Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Zucchini is still everywhere and one really nice way to enjoy some is in a zucchini bread. Although my favourite zucchini bread is a blueberry zucchini bread, every once in a while I like to indulge and go for a dark chocolate chip zucchini bread. Even though I was going with the chocolate chips, I wanted the rest of the zucchini bread to be as healthy as possible so I tweaked my recipe a little, cutting back on the fats and sugars while adding whole wheat flour and using 0% Greek yogurt along with bananas and the zucchini to keep the bread nice and light, moist and tender. One of the best things about a quick bread like this is that it literally only needs about 5-10 minutes of effort and then you just have to patiently wait for it to bake. I like to make a loaf of bread on the weekend and then have a slice for breakfasts during the week and this bread definitely lasts all week and with a few seconds in the microwave it is just as light moist and fluffy as the first day! What a great way to enjoy some zucchini!

Read the recipe »

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

With Halloween coming up I have been thinking about pumpkins a lot more and when I was wondering what to do for breakfasts this week, a pumpkin bread seemed like a great way to go! Although I already have a recipe for a pumpkin bread that I really like I wanted to try to incorporate some of the ideas from the recently successful strawberry Greek yogurt banana bread into it. The Greek yogurt banana bread uses bananas and Greek yogurt to completely replace the oil or butter in an attempt to make it a little healthier while leaving the bread nice and light, fluffy and most importantly, moist. For my pumpkin Greek yogurt banana bread I pretty much took the Greek yogurt banana bread recipe and added pumpkin spices and pumpkin puree while removing some of the bananas to keep the moisture level consistent. In addition I replaced some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and since pecan go so well with pumpkin I added some of those as well. The pumpkin Greek yogurt banana bread turned out amazingly well, having one of the best textures that I have ever had in a quick bread! I am looking forward to breakfasts this week especially on Halloween!

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Strawberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

During the summer I tend to make a lot of quick breads and that is because there are so many fruits and vegetables that are available that make really good quick breads. One of my favourite summer quick breads has to be the strawberry sour cream bread which I tend to make pretty much every year! This year I was thinking that I might try lightening the recipe up a bit and the first step was to use some Greek yogurt, which is now everywhere in the grocery stores, instead of the sour cream. Next up was to try to reduce or eliminate the butter or oil and that was done by adding three over ripe bananas in addition to the yogurt to keep things nice and moist. Another great way to make quick breads a bit healthier is to use some whole wheat flour in place of regular flour and I normally replace about half of the flour with the whole wheat flour. In the end this Greek yogurt strawberry bread turned out just as good as the original sour cream version and even with the changes it was nice and moist and stayed that way for a few days before it was all gone. What a great way to enjoy a few summer breakfasts!

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Jalapeno Cornbread

I always enjoy having cornbread with chili and I wanted to try something a little different with the cornbread that I made to go with my beef and black bean chili. Cornbread is another one of those foods where the basic recipe is really just the starting point as there are so many different ingredients that you can add to it. I certainly do like to experiment and in the past I have tried adding different kinds of cheeses, bacon, kernels of corn and even cranberries. One of the nice things about about cornbread is that it can be just a touch on the sweet side and I was thinking that some spicy hot jalapenos would go particularly well with that sweetness in addition to adding some pretty flecky of green. Of course one trick to making a really tasty cornbread is to use bacon grease for the fat, though butter or oil also work and buttermilk adds a hint of tanginess and helps keep things nice and moist. This cornbread would make the perfect side for any bowl of chili but for me, things were just getting started because I had even bigger plans for the leftovers!

