Related Posts with Thumbnails

 

Subscribe to posts

 

 

 Subscribe to email posts

 

Subscribe to my free monthly newsletter

Newsletter Archives

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010-present

 

 

 

April's Top 5 Posts

Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Cookies

Silver Noodle Bead Bracelets in Pink and BlueJewel Toned Mason Jars (Easy DIY )

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell's Copycat)

Mom's Slow Cooked Boston Baked Beans 

Unless otherwise noted, all content and photos are property of Elle @ Elle's New England Kitchen. Copyright 2008-13. All rights reserved. If you'd like to reprint an article or use a photo, please contact me for permission at ellenekitchen at gmail dot com. All photos, unless specified, have been taken by me, and if used without permission, an invoice will be forwarded to the proper business/individual. Thank you.

 

 

Proud member of FoodBlogs

Categories

Entries in recipe (199)

Thursday
Jan032013

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell’s Copycat)

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell’s Copycat)

It’s cold today. COLD. Twenty degrees F, to be exact. It’s soup weather! Last night when I served this, it was six degrees, and “felt like” eighty gazillion below zero(that last fact has not been verified by anyone but me). And what’s more comforting and hearty than tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side? Well, I’m sure everyone has their favorite, but for me, this one’s right up there at the top of the list! My family loves Campbell’s Tomato Soup, but I haven’t bought any in a long time because it has high fructose corn syrup. No one needs that. So I grabbed some stuff and made my own.

Looking at the ingredients on the CS can, you’ll see tomato puree, water, HFCS, wheat flour, salt, vegetable oil, flavoring, ascorbic acid and citric acid. Not hard to duplicate, but that soup has that certain something, doesn’t it? I dropped the flour, salt and oil, and the two acids. “Flavoring” came in the use of vegetable stock instead of water, and a bit of garlic powder, because garlic makes everything better. What you’re left with is a velvety soup with hints of vegetables, and that telltale hint of sweet that you get from the corn syrup they use.

Penguins love tomato soup, did you know? But they'd probably ask for a grilled fish sandwich instead.

Give it a taste after you add the butter, and I’m pretty sure you won’t need salt--I didn’t need any. If you find it too velvety, add another 1/2 cup of broth, and up to 1/2 cup more if you feel you want it thinner. I’m biased, of course, but I thought it was perfect as is. Our grilled cheese sandwiches were simply Black Forest ham, sharp cheddar and thinly sliced tomatoes. A match made in comfort food heaven!

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell's Copycat)

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell's Copycat)

Makes just about 9 cups (2 1/4 quarts)

1 (26 oz) box of Pomi Strained Tomatoes (you can use a 28 oz can if you can't find Pomi)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
5 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter

In a medium soup pot, heat the strained tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable broth, garlic powder and sugar over low- medium heat. Stir occasionally to make sure that the tomato paste and sugar are dissolving.

When the paste and sugar are incorporated, add the butter and stir till melted. Serve in mugs with grilled cheese sandwiches and some kind of cheesy cracker, because that's the law.

Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell's Copycat)



Friday
Dec072012

Whole Wheat Brownies you’ll actually love!

Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies

Who doesn’t love brownies? I guess there may be one or two of you out there. For the rest of you that do love them, keep reading. I’ve made them with finely stone-ground whole wheat pastry flour and your kids/family/friends are never going to tell the difference.

We all want to eat healthier, and I think the easiest way to do that is by making small changes that add up. Once you start making small changes, they have a way of snowballing. Before you know it, good things are happening all over the place!

Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies

This recipe is for Hodgson Mill’s “Have a Grain Holiday” recipe contest. The idea is to chuck the white four for a change and get that whole wheat in there. It’s  not as difficult as it seems. Last year, I did a Whole Wheat Whisky Gingerbread. My daughter still talks about that one--she loved it, whole wheat flour and all!

I’ve taken the white flour out of these brownies and brought in the whole wheat pastry flour as a replacement. Now, does this make these 100% healthy? No, of course not--they’re still brownies. And it’s the holidays, so we all indulge somewhat. The brownies, even with whole wheat flour, are so rich, dark and fudgy, that no one would ever guess the change that was made. Go ahead and try these, you won’t believe how decadent they are!

