Aunt Vel's Sour Cream Corn Bread!

As I have mentioned before, my mother comes from a family of 11 children and 6 of them are girls.  Fortunately, we still have all six of them with us.  All of my aunts are really good southern cooks and they all like to feed people.  They celebrate their birthdays by hosting a big potluck lunch in the month of those having birthdays.  There is a enough food at these lunches to feed an army.  The next time they have one, I will take pictures and post them.  You won't believe the amount of food! 

 
This sour cream cornbread is something that my Aunt Vel is usually asked to bring.  Aunt Vel is an amazing cook and I have never eaten anything she cooked that wasn't delicious.  

There have been some things I thought I didn't like and after I ate hers, I decided I did...like tuna casserole.  When I was a kid, I was staying with her for a day and she made tuna casserole.  I didn't particularly like tuna then and in a casserole...no way!  She told me to just taste and when I did, it was one of the best things I had ever eaten in casserole form!  That is just how all of her dishes are.  She also makes fried corn that is better than any I have ever eaten.  

Here is what you need for this cornbread:


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups self rising corn meal
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 small can cream style corn or 1 cup

Combine all ingredients well.  Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with oil.  Place the muffin pan with the oil in it in a preheated 350 degree oven to get the oil in the muffin cups hot (about 5 minutes).  Carefully remove muffin tin and pour cornbread mixture into each cup up to the edge.   This cornbread does not rise up as much as regular cornbread so you can fill the cups to the top.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until nice and brown.  Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes before removing.  It comes out easier if you wait this amount of time.  

You can bake this in an iron skillet or any other sort of pan you make cornbread in.  We just usually do the muffins with this recipe.

Aunt Vel's Sour Cream Cornbread!



Bacon Ranch Pull Apart Bread!

 

 

If you love bread and cheese like I do, this is going to be right up your alley.  This takes a simple loaf of French bread and some cheese and a few other things and makes a loaf of yummilicious goodness! This is so good with pasta dishes...spaghetti, lasagna or with soups.  It also makes a great casual party appetizer.  Here is all you need for this:

1 loaf French bread (can use sourdough or Italian)
1/ 2 cup butter, melted
1/2 packet of dry Ranch dressing mix
8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup of real bacon bits or you can use bacon cooked crisp and crumbled

Place the bread on a sheet of foil and cut it in about 1 inch squares, but not all the way through.  Just cut down about 3/4 of an inch.   I just cut on the diagonal, because my bread already had the baker's cuts going one way like that.   If your bread is smooth, you can just cut straight across horizontally and vertically.

Mix the dry ranch dressing mix with the melted butter.  Pull the bread slightly apart and pour the butter mixture over and down into the cuts.

 

 

 Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese and the mozzarella cheese and push some of it down into the cuts of the bread.   Finish by sprinkling bacon evenly over the top.   Cover loosely with foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Uncover and increase the oven temperature to 425 and allow to bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese just starts to brown. 

 

 

You can garnish with some sliced green onions or chives or serve just as it is, piping hot from the oven.  Just pull this off in big chunks.  I will warn that it is addictive!

 

 

 



Southern Cornbread Dressing!

Thanksgiving just wouldn't be Thanksgiving proper without the cornbread dressing.  It's almost, if not, the most important part of the meal at our house.  If you have turkey, you have to have dressing with it.  Nothing else will do.  Of course, you also have to have mashed potatoes and gravy.  It just all has to be there, together in unison, on the plate.   This might not be true for all of you and your Thanksgiving dinners, but it is for us.  

As far back as I can remember, the night before Thanksgiving, I can conjure up the pungent smell of poultry seasoning, black pepper and celery and onions being diced by my mother or other relatives who might be at our house for the holiday.  The dressing was always mixed up the night before and it made me so hungry smelling all of the preparations for the next day's meal. 

 It was comforting to know that people were in that kitchen getting things ready for all of us so that we would have a wonderful meal together.   The smells are always what bring us back it seems.