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Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Zucchini has to be one of my favorite summer vegetables and this weekend I was in luck as the farmers market was overflowing with them! Of all of the many things that there are to do with zucchini, the one that I keep coming back to time and time again is the classic zucchini bread which I end up making at least once every summer. The farmers market was also full of fresh local blueberries that I could not resist picking up and I knew what I was going to have to use them in, a blueberry zucchini bread! For the recipe, I started out with my basic zucchini bread recipe and added blueberries. Nice and simple eh? I really enjoy this zucchini bread recipe as it always comes out nice and light a moist and good! Some of the things that I like about this recipe include the use of the whole wheat flour and the vanilla yogurt to cut down on the amount of oil that is needed. I tend to use a mix of green and yellow zucchini to give the cake a nice mixture of colours and this year, with the addition of the blueberries the bread was even more colourful that usual. This blueberry zucchini bread is a perfect celebration of summers bounty and I am looking forward to enjoying it for breakfasts for the rest of the week!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

(makes 8+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup pecans (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, yogurt and egg in a bowl.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the blueberries and pecans.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 50-70 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Zucchini Bread with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta
Blueberry Maple Pecan Cinnamon Buns
Strawberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Banana Upside Down Cake with Chocolate Chips

Whenever I have bananas that have gotten a little too ripe, I let them go until they are over ripe at which time I toss them into the freezer until the next time a recipe calls for over ripe bananas. Of course my favorite recipes that call for over ripe bananas are banana breads which are really easy to make and are always so good! The other day, I encountered some of those over ripe bananas in my freezer and I thought that it was the perfect time to make a banana bread! I had just been itching to try something new with the next banana bread that I made and this was the perfect opportunity. Banana bread recipes, and in fact all quick bread recipes, are very similar to cake recipes and I had been wanting to try making my next banana bread in the form of an upside-down banana cake topped with caramelized banana slices!

For the recipe, I decided to start with my recipe for a chocolate chip and sour cream banana bread and I simply made it in a cake pan rather than a loaf pan with a layer of brown sugar and butter topped with sliced bananas on the bottom. I also modified the recipe slightly by replacing some of the all purpose flour with some whole wheat flour. The banana upside down cake turned out really well! The brown sugar and butter on the bottom caramelized with the bananas perfectly creating a beautiful layer of caramelized banana-y goodness. The rest of the banana cake was nice a light and moist. I normally eat quick breads like this for breakfast and yet I feel a little guiltier doing so when the same recipe is called a cake. Oh well, breakfasts are looking good for the next few days while the supplies last. :)

Banana Upside Down Cake with Chocolate Chips

(makes 6-9 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 ripe bananas (peeled and sliced)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 overripe bananas (mashed)
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a pan along with the brown sugar.
2. Pour the mixture into the bottom of an 8 inch square baking dish and spread it out.
3. Cover with a layer of sliced bananas.
4. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and in a large bowl.
5. Cream the butter and brown sugar in another bowl.
6. Stir the eggs, sour cream and bananas into the butter and sugar.
7. Stir the dry ingredients into the banana mixture.
8. Stir in the chocolate chips.
9. Gently spread the batter over the bananas in the pan
10. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a tooth pick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Chocolate Chip and Sour Cream Banana Bread
Bananas Foster Pancakes
Strawberry Sour Cream Bread
Curried Mango Bread

Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick Bread

I guess I’ve finally gotten around to cooking from November magazines. This quick bread was in the November issue of Living, and the title alone made me want to bake it. Cranberry and cornmeal sounded like a great combination. Then, I read on into the recipe. I admit to having several food issues with ingredients that I usually avoid. One of those many issues is with crystallized ginger. I don’t even know why. I like ginger in both sweet and savory applications, and nibbling on crystallized ginger is perfectly fine. For some reason though, when baked goods include chopped crystallized ginger, I often omit it. Well, I decided to get over it and just go with the original intent of this recipe. At last, my mind might have been changed forever about this ingredient. The little bits of chewy, gingery goodness throughout the loaf were lovely in the cornmeal crumb.

A sauce was made from cranberries, melted butter, and sugar. That mixture was cooked until the cranberries started to pop, and at that point, the sauce had thickened. Fresh cranberries were suggested, but I used frozen, and they worked perfectly fine. I also added a few extra cranberries just because I love their tart flavor. The cranberries and sauce were transferred to a loaf pan and left to cool. The batter was made from butter, sugar, eggs, and a whisked together mixture of flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, the chopped crystallized ginger was folded into the batter. Something that worked well for me was to toss the chopped crystallized ginger with a small amount of flour. That way, the pieces didn’t stick all together in one clump in the middle of the batter. The thick batter with well-distributed chopped crystallized ginger was spooned over the cranberries and carefully smoothed. The loaf baked for about 35 minutes.

