The Nifty Foodie

A few weeks ago, I saw that my grocery store was offering a case of mangoes for $3.99! I love mangoes, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d eat a whole case before it got overly ripe. So, of course I looked for some recipes to help me use up the case. I thought I remembered seeing a mango bread around the food blog world, so I referred to Google and discovered that Dorie Greenspan actually has one in her book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I grabbed my copy of the book as quickly as I could and got started on the bread!

Stupid.

No matter how excited you are to make a recipe, always read through the recipe a few times. ALWAYS…or you’ll skim over the cup of granulated sugar that the recipe calls for and you’ll end up with a mango door stopper.

So, the next night, I was determined to make this bread happen. I even put the cup of sugar near the mixing bowls to ensure that I wouldn’t forget it again. Luckily, no ingredients were forgotten this time (with the exception of raisins…those were kept out because I was too lazy to go to the store to get some), and I got to taste this wonderfully spicy mango bread. This bread reminded me a little bit of pumpkin bread, since it has cinnamon and ginger flavors running throughout the bread, yet the mango definitely made it the perfect summer recipe.

Mango Bread
Source: Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower oil
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 2 cups diced mango (from 1 large peeled and pitted mango)
• 3/4 cup moist, plump golden raisins (omitted)
• Grated zest of 1/2 a lime

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the center notch. Also, butter and flour a standard bread loaf pan and place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet. Since the bread will be baking for a long time, the cookie sheet will act as an insulator to prevent the bottom of the bread from burning.
2. Whisk the eggs and oil together in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Rub the brown sugar between your hands to ensure there are no lumps and add to the dry mixture.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and using a sturdy spoon or spatula, mix the dough. Just to note, this dough will seem very thick, so you just have to keep mixing and it will get a little more manageable to work with.
4. Stir in the mango, raisins and zest until just incorporated and spoon the dough into your loaf pan. Spread the dough evenly.
5. Bake the bread for 1 1/2 hours. Check the bread ever so often to make sure the top isn’t getting too brown. If it is, just place some foil over the bread for the remaining part of the baking.
6. When finished baking, allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then take the bread out of the loaf pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Oh yeah…I’m sure you are skimming quickly through this post to find the winner of the $100 credit to Joss & Main…

The winner is commenter #33 – Stephanie, who said:

The armless chair in gerber sunflower! I have wanted one for our bedroom forever!!!!!!!!! Love the site

CONGRATS Stephanie! Please email me at niftyfoodie@gmail.com within 48 hours in order to receive your prize!

Sorry, you snooze…you lose. A new winner has been posted.

As of January 6th, it’s now the Carnival season! Of course, this means king cakes are back in stores. I absolutely love king cake. It’s a sweet, yeast bread with cinnamon and topped with icing and colored sugars (I made mine in black/gold for the Saints game on Saturday.). They make king cakes with so many fillings too, from cream cheese to apple to bavarian cream! This time, I made a plain king cake, since people are pretty particular about what fillings they like with king cake.

I’ve made king cake before, and it turned out tasting like bread. It was NOT king cake. This recipe, however, is MUCH better. This recipe actually comes from Haydel’s Bakery, which is where we had our wedding cake and groom’s cake (which was a tiered king cake) made. I found it fairly easy to make too, however, I think their recipe would be much better if you ice and sugar after baking, which is different than what their recipe suggested. When I made it their way (bake with sugar already sprinkled on), most of us just pulled the chunks of sugar off of the king cake while eating it.

King Cake
Source: adapted from WWLTV via Haydel’s Bakery

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all purpose shortening
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 lg. eggs
• 1 cup milk (room temperature)
• 2 sm. packs active dry yeast
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp orange zest
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp butter extract
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

For the icing:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. water

For the colored sugars:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar for each color that you want to make
• assorted food coloring

Directions:

1. In a mixer at first speed combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, salt, and shortening until well creamed. Add eggs and continue to cream.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the flavors. Once dissolved add to creamed mixture and continue to mix.
3. Add flour a cup at a time and mix until dough tightens.
4. Remove from mixer and knead into a ball. At this point sprinkle some flour on top and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rest for 1½ hours.
5. While the dough is resting mix your colored sugars and icing. Mix the 1/2 cup of sugar with a few drops of food coloring until the color you reach is desired.
6. For the icing, whisk the confectioners sugar with the water and vanilla.
7. When dough has rested roll out into an oblong piece. Brush on canola oil covering the entire piece. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar liberally over the whole piece.
8. Once the dough is covered with the cinnamon sugar and oil, fold it in half lengthwise. Cut into 3 strips and braid the dough. Gently roll the dough by starting at one end and working all the way down to the other end. This will make the dough a nice long piece that can then be shaped into a circle. Once shaped place on a baking pan covered with piece of parchment.
9. Allow the dough to rest again until it doubles in size. Bake at 370 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until dough is golden brown.
10. Let the cake cool and spread the icing on top. Then, sprinkle with your colored sugars. Enjoy!

Words cannot begin to describe how much I love eggnog. The holiday season hasn’t begun until I chug a glass of the stuff. I know it’s super bad for you, but hey, Christmas only comes once a year, right? 

