The Charmed Kitchen

Easter Bread Wreath

I love braided wreath breads, often served for holidays. The Easter bread wreath, with eggs baked on top, is a favorite of mine. I hadn’t made one in a long time, and when I went to find my recipe, I couldn’t locate it. So I decided to make a new recipe. I wanted it to have a lot of flavor- something that would be fun served at a breakfast or brunch, but not too sweet. I added spices and raisins, but I could see using other dried fruits. I left it plain on top – but you could easily add a powdered sugar glaze. No, I did not hard cook the eggs first. They cook while the bread is baking. Saves a step, for sure. I tested the bread out with friends last night. Almost half was eaten before dinner, so I am confident to say, that this recipe is a winner. The texture of the bread is really nice and the dough is richly spiced. I added mace, but if you don’t have any mace, add a little more nutmeg or allspice. Mace is a spice I would encourage you to try sometime. So here is the recipe. Hope you like it as much as we did.

 Cinnamon Raisin Easter Wreath Bread

4½ -5 c. flour

1 pkt. yeast

½ c. brown sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt

½ t. allspice

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. mace

1 c. warm water

½ c. butter, melted

2 eggs

½ c. raisins

5-6 uncooked eggs, dyed if you like

Combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, seasonings and salt in large bowl.  Heat together water and butter until warm and add to flour mixture. Beat 2-3 minutes. Beat eggs and reserve 1 tablespoon of the eggs for brushing the top of the bread later. Add remaining eggs and another cup of flour to the bowl. Beat 4 minutes. Add the raisins and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, but still soft. Place in oiled bowl turning to oil top. Note: I actually used my stand mixer, and just left the dough in the bowl to knead, and then covered it to rise. I was able to leave the dough a little sticky this way, using less flour. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. While dough is rising, prepare a pan. Grease a large baking sheet- or use a silicone baking mat. Grease a one cup oven-proof custard cup and place it upside down on the middle of the baking sheet. This will keep a “hole” in the middle of your wreath. If you don’t have a custard cup, you can use a metal one-cup measure instead. Punch dough down and divide in three pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-inch long rope. Braid the ropes together. Wrap the braid around the custard cup on the baking sheet and pinch ends together to keep the braid from coming apart. Cover and allow to rise until doubled (50-60 minutes). Just before baking, combine reserved egg with a little water and brush the wreath with the egg wash. Place 5 or 6 eggs on the top of the braid- being careful not to press down too hard.  Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Cover bread with foil and bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Here is the only tricky part. You have to remove the wreath, but not drop the glass custard cup in the middle. You can let the bread cool a few minutes before moving. I use a silicone baking sheet so I slide the whole thing off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack. I use two large spatulas to lift the wreath up and leave the custard cup behind. If it doesn’t come right out, use a knife to loosen.  Just lift the wreath up enough to slide the custard cup out. Let cool before serving- store leftovers in fridge – because of the eggs on top.  Makes 1.

Ready for the oven

Place eggs on top before baking

Honey Bunny

If you are looking for a fun dish to serve for Easter, you might want to make a batch of these rolls. The slightly sweet yeast dough is rolled into ropes, and then the ropes are formed into these bunny shapes. Once the rolls are baked, they are brushed with a mixture of warm honey and melted butter. This is also a fun recipe to make with kids. I make them every Easter. Sweet and so cute, they are sure to be a hit when you make them. The dough is chilled before rolling, so you can mix up a batch in the evening- put in the fridge- then roll them out the next day.

Honey Bunnies

 4-5 c. flour

2 packages yeast

1 t. salt

2/3 c. evaporated milk

½ c. each water, honey and butter

2 eggs

Raisins, optional

Honey glaze

1/2 c. honey and 1/4 c. butter or margarine heated together until warm.

In bowl combine 1 c. flour, yeast and salt. Heat together milk, water, honey and butter until very warm and beat into the flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes on high speed. Beat in 1 cup flour and eggs. Beat 2 more minutes, until batter thickens. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter and chill, covered with plastic wrap for 2-24 hours.

Place dough on lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Roll one piece of dough into a 20- inch rope. Cut rope into a 12- inch piece, a 5-inch piece and 3 one-inch pieces. Coil 12 inch piece to form body, five inch piece to form head and one inch pieces to form ears and tail. Place the body on greased cookie sheet and then place the head next to the body, making sure they are touching. Place ears and tail on the bunny, making sure they make good contact with the rest of the “bunny”. I tuck them under a little. Repeat with the remaining dough. Let rise, covered until doubled, about 25 minutes. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and brush with honey glaze. Place raisins on each to make eyes, if you like. Brush with additional glaze before serving, if desired. Makes 15 bunnies.

