English Muffin Bread

Prep Time: 13 minutes
Rise Time: 45-60 minutes
Bake Time: 22 minutes


Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Baker's Banter Blog

I've been wanting to try real English Muffins for a while now, but haven't done it yet. Then I saw this recipe and had to try it since it seemed to be so quick and easy. It was quick and easy. No kneading, and a fast rise. The only remotely hard part was getting the dough level in the pan.

I do really like this, but I will try regular english muffins before I do this again. The bread is very good toasted with butter or peanut butter. I don't think it is great untoasted (just like an english muffin wouldn't be great.) This is nice recipe to have on hand.

Lasagna Carnivale

Prep Time: 65 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Rest Time: 5 minutes
Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best International Recipe

This recipe calls for making tiny meatballs (with a scant teaspoon of meat.) The first time I made this, I made the meatballs a little too big, which made the structure of the lasagna a little bit of a problem. I also felt like there wasn't enough tomato sauce. Overall, though, I loved it, so I decided to make this again for Christmas Eve dinner with my family.

I made one with beef and one with Turkey. I also made more sauce (50% more.) I made the meatballs a little smaller, althouth probably still a tiny bit bigger than a teaspoon. No doubt, it is tedious to roll the meatballs, but this is a great dish to make ahead, so it was done the day before the dinner, when I was less stressed. (I had some help with this, thankfully.)

The beef version was better than the turkey. The first time I did this, I used turkey and liked it, but this time I used Trader Joe's Turkey, instead of Jenni-O. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't love the flavor of the TJ turkey in this. I had added some oregano and red pepper to the turkey the first time, and forgot that this time, so maybe that was my problem.

In the end, this is a keeper recipe for me, since lasagna can be made ahead of time, and makes great leftovers.

Chocolate Snowcaps

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cool Time: 45 minutes
Roll Time:10-15 minutes
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes per sheet

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (December 2003)

I like these cookies, but they are messy to eat sometimes. There is a strong chocolate flavor with both cocoa and melted chocolate. These are supposed to be Espresso Snowcaps, but I cut the espresso powder by 75% so I use just enough to enhance the chocolate flavor, but not taste like it.

Beer Batter Cheese Bread

Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 45-50 minutes

Grade: B

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (December 2007)

Quick breads are supposed to be quick, and this one is super-quick. The only effort you have to put in is dicing and shredding the cheese and melting the butter. I only used 2 T of butter (instead of 4) and I think that was fine, since you just pour it on top. It still tasted buttery.

I had two minor problems. 1) The crust was hard to cut and 2) it was hard to get out of the pan, because there was a bit of cheese on the bottom, and it ripped a little. Also, sometimes I feel like quick breads baked in my larger 9x5 pans don't cook perfectly through the middle of the pan. For that reason, I think that I might prefer to stick with muffins. The Savory Cheese Muffins I tried last year might be a better option in the future. (I did enjoy just pouring in an old bottle of beer in here though, since I had some to use up.)