Now, out of the past and into the present,  I really have dreaded writing this post.  I have discovered, the hard way, that dressing or stuffing as some call it, is a very controversial topic in the food world.   I guess I never really knew that.  Is it dressing or is it stuffing? Does dressing have to be cornbread or does stuffing have to be, well, stuffed, as in the bird stuffed?   Is dressing the southern term for the same thing those above the Mason Dixon line call stuffing?  It's all so crazy and people can get so argumentative about it. 

Here is my take on it, dressing is the southern term for what we make and serve and it's usually a base of cornbread with (sometimes) other breads mixed in.   Stuffing seems to be a northern or Midwestern term for something similar, but not always made with cornbread.   Whether you stuff it in the bird or not, doesn't really seem to be a factor in whether it's called dressing or stuffing. I really think it's a geographic semantics sort of thing.  

We bake our dressing in a casserole dish or baking pan.  I honestly don't ever remember my mother baking it in the bird.  I hear it's safer to bake it in the baking dish and not in the bird where it might not get cooked through enough so it's good we don't do that.  If you do, be sure it reaches 165 degrees in the very center of the stuffing to be safe. 

Now, this is the recipe we use for dressing, I am sure you and your family do it differently, but this is how we do it.  All recipes are adaptable, so do what you will with it.  

 Here is what you will need: 

1 pan of cornbread ( recipe below)

6 slices white bread, toasted and cut in cubes

1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed

2 cups celery, finely diced

1 large onion, finely diced

1 stick butter

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

2 Tbs. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. sage (optional)

6 cups chicken or turkey stock

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 eggs, beaten

Cornbread Recipe

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup self rising cornmeal

1 cup buttermilk

2 Tbs. oil

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all together and pour into an 8"x8" baking dish that has been heated with enough oil in it to cover the bottom well or you can use an iron skillet.

Bake for 30 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, crumble cornbread, add bread cubes and the crushed saltines.  Place butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion and celery until tender.  Pour this mixture over the bread and crackers. 

Add seasonings.  You will notice that we use mostly poultry seasoning.  We actually leave the optional sage out, because the poultry seasoning is a blend of sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram and black pepper.  It's not so overwhelming and 'green' like the sage can be when overused.    If your family likes their dressing green with sage, use more sage and less poultry seasoning.  However, I am convinced that the over use of sage and the under use of other seasonings is what ruins a lot of good dressing. 

Add 6 cups of chicken or turkey broth, the beaten eggs, and the can of cream of chicken soup.  The can of soup adds the best flavor to dressing, but I can always envision the comments on this.  I am not sure when canned soup got such a bad reputation, but let me say you can leave it out if you think you might die after ingesting it right there at the Thanksgiving dinner table.  If you do leave it out, add an extra cup of broth and you might need a smidgen more salt.   Lightly mix all of this together.  This mixture will be loose, not tight or too thick.  If it's too thick, add some more stock to it. 

Spray a large baking pan or casserole dish with nonstick baking spray and pour the mixture in.  Smooth the top, but don't pack it down in the dish.  That makes the dressing too compacted and dry when baked. 

This is best when prepared the night before and refrigerated overnight to give the flavors a chance to blend.  When you take it out to bake on Thanksgiving day, drizzle about a cup of the warm turkey broth from your just baked turkey over the top of the dressing.  This seeps down into the dressing as it bakes and really makes it moist and flavorful.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes. 

This makes a really big pan of dressing, so if you are cooking for a smaller family, you can put this in two casserole dishes and freeze one for Christmas or another meal when you might have baked chicken or whatever.   If you use two smaller casseroles, bake for about 30-35 minutes.





Easy Yeast Rolls!

My mother's yeast rolls are nearly famous...at least around these parts...lol.  She has made literally thousands of these wonderful rolls through the years and has the art down to perfection.  I use her recipe when I make them and they are pretty good, but nobody makes these rolls like my mother.  Yesterday, I watched her make them from step one, which I had never done before, and I think I might have picked up a few of her secrets.   I can now pass those tips on to you. 