Dough is rolled out and cut into pieces for each of the bunny parts

Unbaked bunny

A colony of rabbits!!

Brushing baked bunnies with honey/butter glaze

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

We all make mistakes. It’s what we do about our mistakes that matters. Let me explain. I was making a bunch of mini brownies for a kid’s program. The kids are going to decorate them. There are 50 kids, so I needed quite a few. I was using my mini muffin pans, and when I was getting ready to remove a batch, they stuck. I was sure I had greased the pan, but I guess not enough. The others had come out easily enough. I made more, but had this pile of crumbled brownies. I was going to just dump them, but my frugal nature prevailed. I decided to turn them into a bread pudding. I wanted something to cut the sweetness/denseness of the brownies, so I thought maybe a fruit element. I had a can of cherries in the pantry. Just plain cherries, canned in water- not pie filling and not sweetened. Like the flavor combination in a Black Forest Cake. It was pretty simple after that. I make bread puddings often. I made a custard and poured it over the brownies and cherries in the baking dish and baked it. So here is a more detailed recipe, in case you want to make this. Now I have a yummy dessert to share with friends this weekend.

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

5-6 c. crumbled brownies – stale brownies would be great in this recipe

1 (15 oz.) can plain, canned cherries, drained- or 2 cups pitted cherries

4 eggs

1 c. half and half- you could use milk

1 T. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking dish or casserole dish. Place the crumbled brownies in the prepared pan. Pour the cherries over the brownies- trying to spread them out as evenly as possible. Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and beat until well mixed. Pour over the brownie mix and bake for about 40 minutes, or until bread pudding is set in the middle. Serve as is, or with some whipped cream or ice cream.

Chicken in Spiced Romaine Lettuce Sauce

I like to use lettuce in cooked dishes sometimes. I have added lettuce to soups in the past, and a stir fry or two. Don’t get me wrong, I love salads, but I just wasn’t in the mood for a salad today. I had a big head of Romaine lettuce and some chicken and used them together in this dish. I added some parsley and spices to brighten up the dish. It came out really good. I served it over brown rice, but it could be served over pasta, potatoes or just on its own. I used boneless thighs, but you also make this dish with bone-in chicken. Just allow more time to cook.

Chicken with Spiced Romaine Lettuce Sauce

oil

1 medium onion, sliced

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

flour

salt and pepper

6-8 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

1 c. chicken stock

1 t. cumin

1/2 t. cinnamon

fresh chopped parsley

hot pepper sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet and cook onion until golden. Meanwhile combine about 1/2 cup of flour in a plastic bag and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat. Add chicken to the skillet and brown chicken pieces on both sides. Cover and let the chicken cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes longer. Add lettuce and stir in along with the chicken stock, cumin, cinnamon, parsley and hot sauce. Cover and allow to cook for 5 -10 more minutes or until chicken in cooked through and sauce has thickened. Serve alone or over pasta or rice. Serves 2-3.

Rich Butter Cookies

Some cookies are just classic. These butter cookies are a family favorite. Simple, rich and delicate. I had a cookie baking class with some kids a couple of weeks ago. We made these cookies in class, and the kids loved making them. The kids rolled the dough into balls, and then pressed the tops in nonpareils, before baking. Others, they left plain, then baked them. Once baked and cooled, they dipped the cookies in melted chocolate, and topped with sprinkles. Simple and very good. Topped with pastel-colored sprinkles, these would be a nice cookie for Easter, too.

Rich Butter Cookies

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 ¼ c. flour
1 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt

Beat sugar and butter together until fluffy and then beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and stir into butter mixture. Chill dough at least a couple of hours. Roll dough into ¾-1 inch balls and roll in sugar, sprinkles or nuts. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet and bake in a preheated 375 –degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Cookies will flatten somewhat. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
Variations: You can bake plain cookies and then dip cooled cookies in melted chocolate and then in chopped nuts or sprinkles.
Form into balls and place on baking sheet then press a nutmeat into the center of each. When cool you can drizzle with a small amount of melted chocolate or glaze.