__________________________________________________________________________

Click here and enter to win one of 50 Baker’s Holiday Gift Packs, including whole wheat flours, baking mixes, and more from Hodgson Mill, valued at $85!

Added bonus: Click here to get a coupon for $1.00 off any 5 pound flour or cornmeal from Hodgson Mill!

__________________________________________________________________________

I also have $25 worth of assorted Hodgson Mill products to give away to one of you! Hodgson Mill uses grains that are of the highest grade, produced domestically wherever available, and purchased in the United States. They use only stoneground milling to ensure, unlike other mills, that their products contain the entire nutritional benefit of the grain. And Hodgson Mill has a commitment to solar and wind power at our mill and an award-winning recycling program.

How could you not love all of that? See below to enter!

______________________________________________________

Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies

Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies

Makes a 9"x13" pan

This makes a lot--good for holiday parties, potlucks, etc. The mini chocolate chips I use are Ghirardelli, in a 10 oz bag. You're dividing it into 3 and 7 oz portions in this recipe. In case you’re wondering, these got big thumbs up all around.

To make the Christmas decorations, I simply used candy melts from the candy making section at any craft store. Melt them, pour into a zip top bag and snip a small corner off the bag. SMALL. Make your shapes on parchment paper or foil, and set aside to cool. I stuck them on the brownies using a simple ganache, and I'll include the recipe below. I free handed the decorations, as you can clearly tell, ha! They give the brownies a nice, old-school homey look. Yeah, that's what I'm going with! You can also just dust with a small amount of powdered sugar for that “snowed on” look.

3 (1-oz) squares of unsweetened chocolate
3 tbsp cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
3 tbsp canola oil
3 oz of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter
1 tbsp espresso powder or instant coffee
1 tbsp Raspberry Liqueur, optional
5 eggs
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 tsp salt
7 oz (remaining chips from the bag) mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 9 x 13" pan with foil, and lightly grease the foil.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the unsweetened chocolate squares, cocoa and oil, the 3 oz of mini chips, the butter, the espresso powder or instant coffee, and raspberry liqueur, if using--and melt over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

While that's all melting, start the next step. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. This is where a stand mixer comes in handy, but a hand mixer will also do the job.

Add the melted chocolate mixture to the mixing bowl, along with the flour and salt. Mix until just blended, and then stir in the remaining 7 oz of chocolate chips. Let the batter sit on the counter for 20 minutes before pouring into the greased pan. That's right, 20 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on your work surface a few times to release air bubbles.

Bake for 25-27 minutes. The top should be shiny and the sides should be pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let them cool completely before cutting! To cut, lift them out of the pan using the edges of the foil. Cut into squares, decorate if you wish, and store in an airtight container.

Ganache Recipe

1/2 cup heavy cream
7 oz bittersweet chocolate
pinch of salt
1 tbsp raspberry liqueur, optional

Put the chocolate in a bowl, add the pinch of salt and liqueur, if using. Set aside.

Set the cream over low-medium heat in a small saucepan. Heat gently until small bubbles start to appear around the edges of the pan. Don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let this sit for 2-3 minutes, and then using a rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Doing this gently prevents any air bubbles in the ganache.

To attach the decorations, put the ganache into a plastic zip top bag and seal. Snip off a tiny corner of the bag, and gently add a dollop of ganache to the center of each brownie. Set the decoration right on top of the ganache, and let them sit for a while to set up. Store any leftover ganache in the fridge, and then you can eat it with a spoon. That’s what I’m doing with it!

__________________________________________________________________________

To enter the giveaway for $25 of assorted Hodgson Mill products:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what kind of recipe you’d like to make with Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour. Use a valid email address so you can be reached.

Optional Entries:

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave another comment here telling me that you did.

3. Share this on Facebook and again, leave another comment on this post letting me know.

I’ll choose a winner next Friday, December 14th. The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me or I’ll choose another name. Good luck!

Don’t forget to go and enter to win one of 50 Gift Packs full of assorted Hodgson Mill products!

 Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies



Wednesday
Oct102012

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins

Muffins and doughnuts. I love them both! I like muffins better, though. I think. I’ve made doughnut muffins a couple times already, and they were wonderful. I’d have to say, though, that these are by far my favorites! They’ve got that classic doughnut flavor--nutmeg, and plenty of it. It’s just enough so that when these are baking, your taste buds will be anticipating a doughnut. The apple pie filling is a nice addition in the middle, and the glaze--when it sets, it has that nice “crackly” quality. Like when you bite into a glazed doughnut. These are kid and husband approved. Everything about them says Autumn, from the cider doughnut flavor to the apple filling and warmly spiced glaze.

I actually made these first a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to change things up a bit. For one, cutting the butter. I adapted this recipe from BBC Good Food. Doubled it, added some stuff, changed some things. There were five ounces of melted butter in the original--doubling it would have meant ten. TEN. Which is two and a half sticks! That’s a lot of butter. I brought in some applesauce to take the place of about half of that. Thank goodness for applesauce in baking! It’s a fabulous fat replacer. Just shop carefully and look for one without that useless poison, HFCS. No one needs that! And unfortunately, most major brands have it. And they market it right at your kids! Look for the organic choices in your market. (Lecture over.) The yogurt in these also helps to keep the muffins tender and not dry.

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins

A note on the boiled cider in these. It’s not a necessity, but it’s a great ingredient to have in your fridge. It’s very intense, so a little goes a long way. Use it in baking, in sauces, with pork or chicken--use your imagination! There are a lot of good ideas in the comments here on King Arthur Flour’s site. If you want to, you can even make your own. And it’s the season--apple cider is everywhere! You could make some now to last you quite a while!

The filling. I had a jar of Maple Apple Drizzle that I picked up at a general store in the mountains. You can kind of see what kind of texture it is in the photo. Think apple pie filling. You can make your own really quickly by dicing an apple or two into small chunks, adding a touch of sugar or maple syrup, and some spices--apple pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. No need to overthink it--just add stuff till it tastes good to you. Or if you don’t want to do that, use a good chunky applesauce and just break up any large chunks of apple.

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins

Now, aside from these notes about the boiled cider and the filling, these are so easy to make! Dry stuff, wet stuff, add the wet to the dry, mix. Done! The glazing takes just a few minutes. After a couple of days being stored, the glaze will soften up and sink into the muffins. They still taste great, though, so it’s a small matter to me. If you’re planning on taking these somewhere, glaze just a couple of hours before you go, or the day before.

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins

Makes 16-17 standard sized muffins
Adapted from BBC Good Food

Muffins:

1 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt (you can use sour cream or plain yogurt)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick (4 oz) plus 1 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
3/4 cup applesauce (please look for one without HFCS!)
2 tbsp boiled cider (or regular apple cider)

Apple Pie Filling Options:

You'll need about a cup or so of filling.

Maple Apple Drizzle or Finely diced apple that's sprinkled with a bit of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg--or apple pie spice, then cooked down a bit to get that caramelized apple texture. You could also skip the cooking part and just leave the spiced apple chunks as is--OR chunky applesauce OR premade jarred apple pie filling--just cut the apples into small pieces.

Glaze--Optional:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted to remove lumps
3/4 tsp apple pie spice
Pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp apple cider

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins, or line with paper liners. I like the crispy edges, so I don't use paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg. Mix well with a whisk and set aside. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, butter, applesauce and boiled cider. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until moistened. (Don't stir the heck out of it, be gentle--I like to use a rubber spatula and mostly "fold" the ingredients together.)

Put a couple of tablespoons of batter in about 16 muffin cups. I used a 2 1/2 tbsp sized ice cream scoop. (You can go back and make one or two more if you have enough batter.) Using a measuring teaspoon, add one teaspoon of filling in the center of each mound of batter. Go back now and add another 2-3 tbsp of batter over the tops of each muffin.

If you decide not to use the glaze, sprinkle the top of each muffin with apple pie spice or just cinnamon--and then proceed to bake. If you're using the glaze, leave the tops alone and bake the muffins.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for 6 more minutes. A tester should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on racks completely before glazing.

