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Easy Dutch Oven Bread 4 Ingredients

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Easy Dutch Oven Bread 4 Ingredients: Flour, salt, yeast and water.

Easy 4 Ingredient Artisan Bread made in a dutch oven. My friend was so kind to let me borrow her Le Creuset 5.5 qt dutch oven in flame orange, which I absolutely love. It makes beautiful soft bread with a flaky crust.

You knead the dough and then let it rise. Then shape it and let rise again. Then bake it!

You bake it with the oven safe lid on until the very end, then you take the lid off and let it brown on top for a few minutes.

Made with only flour, yeast, salt and water so it is dairy free. No dairy.

Knead the dough using your favorite method. I used my bread machine and set it to the dough cycle. Sometimes I mix by hand or use my stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

 

Easy Dutch Oven Bread 4 Ingredients
 
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Recipe type: Bread
Ingredients
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1½ cups warm water
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, coarse salt
Instructions
  1. Add flour, water, yeast, and salt to a large mixing bowl, your bread machine, or you stand mixer bowl (whichever method you are using). Knead dough for 5-10 minutes until a sticky ball forms, adding more flour or water if needed.
  2. Cover, let rise for 2 hours.
  3. Then place on a lightly floured surface and press out all air, roll into a tight ball.
  4. Place in dutch oven that is greased with oil.
  5. Cover with lid and let rise 40 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 450 F. Brush top with olive oil. Take a knife and make an x on top of dough.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes with lid on. Remove lid a bake for about 4-5 minutes longer until top starts to turn light golden brown.
  8. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.

 

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Easy Fudge

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Easy Creamy Fudge made with Sweet German Chocolate.

I started making this recipe when I was a kid after going to Mackinac Island in Michigan. The island is beautiful and they have fudge shops all over the place. After going there I wanted to immediately come home and try making my own homemade fudge. This fudge recipe has always been one of my favorites to make and it is easy.

I was trying to make this fudge again with my niece this Christmas season since she has never made fudge before and all the grocery stores were sold out of the sweet German Chocolate squares. Thankfully my sister had an extra bar at her house that we ended up using to make it. I use the Baker’s brand (amazon affiliate link) that comes in a green box and is found by the chocolate chips in the baking aisle.

When boiling the sugar, butter and evaporated milk you want to be careful because I find the boiling mixture tends to bubble up quickly so I have to reduce the heat. To speed up the process of the fudge turning into more of a solid I usually put it in the fridge after it has cooled for a bit at room temperature.

Easy Fudge
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 2¼ cups white sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 6 fluid oz. evaporated milk
  • 1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 package (4 oz.) of Sweet German Chocolate
  • 1 cup marshmallow creme (about one 7 oz. jar of marshmallow creme)
Instructions
  1. Grease an 8x8" square baking pan or line with parchment paper.
  2. In a mixing down combine semisweet chocolate chips, German sweet chocolate (broken into squares) and marshmallow creme and set aside.
  3. In a sauce pot combine sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Stir on low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and stir for about 6 minutes (reduce heat if it bubbles up).
  4. Carefully pour hot mixture into the mixing bowl with the chocolates and stir until smooth and chocolate is all melted. Pour into prepared pan and let sit for a few hours.

 

 

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Dairy Free Banana Bread

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Dairy Free Moist Banana Bread with a cinnamon and sugar crust.

I’m always trying to think of new dairy free recipes that I can make due to someone in the house having a dairy allergy. I realized I hadn’t tried banana bread yet. This recipe was a big hit and is now my go to dairy free banana bread recipe. I took my regular favorite recipe and altered it a bit using oil in place of butter and it worked great.

My favorite part is the cinnamon and sugar crust that you make by dusting the greased pan with cinnamon and sugar. I also added cinnamon to the batter which is a secret ingredient that I think makes it taste great.

Baking the banana bread at a low temperature helps to keep it moist and from drying out.

Dairy Free Banana Bread
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • For Dusting the Pan:
  • 1 Tablespoon white sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • For The Banana Bread:
  • ¼ cup oil
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 300 F. degrees
  2. Grease one loaf pan. (My loaf pan is 8.5x4.5") In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pan lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture. It should stick easily with the sides greased.
  3. In a large bowl, mix oil and sugar together. Stir in eggs, mashed bananas, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in baking powder, salt, baking soda and flour. (Stir in nuts if you are adding them, about ⅓ cup walnuts, optional).
  4. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
  5. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

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Loaded Oreo Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Loaded Oreo Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Soft thick loaded chocolate chip cookies with Oreo cookies for a cookies and cream flavor plus we added Reese’s Pieces candies! This is our families favorite go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. We use this recipe as a base to make all our favorite thick chocolate chip style cookies.

Recipe makes about 16 large cookies or 2 cookie sheets of cookies. I used a cookie scoop (amazon affiliate) that was about 2.5 Tablespoons in size.

If you want the cookies to turn out extra thick vs thinner then make sure to use semi-cold butter when you mix the dough or refrigerate the balls of dough for about 20 minutes before putting them in the oven to bake. What is semi-cold butter? I personally take the butter directly out of the fridge and microwave it in a bowl for about 10-14 seconds, this warms it up enough to mix it with my mixer but no so much that it is soft.

