Happy Monday morning to you! GOOD DAY!
Drink some coffee and wake up. Homemade iced caramel macchiatos are the way to go. I have them down to a science. If you come over sometime, I'll make you one.
I'll feed you a variety of baked goods and we can discuss Top Chef Masters.
So, old Art got kicked off, huh? I thought his burger looked good, but that strawberry-rice milk ice cream looked soupy and sloppy. I think he did deserve to go. But I will miss his southern-comfort food style of cooking, because I kind of feel like that's my style of cooking.
I'm not sure what to think about Anita. I know what a great chef she is, and I admire her, but she's not making me root for her on the show.
Hubert Keller is the man to beat, I think. He's going to win the whole show, probably. He's like a French chef robot. I don't think he can mess up.
But I secretly want him to. Shhhhh.
I own this movie, called "Winter Passing", and ironically enough, Zooey Deschanel stars, but that's beside the point. Ed Harris is in it too, and his character kind of looks like a creepy version of Hubert Keller. So I have this movie sitting out, and every time I walk by it, I look at the cover and think it's Hubert Keller. Let me show you what I mean:
That leaves Michael Chiarello and Rick Bayless. I love both of them! I can't decide which one I want to win. Michael is so cute and charming. Rick is too, and he's very meticulous which I like. Whose food would I rather eat? Rick Bayless. I think everything he has made sounds fantastic. I would love to eat at Frontera Grill someday. Also, I just remembered I used to watch his shows on PBS when I was in high school. (When I wasn't running high school book club meetings.. Heh.)
So I suppose I want Rick to win.
This is exciting stuff, I know, but we better move along and talk about Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. I know this sounds crazy. I know this bread probably doesn't appeal to many of you, but oh wow was it good.
Hot damn.
Imagine a zucchini bread studded with dark chocolate chips, with a hint of orange zest, topped with a cinnamon-sugar topping. Do those flavors work for you? No? I haven't won you over yet?
You have to believe me!! Am I going crazy? I liked this bread very much. The only tricky part is to NOT underbake it. You're going to think it's done, and it's not. Keep baking, my friends. Keep baking that bread. And don't take it out of the pan too early, and don't slice it too early. Okay?
Printable Recipe
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
2 cups grated zucchini
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk in 1 1/4 cups sugar and chocolate chips until combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs until combined; add yogurt, oil, vanilla, orange zest and zucchini until well combined. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Stir together additional 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon until combined. Sprinkle half over the top of the surface; using a knife, gently swirl cinnamon-sugar into bread. Sprinkle the additional cinnamon-sugar over the top. Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into bread comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cover bread with foil if it gets too brown. Cool 1 hour in pan, before running a knife around outside edges and removing.
Makes 8-10 servings
49 comments:
Sup?