My only complaint is that my quick bread didn’t rise to the nice, tall height seen in the magazine photo. I’m not sure why it didn’t since I used the same size pan and same quantities of ingredients in the batter. My baking powder is brand new too. Other than that minor quibble, I was very pleased with this. The cooled loaf was turned out to allow the cranberries to sit on top like jewels. It was sweet and tart and the cornmeal and crystallized ginger flavors worked together very well. And, just like that, I might be over my crystallized ginger thing.

Medjool Date and Walnut Bread

With all of the chaos that comes with the holidays I wanted to make sure that breakfasts were taken care of. Quick breads like this one keep well in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer for even longer so you can easily make a loaf or two and have breakfasts ready to go for a while. I like to cut the loaf into slices and individually wrap them as soon as the loaf has cooled down so that they are even more convenient. You can pull out a slice in the morning and with just a few seconds in the microwave it is almost as good as when it was fresh from the oven.

When the medjool dates were in season and cheap I picked up a bunch of them and I thought that date bread would be really nice for breakfasts for the holidays. I decided to start with one of my favorite quick bread recipes that includes lots of good stuff including: maple syrup, yogurt and a banana that allow you to cut back on the oil. It also includes the goodness of rolled oats and some of the all purpose flour is replaced with whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier. I could not resist adding a nut to the quick bread and this time I went for walnuts. This quick bread is nice and light and fluffy and moist and full of flavour! The fresh dates worked really well in the quick bread retaining their moisture and added a really nice texture and natural sweetness. I certainly have been enjoying breakfasts these last few days!

Medjool Date and Walnut Bread

(makes 1 loaf)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups medjool dates (pitted and cut into bite sized pieces)
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, banana, oil, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the dates and walnuts until just mixed.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 40-70 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Pecans and White Chocolate Chips
Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Peach Bread

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

Pumpkins are in season and really cheap right now so I have a few of them on hand just waiting to be used. When I recently came across this recipe for a pumpkin caramel cheesecake bread on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody I knew exactly what I would be using one of those pumpkins for. How could I resist making this? With pumpkin, caramel and cheesecake all rolled up into one there was no way that I could. I pretty much just used the recipe as it was, though I cut back on some of the sugar and replaced half of the flour with whole wheat flour. One of the things that I really like about quick breads is that they are so easy to make. You pretty much just mix all of the ingredients and then bake it. This quick bread had the added step of mixing the cheesecake filling but it was still really easy to make. While the bread was baking my apartment was filled with an amazing pumpkin and caramel aroma and by the time that it was done I could barley wait for it to cool to try it. The pumpkin caramel cheesecake turtle bread was so good! The cheesecake layer helped keep the bread nice and moist and it went really well in the bread. The caramel and pumpkin flavour combo was simply amazing and of course it never hurts to add chocolate and pecans. I certainly am looking forward to having this for breakfasts this week!

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

(makes 1 loaf)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon golden syrup (or corn syrup)
2 tablespoon caramel sauce
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup chocolate sauce
1 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the pumpkin, vanilla, oil, eggs and sugars in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, syrup, caramel, egg and flour in a bowl.
5. Pour half of the pumpkin bread mixture into a loaf pan followed by the caramel cheesecake mixture and the remaining pumpkin bread mixture.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
7. Let cool and then pour on the caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and pecans.

