Easy Banana Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese Butter

Easy Banana Zucchini Bread

The idea for this banana zucchini bread came from a recent trip to Atlanta. My mom, nana, sister, and I traveled east to do some antique shopping. Thankfully, our hotel had a delightful breakfast spot that served delicious breakfast breads. My favorite was their zucchini bread that came with a whipped cream cheese spread. I immediately knew this was a recipe to recreate at home.

My version of the quick bread is slightly different due to the addition of banana. We have an endless supply of bananas in our house, and they’re rarely yellow and prime for eating. Instead, the green bananas collect dust and the brown ones get even more brown. So I decided to create an outlet for all the dying fruits of the world. Bananas, meet zucchini, your new BFF.

Easy Zucchini Banana Bread by Wood and Spoon blog. My favorite way to use up ripe bananas and summer zucchini is this quick bread! Served with a simple whipped cream cheese butter and loaded with pecans, bananas, cinnamon, and fresh zucchini, this bread is a delicious breakfast or snack treat! find the recipe and how to on thewoodandspoon.com

Making the Bread

Making this banana zucchini bread is pretty simple. In a single bowl, mash together the bananas and oil. Add the sugar, eggs, and extract, stirring all the while. Next comes the dry ingredients which, for this recipe, includes cinnamon; I just love the subtle addition of spice. The shredded zucchini and optional pecans add in last before two loaves bake in the oven.

The cream cheese spread is optional but really yummy. Slightly sugared and more buttercream than buttery, it really take this bread over the top. Make it or don’t, but certainly it’s worth trying once.

I hope you all get to bake this easy banana zucchini bread soon. If you do, let me know what you think! Happy Saturday and happy baking!

If you like this easy banana zucchini bread you should try:

Carrot Pound Cake
Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins
Vanilla Butter Loaf
Banana Bread Cake
Banana Crumb Cake

Easy Banana Zucchini Bread

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This banana zucchini bread is an easy, no-frills recipe that makes for a delicious breakfast or afternoon snack!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 60
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield: 2 Loaves
Category: Quick Bread

Ingredients

For the bread:

1 cup mashed ripe banana (from about 3 medium-sized bananas)
1 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3–1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2–1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1–1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1–1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1–1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

For the cream cheese butter:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temperature
1–1/2 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon, optional

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Instructions

To make the loaves:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray two 8”x4” loaf pans with baking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, stir to combine the banana, oil, sugar, eggs, and extract. Add in the flour cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and fold to combine. Add in the shredded zucchini and pecans, folding just until combined. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool completely.
In the meantime, prepare the cream cheese butter. In a medium-sized bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese and butter, beating until smooth, about 1 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and optional cinnamon, stirring to combine. If you wish to smooth out the mixture a bit, add a tablespoon of water or milk. Otherwise, pop the spread in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it on slices of the zucchini bread.

Blueberry Ice Cream Cake

1 Comment / Cakes, Frozen Desserts

Two of my favorite things combine in today’s recipe to make a killer dessert: fresh summer produce and creamy homemade ice cream. This blueberry ice cream cake is an ode to summer and its weather that has, so far, proven to be straight-up oppressive. With frozen layers of cream cheese ice cream and a fresh blueberry sauce throughout, this cake is certainly seasonally appropriate. Let me tell you all about it.

So why combine blueberries with ice cream cake? With blueberry season well underway, many of us (raises hand!) have found themselves with a surplus of produce. Lucky for us, homemade fruit sauces swirl splendidly into homemade no-churn ice cream. If you’ve never learned how to make no-churn ice cream, fear not! I recently wrote a post all about no-churn ice cream that you can read here. Today’s recipe uses the classic technique with the addition of cream cheese which gives this cake great flavor. That, plus the blueberry sauce and graham cracker crumble, makes for a terrific make-ahead treat!

