Lassy Raisin Bread #BreadBakers

This Lassy Raisin Bread is made with molasses, whence comes the name. It is a classic recipe from Newfoundland, often enjoyed during the holidays. It's a lovely soft loaf that is delicious plain and even better toasted and buttered!

The end of the year has snuck up on me and I can’t imagine I’m the only one who feels that way. I was determined to find time to bake bread for this final Bread Bakers event though because I have finally figured out where to buy fresh yeast here in Houston (YAY!) and I just love how it smells and tastes in freshly baked bread. 

I chose to make this particular loaf because 1. My husband loves raisin bread, especially when it’s toasted and buttered and 2. this month my Bread Baker friends and I are sharing holiday breads from around the world. 

There are probably as many recipes for Newfoundland lassy or molasses bread as we have neighbors to my very north, but one thing they all have in common is the requisite molasses, generally the milder unsulphured kind, and raisins. The traditional loaves are shaped by making three balls of the dough and placing them in a row in a bread pan. 

Lassy Raisin Bread

My recipe is adapted from one on Rock Recipes which makes a very impressive FOUR loaves. They really, really love their lassy raisin bread! And once you've tried a slice, you'll see why.

Ingredients

1/4 cup or 60ml lukewarm water

1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon active dry yeast or 20g fresh yeast

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 - 3 cups or 312-375g flour, plus extra for kneading

1/3 cup or 80ml lukewarm milk

1/4 cup or 60ml molasses

5 teaspoons cooled melted butter, plus extra for brushing the baked loaf, optional

1 egg, beaten lightly

3/4 cup or 100g raisins

Method

In the bowl of an electric mixer that has a dough hook, stir the yeast and brown sugar into the lukewarm water and then let stand without stirring for 10 minutes. It should get nice and fluffy if your yeast is alive.

Add in 1 cup or 125g of the flour along with the salt, butter, warm milk and the beaten egg.

Using the regular paddle of your electric mixer, mix slowly for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is smooth with no lumps. Whoops, almost forgot our namesake molasses! Add that in and beat again. 

Switch to the dough hook at this point and begin to slowly incorporate the remaining flour. 

You may not need to use all of the flour. This is a soft dough that’s supposed to be a little sticky.  

Add the raisins at this point and continue to mix with the bread hook until the raisins are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Place the dough in a large bowl and cover the bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel. 

Leave it to rest and rise for two hours. 

Punch the dough down and knead it for a few minutes by hand on a lightly floured work surface.

Divide the dough into three even pieces. I use my scale here to weigh the whole dough then divide by three. My dough weighed 760g so each ball weighed about 253g. Form each piece into a nice round ball. 

Line a medium loaf pan with baking parchment. (Mine was 9 x 5 in or 23 x 13cm.) 

Place the 3 balls of dough in your prepared loaf pan. 

Cover with greased cling film and allow the dough to rise until it is about 2 inches or 5cm above the rim of the pan, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, depending on room temperature. 

[As you can see from the photo, pretty sure I overproved mine, making a strategical error when I decided I had time to nip out to the grocery store for salmon. Reader, as it turned out, I did not. While I was disappointed in the outside looks of this wonderful bread, the flavor and soft, tender crumb consoled me.]

Bake at 350°F or 180°C for about 40 minutes. The top and bottom crust should have good color. I tented mine halfway through with foil because it was browning so quickly. Check on yours in case you might want to do the same. 

Once baked, turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool. 

Brush the top with melted butter, if desired, to soften the top crust. Also, more butter is always better was one of my mom's rules. She was a very clever woman.

Leave to cool completely before slicing to serve. I'm trying to think of it as "rustic," not misshapen.

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which, as I mentioned above, means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to share their recipes. Many thanks to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for hosting and for choosing this lovely theme. Check out all the international holiday breads below. 

• Passion Kneaded: Christopsomo (Greek Christmas Bread) 
• A Messy Kitchen: Joululimppu 
• The Wimpy Vegetarian: Julekake : A Norwegian Christmas Bread 
• Food Lust People Love: Lassy Raisin Bread 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Laufabraud 
• Zesty South Indian Kitchen: Sourdough bobalki (Slovak Christmas eve bread) 
• Sneha's Recipe: Vánočka/Vanocka - Czech Christmas Bread 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Venezuelan Christmas Ham Bread - Pan de Jamón

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Lassy Raisin Bread! 

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins - Small Batch #MuffinMonday

Just sweet enough for dessert but not too sweet for breakfast, these peanut butter chocolate chip muffins go great with a cup of tea or glass of cold milk.

This month’s Muffin Monday snuck up on me! I could have sworn there was one more after Thanksgiving. Turns out that I wasn’t the only one!

So after a lot of scurrying around and possibly some panic baking, we have five SIX delicious muffin recipes to share with you today. This one is mine. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins, chock full of chocolate chips and peanut butter. I use Jif Extra Crunchy because it’s my favorite. I topped the muffins with mini chocolate chips before baking because I ran out of the regular ones. 

Ingredients

2 tablepoons plain whole milk yogurt

1/3 cup or 80ml milk

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

1/2 cup, packed, or 100g dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup or 83g crunchy peanut butter

1 tablespoon butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan and the chips

1 large egg, at room temperature

3oz or 85g semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus extra for decoration, if desired

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by greasing it with butter or lining it with muffin cups. 