Similar Recipes:
Cheesecake Stuffed Apple Muffins with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce
Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Pecans and White Chocolate Chips
Pumpkin Casserole
Maple Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
Cranberry Turtle Bars
Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Buns with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
Rolo Cheesecake Bars

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

The farmers market has been overflowing with zucchini lately. They have so much that they are quite literally giving it away! This weekend when I picked up some zucchini at the farmers market they threw in a few extra as I paid. The question was: What was I going to do with all of this unexpected extra zucchini? The first thing that came to mind was a zucchini bread which is always a nice and easy way to use some zucchini. This time however I wanted to try a chocolate version of the zucchini bread. I pretty much just took my standard zucchini bread recipe and added cocoa powder. I kept the walnuts in the bread and added some chocolate chips for even more chocolaty goodness. The chocolate zucchini bread was as easy to make as mixing the ingredients and baking and it turned out wonderfully. I could not resist slicing the bread and trying a piece before it had cooled down from the oven. The chocolate chips were still melted from baking and the bread was nice and light and moist and good! One of the things that I like most about making quick breads like this is that now I will have quick and easy breakfasts for the rest of the week.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

(makes 1 loaf)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, yogurt and egg in a bowl.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the nuts and chocolate chips.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 5X9 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 50-70 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Zucchini Bread
Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta
Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Curried Pineapple Banana Bread (Siamese Loaf)

I have experimented with adding curry to quick breads in the past and really enjoyed the results in the form of this curried chocolate chip banana bread and this curried mango bread. The curry adds an amazing aroma and flavour and a nice touch of warmth to the quick breads. A while ago I came across this recipe for a Thai pineapple curry banana bread with coconut on Clever Monkey Studio and I knew immediately that I would have to try it. Recently the the grocery stores have been full of pineapple and I recalled this recipe and set about making it. I had been looking forward to trying this bread because it called for a lot more curry powder than I had used in either of my loaves and I was interested to see how it would work. This tropical quick bread was just as easy to make as any other quick bread, which is to say that it was just a matter of mixing all of the ingredients and then baking until the loaf is perfectly golden brown. Of course the baking of the loaf filled my apartment with an amazing aroma and I was eagerly anticipating the results. The curried pineapple banana bread turned out great! The curry flavour worked really well with the pineapple and coconut though I think I might use a bit more coconut the next time that I make this bread. The increased amount of curry powder in the loaf also worked well. The curry flavour came more to the foreground and there much more heat which I really enjoyed. I am looking forward to breakfasts this week!

Curried Pineapple Banana Bread (Siamese Loaf)

(makes 1 loaf)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons curry powder
3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 cup pineapple (cut into bite sized pieces)
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and curry powder in a bowl.
2. Mix the bananas, butter, sugars, egg and lime juice in another bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
4. Mix in the pineapple and coconut.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a tooth pick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Curried Mango Bread
Curried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Banana Bread
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Prawn and Pineapple Curry

Curried Mango Bread

One of the good things about the mangoes being out now is that there are no local fruits available and I can spend some time focusing on them. I find that during the summer when the local fruits start becoming available that it is rather like a whirlwind of one after the other or many at the same time and I don't get to fully enjoy any of them to the extent that I might like to. I had been wanting to try making a mango bread for a while and now was the time while it was still cool out and I don't mind having the oven on. For some reason I associate mangos with curries and chutneys and the first thing that I thought about for a mango bread was a curried mango bread. I had made, and enjoyed a curried chocolate chip banana bread a while ago and I was looking forward to trying a curried mango bread.

I found a recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Fresh Mango Bread on gatronomy that looked like a good starting point. Of course the first thing that I did was replace some of the all purpose flour with some whole wheat flour to make it a touch healthier. Next up was replacing the spices with some curry powder and some freshly grated ginger and garlic along with a chopped chili pepper for some heat. Raisins commonly go with chutney's so I left them in to accompany the mangoes and I had a recipe for a curried mango bread.

Like other quick breads the curried mango bread came together quickly and easily. One thing that I did notice about this recipe was that the batter was a bit drier that I was used to but everything worked out. This mango bread takes a bit longer to bake than some other quick breads that I have made but the toothpick test worked like a charm as usual and I got it out at the right time. Because this cake is in the oven longer than normal you might want to keep an eye on the crust and if it is getting too dark, cover it with foil.