Mushroom, Leek and Asparagus Quiche

Sometimes there are happy accidents in the kitchen. This recipe is one of those. I had made kolachy for a class I had recently. Kolachy are filled cookies, made with a cream cheese based dough. There was some dough leftover, and I did not want to waste it. I decided to use it for a quiche. Well, technically a tart, since it was baked in a tart pan. I looked through my fridge for what I had, and came up with the combination of leeks, mushrooms and asparagus. I also had a nice chunk of Swiss cheese, so away I went. The rest was pretty easy. I just added the eggs, half and half and seasonings to complete the dish. You could, of course, use any crust recipe you prefer. I must admit, the kolachy dough worked really well. I would most definitely make this recipe again, using the cream cheese crust. I did include the recipe for the kolachy dough at the bottom of this post. So here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it.

Mushroom, Leek and Asparagus Quiche

1 unbaked pie shell*
2 T. oil or butter
1 c. sliced leek- white or light green part only
4 oz. sliced mushrooms- I used baby Portobello
8 oz. asparagus, trimmed and sliced
4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
2 T. flour
3 eggs, beaten
¾ c. half and half
1 T. fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste

Roll out crust to fit a 9 or 10- inch tart pan. Place crust in pan and trim edges. Chill crust until ready to use. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In skillet, heat oil or butter and cook leeks until tender. Add mushrooms and continue cooking until mushrooms are golden. Set aside. Steam asparagus for 3-4 minutes, or until just tender. Set aside. Combine flour with cheese and toss to coat. Spread cheese in prepared tart shell. Top with the mushroom and leek mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the eggs with the half and half, dill and hot sauce. Pour over the mushrooms mixture in the tart shell. Add the asparagus. Place in preheated oven and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Turn down heat and cook for 20-25 minutes longer, or until crust is golden and filling has set up. Serves 4-6.

 
* While I would normally use a more traditional pie crust, I ended up using the dough I normally use for my kolachy. It was leftover and seemed like a nice choice. The kolachy dough is 3 sticks of softened butter, 8 oz. of cream cheese and 3 cups of flour. Mix all ingredients until smooth and chill until ready to use. It was leftover, so hard to say how many crusts a full recipe would make. I would think you could easily get three crusts from one recipe. You can, of course, use your favorite pie crust recipe.

Crumpets

I love crumpets when I make them myself. They are a cross between a pancake and an English muffin. Crumpets should be moist, soft and light. The ones I’ve tried from the grocery store are heavy and dry. If the only crumpets you have ever tried were from the store, you probably don’t like them either. I think if you make your own, you will be surprised at just how tasty crumpets can be. I’d suggest serving them with jam and clotted cream. You will need crumpet rings to cook them in. Crumpet rings and English muffin rings (they are pretty much the same thing), can be purchased online and in some specialty cooking supply stores. Many years ago my father made some for me from cans. We saved cans from things like canned tomatoes or corn. He cut off the lids on both sides and then cut the cans to about 1 1/2 inches in height. There is a rough edge, so I am always very careful when handling them. Buying them is probably a better idea.

Crumpets

 2 c. skim milk, scalded

3 c. flour

1 t. salt

1 package active dry yeast

¼ c. warm water

¼ c. butter, melted

Cool milk to lukewarm, then stir in flour and salt, beating until smooth. In small bowl place water and sprinkle over with the yeast. Let stand 5 minutes until bubbly. Stir in butter then add this to the flour mixture, beating well. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Grease 2 ½ inch muffin rings, or use 3 ½ oz. tuna fish cans and place in a hot, lightly greased skillet. Spoon 2 tablespoonfuls of batter into each ring, reduce heat to low and cook crumpets 12 minutes per side. Remove from rings and set aside to cool. Repeat procedure with remaining batter. Makes about 32 crumpets. Serve split and topped with jam or preserves and Devonshire clotted cream. You can make a mock version of clotted cream- recipe follows.

Mock Clotted Cream

1 c. whipping cream

¼ c. sour cream

Just beat together whipping cream and sour cream until soft peaks form.

Pineapple Scones

This is one of my favorite scone recipes. Pineapple gives them a wonderful flavor, then they are topped with a crunchy cinnamon  and nut combination. What’s not to love? I am always surprised when someone tells me they don’t like scones. Often, the comment is that they are too dry. My reply is that you haven’t had a good scone. Good scones are slightly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. These scones never disappoint. These are great served warm from the oven, topped with jam.

Pineapple Scones

3 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
¾ c. butter
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
milk
3 T. chopped nuts
1 T. sugar
½ t. cinnamon

In medium bowl mix together dry ingredients and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in pineapple and stir until dough starts to hold together. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead 10-12 strokes until dough holds together, but is tender and soft. When you first start to mix this dough- you might think there is something wrong- that you need to add more liquid. Be patient. There is a lot of moisture in the pineapple and as you mix the dough it WILL come together.  Roll or press dough ½ inch thick and cut out with 2-2 ½ inch biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and cut out remaining dough. Brush scone with milk. Combine remaining ingredients and sprinkle over scones. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Makes 21.