Don't let the steps in this put you off.  There are several steps, but it is not really that complicated and well worth the effort and this is what you will get.

Here is what you will need:

All purpose flour (we prefer White Lily if you can get it in your area), vegetable or canola oil, sugar, yeast, salt, milk (not pictured) and water.

You will need to sift 5 of the 6 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl.  The bowl needs to have plenty of room for these to double in size when they rise.  Warm 2 cups of milk in the microwave for 5 minutes and let it cool to where it is just warm to the touch. 

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Make sure the water is not too hot or it will kill your yeast.  To the warm milk add 3/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp salt.  Mix together and add to the flour.  Now add the yeast to this mixture and stir to blend.  This mixture will be very loose. Pour about 2 Tbs. oil over the top the dough and spread it around to coat it. Cover with a kitchen towel and let this rise for 2 hours. 

The mixture should almost double and look like this.  If your kitchen is cold or drafty, this will take much longer.  Sit the bowl near the oven if you are cooking and have it on to speed the rising.  Now take the other cup of flour, sifted and sprinkle 1/2 of it on the dough and 1/2 of it on a pastry sheet or wax paper.   Work the dough into a ball, but do not overwork it, unless you like a denser roll. 

It should look like this.  Now you are ready to flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out into a large circle about 1/4 inch thick.

Using a medium size biscuit cutter or a glass with a similar size, cut your rolls.  Melt about a 1/4 stick of butter in 4 round cake pans or 1/2 stick in 2  9"x13" pans.  Place your rolls in the melted butter turning them over to coat.  You should get 36-40 rolls.  They are best if allowed to rise again for 30 minutes to an hour.  They will double in size in the pan.  Don't let anything touch the tops of them or it will make them fall.  If it's warm in the kitchen, they will rise back up fast.  If it's cool it takes much longer.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they are brown on top to your liking. Some folks like them really brown, we like them just browned slightly. 

 

This will be your finished product!  You can brush some melted butter on top when out of the oven or just leave them as is.  These are great for dinner, breakfast or to use for parties with sliced ham or turkey on them.  The dough is very versatile also.  Tomorrow we will use it for Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls!

Ingredients:

6 cups all purpose flour

1 pk. yeast (1/4 oz. packet)

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk

3/4  cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt



Southern Fried Catfish and Hushpuppies!

My husband loves to fish.  That is actually probably an understatement.  You know the song by Brad Paisley, "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song), well that is my husband exactly.  Starting in late March through early October, he fishes almost one day a week at least and he's pretty good at it after all of these years.  So, we have a freezer full of fish all year round.  We give  away a lot of it, because there is only so much fish you can eat.  If you have priced catfish fillets lately, in the stores, they are outrageous, so I don't complain about the fishing so much anymore.

 I have experimented with cooking it different ways, but I must say the absolutely best way to eat fresh water fish is fried and especially catfish.  My husband fillets them and then cuts them in smaller pieces and even people who say they don't like catfish end up loving this fish.  Add the homemade hushpuppies, coleslaw, onion slices and iced tea and it is a southern meal you won't forget.

There are several methods and recipes for frying fish in the south.  Some people pan fry, some deep fry, some use flour and cornmeal mixed, some use just cornmeal, some dip in egg and milk first and on and on.   It's up to the individual tastes and probably how you were raised eating it.  Personally, I soak my fish in buttermilk first and I only batter with cornmeal and seasonings.  If you dip the fish in an egg dip and batter with flour and cornmeal mixed, it gives it a heavier batter.

I prefer a lighter, crispier coating that just the cornmeal alone gives.  I also like to deep fry instead of pan frying.  Deep frying cooks the fish quickly and they don't absorb much of the grease at all.  If you pan fry, they lay in the grease longer and to me, seem greasier.  I don't do greasy when it comes to fried food and especially fish. 


Here is what  you will need:

Cornmeal ( I prefer White Lily), buttermilk, Tabasco sauce, Cajun seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, black pepper, salt, and about 2 lbs. catfish fillets.