Measure the milk into a measuring cup and stir the yogurt into it. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Put just a dap or two of butter in the chocolate chips and rub them with your clean hands to separate the chips that are stuck together. Add the buttery chips to the dry ingredient mixture and toss to coat. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk the butter, peanut butter, milk/yogurt and egg.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until almost completely combined. You might still see a little flour. 

Spoon or scoop the thick batter into your prepared muffin pan. Top with extra chocolate chips, if desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. 

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about five minutes then transfer the muffins to the wire rack to cool completely before plating up to serve.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, today is Muffin Monday, always celebrated in this space on the last Monday of the month. Check out all the lovely muffins we are sharing in the links below. 

• Cranberry Squash Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mint Chocolate Chip Chocolate Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Chocolate Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sourdough Pecan Pie Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Turmeric Granola Blueberry Muffins from A Messy Kitchen

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins!

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Charcuterie Picnic Boxes

These charcuterie picnic boxes are filled with delicious cheeses, fruit, nuts, deli meats and crunchy vegetables. Portable snacking kicked up a tasty notch! 

Whenever our daughters fly out to visit us, we always prepare “car snacks” to be eaten on the way home from the airport. These usually include cheeses, salami, ham and vegetables like baby carrots. 

When I saw the Sunday FunDay theme of charcuterie boards for today’s event, I decided to make an elevated version of our “car snacks” which would also be perfect for road trips or picnics on the go.

As you can see from the photos, I used 28oz. Hefty containers but truly, any short, wide container would work. Do make sure the lids snap on securely though to keep the food from drying out and for ease of transport.

Charcuterie Picnic Boxes

These can be made ahead of time and stored in a refrigerator. Add the crackers just before you hit the road so they don’t get soft and stale. 

Ingredients

Baby cos or little gem lettuce leaves

Sliced meats – salami, prosciutto, summer sausage, bresaola, etc.

At least two semi soft or hard cheeses 

Dried and/or fresh fruit – blackberries, dried figs or apricots, grapes, etc.

Bite-sized vegetables -radishes, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, little pickles, etc.

Nuts – walnuts or pecans work great

Optional: stuffed peppers or olives from your grocery store deli counter

Your favorite crackers

Method

Line a container with leaves of baby cos or little gem lettuce.

Add in wedges of cheese like Camembert and slices of, perhaps, extra mature cheddar.

Roll your sliced meats or form them into little flowers and tuck them in between the cheeses. 

Add in the rest of your ingredients, trying to make a pretty mix of flavors and colors. For an extra cheese/veggie element, I added blue cheese stuffed olives from my grocery store deli counter. Little radishes add crunch and color. 

Finally, pulling the lettuce leaves forward slightly to make room, tuck crackers around the sides of the container. (See note above ingredients list if not serving immediately.)

Happy trails and enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing our creative charcuterie boards. Many thanks to our host, Mayuri from Mayuri’s Jikoni. Check out the links below.

• Culinary Cam: A Grazing Board for Gratitude 
• Food Lust People Love : Charcuterie Picnic Boxes 
• Our Good Life: Christmas Grazing Board 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board 
• Mayuri's Jikoni: Mexican Vegetarian Grazing Board 
• Sneha's Recipe : Sandwich Charcuterie Board 
• Palatable Pastime : Thanksgiving Turkey Charcuterie Board 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Turkey Charcuterie Board 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Turkey Trot Sandwich Board 

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins #MuffinMonday

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins celebrate the best of fresh raspberry season with a wonderfully subtle tang, perfect for brunch, breakfast or snack.

Welcome to the last Muffin Monday of summer! In the blink of an eye, it will be September then on to Autumn fruit and vegetables so I thought I’d use fresh raspberries this month as a sort of a last hurrah. 

More reasonably priced cherries, peaches, nectarines, raspberries and strawberries are the best part of summer. If I can get fresh figs, I am over the moon because that doesn’t happy very often these days. 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins

This recipe makes 6 or 7 normal sized muffins. When I bake the batter in a 6-cup muffin pan, it makes six. If I use my silicon liners, as you can see, it makes seven. 

Ingredients

5 1/3 oz or 150g fresh raspberries

1 cup or 125g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 oz or 56g cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for the pan

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup or 60ml milk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional for decorating: Pearl sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your 6-cup muffin pan by buttering it or lining it with muffin cups. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Set aside six or seven raspberries to top the muffins and cut the rest in half. 

Tip the halved raspberries into the dry ingredients and stir till they are well coated with the flour. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash the cream cheese with a fork, then pour in the cool, melted butter. Use the fork to mix the cream cheese and butter together until you have a mixture that looks like small soft curds.

Add in the egg, milk and vanilla and whisk until well combined. There will still be some tiny lumps of cream cheese.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold until they are just combined.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups in your prepared pan. Top with the reserved raspberries and a good sprinkling of pearl sugar, if using.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden all around the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove the muffins and cool on a wire rack. These can be served warm or room temperature.

Enjoy!

It’s Muffin Monday, the last Monday of the month. Check out all the lovely muffin recipes my friends and I are sharing today. 

• Blackberry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Boston Brown Bread Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon Blueberry Muffins from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins!

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