Loyalist Bread

OOOOOoooh, this one was a definite Make Again! It is a beautiful loaf of fruity nutty bread called "Loyalist Bread". It originated in Nova Scotia, where there are lots of blueberries. I followed the recipe from my big book of bread on page 452. It was very easy to make and turned out very pretty. Leave me a comment and I will post the recipe.

I used really big, tame, blueberries for this loaf. There are also walnuts in it. The recipe was sweeter that necessary so I will reduce the sugar next time. I will also give it a try with some whole wheat flour and even more blueberries! Delicious!

Val's Date Bread p. 441

If you like banana bread with walnuts, you must try this one! It was sweet, sticky and delicious! It was packed with nuts and dates and the crust was perfectly crunchy. It was awesome. Dates and walnuts were the only things in it that are not always in my pantry anyway. I might try to healthy it up a bit next time (although it may not be as delicious then). I think it would still be fine with a little less sugar and even more dates and some whole wheat flour. It's worth a try.

Look at how packed with nuts and dates that is! It's beautiful. The recipe says to make two small loaves, but I only have large loaf pans, so I made one large loaf and 8 muffins. I baked the muffins for 30 minutes, instead of 50 for the loaf, at 300 in my convection oven. They came out perfectly. Note that you do need to soak the dates for 20 minutes ahead of time, so work that into your schedule.  All in all, I was very pleased with this loaf.

Midnight Mints

These are probably my favorite squares. They are called Midnight Mints and they are the minty equivalent of the well-known Nanaimo Bar.

I love how mint and chocolate go together. Today I added a little more butter to the chocolate for the topping since it was looking a little too thick to spread - what a wonderful idea! It was totally spreadable and easier to cut than usual. I had frozen the bottom two layers for a few minutes before adding the chocolate top, which also helped spread the chocolate without getting the green mixing into it. I was very pleased with how these turned out. The ones in the photo are actually the "rejects" from the bunch that I froze for Easter dessert!

This recipe comes from the Company's Coming 150 Delicious Squares Cookbook again. It is on page 13. The crust is a hearty mixture of coconut, walnuts, graham cracker crumbs and cocoa, along with an egg, some butter and some sugar. It is not too time-consuming to make either, since the bottom gets cooked a little, but there is no baking involved. I'm sure my Easter company will love them!

What are your favorite squares? I'm planning to have a selection for Easter and all I can think of is chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

Orange Oatmeal Cake

When we moved to our new house, my aunt gave me a cook booklet called "Company's Coming coffee cake classics".  It has lots of enticing coffee cakes in it. I randomly opened it earlier this month to the first one for which I had all the ingredients and came to page 26 - Orange Oatmeal Cake.

It turned out nicely, but it's a good thing I checked on it early. I guess the convection was really working in my oven that day since I baked it 30 minutes, instead of 40 and it was done! The orange flavor was mild but tasty. The topping was separate and a bit fiddly and I think the walnuts would have been better in the cake than on it so I doubt I'll make this one again. I'll keep trying other recipes from this book, though.  They all look good!