It would seem that you can throw just about anything into an 8×4-inch loaf pan and have some sweet smellin’ magic come out of your kitchen after an hour or so.  What’s more, pulling a beautifully risen quick bread out of the oven is sure to make you feel like your a prime-time, super legit baker.  

Here’s a peek at my favorite quick bread recipes.  

Oh!  Happy Wednesday to you.  Also… you look pretty today.  I like what you did with your hair.  

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread.  Still moist.  Still all sorts of delicious.  I even counted the Weight Watchers points on this one.  Whaaaat!?  Yea.  That happened. 

Raspberry Almond Bread.  Yes, after it’s baked the bread turns a touch blue from the raspberries.  What’s the science on that?  Can we get Bill Nye the Science Guy on this one?

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread.  Fresh grated zucchini.  Raw grated sweet potato.  It’s unique, full of spice and delicious.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.  It’s chocolate.  It’s for breakfast.  If this offends you… I’m not sure what you’re doing here.  I mean that with love and respect.  

Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes.  Ok… so maybe this is more of a pound cake recipe than a quick bread recipe.  This cake is too good to pass up.  Lemon plus lemon syrup plus cake.  I vote:  awesome. 

Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread.  Have any leftover cranberries in your fridge?  Me too.  

Fresh Mango Bread.  I never would have thought to put fresh mango in bread until Dorie Greenspan told me it was ok.  

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread.  Dense and moist.  Who says you need butter and eggs to make awesome bread!?  Whoever they are… kick ‘em in the toe.  They’re wrong. 

Persimmon Bread.  You are mighty strange persimmon bread, but I love you just the same. 

Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake.  Dense.  Nutty.  It’ll charm your pants off.  Be prepared. 

Let’s play a game called Usta Wanna or… I Used to Want To.  

I usta wanna be brave enough to go down the free fall water slide at the water park. 

I usta wanna be a traffic cop… the kind that would dance in the street on occasion… the kind that I saw at the end of a slow evening news show sometime when I was about six.  I actually still want to be one of those traffic cops.  No joke.

I usta wanna take the swim test at overnight summer camp privately.  Something about doing my life saving dog paddle in front of the entire girls camp made me nauseous.  

I usta wanna design a postage stamp.  This is the precious dream of a young girl whose parents both work at the post office.

Between the ages of 13 and 15, I usta wanna eat nothing but popcorn and orange juice.  I dunno…. I never claimed to be reasonable. 

I usta wanna completely negate whole wheat from my life.  If I could have eaten Wonder Bread and ignored the whole wheat millet bread my parents bought as I was growing up… ooooh, how dreams would have come true.  Because whole wheat seemed to be impossible to escape, it would seem that somewhere along the way I grew fond of it.  For this reason, I bring you…  Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake.  

Let’s talk about it. 

Let’s talk about how lovely this pound cake is.  It was nutty and full-flavored, without having an overwhelming whole wheat density.  I used white whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat flour.  If you can, use a good raw honey for this cake… something like Bee Raw or Ames Farm.  The honey add a sweetness with character and depth, making the pound cake really delightful.  I love this cake.  It’s a definite go-to classic in my world. 

Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

     makes 1 9 x 5-inch loaf and 6 muffins

     Print this Recipe!

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons of butter)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour the loaf pan and muffin tins.  

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.  

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the butter, sugar and honey on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add the dry mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.  

Transfer the batter to the prepared pans.  Smooth the top down and bake the cake for about  hour and the muffins for about 20 to 25 minutes.  The cake will be a lovely golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean.  

Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I love a good weekend project, especially when that project involves my fingers in loads of cookie dough.

I’ll admit that I may be waaaay behind the times on this trick.  It’s the sort of trick that super moms have on lock to make them look even more awesome than they already are.  Since I haven’t yet produced other people with my body, this trick is just now hitting my radar.

The idea is this:  one day… (say, maybe a lazy Saturday morning) whip up a couple batches of your favorite cookie dough.  Dollop that cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, all close like.  Throw the entire cookie sheet into the freezer.  Freeze the dough balls, then throw them into a zip lock bag and back into the freezer.  You know what that means?  All you have to do is flick on the oven and throw in a few dough balls anytime you want fresh baked cookies!  Dang this livin’ is easy!

This frozen dough ball situation is key and here’s why:

You and the family can have  fresh baked cookies any and every night.

Surprise guests?  No problem at all… you just happened to be whipping up a batch of fresh cookies.  Taaadaaa!

Bake ‘em directly from frozen…. do it!

Frozen dough balls in the middle of the night?  I won’t tell a soul.  Can I be honest?  I eat the dough balls more often than I actually bake the cookies.  In fact… be right back.  Dough ball for breakfast.

Full disclosure:  I’ve eaten three cookie dough balls in the writing of this post.  I’m not done yet.

You might also try these recipes for you cookie dough freezing pleasure:

Oatmeal Cherry White Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from King Arthur

makes 2 dozen cookies

Print this Recipe!

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour, or regular whole wheat flour if you’re feeling extra nutty

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts, again… if you’re feeling nutty.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl, whisk it together and set aside.  Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and softened butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat until creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition.  Add dry ingredients all at once and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips and nuts if using.

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.  Drop cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet.  Place them very close together so that as many cookies balls as possible fit on the tray.  Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and chill dough balls until frozen through, at least 3 hours.  Remove the sheet from the freezer and place dough balls in a freezer safe bag and place back in the freezer until ready to bake.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place frozen dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Leave a few inches in between the cookies, giving them room to spread.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or  until golden and irresistible.

I love waking up about half an hour early on Wednesdays to make pancakes for breakfast.  They really take very little time to throw together, and they make a world of difference to my day.  I can’t save my pancakes only for special weekend breakfasts.  Sometimes (every Wednesday) I need that weekend indulgence before I throw on the chef’s coat and dive into the big kitchen.

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Pancakes are surprisingly light, healthy, and keep me full well into the afternoon.  Drizzled with homemade Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup and served with a side of fresh fruit, I can indulge in the comforts of a lazy Sunday morning, even on a daunting weekday.

Treat yourself to pancakes on a weekday.  The sunshine and hearty breakfast are well worth the early alarm chime.

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Pancakes with Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

Print this recipe!

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, separated

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for brushing the skillet

1 1/2 cup whole milk, plus additional if needed

1 ripe banana, diced or mashed

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl  Whisk together yolks, oil and 1 1/2 cups milk in another bowl and add to the flour mixture, whisking until smooth.  Let batter stand for 5 minutes to allow flour to absorb liquid (batter will thicken).

If batter is too thick to fall easily from a spoon, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons additional milk.

Fold in banana and walnuts.

Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderately high speed until they just hold stiff peaks.  With a whisk, gently but thoroughly fold into batter.

Brush a griddle or 12-inch nonstick skillet with oil and heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking.  Reduce heat to moderate.  Working in batches of 4, spoon 2 tablespoons batter per pancake into a hot skillet, spreading it if necessary to form 3- 3 1/2 inch rounds.  Cook pancakes until bubbles appear on surface, edges are set and undersides are golden, 45 seconds to 1 minute.  Flip pancakes with a metal spatula and cook until undersides are golden and pancakes are cooked through.  Lower heat if pancakes brown too quickly and insides aren’t set.  Transfer pancakes to plate and serve with Vanilla- Brown Sugar Syrup.  Brush griddle with more oil between batches.

Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups water

3 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine brown sugar, water, butter, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a oil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Boil until syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 12-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and vanilla, then let cool to warm or room temperature.