Making the Blueberry Ice Cream Cake:

To make the ice cream cake, start with the blueberry sauce. Combine fresh or frozen blueberries with sugar and lemon juice on the stovetop. Cook the mixture until it reduces and thickens slightly. In the meantime, begin preparing your ice cream. Softened cream cheese creams together with sweetened condensed milk before folding into whipped cream. Split the ice cream mixture in half. One bowl will remain cream cheese flavored and the other gets a helping of blueberry sauce. Layer the two in a prepared pan with additional blueberry sauce.

This cake also employs the help of a graham cracker “crust” which adds a little bit of salted texture. I was going for a frozen dessert that was reminiscent of a blueberry cheesecake, and I think this fits the bill. Although the crumbs are optional, I think you’ll love them. Don’t skip this step. 🙂

If you get a chance to try this recipe, shoot me a message and let me know what you think! Happy Sunday to you and happy baking!

If you like this blueberry ice cream cake you should try:

Blueberry Mascarpone Ice Cream
Peanut Butter Honey Graham Ice Cream Cake
Blueberry Sour Cream Pie
Black Forest Ice Cream Cake
Blueberry Galette with a Cornmeal Crust
Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

Blueberry Ice Cream Cake

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This blueberry ice cream cake features a no-churn cream cheese ice cream, a salted graham cracker crumble, and a swirled blueberry sauce.

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 25
Total Time: 360
Yield: 6 servings
Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the Blueberry Sauce:

2/3 cup blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the graham cracker crumbs:

½ cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the ice cream:

2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

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Instructions

Making the Blueberry Sauce:

Combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir regularly, mashing the berries with a potato masher or the back of a fork to release the juices. Cook for about 7-8 minutes or until the sauce has reduced to thicken slightly. Set aside to cool.

Making the graham cracker crumbs:

Stir to combine all the ingredients. Set aside.

Making the ice cream cake:

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cold heavy cream on medium-high speed until it thickens to cloud-like consistency. Set aside.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sweetened condensed milk and stir to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream until evenly incorporated. Spoon half of the ice cream into your other used bowl. Set aside.
Line an 8”x4” loaf pan with plastic wrap overhanging on both sides. This will make for easy removal of the ice cream cake from the pan. Spoon 1-1/2 tablespoons of the blueberry sauce into the bottom of the pan and spread out. Spoon the remaining sauce into one of the bowls of ice cream and fold gently to combine. Set aside.
Add the plain cream cheese ice cream into the pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Next, layer in the blueberry ice cream and smooth out. Sprinkle about 2/3 of the graham cracker crumbs on top of the pan next, patting gently to set them slightly into the ice cream cake. Cover the cake’s bottom with a sheet of plastic wrap and place in the fridge to set up, about 6 hours or overnight. Save the remaining graham cracker crumbs for serving.
When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap top and flip the cake out onto a plate. Gently wiggle the pan off the cake and plastic wrap lining, removing the lining once able. Slice the cake and serve with additional fresh blueberries and the remaining graham cracker crumble.

Carrot Pound Cake

3 Comments / Bread, Cakes

Happy Sunday, friends. I hope today’s post and recipe, a simple carrot pound cake, finds you ready for spring and all the newness it brings. In our neck of the woods, it only takes a peek out into our yard to be reminded that fresh starts are everywhere. The grass is brightening to shades of green, the azaleas are opening up in bursts of pink, and little white blossoms are flowering from my two favorite crepe myrtle trees. Everything is coming to life, all over again. It makes me wonder if there’s something new and fresh waiting to revive in me, too.

We put a lot of weight on that first month of the year. January 1st- the time to start over, to resolve for more, and to chalk our agendas full of stuff. New school years take some heat as well, as our kids and young relatives and teacher friends gear up for new faces and blank slates. But there’s something unique about the fresh start that spring offers us, too. As we shed our physical layers, the heft of wool coats, thick scarves, and lined boots, the earth does too. The sky trades its grey for streaks of sunlight and its snow clouds for rain. Everything from the ground up comes to life again. It’s almost as if God has offered all of creation its own kind of blank slate. An opportunity for something new.

