Here in East Texas, the opportunity to have fresh picked blueberries straight from the farm can easily be missed if you're not paying attention.  You have to be connected to the right folks to know which week to go.  Harvest time is only a two to three weeks long, IF we got enough rain in the Spring.

Thankfully, the blueberries from last Summer kept very well in my freezer and I was able to make them last the whole year long.  I still have just enough to make a good cobbler or pie, if I was feelin' the need.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
wet ingredients

• 3/4 cup fresh milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter, applesauce OR oil
• 1 fresh egg

dry ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 400ºF.  Butter bottoms of a 12-muffin cup pan.

Beat milk, butter and egg in a medium bowl.  Add in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, all at once.  Stir until flour is just moistened; batter will be lumpy.  Fold in blueberries. Do not over stir the batter.

Use a large cookie dough scooper to fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake until golden brown, 16 to 20 minutes.  Immediately remove from pan.

Store cooled muffins in a container with a loose fitting lid and enjoy them later on in your day.  I like to use recycled plastic containers for bread storage.

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Nutrition Facts for One Moist Blueberry Muffin:

Calories: 207
Total Fat: 9g (Sat Fat 5g, Trans Fat 0)
Cholesterol: 37mg
Sodium: 326mg
Total Carbohydrates: 30g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 13g
Proteins: 3g

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It really doesn't matter what time it is when you sink your teeth into these moist muffins.  I started out making them for breakfast, but the family kept making snacks and dessert out of them.  The muffins barely made it to the end of the day.   They were delicious with coffee, and hot tea, and not overly sweet.  I found myself working each bite to have the right balance of cinnamon-sugar topping with golden brown bottom.  I get it from my kids.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
wet ingredients

• 3/4 cup fresh milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter, applesauce or oil
• 1 fresh egg

dry ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

cinnamon-sugar topping

• 1/2 cup melted butter in one bowl
• 1/2 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in another bowl

Heat oven to 400ºF. Butter bottoms of 12-muffin cup pan.

Beat milk, butter and egg in a medium bowl.  Add in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt all at once.  Stir just until flour is moistened.  Batter will be lumpy; do not over stir.

Use a large cookie dough scooper to fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake until golden brown, 16 to 20 minutes.  Immediately remove from pan and carefully roll hot muffin tops in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Store cooled muffins in a container with a loose fitting lid and enjoy them later on in your day.  I like to use recycled plastic containers for bread storage.

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It doesn't have to be Fall to enjoy these incredibly moist Pumpkin-Apple Muffins.  Simple muffin recipes are my favorite to bake up when the family needs something fun for breakfast and snack time.  Already this week, I've had to bake up two batches of this easy recipe.  With the first muffin batch, I was sure that 17 muffins would cover us for three morning meals.  They were so flavorful, sweet and spicy with a thick, moist consistency of good banana bread.

Well, I quickly baked them up before I got dinner started Monday evening.  We ate them for dessert, for breakfast the next morning, and as snacks on Tuesday.  Three survived the second morning.  After all that, Charlie and the kids demanded more.  So I baked a second batch before dinner Thursday night.  Can you guess what happened?  We ate them for dessert.  Here we go, AGAIN.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
to make roughly 17 muffins

Streusel topping cut together in a small bowl

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Dry ingredients mixed together in a large mixing bowl.

• 2 medium red apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients mixed in a medium bowl

• 1 1/4 cups Libby's Pure Pumpkin
• 2 large eggs or 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/4 cup neutral tasting oil or applesauce

Heat oven to 350ºF. degrees.  Coat bottom and sides of muffin cups with butter and refrigerate. Chilling the buttered pan aids in the baked good not sticking.

For the streusel topping: combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cut in the butter with a fork until crumbly.  Set aside.

To mix the muffin batter: bring together the finely chopped apple,  flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, and oil.

Make a well in the dry ingredients bowl, and pour wet ingredients into the center. Fold and stir by hand, until the dry ingredients are absorbed by the wet ingredients.  Try not to over-stir the batter.

Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Sprinkle streusel over muffin batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes; remove to wire cooling rack and continuing cooling.  Serve warm, or at room temperature.

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If you don't own a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, then I highly recommend you it.  Pick up a copy for yourself from this Amazon link:  Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francóis.  A small portion of the book sale goes to support SimpleDailyRecipes.com.  Now, let's get back to the bread.

Buttermilk Bread makes a very nice sandwich bread for starters.  It has a soft crust and crumb with great flavor.  It's the buttermilk that makes it so tender.

This recipe makes three 1 1/2 pound loaves.  It can be doubled or halved.

• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• butter or neutral-tasting oil for greasing the loaf pan

1. Mixing and storing the dough: Mix the yeast, salt, and sugar with water and buttermilk in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a strong handled spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook).  If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour..
3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top); approximately 2 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is MUCH easier to handle when cold.  Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days.
5. On baking day, lightly grease a 9 x 4 x 3-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 pound (canteloupe-size) piece.  Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.  Elongate the ball into an oval.
6. Drop the loaf into the prepared pan.  You want to fill the pan slightly more than half-full.
7. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Flour the top of the loaf and slash, using the tip of a serrated bread knife.  Brush the top with melted butter.
8. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
9. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Remove from the pan.  Allow to cool completely before slicing or it will be nearly impossible to achieve reasonable sandwich slices.

You should know.  I don't make & bake bread dough all in the same day.  That's too much work.  I usually figure out when we need the bread then make up the dough one or two days before that time.  Once the dough makes that initial rise, I throw it in the frig until I'm ready.  Sometimes, I don't wait for the rise.  If I know that I'll be 2 or more days out from baking, then I'll mix the dough and immediately refrigerate it.  It will still rise in the frig, just at a slower rate.

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We've been devouring this soft and sweet Cinnamon-Raisin bread every morning for breakfast.  I've even eaten it as an afternoon snack.  I just can't get enough.  (Now I have Depeche Mode in my head.) Anyhoo.

When you go to make a batch of Buttermilk Bread dough, you use it to make this loaf.  I used a mix of jumbo golden raisins and dried cranberries for my fruity swirl.  They just happen to my favorite.  The original recipe just calls for raisins. So you put in what you like.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 1 1/2 pounds (cantaloupe-size portion) Buttermilk Bread dough
• butter or neutral-tasting oil for greasing the pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup raisins
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

Lightly grease a 9 x 4 x 3-inch nonstick loaf pan.  Set aside.  Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 pound (cantaloupe-size) piece.  Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an 8 x 16-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick, dusting the board and rolling pin with flour as needed.  You may need to use a metal dough scraper to loosen rolled dough from the board as you are working with it.

Use a pastry brush to cover the surface of the dough lightly with egg wash.  Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the dough.  Evenly distribute the raisins.  It helps to gently press the raisins into the dough before rolling into loaf shape.

Starting from the short side, roll it up jelly-roll style.  Pinch the edges and ends together, tucking the ends under.

Place the loaf seam side down in the prepared pan. Allow to rest 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Heat the oven to 375ºF. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from pan and allow to cool before slicing.

COOK'S NOTES

It's no biggy to bake off a loaf after dinner is out of the way.  I store the baked bread in a recycled plastic container or storage bag to keep the crust soft.  The next morning there's a waiting line at the toaster.

The original recipe comes from one the most used cookbooks in my kitchen, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Pick up a copy for yourself from this Amazon link:  Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francóis.  A small portion of the book sale goes to support SimpleDailyRecipes.com.

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These Garlic Cheddar Biscuits are everything you expect them to be.  Thick in size, light in texture, crispy shiny tops, crunchy browned bottoms, moist and soft in the center, and full of fragrant garlic and salty cheddar cheese in every bite.  That's what I'm talkin'bout! Biscuits that make you want another and another and another...

I decided on a traditional spaghetti with meat sauce dinner last night and wanted a garlic bread to go with the meal.  I didn't have any artisan dough in the frig.  The only other quick bread I could think to make was biscuits.  I knew dinner would only take as long as the pasta needed to cook, 7 minutes.  The meat sauce had been made ahead and just needed to be reheated.  So, I patty caked as fast I could, rolled'em up, cut'em up, put'em in the pan, popped'em in the oven and set the time for 12 minutes.  Went to cooking the pasta and reheating the sauce and dinner was ready when the oven buzzer went off.  VOILÁ!

HERE'S HOW TO MAKE MOIST GARLIC CHEDDAR BISCUITS
Makes 7 thick biscuits.

• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

• 3/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons, or 7 ounces buttermilk, plus extra to brush on top of biscuits

HEAT OVEN TO 450ºF.

Using an electric mixer, blend the butter pieces and all the dry ingredients for 1- to 1 1/2- minutes on low speed.  Stir in the cheddar cheese, until well distributed.  Pour in the buttermilk and mix until the dough comes together to form a ball and all flour is absorbed.

Transfer dough ball to lightly flour work surface.  Sprinkle dough ball with enough flour to keep your hands from sticking to it.  Knead 5 times to smooth the dough into a ball.  Flatten ball out evenly with your hand or a rolling pin until it is 9-inches in diameter.  Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to divide dough.  You will need to lightly knead scrap dough and reshape to make remaining biscuits.  Transfer into an 8- or 10-inch baking dish or pan.

Generously brush the top of the biscuits with buttermilk.  The buttermilk makes the tops shiny and crispy.

