Chocolate Banana Bread

Give old, brown bananas new life by baking them into a chocolaty bread. This is one of our favourite breakfast treats. 

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
4 bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups BCF Partially Sifted Flour
1 cup add ins (chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, caramel chunks, etc)

Beat together eggs, sugar and oil. Add in bananas, vanilla, cocoa, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add in flour and mix just until moist. Add in your extra goodies (I used half a cup of chocolate chunks and half a cup of coconut in the loaf pictured) and mix just until combined. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350°F for an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you're worried that the outside is getting too dark before the middle is completely cooked, just turn off the oven and leave the door closed for 15 minutes.

Whole Wheat Vanilla Cupcakes with Blueberry Buttercream

I wanted to make cupcakes for Levi's 2nd birthday so I tried out a few whole wheat recipes and finally found one that I really like (http://www.ninerbakes.com/2013/05/31/healthy-absolutely-yummy-tasting-vanilla-cupcakes/). I topped them off with a Blueberry Buttercream. He's going to be one happy toddler.

Cupcakes

1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups BCF Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil

Blueberry Buttercream

1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup blueberry jam
2 cups icing sugar

Mix together the vinegar and milk and set aside. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, whip the eggs. Add in the sugar, vanilla and oil and mix for a minute. Add in the milk mixture and dry ingredients in small batches. Pour batter evenly into a lined muffin tin and bake at 350°F for 18 minutes. Let cool before icing.

To make the icing, whip the butter until soft and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and jam and whip again. Slowly add in the icing sugar and mix on high for 2 minutes. 

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

March is birthday month in our home; three out of four of us are March babies. To celebrate, we made Salted Caramel Cupcakes. They make such a great birthday treat.

Cupcakes
Brule Creek Farms Chocolate Cupcake Mix, prepared as instructed you will need:
½ cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup oil
½ cup boiling water

Icing
1 cup salted butter
1/3 cup caramel sauce
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
extra caramel sauce
coarse sea salt

Prepare the BCF Chocolate Cupcake Mix as instructed. Allow to cool. I scooped out a bit of each cupcake with a melon baller and filled with some more caramel sauce before icing. 

To make the icing, whip the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add in the caramel sauce, vanilla and a sprinkling of salt and whip again. Slowly add in the icing sugar. Once ready, ice your cupcakes as you like; I used a piping bag with a Wilton 1M tip. Decorate your cupcakes with a drizzle of caramel sauce and light sprinkling of coarse sea salt. So yummy!

Rosemary Flatbread

Flatbread is so humble and rustic yet undeniably satisfying. This recipe goes to show that simple, wholesome ingredients don’t need a lot to make a delicious meal. We served our flatbread with garlic ricotta - it was delicious. 

1 ½ cups Partially Sifted or Whole Wheat Flour
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
½ cup water
coarse sea salt

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in oil and water until well combined. Roll out the dough onto 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Don’t worry if your edges aren’t perfect – crooked edges give a nice rustic look. Brush with a little extra oil and sprinkle on some coarse sea salt.  Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until nicely browned. 

Dill Bread

We don’t post many bread recipes since there are too many variants that can turn all of your hard work into something you just use for stuffing, that and I’m not a great bread baker. However, this flavourful, hearty loaf is a no-fail recipe. We had ours with potato leek soup and it was divine! 

½ cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup cottage cheese, lukewarm
2 tsp dill weed
1 tbsp onion, finely minced
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 ½ cups Partially Sifted Flour or 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour & 1 ½ cups Partially Sifted Flour

In a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar into the water. Once the yeast is bubbly, mix in the egg, cottage cheese, dill, onion, salt and butter. Finally, add in the flour and mix until well combined. Let the dough rise in a warm spot for an hour. Punch the dough down and form into a round loaf. Sprinkle with a bit of water and coarse sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. Let cool before you slice.