–“There’s something unique about the fresh start spring offer us.”

Me? I’m taking it. I want to soak up every bit of life and hope this new season has to offer. Easter is a reminder that even dead things have potential for life, and I, for one, welcome the chance for my own little revival of energy, ideas, joy, and heart. These past few years have left a lot of us a little worse for the wear. I need the hope of a new season. I need the hope that new life is available. And while we make Easter all about baskets and egg hunts and gingham table spreads, the fun and beauty of those things are really only meant to point us to something better. Something real. If you, like me, want more of that for your own life, I hope you’ll use this spring as your opportunity to find it.

Carrot Pound Cake

I made this carrot pound cake for this coming Easter season. My kids are at the perfect age for getting psyched up about holidays, so when it comes time for holiday-themed food, we spare no expense. Since we’ve already celebrated with a carrot bundt cake with brown butter glaze, carrot cake cheesecake, and even the carrot-adjacent hummingbird layer cake, I thought it was time to offer something even more simple: a carrot pound cake that can double as breakfast, snack, or dessert and can be made in less than an hour. Let me tell you how to make it.

How to Make Carrot Pound Cake

To make this carrot pound cake, we start with the fats and sugar. First, butter, oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar come together in a mixing bowl before adding eggs and vanilla extract. Next, we add the dry ingredients: flour, leavening, salt and spice. I opted for cinnamon and ginger, because my tastebuds don’t prefer nutmeg and cloves, but you could certainly add an 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of those as well if you’d like. Once combined, stir in freshly grated carrots (truly, the only annoying part of this recipe) and some nuts (I opted for pecans!), if desired. A 45-minute bake makes one tender and moist loaf of carrot pound cake that is as fragrant as it is delicious.

I opted to add a cream cheese frosting to this carrot pound cake, but you can do without if you’d like. The loaf is incredibly delicious all on its own, but I love the fancy flair of the piped frosting swirls. Either way, this carrot pound cake is a new must-make for my family, and I think you’ll enjoy it too. I hope you get a chance to enjoy this recipe in the coming weeks, and I hope those weeks find you simultaneously enjoying something new. Happy Sunday and Happy Baking!

If you like this carrot pound cake you should try:

Carrot Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Glaze
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Hummingbird Layer Cake
Morning Glory Muffins
Whole-Wheat Carrot Muffins

Carrot Pound Cake

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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

This carrot pound cake is a simple and moist loaf cake scented with spice and topped with a fluffy cream cheese buttercream!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 8 Servings (1 Loaf)
Category: Cake

Ingredients

For the loaf:

¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1–1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1–1/3 cup freshly peeled and grated carrots
½ cup chopped pecans, walnuts if you’d prefer

For the frosting:

¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 cups powdered sugar

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Instructions

To prepare the loaf:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease and 8×4” loaf pan and line the bottom (if desired) with a trimmed piece of parchment paper for easy removal. Set aside.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing gently at each addition, followed by the vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger, stirring only until combined. Add the carrots and nuts and fold until integrated. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the loaf in the oven about 45-47 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes before inverting the pan on a cooling rack to allow to cool completely. If desired, top with frosting.

To prepare the frosting:

Cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed in a medium-sized mixing bowl until smooth. Add the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar, stirring on low until combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Pipe or spread on the cake as desired. I used a 1M piping tip to pipe the design shown.

Red Velvet Madeleines

4 Comments / Confections and Candies, Cookies

Happy Sunday to you all from the passenger seat of my car. My husband and I are currently driving our kids home from a short weekend at Walt Disney World. Even though my feet and legs are exhausted, my heart is full on magic and celebration. I grew up in Orlando, FL, so heading to Disney always feels a little like going home. I am thinking a post on my Disney favorites might make its way to this site in the future(?) For now I’ll move on to today’s main event: red velvet madeleines.