I’ve been looking for a recipe involving eggnog to bake. I made cookies a while back, but those were pretty darn cakey. Almost whoopie pie like. Then, I heard about this recipe from Jessica Lynn of  The Tale of Two Kitchens. I knew I had to make it happen. Instead of muffins, though, I wanted to make mini loaves to include in the coworker’s gift baskets.

I ended up over filling a bread pan and some of the batter spilled out onto the cookie sheet. It was fate since I made just enough for coworkers. So, of course, I sampled the baked on spillage. It was PERFECT!

Now, I know eggnog is hard to come by nowadays, but for next year, definitely give this recipe a try. The eggnog flavor isn’t very prominent, but it gave the mini loaves a wonderful, spicy note reminiscent of the holiday season. I also found that when making this recipe into mini loaves, I only really needed half of the streusel topping, so the recipe I’m posting has different measurements for the streusel topping.

Eggnog Cranberry Bread
Source: Slightly adapted from Recipe Girl, found on Tale of Two Kitchens

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup eggnog
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped frozen cranberries
2 Tbs granulated sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. butter, slightly softened
1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 4 mini loaf pans.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, eggnog, butter and almond extract. Mix in dry ingredients just until combined. Toss cranberries with 2 T. sugar and then stir into batter.

4. Prepare streusel topping: Combine topping ingredients using a pastry cutter (or two knives) until crumbly.

5. Fill prepared loaf pans until about 1/2 – 2/3 of the way full (this batter rises a lot!). Top with streusel topping. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until the breads test done with a toothpick inserted in the center coming out clean.

I know what you’re thinking…what’s with the title? Well, writing challah french toast with subtle notes of orange drenched in orange berry sauce is a little bit lengthy for a blog title, don’t you think?

So, I decided if Heaven could cook me breakfast in the morning, I imagine this is what they would serve. Delicious, fruity french toast. There’s something about french toast. It’s just so simple, yet yummy and you can flavor it any way you want. Versatile little breakfast you are, my french toast.

One of my fellow Weddingbee pals (Yes, I know I got married over a year ago. Once a bee, always a bee darnit!), who writes the blog I love you much, came up with this recipe. This recipe is the reason I made challah and it was worth it. Make the challah/buy the challah…whatever it takes. This bread redefines french toast, folks. Seriously…you don’t even have to make THIS french toast. Just make any french toast with this bread from now on. You will NOT regret it!

Challah French Toast with Orange Berry Sauce
Source: adapted from I love you much

Ingredients for toast:

• 1 loaf challah
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 cup reduced fat milk
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1 bag of frozen strawberries
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. flour
• pinch of salt

(optional: some powdered sugar for dusting)

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients for the berry sauce in a small pot on medium low heat and allow to cook down, stirring/slightly mashing berries every few minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
3. Whisk all ingredients (except for the challah) in a large bowl until well incorporated.
4. Slice challah into 1/2 inch slices.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet at medium heat.
6. Soak 3-4 pieces of challah in the egg mixture for 30 seconds on each side (until the bread is fully soaked but not soggy). Shake off excess mixture and place on the skillet (cook 2-3 minutes on each side until barely brown).
7. When finished on the skillet, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet in an oven to keep warm/finish the toast.
8. Repeat 6 & 7 until all toast is done. Keep in the oven an extra 10 minutes.
9. Serve with berry sauce and powdered sugar. Enjoy!

I’ve never heard of challah before I started this food blog. My knowledge of bread was sandwich bread, french/po’ boy bread (of course), and dinner rolls.

Around the holidays, I remember reading about this bread on many blogs, and thought it looked divine. Heck, what am I saying, MOST breads to me look divine. I’m a carb lover, that’s for sure!

I actually didn’t plan on making this. I wanted to purchase this bread at a store, because my blogging friend sent me a recipe for some killer looking french toast, and I wanted to surprise my husband/sister (who came to visit) with a nice Sunday breakfast. (Post to come on this fantastic french toast soon!) However, I live near a Target and a Wal-Mart. I don’t think they know what challah is…it wasn’t there. It was too late to go across town to the swanky part of town to check Whole Foods, too. So, I had to crank out the mixer, locate the yeast in my pantry and make this bread happen. My craving for french toast was too strong to ignore.

So, at 10:30 on a Saturday evening, I made this dough. I wanted to halve it, because I’m fairly positive my waistline would be disappointed after a snack fest involving the second loaf. The dough was rising while my husband, sister and I watched Avatar. Avatar and dough proofing: perfect Saturday, eh?

Anyway, the dough really didn’t rise as much as the recipe made it sound. Perhaps directly halving yeast is a no-no? Eh, regardless, this bread was awesome! The only issue I had was making a pretty braid, but I’m not sweating over it.

Challah
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.
2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)
3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
4. At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.
5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.
6. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.
7. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.

Note: Any of the three risings can be done in the fridge for a few hours, for more deeply-developed flavor. When you’re ready to work with it again, bring it back to room temperature before moving onto the next step.