Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf #BreadBakers

Naturally gluten free, this Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf bakes up light and fluffy with a lovely crunchy sugar top. It’s great as is or even toasted.

A couple of my fellow food bloggers have introduced me through their recipes to two flours I had never used before, cassava and coconut. No one in my family needs to be gluten free but I do love experimenting with new ingredients. 

Recently I read the fascinating book, Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America and learned even more about the traditional use of cassava in cooking and baking by the indigenous tribes of the Caribbean. 

To quote the Amazon blurb: “Exemplifying how Native foodways can teach us all to connect with the natural world around us, Turtle Island features rich narrative histories and spotlights the communities producing, gathering, and cooking these foods, including remarkable stories of ingenuity and adaptation that capture the resilience of Indigenous communities.” 

It's an amazing read and extremely humbling. There’s so much I didn’t know and still need to learn about this continent, pre-arrival of foreign colonizers.

I was expecting guests for a teatime visit a couple of weeks ago so I decided to give cassava flour a spin. They took the leftovers home with them, one saying that she planned to eat her slices with coffee for breakfast, that’s how well it went over! 

Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf

Both my husband and I thought the loaf could have been a little sweeter but, as I said, the guests liked it just as it was. If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, use the whole ¾ cup or 150g of brown sugar in the list. Next time I bake this, I plan to. 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups or 180g cassava flour

½ – ¾ cup or 100-150g dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest 1 lemon (save lemon for juicing)

3 eggs, room temperature

½ cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

½ cup or 123g plain full-fat Greek yogurt

Juice 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Optional but highly recommended for that crunchy top: 2-3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a loaf pan with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cassava flour, brown sugar, baking powder, sea salt and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract together until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and fold until it is just combined but make sure no flour is showing.

Pour the batter into your lined loaf pan. I hold the baking parchment up with clothes pegs which works a treat. You do have to remove them before baking! 

Sprinkle on the turbinado sugar, if using. 

Bake for 45–50 minutes. The edges should be golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the pan then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Slice to serve. Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their bakes. Our theme today is Breakfast Bread! Many thanks to our host Kelly from A Messy Kitchen. Check out the links below.

• Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf from Food Lust People Love 
• Girelle - Italian Breakfast Pastry from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Greek Yogurt and Blueberry Oat Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Kheema Anda Paratha from Sneha's Recipe
• Sourdough Gingerbread Waffles from A Messy Kitchen
• Sourdough Plum Almond Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Zucchini Cassava Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf!

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Easy Drop Biscuits #BreadBakers

Made with just five ingredients you likely have on hand, these easy drop biscuits bake up light and fluffy, the perfect quick bread to accompany any meal.

The secret to flakey drop biscuits is to make sure the butter is well chilled and combined briefly so, for these drop biscuits, I recommend freezing your butter first. Then grating into the flour. 

And as easy and quick as these are to make, my next tip has stood me in good stead for mornings that things are rushed: Grate the butter into the flour mixture any day when you have time to spare. Bag it up and throw it in the freezer. Whenever you need the drop biscuits, preheat the oven. Tip the bag into a bowl, mix in the milk and you are ready to bake! Easy peasy.

Depending on your freezer space, you can make multiple bags to have in readiness for easy drop biscuits anytime! 

Easy Drop Biscuits

This recipe does call for whole milk. If you only have 2% in your refrigerator, add two tablespoons heavy cream to your measuring vessel and then top up with 2% milk to the 1 1/2 cup or 180ml mark. This recipe makes 12 biscuits.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups or 313g all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, frozen

3/4 cup or 180ml whole milk

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Grate the butter into the flour, tossing to coat occasionally as you do. Use the bigger side of the grater. 

Put the whole bowl in the freezer until you are ready to bake. (Or in a labeled bag as mentioned above.)

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

When your oven is at temperature, add the milk to the flour mixture. Stir lightly with a fork until the mixture comes together into a sticky, shaggy dough.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough up then release it onto the prepared baking pan with a small spatula. 