Most people fall into one of two camps: those who love Valentine’s Day and those that think it’s the worst. Although Hallmark cards and boxes of chocolates that are mostly terrible offer zero appeal to me, I’ve never been one to turn down a holiday. I, for one, LOVE Valentine’s Day and any excuse to make brightly colored treats to celebrate the occasion. These red velvet madeleines are just the ticket: soft, cocoa-scented treats, a sweetened cream cheese glaze, and just enough sprinkles and food coloring to honor the festivities. If you, like me, have been looking for a recipe to share with the people you love, let me tell you how to make these red velvet madeleines!

How to Make Them

French madeleines are not nearly as difficult to make as the internet would lead you to believe. First, we start with eggs and sugar. Mix the two together until this mixture becomes frothy and pale in color. Gently stir in the flour and leavening, followed by the buttermilk (for tang!), vanilla, and melted butter. Oh, and don’t forget the food coloring– these red velvet madeleines owe their hue to red food dye, and it is an absolute must for making these super Valentine’s Day appropriate. Allow the batter to rest and chill in the fridge for a bit while the oven gets hot. The combination of chilled batter and a hot oven will ensure that your madeleines get a nice little hump on the top!

After a brief, 10-minute bake in a madeleine pan, the red velvet madeleines are cooled and dipped in a simple glaze made from cream cheese, melted butter, and powdered sugar. I added white nonpareils for a little extra touch of special, but they’re totally optional! Feel free to add any of your favorite sprinkles or colored sugars to make these red velvet madeleines even more festive.

Share these red velvet madeleines with someone you love this week, and let me know what you think! Happy Sunday and Happy Baking, y’all!

If you like these red velvet madeleines, you should try:

Brown Butter Bourbon Madeleines with Dark Chocolate ganache and Pecans
Red Velvet Cake
Chocolate Truffles
Cookie Dough Truffles

Red Velvet Madeleines

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

These red velvet madeleines are delicious and festive treats with a cream cheese glaze and a fabulous red hue!

Author: Kate Wood

Ingredients

For the madeleines:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, plus an additional tablespoon for greasing the pan
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1–1/2 teaspoons red food coloring

For the glaze:

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1–1/2 cups powdered sugar
1–1/2 tablespoons milk

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Instructions

To prepare the madeleines:

Melt the butter over low heat on the stove until melted but not bubbling. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine the eggs and sugar and whisk or whip until it becomes frothy and slightly pale.
With the mixer on low, stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the buttermilk, vanilla extract, red food coloring, and melted butter, stirring just until the mixture comes together. Set aside the batter in the fridge to chill briefly, about 30 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once you’re ready to bake your madeleines, gently melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and use a basting brush to generously grease a madeleine pan. Spoon 1 tablespoon-sized pours of batter into each mold and bake in the oven about 10 minutes, or until the madeleines have puffed (you’ll see a big hump in the center!) and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Immediately invert your pan onto a cooling rack and rap the pan gently to get the madeleines to release. Once cooled, prepare your glaze.

To prepare the glaze:

In a medium bowl, stir to combine the cream cheese and butter, just until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. For a thin glaze, gently heat in the microwave about 20 seconds and dip each Madeleine in the glaze as desired. Decorate with sprinkles if desired and serve!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins

3 Comments / Uncategorized

We’re a week or so into this summer business, and I’m starting to see what our pace will look like over the coming weeks. Having a house full of kiddos and little to no agenda at hand presents both blessings and challenges: How will we fill our days? How do we keep everyone kind and engaged? How do I balance working from home and being present? Last year, during the hardest moths of the pandemic, I learned quickly how tricky it can be to teeter-totter work and playtime, and this summer is proving to be no different. Work from home moms: how do you do it!?

