Angela Lansbury's Walnut Date Bread

I found this recipe online on several different recipe sites. I do not know if this is the Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote fame or not. But I will say that I have baked this bread on three different occasions and unlike Jessica Fletcher friends, no one died. Seriously, who would want Jessica Fletcher for a friend? All her friends or friends of friends end up dead. My suggestion would be to stay the h e double hockey sticks away from that b@%ch!!! And whatever you do....do not take a vacation to Cabot Cove, Maine. Also I could never understand how she could be an English teacher and solve all these murders. When was she in school? Would you want your kid around Jessica Fletcher? She also wrote best selling murder mysteries. I think Jessica was bumping off people just so she could write a book about it. Her next novel could very well be The Killing Breads, or To Kill a Date Loaf, or Mystery on Walnut Date Loaf Lane.Angela Lansbury's Walnut Date Bread

2 T unsalted butter
1 t baking soda
1 C boiling water
1 C chopped and pitted dates
1 C sugar
2/3 C walnuts chopped
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 C flour
2 t vanilla extract

Makes 1 loaf

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place butter, dates, baking soda, and boiling water in a heat proof bowl. Allow to cool. Mix walnuts, sugar, egg yolk, flour, and vanilla in a bowl. Add cooled date mixture. Stir until mixed. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes and then invert loaf pan to release bread. Place on cooling rack tented with aluminum foil until cool. Keep bread wrapped in foil so bread does not dry out.

This bread is very moist, not too sweet, and just plain deleesh!!!

Pyrex Pizza Pan and Meijer Pizza Dough

I was shopping for small individual size loaf pans when I ran across a cool pizza pan. It was on sale for $10.99 so I said 'what the heck'. Then I got home and noticed a rebate form for $3.00 on the label.......yahoo!!!! I bought my pizza pan at Meijer.So back to the pan. It works great. After the pizza is done baking, I slide it right off the pan onto the cutting board. The pan has a wide lip/handle around the edge. This is a handy handle....a little pan pun.....oh boy...it's getting late.

Also while at Meijer I was looking in the frozen food case for Rhodes frozen buns. Located next to the buns were bags of frozen pizza dough. I thought 'what the heck, I'll try some'. It's the best dough and worth every bit of the less than 2 bucks a bag.I let mine un thaw for a day in the refrigerator. About an hour before you want to use it, remove dough from bag and place it in a bowl coated with vegetable oil. Cover with plastic wrap. The directions say that the dough needs to relax. I guess it was stressed out being in the plastic bag and frozen for who knows how long.Dust the pizza pan with corn meal before you spread the dough out to form approximately a 9 inch diameter pizza. Assemble pizza according to your liking and pop in the oven according to the instructions on the bag.
Remove from oven and slide pizza off onto a cutting board to cut. Do not cut while on pan as this will mar the pan's finish.
What I really liked about this dough is that it gets large bubbles. I like bubbles in my crust.

FYI...this pizza had mushrooms, mild yellow peppers, onions, ham, and green olives. I also found that if I put my ingredients on paper towels and soaked up the excess moisture that this really helps with eliminating soggy crust.

Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts & Coconut

I baked three loaves of this very moist and delicious bread. It smells heavenly while baking. I plan on making more during the holidays.Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts & Coconut

3 1/2 C flour
2 C brown sugar (packed)
2/3 c sugar
1 can of pumpkin puree (15oz)
1 C coconut milk
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cinnamon
2/3 C flake coconut
1 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combined dry ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add pumpkin puree and coconut milk. I mixed the coconut milk and pumpkin puree in a separate bowl before I added it to the dry ingredients. The recipe didn't call for this but I found it easier. Once all ingredients are thoroughly mixed fold in coconut and walnuts.

Pour mixture into 2 loaf pans that have been greased.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out dry.

Remove from oven and wrap tightly with tin foil and let sit for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, remove tin foil and invert pan to release bread and place on a cooling rack. Tent tin foil over the bread and allow to cool completely. The bread should easily come out of the pan but be carefully not to burn yourself or damage the bread while removing from the pan.

Enjoy!