Baking

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

May 15, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Banana bread is a classic recipe that I just realized I had never made a post about. It’s one of my favorite breads, and has such amazing flavors. Of course, if you add chocolate chips it gets even better! The great thing about this bread is that you can (or should) use leftover bananas that have gotten too ripe to eat. Their skins can be black and the insides bruised, but they will still make great banana bread. The bread had a nice brown crust on the outside and a soft, gooey texture on the inside. I added a teaspoon of spices which gave it an even stronger aroma and flavor.

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Curried Mango Bread

May 3, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Quick breads are great because they are easy to prepare and cook. I looked around at a few different mango bread recipes and I adapted mine a bit from the ones I saw. Most of the recipes required raisins and big chunks of mango. I wanted a smoother texture so I took out the raisins and mashed the mangoes (almost like how you would mash bananas for banana bread.) The bread was easy to throw together and it came out great. I really liked how complex the flavors were. It could easily be considered a sweet, dessert bread, yet it had a savory quality that was very unique. The savory garlic, ginger, and curry tasted great with the sweet mango flavors.

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Irish Soda Bread

March 22, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day! (jk). I had some leftover buttermilk and I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I came across a recipe for Irish Soda bread and thought I would try it. This bread is so easy to make; you just toss the flour, baking soda, and salt with some buttermilk. It hardly requires any mixing and produces a nice crunchy crust and soft inside. You can either set the dough in a loaf pan or bake it on some foil. I wanted a loaf shape so I went with a pan. This bread goes well with a stew, but is just as good on its own too.

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Cinnamon Bread

March 19, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I had been looking for some breakfast ideas for the weekend and thought cinnamon bread would be an easy treat to make. It turned out really good, very soft with a delicious brown sugar cinnamon flavor. I was surprised at how well it turned out because I totally messed up the recipe I was trying to follow. The recipe said to cream the butter and sugar, so I figured “sugar” meant both brown and white. Not so, because the brown sugar was supposed to be added to the cinnamon as a layer. Oops. I cut down on the sugar a lot for the cinnamon layer so I wouldn’t have a sugar coma from one slice. I liked how it turned out so I will keep the mistake as part of the recipe. I noticed that this bread was darker, and that was probably due to the brown sugar in the batter. This bread makes a great breakfast and goes well with a cup of black tea.

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Mint Chocolate Meringue Cookies

December 23, 2010 by The Partial Ingredients

These cookies require this weird baking process where they cook overnight in an oven that has been turned off. I’m not sure why this is but it works since the cookies turned out really well. The insides are a little gooey with a nice, light texture. They look so pretty on a plate too!

Mint Chocolate Meringue Cookies
(Makes 2 dozen)
Printable Version

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp mint extract
pinch salt
2 drops green food coloring
11 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a bowl, whip the eggs until they are stiff.
Slowly add the sugar, salt, mint, and coloring while whipping.
Fold in the chips. Place dough with a tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Preheat the oven to 400F and leave on for 15 minutes, then turn off. Put the cookies in the oven and let sit over night.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 21, 2010 by The Partial Ingredients

These cookies are based on the traditional Toll House chocolate chip recipe but with raspberries added to the batter. The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup white sugar but I like to use only 1/2 cup. These cookies always come out so delicious and soft. Even though it’s a really simple recipe it’s probably one of my favorites.

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Gingersnap Cookies

December 20, 2010 by The Partial Ingredients

I love gingersnaps but they are often a very crunchy, hard cookie. I like a soft gingersnap so I decided to try them myself. They turned out much softer than I had anticipated which was great. I like a lot of ginger flavor so I was pretty liberal with the powder. For a little variety you can throw in a teaspoon orange zest or a drop of orange extract to change things up. This is a very soft and savory cookie recipe for the holidays!

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Vanilla Custard Pie

September 24, 2010 by The Partial Ingredients

The pie was tasty and fairly simple to make, even though I had never made pudding from scratch before. I liked the creamy vanilla pudding with the crumbly crust of the graham cracker. I topped the pie with fresh whipped cream and a touch of ground cinnamon.

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