Blueberry Bread

My daughters are now in the second week of school...and I'm really loving this new book from Laura Fuentes called The Best Homemade Kids' Lunches on the Planet! It has really given me a lot of new ideas on what to make for their packed lunches. 

On the first day of school, I tried one of the sandwich recipes in the book called Kid's Philly Steak Sandwich. I tweaked it a bit by adding caramelized onions and bell peppers. The result was amazing, and both Clarise and Cherlin loved it!

During the past week, I have tried five other recipes from the book, and I must say that they are all good! Love Laura's easy and healthy ideas! The book has over 200 recipes which are not just for lunch, but for snack and for breakfast as well!

This Blueberry Bread recipe that I'm sharing with you today was from the said book. It's a little different from the blueberry bread recipes I've tried before because of the use of coconut oil as substitute for butter, and yogurt as substitute for milk. I followed the exact recipe except for the amount of blueberries. Instead of the suggested 1½ cups, I just used 1 cup which I think is just the perfect amount. The result was wonderful! It's soft, moist, yummy...and healthier compared to the usual blueberry bread!

Spanish Bread

The hubs has been bugging me to make his favorite bread since he saw it on a friend's FB post a few weeks ago. Finally, I was able to make some for him the other day. For the bread, I used my favorite White Roll recipe from Red Star Yeast, and for the filling, I combined butter, sugar and vanilla. I'm glad they turned out soft, buttery and beautifully browned as the ones we used to eat back home.

These yummy looking rolls are what we call Spanish Bread in the Philippines. I honestly don't know why it is called as such, because there's really nothing "Spanish" about it. I guess it's just a result of the very strong influence that the Spaniards brought to the Filipino Cuisine in the more than 300 years of colonization. 

Spanish Bread is a Filipino favorite bread next to Pandesal which is best eaten with coffee for merienda (snack) and sometimes, for breakfast. It has a sweet buttery filling which makes it so perfect for the Filipino taste buds. Try the recipe and see for yourself! 

Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread with Maple Butter Glaze

It's the 15th, and that means it's time to share with you what my Baking Partners and I have whipped up in our kitchen. Because it's Fall, the star ingredient for this month's challenge is pumpkin. There were three pumpkin bread recipes to choose from, all suggested by Tamy of Three Sides of Crazy. Though all three seem really good, the Ginger Pumpkin Bread from Simply Scratch really caught my attention. "WHY?", you may ask. Well, it's simply because I love the flavor of ginger, and upon seeing the recipe, I instantly imagined how my taste buds will be tickled with the wonderful combination of pumpkin and ginger! 

Truth be told, my husband and two daughters aren't big fans of pumpkin. So to make sure that I won't end up eating the pumpkin bread all by myself, I thought of adding chocolate chips and cinnamon to it. I knew that chocolate chips combined with the awesome flavor of cinnamon will make the pumpkin bread very hard to resist, and I was right! Just a few minutes after taking pictures, this gorgeous Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread was already half gone! Yes, that's how good it turned out!

The bread truly has a very wonderful flavor and was so moist and soft. But it doesn't end there. Covering it with maple butter glaze made it even more amazing! I highly recommend that you try this recipe. Even if you're not a pumpkin lover, I'm sure you'll love this!

Chocolate Marble Bread Using Tangzhong Method

Just as promised, here's the other bread that I made using tangzhong method. I actually used the same recipe as that of the Bacon and Cheese Bread which I posted the other day. The only difference is that I added more sugar and a chocolate layer to turn it into this yummy Chocolate Marble Bread...

Don't you love those swirls? Oh well, I know they aren't perfect, but my daughters said they look beautiful, so that's good enough for me! I followed a swirling technique I found on Jot the Tart Queen. It's pretty simple...I guess I'm just not that good with dough rolling! But it's ok...this Chocolate Marble Bread was so soft and tasty, and I think that's more than enough to make up for the imperfect swirls! :)

Bacon and Cheese Bread Using Tangzhong Method

I must admit that I'm really not a big fan of bread making. Aside from the banana bread which I frequently make for the hubs and the girls, I very seldom make other types of bread. Though bread may be cheaper homemade, the time and hassle involved make store-bought ones more preferable for me. But everytime I make bread at home, the excitement I see on my daughters' faces as they wait for the bread to come out of the oven always makes me realize that homemade bread is still the best! In terms of flavor, freshness, and all-around quality, nothing beats homemade bread!

Just like for example, this Bacon and Cheese Bread which I made for this month's Baking Partners' Challenge...