Babka

Babka is different from most other breads that I make.  For starters, the recipe makes 6 loaves of bread at once. Great for gift giving in those quantities.  Babka also uses so much less flour than most of my bread recipes. Only 8 cups of flour for the 6 loaves. I often use close to 8 cups of flour for just 2 loaves in other bread recipes. The bread dough is really a batter- so sticky you have to oil up your hands to divide the dough into the bread pans.  This very tiny amount of dough rises to fill  9×5-inch bread pans. The result is a bread that is very light, with a crunchy exterior and tender interior. I can’t say where I got this recipe. I still have the original handwritten recipe, but it isn’t handwriting I recognize. I made it for a baking class the other night and people seemed to really like it. I hope you do, too.  I add raisins to my Babka, but you can all sorts of dried fruits, grated chocolate or nuts. I sometimes drizzle a powdered sugar glaze on finished Babka.

Babka

3 packets active dry yeast
1 c. warm water
1 c. sugar
8 c. bread flour
1 t. salt
5 large eggs
1 stick butter
2 T. oil
Grated rinds of  an orange and a lemon
2 c. warm milk
1 c. raisins
1 egg mixed with 2-t. milk

In bowl combine yeast, water, sugar, 1 c. flour, and salt. Allow to stand 10 minutes. Beat in eggs, butter, oil and grated rinds. Add remaining flour alternately with milk, beating a total of five minutes. Stir in raisins. Dust a large bowl with flour and put in dough. Cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. Generously grease loaf pans. This recipe will fill 6 standard loaf pans – 9×5 – inch. Lightly oil hands and divide dough into portions, smoothing tops as you place dough in pans. Cover and allow dough to rise until more than doubled, about 1 hour. Brush loaves with egg and milk mixture. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until bread is well browned and sounds hollow inside when tapped. Mine is normally done at about an hour and 15 minutes. Cool a few minutes in pans before removing to racks to cool. Babka in great eaten warm from the oven. They can be frozen, too.

Homemade Crescent Rolls

Even those these look like traditional croissants, I call them crescent rolls, instead. I grew up with a father who was a baker. I have made traditional croissants. Yeast dough rolled out- then topped with a sheet of butter. Rolled, folded, chilled. Repeated many times to create those wonderful, flaky layers. These rolls have a lot of the same qualities, but in a less time-consuming method. Not quite what you get in true croissants, but very tender and flaky. The secret is butter cut into flour- the same way you incorporate fat into biscuits or pie crust. Then a yeast/milk mixture is stirred in and a batter is created. It is chilled overnight and when rolled out, the  dough is brushed with more butter and shaped into the crescent shape of traditional croissants. Really easy, compared to the original, and a pretty good roll, too. Since the recipe makes a lot, I often freeze some for later. Directions for freezing are at the bottom of the recipe.

Crescent Rolls

1 package active dry yeast
1 c. very warm water
¾ c. evaporated milk
1 t. salt
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
5 c. flour
4 T. melted butter, cooled
1 c. firm butter
Additional melted butter for brushing
1 egg beaten with 1 T. water

Dissolve yeast in water. Stir in milk, salt, sugar, egg and one cup of flour. Beat into a smooth batter and stir in melted butter. Set aside. With pastry blender cut firm butter into remaining flour until particles are the size of small peas. Stir in milk mixture gently, until all flour in moistened. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead a few strokes. Divide into fourths and roll each into a circle. Divide circle into 8 pieces and brush with melted butter. Starting at wide end roll up loosely and place on greased baking sheet with point tucked under. Allow 2-3 inched between rolls and curve slightly into an arc, if desired. Cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until nearly doubled. Brush with egg wash just before baking. Bake in a 325-degree oven for 35 minutes or until golden. Brush again with butter. Makes 32.

These are great served as is, or drizzled with a little powdered sugar glaze.

Note: You can add up to 2 cups of whole wheat flour in place of 2 cups of the white flour for whole wheat croissants. You can also brush the dough with fruit preserves instead of butter before rolling up, or you can sprinkle with chopped chocolate or cinnamon sugar and roll up.

Freezing directions:  just roll them up and place on a baking sheet. Place in freezer until solid. Remove to a freezer bag or container and return to freezer. To use, place frozen rolls on a greased baking sheet and cover. allow to thaw and rise until doubled in size and proceed at with the baking directions. I just do this the night before and bake them in the morning.