My most helpful back-pocket tactics so far has been to 1.) have a few small goals planned for each day and 2.) to stretch out every fun activity as much as I can. Case-in-point: these breakfast treats. Instead of pouring another bowl of cereal or popping a slice of toast in the toaster, we’ve been taking time for slower breakfasts, allowing the kids to get their hands dirty and help whenever possible. Muffins are a favorite in our home and these blueberry ones filled with fresh summer produce and a swirl of sweetened cream cheese filling are absolutely delightful. They’re just the kind of thing that make a random summer weekday morning feel extra special.

Making the Muffins

Start with the batter. Softened butter and two kinds of sugar are creamed together until smooth. Next comes the liquid ingredients: eggs, vanilla, sour cream and milk. Once combined, the dry ingredients follow and the batter is set aside. The filling is a simple mixture of cream cheese, sugar, and egg yolk. Once combined, it’s dolloped into the prepared baking tin with the batter and the blueberries and baked until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If you don’t love cream cheese, you can opt out of the filling on these blueberry cream cheese muffins, or feel free to check out my whole wheat blueberry muffins! Both ways are hugely delicious and worth the squeeze in the kitchen. In the meantime, I hope you have an awesome weekend complete with a killer breakfast treat like these little babies! Happy Friday and Happy Baking!

If you like these blueberry cream cheese muffins you should try:

Blueberry Brioche
Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry Cornbread
Chamomile Blueberry Scone
Blueberry Babka

Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins

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These blueberry cream cheese muffins feature ripe summer fruit and a tangy swirl of cream cheese filling!

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 14
Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

For the muffins:

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2–1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1–1/2 cups fresh blueberries (see notes)

For the cream cheese filling:

4 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg yolk

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12-compartment muffin tin with liners (or lightly grease if you plan to use no liners).
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until well-combined, about one minute. Add in the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and milk and stir to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt on low, just until combined. Fold in the blueberries
Use a medium cookie scoop to fill the muffin tins about 1/3 of the way full (see notes). Spoon a teaspoon-sized dollop of the cream cheese on top. Use the cookie scoop to spoon another dollop of muffin batter on top of the cream cheese and swirl another teaspoon of the filling on top. Bake in the preheated oven about 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted just barely comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin briefly before removing and cooling on a rack.

Notes

You can substitute frozen blueberries here but it will chill the batter and make it difficult to stir. Just keep that in mind.
I like to use barely wet fingertips to pat the dollops of batter into the bottom of the pan so the cream cheese filling won’t seep out the sides. Flatten the first part of batter and make a divit. Add the cream cheese and continue assembling.

Cranberry Kolaches

14 Comments / Breakfast

People ask me all the time if I ever have any kitchen failures. Let’s just LOL at that one. As with anything, particularly a craft that is heavily dependent on time, temperature, ingredients, skill, measurements, and, oh yeah, SCIENCE, baking is one of those things that just comes with a mixed bag of results. Some recipes are a win, an instant classic, while others require a million tries. Anytime I step into the kitchen, I’m expecting (read: hoping and praying for) great results, but there’s absolutely zero guarantees. Baking mishaps are a real thing.

Cranberry Kolaches

I set out to make these cranberry kolaches after seeing seeing them freckled about the internet over the past few months. For some time, it seemed as if these European-born pastries were on their way to stardom, and I was bound and determined to wrangle a recipe I could be proud to share on this website. It couldn’t be that hard, right? After all, I’ve made babka! Brioche! The 17-try swirl bread! Cranberry kolaches were bound to be a walk in the park, right?

Wrong. After months of cranking out pies and cakes and cookies, my yeasted dough know-how was rusty. I had to revisit this recipe a number of times before I felt like I could make them without the slightest bit of anxiety or kitchen fury, but finally, I landed on something that is really quite delicious. These cranberry kolaches are sweet and tender goodies for the morning hour, and because I logged the man hours on the backend, you get to try these pastries with confidence! Let’s talk about how to make them.

