Oh So Good Quick Breads and Muffins!

When I first learned to bake, my mom started me out with Banana Nut Bread. It was quick, easy and pretty fail proof, with mom looking over my shoulder. Quick breads and muffins are great recipes to start your children out with if they show an interest in baking. Nothing beats homemade muffins and they are so easy to make! You can whip up a batch and be eating them in less than 45 minutes.

Quick breads and muffins can be quickly made, as there is no raising time involved like there is with yeast breads.

Baking with Success Tips

Use shiny muffin pans for golden and tender muffin crusts.

For easy baking and easy cleanup, use paper baking cups. I spray them lightly with cooking oil so the muffins do not stick to the baking cups.

Measure with care. If you don't, a coarse or crumbly texture and dryness can be the result.

The batter should be lumpy after you stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. If you mix the batter too much, muffins can be tough with "peaked" tops and holes or tunnels inside.

Take the guesswork out of filling muffin cups by using a spring-handled ice-cream scoop! Scoops marked with a No. 20 or 24 get most muffin cups about 3/4 full -- the amount you need for the rounded tops you want.

Chop or shred fruits, vegetables or nuts before you start making the batter. If you start the batter and then stop to chop, the batter may get too stiff. Dust fruits, nuts, raisins, chocolate bits, etc. with some flour before stirring into the batter. This helps prevent the added ingredients from sinking to the bottom of the batter.

Cool quick breads completely before slicing; cutting while warm is one of the chief reasons for crumbling. Even better, store them tightly covered for 24 hours for easier cutting.

Cut quick breads with a sharp, thin-bladed knife, using a light sawing motion.

1 bread recipe fills:
• 1 (9x5x3-inch) pan; bake according to directions
• 2 (8x2x2-inch) pans; bake approximately 40 to 45 minutes
• 4 (6x3x2-inch) pans; bake approximately 25 to 30 minutes

Rhubarb Walnut Bread

1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon each salt and vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together both sugars with oil; add eggs and mix well. Add in milk. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Pour into two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Top each with 1 teaspoon of melted butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake at 350° F. for 1 hour or until done.

Makes 2 loaves.

Pineapple Nut Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs in one at a time and blend well after each addition. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the flour mixture alternately with the crushed pineapple to the egg mixture. Stir in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake at 350° F. for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes clean.

Makes 2 small loaves.

Cherry Tea Bread

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sweet cherries in juice, drained
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1/3 cup fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 300° F. Toast the chopped walnuts in a baking pan in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Raise the oven temperature to 350° F. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a bowl. In a second bowl, combine the cherries and the nuts.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy; add the sugar and honey gradually, beating the mixture until it is very light.

Add the eggs, one at a time. With mixer at lowest speed, add the flour mixture, reserving 1/4 cup, alternating it with the orange juice. Toss the cherry nut mixture with the reserved 1/4 cup of flour and fold it into the batter.

Turn the batter into a buttered and floured loaf pan, approximately 9 x 5 x 3 inches. Bake the bread in the center of the oven for 1 hour. Cool the loaf for 15 minutes in the pan; unmold the bread on a rack to cool completely. Wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it a day before serving.

Lemon Bread

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 beaten eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
finely grated lemon rind of 1 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Combine sugar, shortening, eggs milk and lemon rind. Add dry ingredients to first mixture. Pour into greased 9 x 5 loaf pan and bake at 325° F. for approximately 1 hour. While the loaf is baking, combine 1/4 cup sugar with lemon juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved. When loaf is baked, allow to stay in pan for a few minutes. Turn it out on a plate. Poke holes in loaf and pour sugar and lemon juice over loaf and leave to cool.

Written by Mary Ellen at That's My Home