BAKE 12 to 14 minutes.

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This Cinnamon Apple Muffin recipe is super easy to pull together.  It doesn't take long to bake them up.  They taste SO GOOD with juice, hot tea and coffee; not too sweet but just right. Full of soft, sweet apple bits and the cinnamon just makes them hard to stop eating.  Top half the batch with a little brown sugar and oats and they're a fun snack to kill off the late afternoon munchies.  Treat yourself to a batch.  Bake a batch for your workmates.  They will love you for it!

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 medium apple, cored, peeled, small dice

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Optional topping:

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon oats

HEAT OVEN 400ºF.  Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.

In a small bowl, beat milk, oil and egg. Stir in diced apple. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Make a well and pour in wet ingredients.  Stir slowly just until flour is moistened--batter will be lumpy. Do not over stir.

Use a 2-inch scooper to divide batter evenly into muffin cups.  Should fill cups 2/3 full.  Sprinkle with brown sugar-oat topping if you want.

BAKE 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Immediately remove from pan.
Makes 1 dozen muffins.

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For your viewing pleasure, here's Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg demonstrating how incredibly simple it is prepare artisan bread in your kitchen. You've already read me going on and on about their first book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Very, very soon, I'll have their NEW BOOK, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. And I'm looking forward to exploring new flavors with you.

Pick up your copy & help support Simple Daily Recipes by purchasing through this Amazon link:
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients

Thank you!

- Jill
SimpleDailyRecipes.com

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Soft, creamy to the crumb white sandwich bread baked from home.  It doesn't get any better than this!  From one of my favorite cookbooks, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the original recipe is found on page 76 entitled 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread.  However, the day I made this loaf, I only had all-purpose flour on hand.  I didn't let that stop me from making a batch of dough.  My kids really chowed down on it.  This bread made perfect sandwich bread; it was easy to slice. And we lurved eating it as breakfast toast with home canned red plum jam.  I didn't make the plum jam, my neighbor did.

For your own wonderful copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois, just click on the book title and you'll be directed to Amazon.  I get about a dollar for every book I sell, and every dollar counts these days. Right?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey (I love RoundRock Honey)
• 5 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil, plus more for greasing the pan
• 6 2/3 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat flour

1. Mixing and storing the dough: Mix the yeast, salt, honey, and oil with the milk and water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients without kneading, using a strong handled spoon.
3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top); approximately 2 to 3 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is MUCH easier to handle when cold.  Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.
5. On baking day, lightly grease a 9x4x3-inch nonstick loaf pan.  Using wet hands, scoop out a
   1 1/2 pound (cantaloupe-size) handful of dough.  This dough is pretty sticky and often it's easiest to handle it with wet hands.  Keeping your hands wet, quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the vall a quarter-turn as you go.
6. Drop the loaf into the prepared pan.  You want to fill the pan slightly more than half-full.
7. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Flour the top of the loaf and slash, using the tip of a serrated bread knife.
8. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, with an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
9. Place the loaf on a rack near the center of the oven.  Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm.
10. Allow to cool completely before slicing in order to cut reasonable sandwich slices.

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ANOTHER wonderful recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day !  I tell ya, this is the BEST cookbook I've ever owned.

Chocolate Bread is not a sweet bread at all.  If you love dark chocolate, then you will appreciate Chocolate Bread.  I enjoyed it with butter, smeared with peanut butter, smeared with Nutella and smeared with both.  With the Nutella on top, I thought I was eating a frosted brownie.  But I'll be completely honest with you, I didn't love it as much as I love the Fresh N Fruity Oatmeal Bread.

It's still a recipe worth writing about and if you're in the mood for something new, then I recommend it.

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Chocolate Bread

Makes two 1 1/2 -pound loaves.  The recipe is easily doubled or halved.

• 4 ounces premium bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup honey
• 5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup premium unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
• butter or neutral-tasting oil for greasing the cookie sheet

Making the ganache:  Melt the 4-ounces of chocolate and athe butter in a double-bouler or microwave until chocolate is melted.  Blend together and set aside.

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, and honey with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded food container.

Mix in the flour, cocoa powder, ganache, and the 5 ounces of chocolate without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook).  If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold.  Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.  Beyond 5 days, freeze the dough in 1-pound portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.  When using frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using, then allow the usual rest and rise time.

On baking day, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Dust the surface of hte refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 pound (canteloupe-size) piece.  Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shpe it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

Allow the ball the rest and rise on the prepared cookie sheet for 1 hour and  40 minutes (or just 40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).  Paint with egg wash

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Place the bread in the center of the oven and bake for about 35 minutes.  Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.

Remove from pan.  Allow to cool before slicing or eating.

I love the work of a food blogger.

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