The curried mango bread turned out really well! My apartment was filled with an amazing aroma of baking bread and warm curry. I could hardly keep myself from cutting off a slice as soon as it came out of the oven but I let it cool a bit first so that I could take some photos. The mango bread was nice and light and moist and the large chunks of mangoes in it were still fresh and juicy. The curry powder added a really nice hint of spices and warmth without overpowering any of the breads other flavours. The thing that I liked most about this bread was the crust. After baking in the oven for so long the crust was nice and thick though it gives way easily when you bite into it and it tastes like it has caramelized. I really liked both the texture and the caramelized flavour of the crust which along with the soft, moist and tasty inside makes this one of my favorite quick breads yet!

Curried Mango Bread

(makes 1 loaf)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 tablespoon garlic (grated)
1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
1 red chili (chopped)
1 lime (zest only)
2 cups mango (peeled, stoned and diced)
3/4 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Mix the eggs, oil, sugar, garlic, ginger, chili and lime zest in another large bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients.
4. Mix the mango and raisins into the the batter.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a tooth pick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 90 minutes.

The mango and cardamom jam that I made earlier went really well on the curried mango bread for even more mango flavour!

Similar Recipes:
Curried Pineapple Banana Bread (Siamese Loaf)
Curried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Zucchini Bread
Chicken and Mango Curry
Mango Chutney

More Mango Recipes

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

I had been seeing a few lemon yogurt cakes around that looked good and I was thinking that the rest of my meyer lemons would go well in one. Recently I have been trying to clear some space in my freezer and I came across some blueberries that I had frozen in the summer. I really like the lemon and blueberry flavour combo and I could not resist adding the blueberries to the lemon yogurt cake. With he cake down the only thing that was left was the topping. I was thinking about going with a simple lemon glaze when I came across a bookmark for a lemon blueberry cake with a limoncello glaze on Dragon's Kitchen that sounded great! The lemon yogurt cake with blueberries was really easy to make, though it took a bit longer than I expected. (I think that was because I used still frozen blueberries.) The toothpick test worked and the cake came out perfectly baked even though it took a little longer. The cake was nice and light fluffy and moist and infused with blueberry and lemony goodness! The limoncello added a really nice zing to the lemon glaze that finished the cake off nicely. I think that I will be having this cake for breakfasts for the rest of the week and I am certainly looking forward to them.

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

(makes 6+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup yogurt
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon limoncello (or more lemon juice)
lemon zest to garnish

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the lemon zest, yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla extract in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the blueberries.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour.
7. Mix the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and limoncello and pour over the cake after it has cooled.

Similar Recipes:
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Raspberry and Lime Muffins
Blueberry Mochi Cake

Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

While I was thinking about what I wanted to do for breakfasts this week my thoughts kept coming back to apples, cinnamon and oatmeal. Although apple and cinnamon oatmeal sounded good, I thought that I would make it a bit more interesting and do an apple and cinnamon oatmeal bread. I wanted the bread to be full of apple flavour and to have nice big chunks of apple with every bite. To achieve this goal I used both large pieces of chopped apples and some of my own home made roasted apple sauce in the bread. Of course there had to be a lot of cinnamon and I thought that some raisins and chopped pecans would finish off the bread nicely. In addition to using rolled oats in the bread I garnished it with some more. The apple and cinnamon oatmeal bread turned out great! It was nice and light and fluffy and moist and full of appley goodness! I really enjoyed the texture provided by the chunks of apple, the rolled oats and the raisins and nuts. I think I might just have a new favorite quick bread.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 apple sauce
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups apples (peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecan (chopped)
1 handful rolled oats

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, apple sauce, oil, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the apples, raisins and pecans until just mixed.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Sprinkle the rolled oats on top
6.Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Cheesecake Stuffed Apple Muffins with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce
Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes Topped with Caramelized Apples
Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Pecans and White Chocolate Chips
Zucchini Bread
Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Pecans and White Chocolate Chips

It seems that the pumpkin and squash marathon continues. While I was enjoying my pumpkin pie pancakes I thought that a pumpkin bread would also be a good idea. It started off as a pretty basic pumpkin bread but then I thought that it would be nice if I added some dried cranberries. The next thing I knew I was also adding some toasted pecans and white chocolate chips. The fully loaded pumpkin bread turned out really well. It was nice and light and moist and good. The pumpkin flavour came through well and the spices finished it off with an amazing aroma. Unfortunately the white chocolate chips seem to have melted into the bread. Next time I will have to use chucks of white chocolate bar instead. For even more pumpkiny goodness I spread some pumpkin butter on a slice of the pumpkin bread. I am looking forward to breakfasts this week!