Place the catfish fillets in a mixing bowl and cover with buttermilk.  Put several dashes of Tabasco sauce in this and mix around.  This is optional and the heat cooks out.  It just gives it a good flavor, but not heat. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. This catfish has no fishy flavor really at all but even if it did, the buttermilk neutralizes it completely.

In a Ziplock bag or a bowl with a tight fitting lid, mix 2 cups cornmeal with 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning, and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's).  Shake it up to mix all of it good.  While mixing this, start heating your oil.  If you are using a deep fryer with a temperature control, heat to 375 degrees.  I use my Fry Daddy and it stays right around that temperature.  Be sure the oil is good and hot.  If it is not at the right temperature, the fish will absorb  the oil too much and be greasy, if it is too hot, it will brown on the outside too fast and not cook on the inside.
 

Place 5 or 6 of the fish pieces in the bowl or bag and seal.  Shake around to coat well on all sides.  Drop carefully in the oil.  I use canola oil, but you can use vegetable oil or peanut oil also...whatever you prefer.

Turn the fish over about once to be sure to brown on both sides.  Don't turn  too much  because it will knock your batter off.   This cornmeal batter stays on the fish better than a  heavier batter though.  When it's brown on both sides, remove to paper towel lined platter to drain.  Repeat until all of the fish is fried. 

Ingredients:

2lbs. catfish fillets

2 cups cornmeal (might need more, if the meal mixture becomes wet just add a cup more into the bag)

buttermilk

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp. Cajun seasoning

dash of Tabasco sauce

oil for frying

HUSHPUPPIES

No southern fish fry is complete without hushpuppies.  This is a simple, but really good recipe for hush puppies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup self rising flour

1 1/2 cup self rising corn meal

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

dash of Old Bay seasoning (optional)

1 Tbs. grated sweet onion

1 egg

Mix all together and drop by teaspoon full into the same oil you cooked fish in . When they are brown on one side, carefully roll them over and brown on the other side.  Remove to the paper towel lined platter around the fish. 

Southern Fried Catfish and Hushpuppies!

Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread!

This "Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread" is so good with all of the various soups and stews we tend to make more when the weather turns cooler.  It's also really good with the dried beans we eat a lot of in this part of the country.   I have quite a few good recipes for this type of cornbread, but I think this one is one of my favorites.  I have tweaked this one here and there and to be honest, I have not posted it before because every time I made it, it just was not very pretty.  No matter how good I know it is, if it doesn't look good, you all do not want to make it.  That is just the nature of what I do. 

This cornbread is fairly dense and so it has to bake for quite a while so it's done in the middle.  However, when you cook it for the time required at the temperature most recipes call for, it rises up and cracks on the top from the middle out and by the time I get it out of the oven it's just ugly and certainly not photogenic.  It also gets too brown at a high temp for the whole hour.

So I remembered something my mother has always told me and that is if you want something to rise up in the middle high, like cupcakes, bake on a higher temperature, but if you do not want something to rise up high in the middle too fast, bake on a lower temperature.   This is why I bake this at 350 degrees for the first 30 minutes and at 375 for the last 30 minutes and it worked perfectly and came out ready for it's picture to be taken!    

Here is what you need for this cornbread:

1 cup self rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 cup cream style corn ( or 1 small can)
1/4 cup jalapeno pepper rings, diced (the pickled type)
1/4 cup green or red bell pepper, diced fine ( I use red for the color)
1/3 cup oil, divided
1 cup Mexican cheese blend, shredded ( can use just cheddar)

***If you cannot buy the self rising cornmeal and flour in your area, add 1 tsp, baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt to all purpose.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour all but 2 Tbs. of the oil in an 8 inch iron skillet or an 8 inch baking pan.  Place in the oven to get hot while you mix the batter.

Mix together cornmeal, flour, buttermilk, eggs, corn, peppers and 2 Tbs. of the oil until well blended.

Carefully remove the skillet or pan from the oven when it's hot and slowly pour half of the batter in the skillet.  That oil should be screaming hot, so be really careful and get the kids and the pets back out of the way!  Nothing can burn you like hot grease popping in an iron skillet.   See how the oil comes up and over the batter, that's a good thing and why we didn't add much to the batter itself!
 

