Chocolate Zucchini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are baked with cocoa and chocolate chips. Grated zucchini adds moisture and nutrition, not that you’ll notice it’s there flavorwise! 

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means we are celebrating Muffin Monday all day long. I had a zucchini in the fridge that was getting a little past its best and needed to be used, hence these chocolate zucchini muffins. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This recipe is for a small batch of just six muffins but it’s easily doubled if you need 12. Or even trebled. Muffins batter is very forgiving like that. 

Ingredients

1/2 medium zucchini or courgette (approx. weight 2 2/3 oz or 75g)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup or 95g flour

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa

1/4 cup or 50g white sugar

1/4 cup, packed, or 50g brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup or 50g semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a little extra for topping, if desired.

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 6-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with muffin papers.

Grate the zucchini with the small holes of your grater and spread it around in a colander to drain.  Sprinkle with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugars and baking powder. Mix in the chocolate chips and use your clean hands to separate any that are stuck together. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk and oil. Use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to squeeze moisture out of the grated zucchini. Add it to the wet ingredient bowl and whisk.

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined. There should be some dry flour still showing.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Add a few more chocolate chips to the top, if desired.  

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are puffed up and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove the muffins from the pan and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s Muffin Monday! Make sure to check out all the links below to see the muffins my blogger friends are sharing. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for her behind the scenes help this month!

• Buttermilk Muffins with Whiskey-Soaked Raisins by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Cherry Vanilla Muffins by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Chocolate Zucchini Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Churro Muffins by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pineapple Rice Krispie Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Raspberry Coconut Muffins by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Strawberry Sweetheart Streusel Muffins by Palatable Pastime
• Whole Wheat Thandai Muffins by Magical Ingredients

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!

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Classic Eton Mess

A Classic Eton Mess has three essential ingredients, beautifully ripe strawberries, meringue and whipped cream. It can easily be made with store-bought meringues, for a simple yet lovely dessert, pretty enough for company.

The folklore behind the quintessential English dessert, Eton Mess, is that it was created when a group of Etonians, students at that famous school, were headed out for a picnic, a meringue topped with whipped cream and berries stashed in the car. The story goes that one of their dogs stepped on the dessert, crushing the meringue and generally making a mess of it. They ate it anyway and declared it delicious.

But if Wikipedia is to be believed, the truth is rather less romantic. The classic Eton mess was first mentioned in print back in 1893. To quote that source, “Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school’s ‘sock shop’ (tuck shop), and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice-cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition. An Eton mess can be made with many other types of summer fruit, but strawberries are regarded as more traditional.”

Classic Eton Mess

This can be made in one big bowl from which you will serve with a spoon or in six individual bowls. The pistachios are not traditional but they add a lovely pop of green to the Classic Eton Mess. If you are making your own meringues, start one day ahead of assembling and serving this dessert to leave plenty of time for the meringues to dry out and get crunchy. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 680g ripe strawberries

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

Pinch salt

1­-2 tablespoons orange liqueur (e.g. Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier)

1 1⁄2 cups or 360ml whipping cream 

18 small meringues­ - homemade or store-bought 

2 tablespoons pistachio slivers, optional

Method

Hull and chop the strawberries roughly.

Put half of the chopped strawberries in a small pot with the sugar, a good pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water. 

Cook over a medium heat for about 3­-4 minutes, crushing the strawberries lightly with a fork or potato masher when they start to soften. Cook at a low boil for another 3­-4 minutes, until the strawberries and syrup that is created have thickened somewhat.

Put the hot strawberries in a heatproof bowl, stir in the orange liqueur and leave to cool. 

Stir in the rest of the strawberries. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until completely chilled.

Once the strawberries are cold, whip the cream into stiff peaks. Divide it in half and fold one quarter of the strawberries into half of the cream.

To serve, make small layers from the bottom: 

1. strawberries 

2. pink cream (with strawberries)

3. 2 small meringues, crumbled roughly 

4. white cream (plain)

5. strawberries 

6. slivered pistachios (if desired) and a whole mini meringue on top.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and what could be more fun than some great dessert recipes. Check them all out below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. 

• Alle Balle Recipe by The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Berry Galette by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Bread Rasmalai by Sneha’s Recipe
• Classic Eton Mess by Food Lust People Love
  
• Patriotic Jello Bars by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry Glaze Pie by Palatable Pastime
• Strawberries and Cream by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Whisky Barrel Cake by Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Classic Eton Mess!

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Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel

Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel are the perfect muffins for the peanut butter lovers in your life, so full of peanut butter flavor inside and out!