Repeat until all the drop biscuits are in the pan, ready to bake.

Bake the biscuits in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Let cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack. 

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, which means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme today is biscuits! Many thanks to our host, Susan of The Wimpy Vegetarian. Check out the links below. 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Apple Cider Biscuits
• A Messy Kitchen : Cast Iron Buttermilk Biscuits
• The Wimpy Vegetarian: Cheesy Air Fryer Biscuits with Herbs
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Cream Cheese Biscuits
• Food Lust People Love: Easy Drop Biscuits
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Biscuits With Almond & Coconut Flour
• Palatable Pastime: Sausage and Cheddar Biscuits

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Easy Drop Biscuits!

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Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread #BreadBakers

A slightly sweet tender loaf, this steamed cranberry pecan honey bread is wonderful sliced, even better toasted, buttered or not. We loved it all the ways! 

When this month’s Bread Baker’s host proposed “steamed breads” as our theme for July, I thought, excellent! No turning the oven on when it’s roasting outside. 

Gently steaming something on the stovetop sounded ideal.

A lot of the recipes I found online were either Asian in origin, or called for steaming in a coffee can. It just so happens that I have a couple of coffee cans saved for exactly such an occasion. Just not where I currently am! And rare is the coffee that comes in a can these days. 

Time to adapt. You can steam this in a well-oiled 1 lb coffee can or use a small loaf pan like I have. Mine is 8 1/2 X 4 1/4 in or 21.6 x 10.8cm. 

Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread

You can easily switch out the cranberries and pecans for other dried fruits and nuts. This very versatile recipe is adapted from one on Mother Earth News. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup or 95g fine yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup or 83g all-purpose flour

1/3 cup or 40g whole wheat flour

1/3 cup or 25g bran flakes, slightly crushed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml honey

1/3 cup or 55g dried cranberries, plus extra for topping, if desired

1/3 cup or 40g chopped pecans, plus extra for topping, if desired

Canola or other light oil for greasing the loaf pan

Method

Combine the cornmeal, the flours, the bran flakes, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. 

Give the cranberries and pecans a quick splash of water and stir them well to dampen. 

Toss them in the dry mixture to coat. This should help them not all sink to the bottom as the loaf steams. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and honey. Keep whisking until the honey is completely dissolved. 

Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Top with extra cranberries and pecans, if using. 

Then cover the pan with foil, set it on a steamer basket or metal cookie cutters inside a large pot with just enough water in the pot to submerge the bottom the pan.

Bring the water to a boil. 

Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for two hours. Check the pot now and then to make sure that all the water isn’t boiling away. Add a little hot tap water as needed.

At the end of the steaming period, remove the pan from the pot and carefully remove the foil. 

When it’s cool enough to handle–run a knife around the inside and turn the loaf out gently onto a wire rack to cool. 

When completely cool, slice to serve.

The sliced bread is delicious spread with cream cheese, butter or just plain!

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month – kind of snuck up on me this month since July 1st was a Tuesday! – and that means it’s time for our Bread Bakers group to share their recipes for steamed breads. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below 

• Bao Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Dessert Bao (Chocolate Steamed Buns) from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Chinese Steamed Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Paczki na Parze (Polish Steamed Donuts) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Buns {Sheng Jian Bao) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread! 

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Crushed Pineapple Carrot Quick Bread #BreadBakers

This crushed pineapple carrot quick bread is just the right amount of sweet from the pineapple, carrots and sugar. It’s perfect for breakfast or tea time. Slice it up for your Easter brunch table. It will disappear in no time! 

Last Sunday we had guests over for brunch. I fried up a couple of pounds of bacon, baked M&M mini muffins, put together a fresh fruit salad, cooked cheesy scrambled eggs and baked this crushed pineapple carrot quick bread. 

It was a lovely spread and much enjoyed by all and not just because we drank fresh squeezed orange juice with Champagne! Is it really a Sunday brunch if there aren’t mimosas on offer? I think not. 