To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in the apple pie spice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Whisk in the apple cider until completely blended. Dip the top of each muffin into the glaze, and set back on the cooling rack over a baking sheet to catch the drips.

Apple Pie Filled Cider Doughnut Muffins



Thursday
Oct042012

Shredded Chicken Tacos for National Taco Day

Shredded Chicken Tacos

Did you know that today, October 4th, is National Taco Day? What better way to celebrate than with homemade Shredded Chicken Tacos? And also one of our favorite toppings, California Black Ripe Olives! Do you remember when you were a kid and you’d put a black olive on each fingertip and eat them one at a time? I do! Did you know that California produces over 95% of the olives grown in the US? I had no idea! These are not grown on huge industrial farms, either. They’re cultivated on multi-generational orchards powered by hardworking American farmers and their families. They follow strict growing and handling standards to sustain consistent results. You can feel good about buying and serving them to your family!

Print

This recipe was developed for Kitchen PLAY’s Sidecar Series. We’re celebrating CA Black Ripe Olives for National Taco Day. It’s a delicious pairing!

Please join all of us along with California Black Ripe Olives (@MissCAOlive ) and Kitchen Play (@kitchen_play)for a fun Twitter party!

Join Kitchen PLAY, California Ripe Olives and some of your favorite food bloggers for a Twitter Party on October 16th, 7:00 PM EDT. Learn about this tasty, nutritious and versatile food. Have fun testing your olive knowledge. Win great olive prizes! Register here.

Beginning October 1, read all ten posts at Kitchen PLAY celebrating National Taco Day with California Ripe Olives for clues. Each post contains an "olive fact" that may appear as a trivia question during the Twitter Party. A new post and fact will be revealed each day, Monday through Friday, until October 12.

My CA Ripe Olive fact: A large California Ripe Olive has only 6 calories.

This shredded chicken is loaded with flavor. The sauce features fresh ingredients and seasonings that compliment them beautifully. We’ve also added extra flavor to otherwise plain corn tortillas by adding lime juice and zest to the dough. When preparing your tacos, these or any other type, give California Black Ripe Olives a try as one of your toppings! They’re a nice pop of flavor that you might not have thought of adding.

Shredded Chicken Tacos

Shredded Chicken Tacos with California Black Ripe Olives

 

Corn Tortillas:
2 cups Masarica
2 TB all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups warm water (may need more or less)
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
2 TB melted butter 
Zest of half a lime 
Juice of half a lime

Shredded Chicken:
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
8 tomatillos, chopped
6 small tomatoes (I used Campari's), chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 packet Sazon Goya with Coriander and Annatto
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 cup chicken broth, for deglazing pan
Juice from half a lime

Toppings:
California Black Ripe Olives, sliced
Shredded cheese of your choice
Diced tomatoes
Sour Cream
Cilantro

Make the tortillas:

In a medium bowl, mix the masarica, AP flour, water, salt, butter, lime juice and zest. Mix with your hands until you have a nice dough that isn't sticky. Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball. Press in a tortilla press, or press with your hands. Cook in a fairly hot skillet with a little oil on both sides, until nicely golden brown and a little crispy. Set aside and cover with a towel. This recipe makes 12 (4-5 inch) tortillas.

These will not be crispy like store bought taco shells, but soft and pliable. And good!

Prepare the chicken:

For the sauce: In a large sauce pan (I actually used my wok!), heat a bit of oil and add the onion, garlic, and red bell pepper. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomatillos, cumin, Sazon Goya, salt, pepper, 1 cup of chicken broth, and the bunch of cilantro. Bring to a boil, then turn down slightly to a good bubbling simmer. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or so, until it's cooked down and slightly thickened.

Using a blender (carefully!), puree the sauce--not completely, leave a bit of texture in it. Do it in batches if you're using a blender and hold a kitchen towel over the lid in case any leaks out. OR, if you're smart, use your immersion blender, which I still don't have! Set the sauce aside and stir in the juice from half a lime.

Next, In a large skillet (I use a large 16 x 12 inch electric skillet for this), heat a bit of oil, then add the chicken thighs. Brown on each side, about 5 minutes a side. Remove from pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup chicken broth, scraping up all of the chicken bits.