Regular readers will notice from the photos that I am not in my usual kitchen. But such is my dedication to Muffin Monday that in my suitcase I packed the disposable muffins cups, flour, and baking powder just so I could bake these muffins. And a spatula. Also two sharp knives and my little knife sharpener, but those had nothing to do with these peanut butter muffins!

I love staying in Airbnbs because of the kitchen but often they are ill equipped, with the most common missing items being a decent knife and a non-stick pan. I get it. Casual renters can ruin good knives and scratch non-stick pans but, dang, those would really elevate my cooking experience. I draw the line at packing pans (for a flight – road trips maybe!) but I often do bring one or two good knives in my checked bag. 

Is there something you travel with when you know you’ll have a kitchen to cook in? I'd love to hear what it is.

Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel 

This recipe makes 8 regular sized muffins. To make the streusel, it is essential that the peanut butter be well chilled so you can make crumbles. Since this is an unusual number of muffins, you might want to follow my lead and use a flat baking pan and disposable muffin cups, like these Reynolds brand foil baking cups. They are foil outside with a paper muffin cup inside so they don’t need the support of a muffin pan. Back when I was baking large quantities of cupcakes and muffins for my daughters' school fundraisers, these were a godsend. 

Ingredients

For the muffins:

3/4 cup or 94g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 80g smooth peanut butter (I use reduced fat Jif)

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1 egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the streusel:

¼ cup or 32g all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons or 25g sugar 

3 tablespoons or 45g creamy peanut butter, well chilled 

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups. 

Make the streusel by combining the ingredients in a small bowl and using a pastry blender or the tines of a fork to mix them lightly to create crumbles. Put the bowl in the fridge until you are ready to use the streusel. 

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

In another bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, milk, egg and vanilla. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just combined. 

Divide the batter between your 8 muffin cups.

Top with the streusel. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack, if you have one! My little kitchen did not.

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it's Muffin Monday today, the last Monday of the month when my friends and I share our favorite muffin recipes. Check them out below. 

• Hot Cross Bun Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel from Food Lust People Love
• Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sourdough Strawberry Chocolate Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Peanut Butter Muffins

with Peanut Butter Streusel!

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Jalapeño Hush Puppy Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

These jalapeño hush puppy mini muffins have the hush puppy vibe down pat from the crunchy exterior to the fluffy interior, full of cornbread flavor!

It’s live crawfish season in Louisiana and Texas (and probably Mississippi for all I know) right now so a week ago Saturday, I drove north about half an hour to Crawfish Nick Seafood to pick up a sack. 

I was fourth or fifth in line to place my order when I heard the lady behind the desk ask the next buyer if she had a reservation and, if so, for how many sacks. My heart dropped because I didn’t have a reservation! What if they run out before it’s my turn? 

Thankfully, they did not but next time I know that it may not be enough to call and ask if they have live crawfish before getting in the car. I whistled all the way home with 33 pounds of live crawfish, inordinately pleased with myself, superior hunter/gather that I am. 

That afternoon, after a few fresh water purges, my husband steamed those delicious guys and we ate them with relish. Not literally. There was garlic butter though and lots of Cajun spices. We ate and ate and ate. Then the next morning we ate more cold. Even with four people eating, 33 pounds is a lot crawfish! 

At that point I stopped eating crawfish and just started peeling them to use the tails in another dish. My search for a recipe to use the leftover seven ounces of tails led me to a recipe for hush puppies, but who wants to deep-fry anything? I pivoted and made these muffins instead. And saved the crawfish for another dish: baked crawfish Rangoon. 

Jalapeño Hush Puppy Mini Muffins

These little guys would be great served with fried fish, a seafood platter, a bowl of chili or, dare I say it, your next crawfish boil; in fact, anywhere you might serve hush puppies or cornbread. We added a small pat of butter to each as we ate them but they are also good plain. This recipe makes about 20 mini muffins. 

Ingredients

1 green onion

1 fresh jalapeño

2/3 cup or 120g yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup or 63g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon if you like things spicy)

1 egg

1/3 cup or 80ml buttermilk

2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for greasing the mini muffin pan.

Method

Chop the green onion, both white and green parts, finely and separate out a small pile of the green parts to use as garnish before baking. Do the same with the jalapeño. I discarded the jalapeño seeds and innards because they weren’t pretty. Use yours if you like and chop them finely as well. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. Generously grease your mini muffin pan with canola oil and put it in the oven about five minutes before the end of the preheating cycle. This batter makes about 20 mini muffins so grease accordingly.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper. 

Stir in the bigger piles of onion and jalapeño.

