Pear-Hazelnut Breakfast Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces toasted shelled hazelnuts, chopped
• 2 ripe pears, peeled, chopped, and pureed to applesauce consistency
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• zest of one lemon, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites plus 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a standard loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together pear puree, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, including nuts. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just combined.

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until top is lightly brown and wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm or room temperature.

Serves 10-12.

Zucchini is in such abundance at the end of summers that it even has its own holiday. My favorite zucchini preparation comes in the winter, however, in the form of this bread. Moist, delicious, and not cloyingly sweet, it’s a healthy treat that makes an excellent hostess gift. (It freezes well, too!)

It’s difficult to find fresh cranberries outside of the Thanksgiving season, so I try to buy extra and freeze it for year-round use. Sweetened dried cranberries can be rehydrated in boiling water and used, but the finished loaf will be much sweeter and lose much of the crisp flavor provided by the fresh berries.

Zucchini Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, shredded
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons grated orange rind
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 mini loaf pans or line with parchment paper (or use silicone pans). Beat the zucchini, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla, and orange rind in a large bowl until well-combined. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet and fold in the cranberries. Pour into pans and bake about 1 hour, or until cakes are very moist, but skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before serving.

Makes 6 mini-loaves.

Every winter when I was a child, my mom and I baked cookies together. As the years passed, the holidays became busier and more complicated, so we created a new tradition: we bake cookies in February or March, when the holiday rush is over and we can really enjoy our time together. This is one of our traditional recipes.

The classic sugar cookie shines with the addition of nutmeg, replacing the cloying sweetness of years past with hints of traditional winter flavors. Be sure to use fresh nutmeg in this and every dish that calls for it; pre-ground nutmeg has a very short shelf life, but whole nutmegs will keep for years. There are adorable miniature box-graters available for nutmeg grating, but a microplane, hand-held cheese grater, or the small holes on a box grater will work just as well.

Nutmeg Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter, vanilla, and sugar, beating until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, waiting until one is completely incorporated before adding the next. Add flour mixture in three stages, scaping down sides of bowl between each stage. Cover mixture by pressing wax paper to the surface of the dough, and chill for at least 90 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough in half and return non-working half to refrigerator. Roll dough to 1/8″ thickness on a floured board. Cut into desired shapes. Repeat for remaining dough.

For soft cookies:
Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheet and set on top of the oven to soften for 3-5 minutes. Move baking sheets to oven and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

For crisp cookies:
Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 30-45 minutes. Move sheets directly from refrigerator to freezer, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden. Transfer to cooling rack as soon as cookies are cool enough to be moved without losing their shape.

Image by Daxiang Stef
Regionally known as stuffing, filling, and dressing, this bread-based side dish is a staple at the American holiday table. If you’ve never made your own stuffing, step away from the Stove Top canister and give this a try. It’s a departure from traditional stuffing recipes in that it uses breadcrumbs instead of bread cubes, but your guests won’t miss the extra bulk. When I was tasked with preparing the family Thanksgiving dinner at the tender age of 19, I served this stuffing, and it became an instant family classic.

Sage and Onion Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 onions, diced
• 4 whole cloves
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 2 cups finely ground plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large sautee pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until they begin to color. Add cloves and peppercorns; sautee for one minute, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, add water, and simmer until onions are soft but not mushy. Strain onion mixture, reserving liquid.

Combine onions, bread crumbs, sage, and chicken broth in a large bowl, stirring until thoroughly combined. Stuffing should be moist enough to form a ball if compressed; if it is too dry, add the reserved onion broth. Turn mixture out into a shallow baking pan (do not pack down) and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serves 4.