Birthday Breakfast for America! OK, I’m not patriotic in the slightest (or if I am patriotic, it’s to more than one of my countries), but it is the 4th of July and I did make these very typical Blueberry Muffins, with an Almond Struesel (there is the German in me) topping. Great way to start off this celebratory day while up at a camp on the lake in Maine. Breakfast is good, weather is great, friends are fantastic!
Let’s talk about garlic bread. It’s a total summer time thing for me and I almost never make it in the winter, even if it does pair nicely with Italian dishes like the traditional “Spaghetti and Meatballs”. But now that it is summer, it’s time to work on perfecting these loaves of yumminess. This time, I decided to not take a loaf from the store and slather it with garlic and herb butter, but I made the bread too. And I made the “pull apart” / “crazy bread” style bread that I have become so fond of. Added a lot of parm and voila. Yumminess! Best part is that it virtually falls apart into slices when removed from the loaf pan, so no need for a knife.
If you are a frequent visitor of my website, you will have noticed that lately I have been into making these “crazy breads” aka “pull-apart breads”. While really no different than any other sweet breads for breakfast, I think that they are visually pleasing and actually, I like the texture as there are some bits that are crunchy and some that are soft. This one went a little overboard on the “going crazy” part though and over-ran the pan. All’s well that ends well though and it was no worse for wear.
These bread sticks are brought to you by Sweet Paul Magazine. Well, more specifically they are *inspired* by a photo that I saw in his magazine, but the recipe that I used is actually my usual grissini recipe. I absolutely love the presentation, and they taste pretty damn good too.
I woke up this morning with a craving for cinnamon toast. Actually, I should say that I woke up at 3 AM with a craving for cinnamon toast, but managed to convince myself that I should probably not wake up the other tenants in the building by running the KitchenAid at 3 AM. I’m considerate like that [grin].
Cinnamon Swirl Bread has a long story in my life. My best-friend-forever’s mother has always made great Cinnamon Bread. Back in high school, I think that I begged her for the recipe at least once per week. Twenty five years later, I still have never gotten that recipe, but my own baking skills have gotten much better so that I grokked my own. This time I added cardamom as well. Cardamom always reminds me of a Swedish friend of the family, who makes this amazing cardamom cake. So between the two things (cinnamon and cardamom), this bread is one of those walks down memory lane.