Beat the egg, buttermilk, and oil in a small bowl. Pour the wet ingredients to the cornmeal mixture bowl and fold till it is just combined.

Carefully remove the pan from the hot oven and quickly divide the batter between the muffin cups. I like to use a small scoop, which speeds up the job.  As you can see, my last muffin wasn't very full but he still puffed up nicely. Top with the reserved chopped green onion and jalapeño.

Bake until golden brown and crispy, 17 to 20 minutes. 

Insert a toothpick into the center of a baked hush puppy muffin and make sure it comes out clean. Serve hot or remove to a wire rack to cool. The crunchy golden bottoms are so good! 

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s Muffin Monday! Check out all the great muffin recipes we are sharing today. 

• Beer Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Blueberry Bran Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Jalapeño Hush Puppy Mini Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Streusel Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Tomato Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Jalapeño Hush Puppy Mini Muffins!

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Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad

Feta and strawberry tabouli salad is a great twist on a Middle Eastern favorite. Juicy ripe strawberries brighten the salad, adding color and a welcome sweetness. This is one salad that’s just as good as leftovers!

As much as I love a traditional tabouli salad (which is A LOT!) it’s also fun to mix things up and put a new spin on an old favorite. Adding fresh strawberries was inspired by the fancy salads we enjoy with not only greens but also fruit, nuts and cheese. In this case, the nutty-flavored bulgur wheat is standing in for actual nuts. 

On a completely different subject, let’s talk about the first ingredient, a thing I like to call purple onion. In most recipes it is referred to as red onion or Spanish onion but since my first encounter with same as a child, I’ve called it purple onion. Because it is purple! This is my tiny hill and I am prepared to defend it. 

A Google search quickly revealed that in some European countries it is indeed called purple onion and now I want to know where. Annoyingly, Wikipedia didn’t say. Even BBC Food had the nerve to describe the onion thusly, “Red onions are an attractive, milder alternative to the yellow onion with their shiny purple skin.” Purple. That’s right. 

Have I convinced anyone? Join me on the purple side. It’s more accurate over here. Plus I have tasty salad.

Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad

For aesthetic reasons, I chose to use yellow cherry tomatoes for this festive salad. If you only have red ones, no worries. The flavor is what really matters. 

Ingredients

For the dressing:

1/2 medium purple onion, sliced very thinly (about 2 1/2 oz or 70g)

2 tablespoons or 30ml fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup or 60ml extra virgin olive oil

For the salad:

1 cup or 210g bulgur wheat (3 1/4 cups or 615g when soaked and drained)

1 bunch green onions, just the green part, chopped (about 11/4 oz or 35g)

1 very large bunch (about 5 1/3 oz or 150g) cilantro

8 oz or 227g yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

14 oz or 400g strawberries, hulled and quartered

7 oz or 200g feta, crumbled (I prefer the sheep’s milk type.)

 

Method

In metal or heatproof bowl, cover your bulgur wheat with 1 3/4 cups or 414ml of boiling water and cover the bowl with an upside down plate or some cling film. Set aside. 

Put your thinly sliced onions in a large bowl and pour the lime juice over them. Sprinkle with the salt. Add a few good grinds of fresh black pepper. 

Let the onions marinate in the lime juice for a few minutes. This helps reduced their pungency and sharpness. Now mix in the olive oil. 

Chop your green onions finely and set aside. 

Cut the hard stalks off of the cilantro and discard.  (The tender, narrow stalks near the leaves are fine to leave in.) Wash the cilantro thoroughly several times and dry in a salad spinner or a dry dishcloth.  Chop it roughly. 

Once the bulgur wheat has absorbed all of the water it can, drain it in a strainer and push down on the top to get rid of any excess water. 

Fluff it with fork and leave it to cool. 

Now we can assemble the strawberry tabouli. Add the halved tomatoes to the dressing first. 

Tip in the cooled bulgur wheat, the green onions and cilantro and mix well to coat the wheat with the dressing.

Finally, add the strawberries and feta and toss gently to combine. This tabouli gets better and better as it sits so you can make it ahead without any problems.  

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and my friends and I are sharing side dishes for your Easter table. Anything that isn’t a main course qualified so we’ve got you covered from appetizer to dessert! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Bunny Cupcakes from Amy’s Cooking Adventures 
• Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad from Food Lust People Love 
• Fresh Pea Hummus from Culinary Cam
• Pineapple Bread Pudding from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Pork Sorpatel - East Indian from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Potato Salad with Condensed Milk from Palatable Pastime 
• Stir-Fried Balsamic and Ginger Glazed Carrots from Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
• Veggie Niçoise Salad from Mayuri’s Jikoni 
• Whole Wheat Rosemary Garlic Bread Recipe from The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Feta and Strawberry Tabouli Salad!