Sprinkle evenly with the cup of cheese!

Pour the rest of the batter over the cheese.  Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes turn the oven back to 375 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes.  A pick or sharp knife inserted in the center should come out clean when it's done.

You can turn this out onto a plate to serve or...

Leave it in the skillet and cut it from there!   Either way, be careful that skillet is hot!

Enjoy!



Angel Biscuits!

There is probably nothing more southern than homemade biscuits. There also probably isn't anything made in the south that has more recipes or methods for making.   I think most people make biscuits the way their mother or grandmother taught them or in some cases their father or grandfather.  I think more and more men are doing the cooking these days and there is certainly nothing wrong with that either.  I wish more people in general were cooking their meals at home, it's much healthier and economical.   That's a topic for another day though, because it will take some time for me to go on and on about it...lol.

Now, back to the biscuits, I make regular biscuits just like my mother taught me when I was just a teenager at home.  I am not sure a lot of people make homemade biscuits now days though with all of the canned (yuck) and frozen pre-made biscuits.  I must admit that the frozen ones made by Pillsbury are very good, but are so expensive.  The canned ones, I am not so fond of, but they are less expensive...there's a reason for that.  

Biscuits, like cornbread, meatloaf and potato salad, are something people can really mess up also.  Some folks should stick to the frozen variety.  These are angel biscuits, which are  biscuits that have yeast in them.  They are sort of a cross between a yeast roll and a biscuit.  They are wonderful for ham and biscuits, for dinner, or really anytime you would serve biscuits.  These are made by caterers for events where they have ordered biscuits, because they can be made up ahead of time.   The main reason I like to make them is that they make a big batch of dough and you can bake just what you need a few at a time.  They will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.  I have tried several recipes for angel biscuits and this one is the best and the one I have finally settled on.  Here is what you will need:

All Purpose flour (I prefer White Lily), buttermilk, yeast, Crisco, baking powder, butter, salt, baking soda, and sugar (which I left out of the picture for some reason)

In a glass bowl mix the yeast with 1/2 cup warm water.  The water should not be over 110 degrees.  If its too hot it will kill your yeast.  Just warm tap water is good.  Set aside while you mix the other ingredients and give the yeast time to activate.  It will bubble some.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder until well combined.

With a pastry blender cut in the Crisco until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Add in the yeast mixture and the warmed buttermilk.  I just put the 2 cups buttermilk in the microwave for about a minute to warm it. Once the dry ingredients are all moistened, cover the bowl and chill for about an hour.  You can make these up the night before if you are having them for breakfast.

Turn the dough out on a heavily floured surface and knead about 5 times.  Form into a flat ball.  Flour your rolling pin and roll to 1/2 inch thickness. I only used half of my dough mixture and saved the other half for another day this week.

Dip a biscuit cutter in flour and cut the biscuits getting as many as you can out of the first rolling.  If you cut right on the edge of the dough so that there isn't any dough left on the edges the biscuits will come out cleaner.  Take the remaining remnants and roll back together and cut the rest.  Handle the dough as little as possible.  It makes the biscuits dense and tough if you over handle the dough.

In a 9"x13" baking dish melt 1/2 stick of butter.  Place the cut biscuits in butter, then roll them over to coat both sides with butter.  Place them in a preheated 450 degree oven for 12-13 minutes.  They should be slightly browned on top.  Remove from oven and serve immediately.   I only baked 1/2 of the recipe, but if you bake the whole recipe, you will need two 9"x13" baking pans and 1/2 stick of butter for each pan.

These are great with just butter or a slice of country ham!

Or some delicious homemade jelly! 

Ingredients:

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening  (Crisco)

2 cups buttermilk

butter for greasing pans (1/2 stick per pan)

Cornbread Hoe Cakes

Since this blog is called 'Sweet Tea and Cornbread', I thought I might want to get around to talking about those things.  They are both pretty much staples of the southern table.  Hoe cakes are a type of fried, flat cornbread that look sort of like pancakes.  They are perfect with dried beans (pinto, white, mixed), soups, greens, and stews because they are so good for what really country, southern people call...soppin'.


