Zucchini Bread

I had some zucchini that were calling out to be made into bread so I went searching for a bread recipe on the world wide web. I found this Zucchini Bread with Oats recipe on bon appetit I just had to make it!

It’s really delicious. Hearty, not too sweet, perfect to serve with butter and jam or even the nut butter of your choice!

Here’s what ya need:

3 large eggs

1 cup olive oil

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Poudre Douce

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1 cups old-fashioned oats

Topping

1/4 cups old-fashioned oats

3 tablespoons Vanilla Bean Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F ~ grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pans and line them with paper.

Whisk eggs, oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl til smooth. In another large bowl whisk together flour, salt, Poudre Douce, baking soda, and baking powder. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into the well. Using a fork, slowly combine the mixtures. Fold in the zucchini and oats. Scrape the batter into your prepared pans and sprinkle on the oats and VBS topping.

Bake 70-80, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes then turn out the loaves onto the rack and let cool completely.

Enjoy for breakfast or teatime or with your midmorning coffee!

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Ice Cream Cookie Crumble Sammies

I made the mistake of baking cookies in a house without AC in the middle of summer in South Carolina. My usual practice of letting the cookies cool mostly then stacking them to make room for the next hot batch out of the oven didn’t quite work… Once stacked the cookies melded together into formidable towers of cookie.

I was forced to figure out how we could consume these gooey chewy towers of oatmeal, chocolate, and caramel.

I decided to crumble up the towers and press half of the mess into a square baking pan. Then I scooped on some Cirsea Maple Pecan ice cream and spread it into an even layer. I topped the ice cream with the rest of the cookie crumble and put it into the freezer.

The beauty of a large square ice cream sandwich is that you can cut whatever size sammie you want!!

4″x4″? No problem.

1″x3″? Sure thing.

Just a bite? Got it.

Whatever amount, whatever size, whatever shape! You can cut it out of a 8×8 pan of ice cream and cookie crumble!

Here’s the cookie recipe:

1 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon Poudre Douce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

1 heaping cup chocolate chips

1 cup chewy caramels cut into smallish pieces

1/2 cup pecans roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat together butter & sugars until creamy. Add eggs ~ beat well. Add combined flour, Poudre Douce, salt, and baking soda ~ mix well. Add oats, chocolate, caramel, and nuts.

Scoop out 1-2 Tablespoon sized blobs of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on pan for a few minutes then move to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Enjoy these cookies as cookies, make traditional ice cream sammies, or make a pan of ice cream and cookie crumble!

Stay cool, stay sweet,

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Roasted Peach Tart

This is a great treat to whip up for your friends and family who are trying to be gluten/grain/sugar-free. It’s simple and delicious.

The natural flavor and sweetness of peaches make them the perfect choice for a sugar-free dessert! (And if you have any peaches left over after you decorate the tart you can throw them on some yogurt or ice cream!)

I found a recipe for graham crackers in The Heal Your Gut Cookbook, halved it and used it as the crust for this tart. If you don’t have any objections to sugar & gluten, you can use the tart pastry from this recipe because it’s awesome.

Here’s how ya do it:

For the crust:

2 1/4 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon gelatin

1 teaspoon Poudre Douce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon H2O

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease your tart pan and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir together until a crumbly dough is formed. Turn this out into your pan and gently press it down to form an even crust. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges become nice and brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Keep the oven on and make your topping!

For the topping:

4 peaches, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel and slice your peaches into a small bowl. Sprinkle with the Chinese 5 Spice and stir to coat. Lay the peaches out in one layer on your baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool a bit. Pick out a few of the less attractive slices and with an immersion blender or food processor blend them up into a nice paste. Spread this paste onto your tart crust and layer the remaining slices on top!

Stay sweet,

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Breakfast Buns

With Easter right around the corner we looked up a recipe for Hot Cross Buns & found this recipe from King Arthur and thought we’d give it a go.

But these buns shouldn’t be relegated to the spot of a once a year traditional treat, they deserve a place in the breakfast biscuit & dinner roll rotation! Light & fluffy & a little yeasty, we anticipate they will be easily adaptable i.e. bacon & cheddar in place of dried craisins and apples!

Here’s what ya need:

Dough

1/4 cup apple juice

1/2 cup dried craisins

1/2 cup dried apple pieces

1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature

3 large eggs, 1 separated

6 tablespoons of butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Poudre Douce

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Topping

1 large egg white (reserved from above)

1 tablespoon milk

Lightly grease a 10×10 or 9×13 inch pan and set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl mix craisins and apples. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave until they are warm and plastic starts to shrink wrap itself to the container. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

When the fruit mixture is cool, combine all the dough ingredients except for the fruit. Knead with an electric mixer or a bread machine until a soft elastic dough is formed. Mix in the fruit!