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Hobak Jeon - Korean Zucchini Pancakes

Hobak Jeon aka zucchini pancakes are a savory snack popular in Korean cuisine that are made with small pieces of zucchini in a thick batter and fried until crispy with a little oil. Dip them in a spicy sauce to complete this delicious dish!

When I was growing up, I only knew about two kinds of pancakes. The regular fluffy kind that was served with butter and syrup and the thin ones we ate sprinkled with lime juice and sugar. We called those crepes but my British friends and classmates in Trinidad called them pancakes. 

Who knew that there is a whole world full of other delicious pancakes out there! In fact, starting on 28 February, we celebrate Pancake Week, which includes Pancake Day on 1 March, also known as Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday. I’ve asked my Sunday FunDay friends to share their favorite recipes with you so you can join the festivities. Make sure to scroll to the bottom to check out the list. 

I must confess that hobak jeon are new to me and I found them originally on a Wikipedia list of international pancakes. Hobak means zucchini and jeon is pancake or fritter. Since then I’ve discovered that there are many varieties of jeon. They can contain meat or fish, diverse vegetables, even kimchi. Some look more like Japanese tempura – ingredients dipped in a batter - with vegetables sliced in large pieces rather than small chopped bits. Some batters use eggs, many do not. 

I think we could do an entire event just making variations of jeon! What a wonderful, tasty experience that would be! Who's game? 

Hobak Jeon - Korean Zucchini Pancakes

This recipe is adapted from Gastronomy Recipes. The batter could not be simpler so the zucchini flavor gets to shine. Do not skip the dipping sauce though. Its spicy saltiness complements the pancakes perfectly.

Ingredients

For the 8 pancakes:

2 small zucchini, approx. weight 9 oz or 255g before trimming

1 cup or 125g flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3/4 cup or 180ml water

Sesame oil

Canola or other light oil

For the dipping sauce:

3 tablespoons soy sauce (I use the lower sodium type.)

1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar (I use aged Chinese black vinegar.)

1 tablespoon minced onion 

2 small cloves garlic, minced 

1 hot chili pepper, sliced

Method

Combine all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce and set it aside. Making this ahead allows time for the garlic, onion and pepper to infuse the soy sauce and vinegar while you mix and pan fry the hobak jeok. 

Cut the ends off of the zucchini and slice them in half lengthwise and then in half again. Trim off the seedy middle and discard. Cut the zucchini in half again through the middle so you have two long, thin pieces for each quarter zucchini. 

Slice each thin piece into smaller sticks. 

Place the zucchini sticks into a bowl and add in the flour and salt. Stir to coat the zucchini with the flour. 

Add the water and combine well with a spoon.

Heat a non-stick pan or griddle over a medium flame and drizzle in 1 tablespoon of oil. 

Scoop about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan and pat it so it spreads out a little with the back of your scoop.

Continue with this process till you have three or four pancakes cooking. Do not overcrowd your pan because you need room to flip the pancakes over with a spatula. 

As the bottom of the pancakes begin to brown, drizzle a little sesame oil into the pan, along the edges of the pancakes. Tilt and shake the pan so that the sesame oil spreads underneath the pancakes.

Cook for another minute until the bottom turns light golden brown and crispy, then turn the pancakes over with a spatula. 

Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the other side is nicely browned. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. 

As the pancakes are ready, put them on a warmed plate. Serve while hot, with the dipping sauce. 

If you aren’t serving them right away, I suggest warming the pancakes in a hot pan again to crispy them up before serving. 

Enjoy! 

As mentioned above, it’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing pancake recipes! Anything made with a batter is fair game.  Check out the links below. 

• 5-Ingredient Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes from Palatable Pastime
• Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Our Good Life
• Fluffy Yummy Banana Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe
• Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Hobak Jeon - Korean Zucchini Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Mini Vegan Yachaejeon (Korean Pancakes) from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Pearl Millet Pancakes/Chamchamiya from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Rice Cooker Pancake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sheet Pan Pancakes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Strawberry Japanese Soufflé Pancakes from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Hobak Jeon - Korean Zucchini Pancakes!

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Natural Rainbow Challah #BreadBakers

This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch. 

Here’s where I suggest, right up at the top, that if you plan to make this bread on the day you want to eat it, you will want to make your natural dyes a day ahead of time. None of this is hard to do but it is time consuming. 

Also, this would be a great project for Easter because you end up with way more dye than you need for this bread and it could be used up dying eggs the old fashioned way. I felt really bad tipping it all out when I was done, without another use for it. 