Pour the pureed sauce into the pan, then add the chicken and any accumulated juices back into the pan. Turn each chicken thigh over to coat it with sauce. Turn heat down to low, and partially cover the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes, spooning some of the sauce over the chicken every 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the chicken pieces, and shred them using two forks. Add the shredded meat back to the sauce and mix it all up. You can leave it in the pan over very low heat, or remove it now to a bowl.

Make your tacos!

Spoon a little chicken down the center of the tortillas, and top with cheese, California Black Ripe Olives, tomatoes, sour cream and cilantro. Serve immediately.

  • You don’t have to make fresh tortillas--you can certainly use store bought.
  • This chicken recipe is very versatile! Use it in burritos, or in a taco bowl served over rice, and add your toppings. You could also easily turn this into a soup by adding more broth and any veggies that you may like. Add some rice, and top with crispy corn tortilla strips.
  • You could also use this sauce recipe with shredded pork or beef.

Corn Tortilla dough in Tortilla press.

Shredded Chicken Tacos



Thursday
Sep202012

Pumpkin Pie Braid Plus a Red Star Yeast Giveaway

Pumpkin Pie Braid

Fall. (almost!) Pumpkin Pie. Warm Spices. Soft, tender bread just dying to be had next to your cup of coffee or tea. It’s a Pumpkin Pie Braid--pumpkin pie filling surrounded by a most delicious bread, braided and iced with a cinnamon glaze. You know you want some. And this recipe makes two, so you can share the love. Plus it’s that time of year, when thoughts turn to pumpkin and spice things, right? Make one for the house and one for the office, the nice neighbor that lets you borrow the hedge trimmer, the UPS guy (we all keep UPS busy, don’t we?), whoever you want to be nice to--or bribe. They’ll love you for it.

Read through to see how you can try Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast and win a VIP Prize Package, plus be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer!

____________________________________________________________

The giveaway is now closed, but the recipe is still fantastic, so check that out! 

The winner is comment #116, Bob George. Congrats, Bob! Good luck in the KitchenAid Mixer Drawing from Red Star Yeast! 


I love baking bread. It’s not scary--at least, not anymore. It used to make me nervous, especially the yeast part. Will it work? Did I kill it? Will I have a beautiful skyscraper loaf that reaches new heights, or will I bake a brick that can hold up my car while I change a tire? Relax!

Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast

Red Star has a new yeast called PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast that can ease all of your fears. They make baking bread easy, enjoyable and most importantly, reliable. It’s no fun to invest the time in baking bread just to have a big fat fail. You wan that crispy exterior, that rush of yeasty aroma hitting your nose when you tear open a hot loaf, and that tender crumb of a perfectly baked bread.

PlatinumBreadComps

Red Star’s PLATINUM Superior Yeast is a premium instant yeast blended with dough improvers commonly used by professional bakers that will make your dough so forgiving that you will never be intimidated by yeast again!

• Simple to use.  So forgiving it takes the intimidation out of baking with yeast!
• Strengthens the dough and improves dough tolerance to variations in kneading, rising, and flour quality. 
• Produces consistent baked products home bakers will enjoy.
• Increases the amount of leavening retained in the dough.
• Decreases the risk of the dough collapsing after proofing or during baking.
• Increases oven ‘spring’ and the finished volume of the baked product.
• Works great in any bread recipe, but is particularly effective in producing healthy whole grain and sweet breads that are light, airy, and larger in volume. (How great is that?)

Red Star Premium Superior Baking Yeast has a wonderful video from Gesine Bullock-Prado on You Tube. Have a look to see the yeast in action and hear why it’s so fabulous. And a side note, I don’t know what Gesine put in those rolls, but I want some!

Pumpkin Pie Braid

I put it to the test with this pumpkin pie braid. I read a great tip on the Red Star site for helping your dough to rise:

Microwave Rising

The microwave oven can also be used for the first rising of doughs. Place 1 cup of water in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Heat on high for 2 minutes. This creates a moist environment to keep the dough soft during rising. Place covered bowl of dough in microwave and close the door.

