Monday, January 4, 2010

Roasted Garlic Bread and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

It was about a 5 hour drive up north to Ohio for Christmas. Let me go ahead and say right now that my husband does not care for my driving style and prefers to do all the driving himself. In fact, whenever we go anywhere he always drives. So, what was I to do while he drove us to Ohio and back? Well, the kids were busy watching cartoons in the backseat, my husband was listening to a book on headphones, so I took the time to read cookbooks in the passenger seat. My feelings were not hurt in the least. I much prefer reading cookbooks to driving cars.

I spent the majority of time reading a baking cookbook and found many bread recipes that I wanted to try. I found this recipe for Roasted Garlic Bread and decided that it would be the first one I would start on when we returned home.

Roasted Garlic Bread - adapted from Taste of Home Fall Baking Cookbook/Magazine
*Makes 2 loaves (10 slices each)
2 medium whole garlic bulbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 to 115)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 to 3 cups a/p flour (I used 2-1/2 and it was almost too much)
2 tablespoons minced fresh sage or 2 teaspoons rubbed sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh marjoram or 3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I used Romano because that's what I had)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Remove papery outer skin from garlic (do not peel or separate cloves). Cut top off garlic bulbs; brush with oil. Wrap each bulb in heavy-duty foil. Bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes or until softened. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze softened garlic into a small bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, add the sage, marjoram and rosemary to the reserved roasted garlic.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 10-in x 8-in. rectangle. Spread garlic mixture to within 1/2 in of edges. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam and ends to seal.

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place loaves seam side down on pan; tuck ends under. With a sharp knife, make several slashes across the top of each loaf. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks; brush with butter. (I topped mine with more Romano cheese)

Notes/Results: This bread was easy to make and my husband really liked it. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. I think I was a little burnt out on garlic when I ate it. (did I really just say that?) Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it that day. I didn't have all the fresh herbs, so I substituted an equal amount of dried Italian seasoning and it worked out great. I did like how it made two baguette sized loaves. Makes it nice if you want to eat one and give one away.

I saw these peanut butter chocolate chip muffins over on Donna's site, My Tasty Treasures. It was love at first sight! I had just enough peanut butter and half a bag of milk chocolate chips leftover from holiday baking. The recipe (found by clicking on the purple link above) makes 12 delicious and filling muffins that everyone gave a super big thumbs up! My daughter, my husband, my mom and me tore through them in just a couple of hours. They are very delicious and are probably my favorite muffin. They have already been requested again and are a keeper of a recipe. Thanks Donna!!

23 comments:

  1. Those PB muffins are calling my name. Thanks for stopping by my site -- it was a while ago, as I'm very far behind in my site visits. Love your blog.

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  2. Popped in to say hi! Those muffins look lovely!

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  3. That bread sounds sooo awesome. I honestly don't think I could ever tire of roasted garlic!

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  4. First when I read your title, I thought, hey , thats wierd: garlic bread with peanut butter and chocolate chips LOL, then I looked at the title again. I am such a dumb bunny sometimes. Those muffins look fab. Do they have a crunchy top by any chance? I am always looking for crunchy top muffins :)

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  5. Both of these look delish. I had plans to make Donna's Chocolate Cream Cheese Peanut Butter bars this weekend but didn't really feel motivated to do it. I'll probably do it next weekend :) I'm with you on the reading vs. driving. My hubby is like that too when we travel. He cannot stand it when I drive period. I don't care though because I'm just as happy sitting in the passenger's seat and reading or singing along to the radio :)

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  6. Never had peanut butter muffins before, but yours look great! :)

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  7. ha ha I thought the same thing as Heavenly Housewife. Funny... Your husband sounds funny. I beg my husband to drive whenever we travel and he begs me to drive. he he

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  8. We are huge garlic lovers here!!! I'm hoping to make a new pasta dish in the next couple of days and this would go perfectly with it! The muffins look delicious, as well!!!

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  9. The jelly roll garlic bread looks so good and I love the idea of rolling it up...very cool!

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  10. Your garlic bread looks divine! And never have tried PB and chocolate chip muffins. Sounds like a winner to me!

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  11. So glad you liked the muffins! Thank you for your kind words.:) The garlic bread sounds wonderful. My children are huge fans of that, esp when dipped in tomato sauce.

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  12. I think the roasted garlic bread looks delicious; ditto for those PB muffins. As much as I HATE DSO's driving, I much prefer not to drive, too. I read so that I don't have to watch his driving, though his constant stream of comments on other drivers makes me nutz!

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  13. I love how beautiful the garlic bread turned out. What a perfect dish to serve to guests!

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  14. mmmm, i love it! i don't know what i want first, that bread or those muffins.

    my hubs almost always drives when we are together, mostly because i hate to drive, but he's admitted a few times that he's not much of a fan of my skills either!

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  15. OK, it's almost 11:00 PM and I want to make muffins! I best go to bed. Both your bread and muffins look delicious!

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  16. Oh, the muffins...YUM! And the bread...they both look delish :D I don't know how you can read in the car...I get so car sick when I try that. I prefer driving...or just listening to tunes :)

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  17. Wow, you had me with the roasted garlic bread! I love that there are two bulbs of garlic in there..

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  18. After driving in winter for five hours, I would consume that bread. The muffins are sweetly delicious but the garlic bread is singing to me.

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  19. Kim, I love the Taste of Home magazines. Bet the cookbooks are great. I really like garlic so I would try this one.

    Actually, one of our favorite breads is a recipe I got from The Wandering Coyote at ReTorte – It’s a sun dried tomato and roasted garlic bread. Really delicious. Now you also have me wanting one of those muffins!

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  20. You did a great job with both of your recipes. You make me crave for chocolate and peanut butter! :)

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  21. You know, if you read the title of this post as ONE recipe.....it sounds pretty gross, lol. I thought you'd "done lost your mind"!

    I like the garlic bread recipe jelly roll style. Very cool.

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  22. Homemade garlic bread is always so much better than store bought--but usually that is the case with everything :-)

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  23. Burnt out on garlic? Hope you're over this aliment! :)
    ~ingrid

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