The general consensus on the quick bread was "would have again!" It’s so good! 

Crushed Pineapple Carrot Quick Bread

When you drain the crushed pineapple, do push on it gently with a spoon. It should still be very moist but not dripping wet. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg

1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil

1 cup, lightly packed, or 166g finely grated carrots

2/3 cup or 168g crushed pineapple in juice (not syrup!), drained – pressed a little bit

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup or 57g chopped pecans, plus extra for topping, if desired

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare one 8x4 in or 20 x 10cm loaf pan by greasing and flouring it or lining it with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

In another bowl, beat the egg and oil together. Add in the carrots, pineapple and vanilla and stir well. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fold in the chopped pecans.

Spoon into your prepared loaf pan and top with more chopped pecans, if desired. 

Bake in your preheated oven for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Slice and enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s THE day for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme this month is carrot or Easter bread. Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen. Check out the links below. 

• Carrot and Thyme Sourdough Boule by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cozonac - Romanian Easter Bread by A Messy Kitchen
• Crushed Pineapple Carrot Quick Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Carrot Bread by Sneha’s Recipe
• Sourdough Carrot Raisin Loaf by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Whole Wheat Carrot Bread by Karen’s Kitchen stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Crushed Pineapple Carrot Quick Bread! 

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Mom’s Golden Cornbread #BreadBakers

My mom’s golden cornbread is a family favorite, fluffy and delicious. It’s made from scratch but is just about as easy as the packets. 

Way back in 2005, my eldest daughter was in the kitchen a lot, working on some project. I finally asked her what the challenge was. She allowed that she had been looking for cornbread recipes online but just couldn’t find a good one. 

I suggested that she email her grandmother, the family expert in corn bread baking. She duly did.

And she received this reply, along with the recipe I am sharing today. 

Mom’s Golden Cornbread

I’ve added the metric equivalents but the rest is all my mom’s instructions. She did like to bake in her iron skillet but knowing we didn’t have one back then, she didn’t include that option in the original recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup or 150g yellow cornmeal

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

2 – 4 tablespoons sugar (To go with chili, I use only two)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup or 240ml milk, sometimes I will add a tiny bit more milk if I find it too thick

1 egg

1/4 cup or 60ml vegetable oil like canola (do not use olive oil)

Method

Preheat oven to 425°F or 218°C.  In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Add milk, egg and oil. 

Beat until fairly smooth, about one minute.  

Scrape bottom and sides well. Bake in greased 8-inch baking pan for 20-23 minutes or until lightly browned on top. 

I like to put some oil in my baking pan first and then put it in the oven to get the oil really hot, then I add the batter and bake.  This gives a nice bottom to the cornbread.

(My edit: I always do this, putting the pan with a little oil in the oven for five minutes before pouring in the batter. You can see how it sizzles when I add the batter.)

You can insert a toothpick in the middle to test for doneness. 

I will add here that Mom loved her cornbread amply buttered and often topped with Steen’s Cane Syrup which hails from her mom’s hometown of Abbeville, Louisiana. Made the old-fashioned way by boiling down cane juice until it is thick, Steen’s is the syrup of choice in Cajun Country. It is great in cakes, on biscuits, pancakes and cornbread.

Enjoy! 

This is the second Tuesday of the month which means it's time for my Bread Bakers to share recipes. Our theme is cornbread, or corn bread, if you prefer. Many thanks to our host, Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious. Check out the links below. 

• Candied Ginger Cornbread (with crystallized ginger) from Shockingly Delicious
• Corn Free Skillet Corn Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Corn Meal Batty Cakes from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cornbread Cupcakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Easy Cowboy Cornbread Casserole (Vegetarian Dinner) from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Gluten-Free Hush Puppies (Fried and Air Fryer) from Cook with Renu
• Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Cornbread from Culinary Cam
• Mom's Golden Cornbread from Food Lust People Love
• Vegetarian Cornbread Casserole from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin Mom's Golden Cornbread for later! 

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