Bread Machine: Peanut Butter Bread

I recently tried another new bread recipe from the good ol' Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook. This time I made Peanut Butter Bread.

My loaf turned out kind of misshapen, but still tasted good. I  used it to make Chocolate French Toast. It was a good combination. But the bread is just as tasty toasted with a bit of Nutella on top. Mmmm!

This recipe is for either a 1 lb loaf or 1.5 lb loaf. I didn't realize that when I put the ingredients in and only put ingredients in for a 1 lb loaf at first. My bread machine does not have a 1 lb option. So I had to put more of each ingredient in to make a 1.5 lb loaf. This is probably why (or part of the reason why) my loaf turned out looking funny.

Ingredients
1 lb loaf
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups bread flour
1 T packed brown sugar
3/4 t salt
1 1/4 t yeast

1.5 lb loaf
1 cup plus 1 T water
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups bread flour
3 T packed brown sugar
1 t salt
2 t yeast

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Use Light or Medium crust color.

Bread Machine: Caramel Apple Pecan Bread

I apologize in advance, but I do not have any pictures to share.

We decided to make some bread specifically to use for French toast. I gave Charles a few options from the Betty Crocker bread machine cookbook and he chose Caramel Apple Pecan Bread. I have to say he made an excellent choice.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb loaf
1 cup water (of course we had to add a little extra because it is so dry here)
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup chopped unpeeled apple (like a Granny Smith)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans (it says toasted, but we didn't toast ours)

2 lb loaf
1 1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups bread flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
2/3 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Place all ingredients, except apple and pecans, in bread machine pan in order recommended by manufacturer. Add apple and pecans at the Raisin/Nut signal.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Light crust color. Do not use delay option.

I used the Betty Crocker Big Red recipe for french toast. I am a recipe follower, but french toast batter can usually be done without one. I did add cinnamon to the batter.

Bananas Foster French Toast

Once, back in college, my school cafeteria had some culinary students making things. One station had bananas foster. It was so delicious! Charles and I made it once since then, but we didn't get it quite right. For some reason lately I've been thinking about making it again. We finally bought some Rum and had a bunch of bananas, so I was going to make some for dessert, but then I remembered that we did not have any vanilla ice cream to enjoy it with.

The next morning, I wondered if there was a recipe for Bananas Foster French Toast. Thanks to Pinterest (yes, I'm obsessed just like everyone else), I found a great recipe! I was going to take a picture of my delicious breakfast, but the camera battery was dead. But it was definitely worth sharing. Here's the picture from Pinterest and a link to the recipe.

Source: I added a tablespoon or so of rum in mine. Yes, it was for breakfast, but the alcohol cooks out. And it's not bananas foster without it.

Chocolate French Toast

I discovered this recipe a few years ago and fell in love. Chocolate French Toast has been our Christmas breakfast tradition since Charles and I have been married. It's so easy and so yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 oz chocolate, chopped (you can use semi-sweet, dark or milk chocolate...whatever you like best)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
bread
2 Tablespoons butter

Place milk and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until chocolate is soft, about one minute. Stir to combine and let cool.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, vanilla and chocolate mixture.

On skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Proceed to make French toast as usual.

We love to serve this with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar!

Banana Bread French Toast

I had a few bananas saved in the freezer and Charles wanted me to make banana bread. A week or so after he asked me, I finally made it. Banana bread is simple and easy to make. As if banana bread isn't amazing on its own, I made banana bread French toast! I had it at a restaurant outside of San Antonio in October and I've had a recipe for it sitting on my computer for a while now. 

Here's how you can make it, too!

Ingredients:
1 loaf of Banana bread (I used the Betty Crocker recipe, but feel free to use whatever recipe you would like)
3 eggs
3 Tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (I didn't have any, so we just used milk and some sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the ingredients together. Slice the banana bread. Heat a skillet on medium high. You can butter the skillet. I didn't and it didn't make that much of a difference. Dip the slices in the mixture so they are fully coated. Place on skillet and cook until each side is golden brown.

The banana bread French toast on the griddle

The finished product with some powdered sugar...just like the pros.

Later this week, I'm going to share my no-sew cushions for my kitchen chairs. Super easy project!