Loaded Oreo Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup salted butter (2 stick) semi cold*
  • ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup Reese's Pieces
  • 4-5 Oreo's broken into small pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
  2. Use an electric mixer to cream brown sugar, sugar, & semi cold butter*(you want the butter to be a little cold, I took mine from the frig, microwaved it for 10-14 seconds, cut it into pieces then added it to the bowl).
  3. Add eggs & vanilla, mix.
  4. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt together. Add to the creamed butter/sugar. Beat with mixer until everything is mixed in.
  5. Stir in chocolate chips, Reese's Pieces and Oreos.
  6. Scoop 2½ tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball (golf ball sized) & drop onto greased cookie sheet. (I used a large cookie scoop/ice cream scoop). Don't touch the dough with your hands or it will warm it up too much. If you want to use your hands then you will need to place the cookie sheet in the frig for 20 min. before baking so the cookies don't go flat.
  7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown.

 

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Easy No Knead Bread 5 Ingredients

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Easy No Knead Bread 5 Ingredients.

Easiest bread recipe I have ever made. My sister makes this on a weekly basis and I make it often too. No knead bread recipe. You don’t need a mixer or bread machine to make this. You simply stir it together by hand in a large mixing bowl for a minute.

Recipe made with only 5 simple ingredients: water, flour, salt, sugar, yeast.

Recipe makes 2 thin loaves of bread or you can make 1 wide loaf of bread.

  

Photo on left side above shows the dough after stirring it up. Photo of right side above shows the dough after it has risen for 2 hours covered.

  

Above photo on left side shows the loaves after being shaped. Photo on right side shows loaves after rising for 40 minutes.

You can brush the tops with melted butter after baking if desired.

Easy No Knead Bread 5 Ingredients
 
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Recipe type: Bread
Ingredients
  • 1½ Cups warm water (or use warm milk for a slightly softer bread)
  • 2¼ teaspoons or one packet of rapid rise yeast
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 3¼ Cups flour
  • 1¾ teaspoons salt
Instructions
  1. Add yeast to large mixing bowl, next add warm water to activate the yeast. Let that sit for a few mins. Add the sugar in and let sit for another min. or two.
  2. Add flour & salt to the large mixing bowl & stir all the ingredients together.
  3. The bread should be just a little sticky but not too much, if it's really sticky & wet add a little extra flour, if the dough is super dry then add a little more water (sometimes I have to add a little extra water to mine).
  4. Cover the bowl but not airtight (I placed a clean kitchen towel over the top of the bowl) & let it rise for 2 hours.
  5. After 2 hours place the dough onto a well floured surface. If you want to make 2 smaller sized loafs of bread then divide the dough in half.
  6. Shape the dough by picking it up & using your hands to fold the edge of the dough under until you have a loaf shape with smooth edges. (My loaves were about 12" long) Place onto a greased cookie sheet.
  7. Using a serrated knife cut the loaf (about a ¼ inch) into the center & then also make one about 1 inch to the left of center & one to the right so the top doesn't crack while its baking.
  8. Let it rise for 40 more minutes.
  9. After the 40 minutes, preheat oven to 450 F. degrees BUT first place a metal 9x13 inch pan or a rimmed metal baking pan onto the bottom rack of your oven (*WARNING!!!*: Do Not use glass, it can explode or shatter!)
  10. When the oven is preheated place cookie sheet with bread onto the middle rack of your oven then quickly add 1 cup of water to the bottom 9x13 metal pan you have on the bottom rack. This pan is used to create a steam in the oven while the bread bakes, in the end it will make your bread have a nice hard crusty texture on the outside but still be soft inside.
  11. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top & bottom are a nice golden brown color. If your making 2 small loaves bake for 10-15 minutes.
  12. Remove from oven & let it cool for awhile so it will slice easier, then enjoy!

 

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Southern Tea Cake Cookies

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Southern Tea Cake Cookies.

Southern Tea Cake Cookies with a vanilla glaze and topped with sprinkles. Love these festive cookies.

 

Dough is pretty soft to work with and can be dropped onto the cookie sheet by the spoonful. I used a small cookie scoop (affiliate link) to make the dough balls. I hand mixed the cookie dough batter.

These cookies are super soft and cake like.

Recipe makes 24 small sized cookies. Let glaze set for a few minutes. If it is too thin or too thick then add more milk or powdered sugar to change the consistency. Top with sprinkles if you want to make them more colorful and festive. If not using salted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Southern Tea Cake Cookies
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups All-Purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • Frosting Glaze:
  • ¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter (I used salted) melted
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees.
  2. In a mixing bowl combine butter & sugar together. Stir in egg, sour cream and vanilla extract.
  3. Mix in flour and baking soda and stir well.
  4. Scoop by the tablespoon full (about 1" balls) onto cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
  6. Once cookies have cooled a little bit prepare glaze.
  7. In a small bowl mix together the melted butter (I microwave the butter to melt it), milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Pour over the tops of cookies using a knife or the back of a spoon to coat the tops. Top with sprinkles.
  8. Let glaze set a few minutes.

 

 

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