Natural Rainbow Challah

The inspiration for this challah was a post on the blog What Jew Wanna Eat and the recipe itself is a combo of that post and Joan Nathan’s favorite challah on New York Times Cooking. 

 

Ingredients

For the food coloring:

Pink - 1 small beet (about 3 oz or 85g)

Orange – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground annatto aka achiote

Yellow – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric

Green – 1 cup, packed, or 85g spinach leaves

Purple – 1 cup or 140g fresh or frozen blueberries 

Blue – unused cooked blueberry juice from purple + 1 teaspoon baking soda

For challah dough:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet

3/4 cups or 80ml warm water 

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus more for dough bowls

1/4 cup or 60ml honey 

2 large eggs +1 egg white  (Save that 1 egg yolk for glazing)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

5 cups or 625g bread flour, plus more as needed for kneading

Method

First, we’ll make the dye colors.

For the pink, boil your beet in just enough water to cover until tender. When it’s cool enough to handle, use a paper towel to push the peels off. Blend it in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely. 

For the green dye, simmer the spinach leaves or greens with a little bit of water in a covered skillet until they completely wilted. Blend in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

For the purple, simmer the fresh or frozen blueberries in 2 tablespoons water in a covered pot until they fall apart. Cool, drain, and reserve the liquid.

We'll make the blue out of the purple once we've used it to color one ball of dough by adding the baking soda to the balance. 

Now, make your challah dough. Prepare the yeast in a large mixing bowl for a stand mixer by whisking it with warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Leave it for a few minutes to activate the yeast. It should bubble up and get foamy. This means your yeast is live. 

Beat the oil and honey into the foamy yeast mixture. 

Add in the two eggs, one at a time, beating with each addition, then add the egg white. 

Beat in the remaining sugar and salt. 

Gradually add flour beating with each addition. As the dough gets thicker, you might need to change to the bread hook. 

When dough holds together and isn't too sticky, you are ready to start adding your natural dyes.

Divide your dough into six even pieces. I used a food scale to weigh them out. The dough weighed 1162g so each ball was approximately 94g.

Flatten out each piece one at a time (keep the others covered) and put some of each of the homemade food coloring in the middle of each one.  Fold the dough over the dye and pop it back in your stand mixer with the bread hook. Knead until the dye is thoroughly mixed in. 

I started with the easy ones that didn't add liquid, the annatto and turmeric! 

Add a little more flour or dye as needed. I had to hand knead some of mine as well to get the colors well mixed. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl and cover lightly with cling film. 

Repeat with the four more dough balls, making a yellow one with the turmeric and adding a little flour as needed for the pink, green and purple dyes. 

Once you've colored the purple ball, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the blueberry juice. This will turn it a dark indigo blue. Color the final ball of dough with some of this and knead to incorporate it as you did with the others. 

Put the six dough balls in lightly oiled bowls and cover them with cling film. Leave them to rise in a warm place until they have at least doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

To form the rainbow challah, roll the colored balls into long tubes. 

Now braid and tuck by following these instructions here on the King Arthur Flour YouTube channel: How to braid a six-strand challah. They make the process much clearer than I ever could with words so I'm not even going to try to confuse you! 

Leave your challah to rise again on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, lightly covered, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 

My latest wintertime trick is to heat a couple of inches of water to boiling in a bowl in the microwave. I open it quickly and set my baking pan on top, closing the door again swiftly. This creates a moist, warm environment for the dough to rise in.  Works like a charm as long as no one else needs the microwave for an hour or so.

When the challah is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 350° F or 180°C. 

Whisk the egg yolk with 1/2 tablespoon water and generously brush the mixture over the challah.

Bake for 40-45 minutes in your preheated oven, rotating the pan halfway through. If it starts to brown too fast, make a foil tent to cover it. It’s done when the internal temperature reaches 190°F or 88°C.

Leave to cool then slice and enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means my Bread Bakers are out in force! Today we are sharing naturally colored breads. One over-achiever (looking at Kelly from A Messy Kitchen!) even baked two different breads. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Radha of Magical Ingredients for this fun and challenging theme!

• Beet Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Beetroot Pinwheel Paratha from Sneha's Recipe
• Callaloo Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Cranberry Cherry Raisin Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Matcha and Strawberry Cream Melonpan from Magical Ingredients
• Natural Rainbow Challah from Food Lust People Love
• Panini al Pomodoro from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Purple Sweet Potato Pepita Swirl Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Spinach Monterey Jack Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Turmeric Milk Bread from Ambrosia
• Turmeric Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen

 

#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 Natural Rainbow Challah! 

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