Cover the dough and let rise for an hour, it will puff up but it may not double in size.

Grease your hands and divide dough into billiard ball size pieces, it’ll make about 12 to 14. Roll them into rounds and place them in your prepared pan.

Cover the pan and let them rise for an hour or until they’re puffed up and touching one another. While the dough is rising preheat your oven to 375ºF.

Whisk together the egg white and milk, brush over the buns.

Bake for 20 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

These pancakes are the stuff of dreams, pancake dreams.

And they’re easy as pie…. but they’re pancakes.

Here’s what ya need:

4 oz finely grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup raisins, overflowing

2 cups of flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Poudre Douce

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

2 teaspoons butter, melted

Grate your carrot onto a plate or into a bowl, add nuts and raisins.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and Poudre Douce. Add egg and milk and stir until batter is smooth, add butter, carrots, nuts, and raisins.

I used a 1/4 cup measure to plop the batter onto my pan but you can make these as big or small as your heart desires. Over medium heat cook until top is full of bubbles, flip to brown the other side.

I suggest serving these beauties with a healthy dose of cream cheese frosting (we threw a splash of Ginger Sugar into ours to give it a little bite). However they will be equally delicious with maple syrup, just less obviously carrot cakey!

Stay sweet, Friends!

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Spice Cake

The other day I was overcome by an intense desire to make carrot cake. I did some casual internet searching and found the recipe for this delicious cake on this blog, The Faux Martha.

But boy, this is not Carrot Cake. This is what Carrot Cake wants to be when it grows up. It’s elegant and understated, sophisticated and subtle.

It’s all kinds of fine. The perfect cake for teatime or after brunch or dinner or lunch. It’s not cloyingly sweet, it’s simply delicious.

I baked the cake in two 8×8 pans with every intention of making a two layer cake. When it came down to it, I was seized by a wild hair, and decided to cut one of the layers into quarters and then I sliced three of those quarters in half, making a 6 layered tower of spice cake.

Here’s what ya need:

For the spice cake:

1 pound carrots, finely grated

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1/3 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Poudre Douce

For buttercream frosting:

16 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1 cup of confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 8×8 pans with parchment paper. In an electric mix combine carrots, eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.

In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and Poudre Douce. Add this to carrot mixture, mixing until combined.

Distribute batter evenly into your baking pans. Bake 30 to 40 mins or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove pans and let cake cool completely before icing.

For the frosting: In your electric mixer cream cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add in butter gradually. Add in confectioners sugar and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. And then you’re ready to go as soon as your cakes are cooled.

Stay sweet,

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Apple Pie Cheesecake

This guy is my granddad, and he had a birthday this week:

And boy, was it a great day! We had a tasty lunch at Five Loaves in Summerville then headed to Coastal Coffee to grab coffee to go with our homemade apple pie cheesecake.

The food, the service, the ambiance were all fabulous, really, 5 stars all around in both places. And because it was so great I could pause to appreciate the company I was with, and that really is priceless.

Without further ado, here’s a classic fall cheesecake to make and share with the people who matter most to you:

Crust

2 cups crushed cinnamon graham crackers

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling

3 eight ounce packages cream cheese

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 eggs, room temp

1/4 cup apple cider

1 tablespoon Poudre Douce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping

2 cups sour cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze

1 cup apple cider

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons Poudre Douce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup Craisins

For crust:  Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter 9 inch springform pan. Blend crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of buttered pan. Bake 5 minutes. Cool.

For filling: Keep oven at 350 F.

Using mixer beat cream cheese until soft, gradually blend in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in cider, poudre douce, and vanilla. Pour into crust. Bake until slightly puffed, about 40 mins.

For topping: Oven should still be at 350 F.

Blend all ingredients in a small bowl. Spread on top of the cake. Bake 15 minutes; topping will not look set. Cool 30 minutes.

For glaze:

Combine cider and yolk in heavy saucepan. Stir in sugar, cornstarch, poudre douce, and salt. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes. Add butter and Craisins and stir until butter melts. Cool glaze for 20 minutes.

Spread glaze on cake. Cool completely. Refrigerate until well chilled, this cake is best made a day or two in advance!