I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that! It works beautifully. I put the covered bowl in the warmed microwave, and walked away for about 40 minutes. When I returned, I almost had “the dough that ate the microwave.”

The recipe for the actual bread dough can be found here on Red Star’s site. I didn’t make any changes to the dough recipe. It’s a beautiful, egg enriched, tender bread that rolls out like nobody’s business! The pumpkin pie filling is adapted from Pillsbury. Don’t feel limited to pumpkin, use your favorite fillings!

Pumpkin Pie Filling for 2 Bread Braids

 

This has a deep, dark, not too sweet filling, and it tastes even better on the second day!

1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (this is about a whole can-the 14 oz size)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp chai spice blend (if you don't have this, just use cinnamon)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 egg yolks
1/2-2/3 cup chopped pecans - Optional (See Note)

Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl and use to fill the breads.

NOTE: I added about 1/2-2/3 cup chopped pecans to the filling after using half of it in the first braid. So I ended up with one with and one without nuts.

You may think that make a bread braid is too hard, but it’s so simple with the correct cuts in the rolled out dough.

*I also did a simple egg wash over my braids before they went in the oven for nice color and shine.

_________________________________________________________________________

To make the braids, you’re going to divide the dough in half. I like to roll my dough out for braids directly on a sheet of parchment paper, because I find it easier to transfer it to the baking sheet and bake it right on that paper.

Roll one half of the dough to about a 12x17 inch rectangle. Next, using a sharp blade or pizza cutter (which I use), cut strips along the long sides of the rectangle, about 1 inch wide and 2-3 inches long, leaving two flaps at each shorter end of the dough, like this:

Bread Braid Cuts

Fold the two end flaps over the filling, kind of crimping the edges with your fingertips. Now start with the top left strip, folding all the way across the filling, and crimping it down gently. Next do the same to the top right strip, folding it all the way over the filling and pressing it down on the left side. Alternate all the way down, covering the filling up as you go. It should look like this:

Finished Bread Braid
(These are photos from an old post I did for the Daring Bakers, but they give you an idea of what the slits in the dough should look like.) You can see the technique in action here. She starts the actual technique at about 2:15 into the video. I notice she says cut diagonal strips, but she cuts straight ones. Also, I like to have the flaps folded up at the ends to keep the filling from leaking out during baking, but you can get a good idea of the crossing and crimping if you watch this.

Now you can transfer the parchment paper and the braid easily to your baking sheet--just slide it on. Follow last rising and baking directions from the recipe on Red Star’s site. I also added about 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon the icing recipe given there.

Pumpkin Pie Braid

 

VIP Package Giveaway

 

Open to residents of the US and Canada!

One of you will receive a VIP Package from Red Star for your very own! It comes in a beautiful black box tied with a silver bow, and includes:

  • Samples of Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast so you can see the difference for yourself.
  • A beautiful pinstripe Red Star apron.
  • A Red Star wood cutting/serving board.
  • A reusable grocery bag.
  • Coupons for the yeast.

As a bonus, the winner of this VIP Package will also be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer!

To enter:

1. Leave a comment here (with a valid email address-which will not be made public) and tell me what you think you’d make first with Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast.

Optional entries:

2. Follow Red Star on Facebook. Leave a comment here telling me you did.

3. Follow Red Star on Twitter. Leave a comment here telling me you did. And when you do, you can follow along at #RedStarPLATINUM for all the latest!

4. Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a comment here saying you did.

Pumpkin Pie Braid & a @RedStarYeast VIP pkg giveaway! Plus be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer. foodurl.info/rtvv#RedStarPLATINUM

5. Share this page on Facebook--leave another separate comment.

6. Pin this post, and you guessed it, leave a comment here.

So you have SIX ways to earn entries, and remember, whoever wins this giveaway gets entered in the KitchenAid Mixer giveaway!

I’ll choose a random winner on Thursday, September 27th and email the lucky person. You’ll have 48 hours to respond or I’ll have to choose another winner. Like I said, open to the US and Canada!

Disclaimer: I was sent a VIP package at no cost, and was not paid for my opinions.