Crack Bread - And No, We're Not Kidding!

We love this bread - made it several times.

I got this idea from Pinterest.  It's a great recipe from iheartnaptime.  I, however, did some tweaking and below is our cheesy bacon "crack" bread.

And we gave this recipe a 5 out of 5 stars!

Crack Bread

Ingredients

• 1 sourdough loaf of bread
• 1/2 cup basil pesto found near dairy
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
• 1/2 cup Parmesan grated
• 1 tsp italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice bread vertically and then again horizontally so that you have one inch squares.
3. Spread basil in between the sliced bread.
4. Combine cheese and seasoning in a medium sized bowl. Place cheese in between each slice.
5. Cover bread with foil and bake on a lined sheet for 8-10 minutes.

Rosemary Bread - Yum

I have been feeling like homemade bread for a couple of days.  But, I don't have great recipes, so of course I checked Pinterest.  This Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread sounded yummy. And we had all the ingredients already in our pantry - no special trip to the store requried.

I ate it with goat cheese...amazing.  My husband just slathered butter on his. And days later, this bread was still soft and good.

Please note this bread has to rise twice!

Rosemary Bread

*Makes 2 loaves (not large - about 6 to 8 inch circles)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon instant yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary, chopped and divided
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Coarse salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer if you have one), combine the yeast, sugar and water. If using active dry yeast, let the mixture stand until foaming and bubbly, about 5 minutes. If using instant yeast, proceed with the recipe. 
2. Add two cups of the flour (half of each kind), salt and 1 tablespoon of the chopped rosemary. Mix. 
3. Continue adding flour, gradually, until a soft dough is formed. Judge the dough based on texture and feel versus how much actual flour you’ve had to add based on the recipe. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch but should hold its shape while still being soft and smooth. Knead the dough by hand or with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, adding additional flour only if the dough is overly sticky and not clearing the sides of the bowl.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, approximately 1-2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. I put mine in the oven - no draft and it's off the counters. 
5. Once doubled, gently deflate the dough and divide in half. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, a silpat liner or lightly grease with cooking spray. 
6. Shape the dough into two smooth, oval shaped loaves and place them on the baking sheet, one on each half of the tray so they have room to rise and bake without touching. Use a brush to slather the melted butter over the top of the loaves. 
7. Continue brushing on the butter until it is gone (the loaves will be well-saturated). Sprinkle the remaining chopped rosemary over the top of the loaves, patting down gently to set into the dough, if needed. 
8. Cover the loaves with lightly greased plastic wrap and let them rise again until puffy and nearly doubled, about an hour (again, the exact time will depend on temperature so judge the dough by how it looks).
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly sprinkle coarse salt over the top of the loaves. 
10. Bake the loaves for 18-20 minutes until browned and baked through. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Five out of five stars...amazing bread!

Garlic Monkey Cups

The original recipe came from Real Mom Kitchen blog.  I made a few adjustments without really realizing it.

The biscuits - I got Reduced Fat Buttermilk Biscuits - they were so huge. I cut each biscuits into 6 pieces and only fit 4 or so in each muffin slot.  And we baked for 12 minutes and I thought it was overdone, so here's my version of her recipe.

Garlic Monkey Cups

 Ingredients

• 2 (7.5 oz) cans reduced fat buttermilk biscuits
• 9 Tbsp butter, melted
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese plus 2 Tbsp. additional to sprinkle on top if desired

Directions

1. Cut biscuits into 6 pieces and place in a bowl. I like to use kitchen shears to cut up the biscuits.
2. Combine the melted butter, garlic, parsley, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese together and pour over the biscuit pieces.
3. Gently toss the biscuit pieces to get evenly coated with the butter mixture.
4. Using a 12 cup muffin tin, place 6-7 pieces of the coated biscuit dough into each muffin cup. Use the additional 2 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top of the breads in the muffin cups.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 18 garlic monkey cups.

 I got a lot of compliments on them.  We give them a 5 out of 5.