Making the Kolaches

The dough for these cranberry kolaches is adapted from my favorite cinnamon bread. Sweet and rich from the addition of sugar, butter, and egg, the dough comes together with milk, activated yeast, and loads of flour. After some time spent rising, small rounds of dough are pinched down and filled with your choice of fillings. First, a fresh cranberry option, tart and only barely sweet, comes together on the stovetop with cinnamon and barely-burst berries. Second, a cream cheese and egg-based filling that is subtle in flavor but seriously delish. I personally prefer a combination of the two, but you can bake and fill with whichever you prefer. Finally, to finish off the cranberry kolaches, we sprinkle on a simple crumb made from flour and granulated sugar. The mixture bakes on the pastries for an extra hint of sweet and a bit of texture. They’re divine!

As with any of the refined baked good I opt to make, these cranberry kolaches are made with Kerrygold butter. The dough’s intense richness is 100% thanks to the helping of butter found throughout it, and I am incredibly pleased by how much buttery flavor comes through in the finished product. Kerrygold is aways a favorite choice of mine and this recipe is no exception. I hope you’ll give it a try and pick some up for this recipe next time you visit the store!

If you give these cranberry kolaches a try let me know what you think! Many thanks to Kerrygold for sponsoring this post and many thanks to you all for supporting brands that make Wood and Spoon possible. Happy baking!

If you like this cranberry kolaches you should try:

Pumpkin Danishes

Breakfast Danish

Brown Sugar Danishes

Cranberry Pear Mini Pop-Tarts

Poached Pear Trifles

Cranberry Kolaches

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

These cranberry and cream cheese kolaches are a sweet yeast dough pastry filled with cranberry jam or cream cheese and sprinkled with a crumb topping.

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 45
Cook Time: 25
Total Time: 240
Yield: 24
Category: Pastry

Ingredients

For the dough:

3/4 cup warm milk (not hot or cold)
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/4 cups (about 1 lb) all-purpose flour, with more for flouring surfaces
2 eggs
1 egg yolk, white reserved
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the cranberry filling (will fill approximately 12 kolaches):

1–1/2 cups cranberries
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

For the cream cheese filling (Will fill approximately 16 kolaches):

4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
½ of a lightly beaten egg, the other half reserved.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the streusel:

½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons melted butter

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Instructions

To prepare the dough:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Evenly sprinkle the yeast over top of the milk and allow the yeast to activate, about 5 minutes. The mixture should froth and foam slightly. You can stir it gently to make sure all the yeast has been moistened, but if the yeast does not foam, dump it out and start over. Once yeast has been activated, beat 1/2 cup of the flour in to the milk mixture using the paddle attachment. Once combined, add the remaining sugar, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, and salt, and beat the mixture on medium speed until combined. On low speed, add the remainder of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Once evenly combined, increase the speed to medium (I use speed number 4 on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer) and add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then continue to beat on medium speed for an additional 4 minutes. The dough will be quite moist and sticky, and will hold together in long strands when you attempt to scoop it from the bowl.
Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough inside, covering it tightly with a piece of plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest until it has approximately doubled in size, about 1-1/2-2 hours. In the meantime, prepare the fillings.

To prepare the cranberry filling:

All of the ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium low heat. Cook, stirring and squishing the cranberries regularly, until the mixture is thickened and bubbling, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

To prepare the cream cheese filling:

Use an electric mixer to combine all of the ingredients. Set aside until ready to use.

To prepare the streusel:

Combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until combined and sandy in texture. Set aside until ready to use.