It's so soft and truly so delicious! Though it took me several hours to make it, this bread is  definitely worth the “homemade” effort! The best thing about it is being able to add the ingredients that we all like --- bacon and cheese! The whole family loved it and everyone requested that I make it again! It's priceless to see the big smiles this bread brought on the faces of my husband and daughters! 

Ensaymada

Christmas is just around the corner and I'm pretty sure that some of you will be doing a lot of baking for the holidays. For my family, baking has been part of our Christmas tradition since Clarise (my eldest daughter) was 3. It all started in 2005 when she thought that helping bake cookies for Santa would be a good way to say thank you for the gifts she will get from him. Cherlin (my youngest) was only 2 months old then. Clarise is 10 now, and Cherlin is 7, and the love of holiday baking is one thing that the three of us share. Now it's not just about baking cookies for Santa...it's more of our bonding time as we help each other make something special for our own holiday feast or to share with our close friends. We've baked all sorts of goodies together for the past 7 years...and I always see joy and excitement in their eyes as they add and mix the ingredients or mold the dough into fancy shapes. It's true that baking with kids can be messy, but I love it! When the baked goodies come out of the oven, seeing the pride on my daughters' faces as they say "We helped make that!" is priceless!

This year, just like the previous ones, we'll be making peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. We'll also be baking a chocolate cake and these lovely treats as per Clarise's request. We call these Ensaymadas in the Philippines. 

Ensaymada is one of those delicious baked goodies that we Filipinos got from our Spanish colonizers. Known as Ensaimada in Spanish, it is a pastry that originated in Mallorca, Spain and is made with flour, water, sugar, eggs, and lard. The Filipino version however is made with butter instead of lard. Some are topped with just butter and sugar, and some have grated cheese (usually aged cheese locally known as keso de bola) and butter cream in addition to the sugar. Ensaymada is popular as an afternoon snack and during the Christmas season, it is considered to be the best match for hot chocolate.

This Ensaymada recipe that I am sharing with you is from the Goldilocks Bakebook which was authored by the founders of Goldilocks (one of the leading bakeshop chains in the Philippines),  Milagros Leelin-Yee and Clarita Leelin-Go. This is really a good recipe. I must say that the ensaymadas came out almost like that of Goldilocks. Though I didn't used the exact kind of cheese because I couldn't find it here, the ensaimadas were awesome. I also added more sugar to the dough and used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour...and I guess that made the ensaymadas even better for my family's taste buds! :)

You should try this recipe! If you have kids, I'm sure they will be happy to help. Kneading, rolling and twirling the dough will definitely be fun! 

Pan de Coco and Pan de Ube (Coconut and Purple Yam Rolls)

I've been a bread lover since I was a little girl...but this is one thing I don't owe from my mother. As I've told you before, we didn't have an oven when I was growing up so my mother never baked bread. I owe my love for bread to The De Castro's, my childhood friend's family who owns Halina Bakery. This bakery has been selling the best tasting Filipino breads in the City of Calapan since I was a little girl until now. It is now being managed by my friend, and I must say that just like her parents, she's really doing a great job. I remember that there was this other bakery much closer to where we used to live, but we would rather go to Halina Bakery to buy pan de sal, loaf bread, ensaymada, pan de coco, monay, pan de lemon, pan de agua, kalihim, mamon, puding, spanish bread and hopia. All their bread really taste a lot better than those of the other bakery. I'm not saying this because it's owned by my friend. It's just how it is. 

One of my most favorite bread from Halina Bakery is the Pan De Coco which means Coconut Bread. It is a soft sweet roll with sweetened coconut filling which I loved having for afternoon snack. My mom would always buy it in dozens 'coz my brother and I never seem to get enough of it.

 

Last week, I thought of making Pan De Coco for the first time. I tried experimenting with my Pan De Sal recipe to transform it to a much softer and sweeter roll with a shiny finish. Was I successful??? Well, kinda. It's good...but I think I have to work on the softness more. I'm not sure if I just over baked it a little or I didn't knead the dough enough. But the rolls were delicious and soft enough though not as soft as I remember the Pan De Coco from Halina Bakery.  

I still have some Haleyang Ube (Purple Yam Jam) so I filled half of the dough with it, and half with sweetened coconut. I came up with 9 pcs. Pan De Coco and 9 pcs. Pan De Ube and they are all gone in 3 days! Clarise and Cherlin love ube so they both prefer the Pan De Ube more. Ryan, on the other hand, finds the Pan De Coco perfect for his coffee.

This Coconut and Purple Yam Rolls recipe is my entry to this month's Iron Chef Challenge at A Latte With OTT,A which is sponsored by Red Star, maker of high-quality baker's yeast in the country. For product updates and delicious tested recipes, visit their website or follow Red Star on twitter and facebook.