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (ground)
1/4 teaspoon cloves (ground)
1/4 teaspoon ginger (ground)
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl.
2. Mix the pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs, oil and yogurt in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry mixtures.
4. Stir in the white chocolate chips, cranberries and pecans.
5. Pour the batter into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a tooth pick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread
Sweet Potato Bread with Praline Sauce
Pumpkin Pie Pancakes
Curried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip and Sour Cream Banana Bread
Medjool Date and Walnut Bread
Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Buns with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Zucchini Bread

I really like quick breads! They are super simple to make and they always taste great. I like to make a loaf on the weekend and it easily lasts me for breakfasts for the whole week. I slice the loaf into individual serving, place them in plastic containers and store the in the fridge. Give them 40 seconds in the microwave in the morning and you have a really good breakfast that is almost as moist and warm as when it just came out of the oven with almost no effort. It is great for weekdays when you don't have that much time. I have been wanting to try a sweet zucchini quick bread ever since I made the savoury zucchini quick bread and this weekend I did. A zucchini bread is pretty similar to a banana bread in that is a really great base that you can add flavours to. I was thinking about making a dark chocolate zucchini but in the end I decided that I wanted to see those green and yellow flecks of zucchini in the bread. I added some soft raisins and chopped walnuts to the raisin bread for some extra flavours and textures. The zucchini bread with raisins and walnuts was so good that I ate it with nothing more than simple butter each morning.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, yogurt and egg in a bowl.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the nuts and raisins.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 5X9 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 50-70 minutes.



Similar Recipes:
Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta
Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Peach Bread

Peaches are in season and I have been enjoying snacking on them. I was thinking that a peach bread would make for a nice breakfast this week. I was envisioning a bread with nice large chunks of peaches in it. I had really enjoyed the blueberry maple oatmeal muffins with pecan streusel and I thought that the recipe would make for a nice bread. I pretty much just took the blueberry muffin recipe and replaced the blueberries with peaches and made it in a loaf pan instead of a muffin pan. The peach bread turned out really well. It was nice and light and moist and full of peach goodness. I tried serving the peach bread with a maple peach sauce.



Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup peaches (stoned, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup flour
pinch cinnamon
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, banana, butter, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the peaches until just mixed.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Mix the pecans, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter until they form crumbs.
6. Spoon the streusel over the bread.
7. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.





Similar Recipes:
Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins with Pecan Streusel
Strawberry Sour Cream Bread
Peach and Maple Sour Cream Pecan Pie
Medjool Date and Walnut Bread
Apricot and Ginger Muffins
Peach Amaretti Crumble
Strawberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Zucchini Bread with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta

The farmers market was overflowing with zucchini on the weekend and I picked some up. Ever since I discovered quick bread I have wanted to try making a zucchini quick bread. Though zucchini are typically available all year round I had been waiting for it to be in season locally and now was my chance. I had been wanting to try a savoury zucchini bread but when I searched the web I was not able to find many savoury zucchini bread recipes and none of the ones that I did find interested me. I was a bit disappointed but it was no problem as I always enjoy coming up with my own recipes. I started with one of my banana bread recipes as a base and dropped all of the sugar and spices. Of course, the bananas were replaced with zucchini and I added some roasted red peppers, garlic, feta and oregano for some flavour. Since balsamic vinegar goes well with roasted red peppers I added some of that as well. The next step was to replace the butter with olive oil to make it a bit healthier. Since I was adding a lot of solids to the recipe I cut back a bit on the flour and replaced some of it with whole wheat flour. With that, I had my recipe for a savoury zucchini bread.

