on the stove...

Pecans, being mixed in.

Put it in the oven!

When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle chocolate chips on top. The recipe says 1 to 2 cups. I've made this recipe twice now and only used 1 cup both times. I thought that was plenty!

Let the chips melt and then spread the chocolate evenly.

I decided to sprinkle some Heath Bar toffee bits on mine too. :-D

The second time I made them I also put white sprinkles on them for a "snowy, wintery" look.

Betcha can't eat just one! However, I challenge you to only have one. Everything in moderation. ;-) I have a lot of people ask me how I stay slim and eat all the things I cook and bake. Well, I have to attribute that to self-control and exercise! I typically only have a taste or two of the yummy treats I make, and I run and exercise often. That's my secret. :-D

See ya again soon!!