The story is that the hoe cake came to be known as the hoe cake, because back in the day the field hands working in the crops had only some corn meal and water or maybe milk and their hoes to cook on over a hot fire. They would mix this mixture of corn meal and water or maybe milk up, clean their hoe off, and put it over a hot fire to cook the bread on  the flat surface.  Some even say it might go all the way back to the Indians who did make something very similar to the hoe cake, and many still do, called Indian fry bread or a Johnny cake.  However they came to be, done right, they are wonderful.


I see lots of variations on hoe cake recipes, but this is the recipe my mother taught me years ago.  I do add a couple of things she doesn't, but basically the same.

Start by mixing together an egg, 1 cup self rising flour, 1 cup self rising corn meal, 1 cup milk or buttermilk, 1 Tbs sugar, and 1/2 Tbs baking powder.  If you use buttermilk, you might need to add 1/4 cup water because it makes it a little thicker.  Mix all ingredients well.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet just to coat it on medium high heat.  When you pour batter in it should sizzle, but no smoke.  You can use a nonstick skillet or an iron skillet or a griddle if you have one.  I just use a nonstick skillet.  Don't crowd them because you have to have room to turn them.

Do not flip until they start to bubble and get little craters in them, then you can turn them without them falling apart.   They are pretty much done now and just need to brown on the other side.

Cook on the other side for about 3-5 minutes or until brown and you have delicious hoe cakes. Here is a helpful tip, do not be tempted to press down on these once you flip them.  They are not hamburgers and pressing on them will make them tough and dense not light.  It's a pet peeve of mine..lol.  I thought it must be a thing with just me, but I heard one of my aunts say that irritated the heck out her when somebody mashed on her hoe cakes after she flipped them. It's genetic...lol.  So many things are it seems.

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup self rising corn meal

1 cup milk or buttermilk

1 Tbs. sugar (optional, it's not enough to really make a huge difference)

1/2 Tbs. baking powder (you can leave this out, but it makes the hoe cakes rise up really nice)

vegetable oil

***If you cannot buy self rising cornmeal and self rising flour in your area, use all purpose and add  tsp. baking powder,  1 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt.   If you can buy self rising, invest in some, it just makes better cornbread.

Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Spread!

So many of you have been asking for pumpkin recipes and it is that time of year.  While I like most things involving the use of pumpkin...pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin roll, I think pumpkin bread is one of my favorites which is why I am starting with it.

This is a really moist pumpkin bread recipe and is wonderful just by itself, but if you want to kick it up to a whole new level, make the 'Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Spread' to slather on it...oh my, it is good stuff!   It's perfect for breakfast or a late afternoon snack.

This recipe makes two big loaves of bread or I made one big loaf and four mini loaves to share with other people.  You could make eight mini loaves for little gifts or to place in a gift basket with other sweets or a gourmet coffee or tea sampler.  Wouldn't that make a nice inexpensive gift for those folks you want to show some gratitude for during the holidays?

Here is what you will need for this pumpkin bread and the cream cheese spread:

1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups sugar
3  1/2 cups all purpose flour
1  1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1  16 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup nuts, chopped  ( walnuts or pecans work best)

Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Spread
1  8oz block of cream cheese, softened (I used light)
3 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the oil, eggs, water and sugar,  Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.   Add the pumpkin and the wet mixture (eggs, oil, water, sugar).  Blend just until the dry ingredients are wet.  Stir in the chopped nuts.

Grease 2   9" x 5" loaf pans well.   Divide the mixture evenly between the two pans.   Bake for 1 hour.   A pick inserted into the middle should come out clean. 

Or you can do mini loaves.  I did one large loaf and 4 mini loaves.  The mini loaf pan only needs to bake about 50 minutes. 



To make the cream cheese spread, blend the softened cream cheese with the honey and cinnamon.  Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Spread!