The zucchini bread was just as easy to make as any other quick bread, which is pretty easy. The aroma coming from the oven while it baked was really amazing. I was barely able to restrain myself from digging into it right as it came out of the oven as I wanted to take a few photos of the loaf. As soon as that was done I had it sliced open really quick. The zucchini bread with roasted red peppers and feta was so good! It was nice and light and moist and full of flavour. The peppers were nice pockets of juicy moistness in the bread and it was always nice to bite into some of the salty feta. The zucchini bread was great all by itself but I had some leftover hummus and decided to try the zucchini bread with some of that along with some fresh tomato and cucumber slices. The combination of the flavours of the zucchini bread along with the creaminess of the hummus and the cool juiciness of the tomatoes and the cucumbers was really nice. With a savoury zucchini bread down, I am now looking forward to trying a more traditional sweet zucchini bread.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
2 roasted red peppers (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (grated)
1/2 cup feta (crumbled)
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, roasted red pepper, garlic, feta, oregano, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and eggs in a large bowl.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and oregano in a bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.





Similar Recipes:
Marinated Feta with Olives and Roasted Red Pepper
Roasted Asparagus and Red Pepper Farro Salad
Grilled Vegetable Panini
Zucchini Bread
Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Cinnamon Bread

Cinnamon had been on my mind a lot and I knew that the only way ease my thoughts would be to indulge in it. I went through my bookmarks looking far a recipe that was full of cinnamon and found this one for a cinnamon loaf that sounded really good. This loaf is a plain quick bread with layers of cinnamon and a cinnamon topping. The recipe called for a full two heaping tablespoons of cinnamon which is more that I have ever used at once. This quick bread was a bit more work than most as it called for mixing the ingredients a bit at a time and pouring the ingredients into the loaf pan in layers. Despite the extra effort required it was still really easy to do. The smell of baking cinnamon is just amazing! The cinnamon bread turned out really good. It was light and fluffy and moist. The cinnamon layers were thick and full of cinnamon flavour and the cinnamon top was nice and fragrant and crumbly. Though the thoughts of cinnamon have receded for the moment, I am thinking that a rolled yeast based cinnamon bread is in my future.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in another bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs, salt, vanilla and lemon zest.
4. Mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
5. Mix 1/2 of the buttermilk into the wet ingredients.
6. Mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
7. Mix the remaining buttermilk into the wet ingredients.
8. Mix 1/3 the remaining dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
9. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
10. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
11. Pour 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture on top.
12. Pour 1/3 of the batter on top.
13. Pour 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture on top.
14. Pour the remaining batter on top.
15. Pour the remaining cinnamon mixture on top.
16. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour.

Similar Recipes:
Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Maple Oat Bread

Curried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I have made a few banana breads lately and they were all leading up to this one. A while ago I came across the concept of using curried flavoured chocolate chips in a banana bread which sounded really good. I was not able to find any curried flavoured chocolate chips so I decided to go with just adding curry powder to the banana bread. I wanted to find a banana bread recipe that I liked before attempting the version with curry powder though. After making a few banana breads I was pleased with this recipe for a sour cream banana bread and so I was ready to try making the curried version. I was still a bit worried that I would be ruining a good loaf of banana bread but my curiosity pushed me forward.

I was not sure how much curry powder to use so I decided to start with one tablespoon. The curried banana bread smelled really good while baking and I could hardly wait for the bread to cool down before trying it. The chocolate chips were still slightly melted when I cut into the loaf. The curried chocolate chip banana bread was pretty good!! Even with a tablespoon of curry powder the flavour was subtle and did not overpower the flavour of the bananas or the chocolate. The curry added a nice layer of spiciness, but not heat, that made the bread nice and exotic. The next time that I make this curried chocolate chip banana bread I think I might try increasing the amount of curry a bit to see how it works

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 overripe bananas (mashed)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and curry powder in a large bowl.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar in another bowl.
3. Stir the eggs, sour cream and banana into the butter and sugar.
4. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Pour the batter into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
7. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a tooth pick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
Curried Pineapple Banana Bread (Siamese Loaf)
Curried Mango Bread
Chocolate Chip and Sour Cream Banana Bread
Banana Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Bread





Take a look at the Banana Bread Bake Off roundup at Not Quite Nigella.