Grad your friends and family and serve cold with a fresh pot of coffee and good conversation.

XO

Charleston Spice Co.

Peach Craisin Crumble

Talk about comfort.

A little bubble of happiness forms inside your heart when you eat a good crumble. A smile starts to play at the corners of your eyes and your lips can’t help but form a contented smile.

You sit back, sip your coffee, get caught up in memories remembered because of fresh fruit and crumble topping.

Here’s what you need:

4 or 5 peaches, sliced

1 large cup of dried cranberries (we used Craisins)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ginger sugar

2 teaspoons Poudre Douce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup cold butter

Preheat your oven to 350. Slice up your peaches (you can keep those skins on, no need to bother with taking them off). Put peaches and Craisins into a 9×9 dish and place them in the oven while you put the topping together.

In a medium-sized bowl mix together all the dry ingredients then cut in the butter until it forms a chunky mealy crumble topping. Take the peaches out of the oven and cover with your topping. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until topping is browned to your liking.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Stay sweet,

Charleston Spice Co.

 

 

Apple Toad Muffins

Is there a better way to start the day than with coffee and homemade baked goods? I can think of few other morning rituals that can bring such delight as reading a book, sipping coffee, and munching on a little something sweet.

With the cool spring mornings we’ve been having I’ve been craving apple muffins. So I went in search of a recipe that would satiate my desire and found this one. I decided to call mine Toad Muffins because I ended up using less topping than the original recipe and they turned out warty and toad like in appearance, appetizing description, yes? I sort of followed the recipe, I recommend you read this recipe because the author is very detailed and describes at what speed you should blend the different ingredients.

When I get into the kitchen it’s more of a free for all and by the time I get half way through such a detailed recipe I think, well, it probably doesn’t matter now, I’ve got a general idea of what I’m supposed to do now… Sometimes this works out, other times it does matter and things don’t turn out well. But this recipe was a success, even with a disregard to the blending instructions, thus I’m sharing it with you.Here’s what ya need:

For toady topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Poudre Douce (or Pie Spice or just plain ol’ cinnamon)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

For muffins:

1/2 cup butter, at room temp

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

1/2 cup greek yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups apple, peeled and chopped

In a small bowl assemble the topping: combine sugars, Poudre Douce, and butter. Stir in flour until all combined and crumbly. Put to the side.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners (makes about 15 standard size muffins (and yes, I used Halloween cupcake liners, who says you can’t celebrate Halloween in April?)).

In a mixer beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugars and beat on high until creamed. Add eggs, yogurt and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix together with a whisk. Slowly pour in milk and blend until relatively smooth, then stir in apple chunks.

Pour into prepared muffin tins. Fill to the top and press some of the crumble topping on top. For once in my baking career, I erred on the side of caution with the topping. I tend to steer clear of overly sugar-coated muffins so I really didn’t use very much of the topping and had some left over.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425 F then reduce heat to 350 F and bake for 15 more minutes.

These will last about 3 to 5 days at room temp, but they do have a tendency to disappear when left in the open…

Enjoy,

Charleston Spice Co.

A Pi Day to Remember

Do you know today’s date?!

It’s 3.14.15

Do you know what this means?!?!?!?!?!

Those are the first five digits of the mathematical constant pi! This is the one year that the date will be more that just the first three digits!!!!!!

Woah. I know. It’s a big deal.

So I made a pie to celebrate, an Apple, Craisin, Pecan, and Candied Ginger Pie.Here’s what ya need:

1 humongous Honeycrisp apple, cubed (it was a HUGE apple, once cored and cubed it probably was at least 2 cups worth)

1 cup craisins

1 cup candied ginger, chopped

1 cup pecans, chopped

6 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Poudre Douce (or pie spice if ya don’t have that, or here’s a shameless plug, click here to buy some)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg and 2 egg yolks

pie crust for 9″ pie dish: this is up to you, if you make a wicked pie crust, please do so (and feel free to send me some tips and a recipe because I just bought some ready-to-go pie crust…).

Preheat oven to 350 F, set rack in center of oven.

Place apple, craisins, ginger, and pecans in a bowl.

Add sugars, Poudre Douce, salt, and egg. Stir until combined.

Pour this combination into your prepared crust. The verbose top crust is optional, I just love spelling things out with food. If you really want to achieve greatness you should see how many digits of pi you can fit on top of your pie.

Bake for 30 minutes. Take pie out and cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 30 minutes. With cover still on let cool for 20 minutes and serve!!!!

XO,

Charleston Spice Co.