Pumpkin Gingerbread with Pumpkin Spice Glaze

September 20, 2014 by Mackenzie

Guess who is headed to New York today??? EEEEK!

I’m volunteering at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting – and absolutely cannot wait! (See this post that I wrote a few weeks ago for all the details!) I can’t wait to see who I may get to meet, to connect with other inspiring young adults, and hang out with Obama and the Clintons 😉 Plus, I’m never going to complain about taking a week off of school and work! Although that did make this last week quite horrendous… And I don’t even want to think about what will happen when I get back. But for now, I’m jumping on the plane and jetting off to NYC!

Before I leave though, I have to share with you this amazing pumpkin bread recipe. I’m not sure how I had time to make it but Thursday afternoon arrived, I finished my classes for the week (and for the next ten days really!), and I decided I just really, really needed a baking break 🙂 I also had yet to bake with pumpkin this year – so I was ready to officially usher in fall.

This recipe is from my great-grandmother although I added my own spin with the pumpkin spice glaze. My grandma gave me my great-grandmother’s recipe card several years ago and I have been making this bread each fall since!

When Libby came home, she walked in the door and said “What have you been making? Please tell me it’s pumpkin bread!” She said each year, her mom would surprise her and her siblings with pumpkin bread one crisp fall day and that always signaled that fall was here! Well Libby, here you go!

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Pumpkin Spice Glaze

Recipe Type: Bread, Fall, Breakfast, Dessert

Author: Mackenzie

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 10 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 1 loaf

Recip from my Great Grandma Mildred

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup (or more if necessary) powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
2 drops pumpkin spice extract (or add some of the spices above!)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, oil and eggs until light in color, about 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices. Alternately add the dry ingredients and water into the pumpkin mixture, maxing in between additions. Do not overbeat.
Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for ten minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, milk and pumpkin spice extract. Drizzle over the bread and allow to set.

Blueberry Basil Grilled Cheese Sandwich

July 5, 2014 by Mackenzie

I met somebody. Someone inspiring, someone encouraging…

Okay, I’m being dramatic. But I did meet a few people who inspired me to return to my blogging despite the challenges of few ingredients and little time or desire to cook.

See, Washington DC is just an awesome place. Especially for a foodie. There are hole-in-the-wall restaurants everywhere, new chains, and so many different neighborhoods to explore, each with its own plethora of unique restaurants! And that has unfortunately had a negative effect on both my blog and my wallet.

It’s been a lot easier to go out or just just come home to a bowl of cereal after a long day of work and a sticky walk home. But – last week I read about a food bloggers happy hour meet-up and though I would give it a shot! Despite my nervousness about talking to “real” bloggers, I had a blast! And they inspired me to get back in the kitchen and create some tasty, simple recipes.

Well this might just be the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had. And let me tell you, I have eaten a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches.

I could live off of grilled cheese. Actually, in the last three years I pretty much have. Freshman year and sophomore year, when I was living in the dorms, I ate the pepper jack sandwich with sweet jalapeño jelly for at least half my meals. No kidding. Then this past year, I always had bread and cheese on hand and made grilled cheese for lunch far too often.

Well, this version takes the cake. Crushed blueberries in a balsamic reduction spread over sandwich bread and topped with a sprinkling of basil and thick slices of fontina cheese. I needn’t say anything more… You better run to your kitchen and try this.

Blueberry Basil Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Recipe adapted from Amandakbythebay
Makes 1 grilled cheese sandwich

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 basil leaf
2 slices of your favorite bread
Cheese, whichever kind you prefer on your grilled cheese and enough slices to melt nice and thick (need to offset the sweetness of the blueberries)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, sugar and vinegar. Crush the blueberries with a spatula and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce heat to low, keeping a slow boil. Let boil down for 5 minutes, stirring often.

2. Butter one side of each bread slice. Pour the blueberry mixture into a strainer set over a bowl to catch the juice. Strain out all the juice and spread the blueberry mixture on one (unbuttered-side) slice of bread. (The remaining syrup can be kept for something else!) Sprinkle the basil over the blueberry spread and top with cheese and the remaining slice of bread (keep buttered sides on outside!).

3. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Cook the sandwich for a few minutes on each side, checking to make sure it doesn’t burn, and then enjoy the sweet goodness!

Lemon Rosemary Bread with Lemon Glaze

February 3, 2014 by Mackenzie

I’ve been “mass-baking” a lot lately for different events and this was one of my favorites. I baked half of it in a loaf pan and the rest in a 9×13 because apparently we only have one loaf pan (oops – should have checked that beforehand). Regardless, both turned out great and were a hit with everyone I shared them with. I loved the strong lemon flavor, especially in the dead of winter when everything seems to be a bit more bland than other times of the year. And the rosemary makes it oh so unique and a little bit fancy 😀

Also, I made my Salted Rice Krispy Bars yesterday for another event and they disappeared SO FAST! Another easy crowd-pleaser!

Lemon Rosemary Bread with Lemon Glaze
Recipe from bakedbree
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and mix. Add the yogurt and then the eggs, one at a time – mixing between each addition. Add the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, salt and rosemary, and mix until combined.

3. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes than remove it from the pan and allow to cool completely on a rack.

4. When loaf is completely cool, make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Place foil under the rack with the loaf to catch the drippings and then drizzle the glaze over the top. Let stand until glaze is set.

G-team Banana Bread

September 6, 2013 by Mackenzie

Last weekend, we (the WU golf team) traveled to Michigan for our first tournament of the year! We played really well and won the tournament! Yeah Bears! Now, I knew that we needed a little something extra to get us through an 8-hour bus ride so I brought along some banana bread. As a team well-known for our bottom-less stomachs and endless appetite for dessert – I knew the bread wouldn’t last long. And it certainly didn’t – they loved it! Since we won the tournament, maybe this bread needs to become a tournament tradition 😉

G-team Banana Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Recipe from my Grandma Mary

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, salt and vanilla and mix well. Mix in the baking powder and flour, then add the mashed bananas. Mix until just combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour!

Zucchini Sunflower Bread

April 14, 2013 by Mackenzie

I told you I was on a bread-making kick… This is the last one for now 🙂

I love the Zucchini Sunflower bread from Kayak’s coffee shop and have been determined to recreate it. I had several different recipes, all of which differed just a bit! Before we left on the golf spring break trip, I had a couple of days with no roomies – so I created my own “America’s Test Kitchen.” I made a small loaf of each of the three recipes and one came out far superior!

I remade a full-size loaf last weekend and it was just as good as I remembered it! So here you go – the best Zucchini Sunflower bread!

Zucchini Sunflower Bread
Recipe from a cut out of an unknown cookbook (c/o Gramma Mary)
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar (weird I know but trust me!)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and dust with flour.

2. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Take out two tablespoons of beaten egg and discard (because the original recipe made two loaves and its a little hard to divide three eggs!). Add sugar and beat well. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini and orange.

3. Stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon). Stir into egg mixture and add the walnuts and sunflower seeds.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes before taking out of pan.

Brown Sugar Carrot Bread with Almonds and Coconut

April 12, 2013 by Mackenzie

I’ve been on a bread-making kick the last few weeks. It’s such a good way to use up leftover vegetables and you get a great snack out of it. We’ve pretty much had some sort of bread around all semester, whether its the sweet potato bread I posted the other day, this recipe or the one I’ll post in a few days… It’s a fun treat!

On Easter Sunday, I went a little crazy and made four loaves of bread – and this was one of them! The almonds and coconut give the flavor of the carrot bread a unique twist, and using only brown sugar gives it a beautiful amber color.

Brown Sugar Carrot Bread with Almonds and Coconut
Makes 1 loaf
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s Cookbook, How to Cook Everything (Awesome cookbook btw!)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons cold butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk or almond milk
1 tablespoon grated orange zest or lemon zest
1 egg
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and dust with flour.

2. Stir together the dry ingredients and then cut in butter with two knives or in a food processor until there are no pieces larger than a pea. Transfer to a large bowl if done in food processor.

3. In a small bowl, beat together the milk, zest and egg. Pour into dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until the batter is just moist, do not overmix. Fold in the carrots, almonds and coconut.

4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Mackenzie

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