To prepare the kolaches:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the risen dough to 1/2 “ thick. Use a 2” cutter to trim out rounds of dough. Lay them out on parchment-lined baking sheets and cover with a piece of plastic wrap or a tea towel. Set aside to allow the dough rounds to rise for approximately 60 minutes or until fluffy. When risen, use your thumb or a floured bottom of a tablespoon-sized measuring spoon to lightly until rounds into the center of the dough. You should leave about ¼-1/2” border around the edge of each round. Whisk the remaining half of the beaten egg with 1 teaspoon of water and use a pastry brush to lightly brush a thin layer of the mixture on top of each pastry. Fill the hole of each kolache with your filling of choice. Approximately half of them will be cream cheese and half will be cranberry. Sprinkle the undented edges of the pastries with the streusel generously. Bake in the preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes or until the pastries are golden and puffed. Remove from oven to cool slightly prior to consuming.

Notes

The cranberry filling is rather tart. You can add 1-2 tablespoons of extra sugar to sweeten it after cooking, if desired.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

71 Comments / Breakfast

IT’S MOVING WEEK! I can’t believe it’s finally here. After 15 months of construction, 2 years of architectural planning, and 5-1/2 years of limbo living in our rental house, we will finally get to move into our dream house this Friday. I’m beyond excited. I’ve got those night before Christmas/ tomorrow’s my birthday/ going to a surprise party kind of jitters. Basically we’re freaking out with joy over here, okay?

Our dishes and bakeware and utensils are all packed, so we’ve been living off of carry-out and protein bars this past week. I just want to simplify everything else in life so that this move, the holidays, EVERYTHING won’t feel too big of overwhelming. Maybe a week spent eating out of greasy paper bags isn’t the best way to do it, but we’re all doing our best over here. In the meantime, I’ve started dreaming about those first few bakes in my brand spankin’ new kitchen, starting with today’s recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls. I’ve held back on this recipe for a while, because it required lots of testing to determine when and how this recipe was best prepared. Finally, with a little patience and some shopping made simple with my friends at Brandless, I landed a recipe I’m really pleased with.

Brandless is an online retailer that offer quality products at fair prices. Offering everything from gift wrap to coconut oil to dinnerware, Brandless offers hundreds of everyday essentials and better-for-you products at incredibly affordable prices. Living in a rural area often limits my access to the items I need in my home and kitchen, and with Brandless I can receive those products straight to my front door in no time. Sign me up for anything that prevents me from making one more trek to the grocery store.

To prep for the overnight cinnamon rolls, I ordered Brandless’ All-Purpose Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Light Brown Sugar, Organic Ground Cinnamon, and Organic Cane Sugar, as well as the cute spice jars and bowl scrapers you see in the photos. With the addition of a few everyday refrigerated items, the rolls were ready for making. This is a sweet yeasted dough that is rolled out and slathered with butter, brown sugar, and heaps of cinnamon. Tight little spirals of dough are allowed to rest in a baking dish over night and are then baked in a hot oven the next morning. The result is an incredibly tender, fluffy roll loaded with flavor and a generous slathering of cream cheese icing. Yes, it’s as beyond as it sounds.

To make the overnight cinnamon rolls we start with the dough. Yeast is sprinkled to dissolve over a mixture of warm milk and water. Eggs, melted butter, and brown sugar come next before the bread flour and all-purpose flour are stirred in with some salt. The dough is kneaded for several minutes until it becomes smooth and slightly tacky. Allow the ball of dough for your overnight cinnamon rolls to rest in a covered bowl on the counter.

Once doubled in size, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover the dough with melted butter and sprinkle on a generous amount of brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll the dough tightly from end to end and then slice it into 1-1/2″ sections to spread out on a lightly greased pan. Cover the pan and place it in the fridge overnight.

The following morning when you’re ready to enjoy your overnight cinnamon rolls, remove the pan from the fridge and preheat the oven. I like to stick my pan right next to the hot oven while it preheats so that it can shed some of its overnight chill. If you’d like your rolls to brown a little extra in the oven you can brush them with a water or milk. Bake in the oven until the edges have just started to bronze and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees F. A thermometer really helps here because overdone rolls are usually drier and more dense rolls too. Ew.

Whip up the icing with a little cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. You can barely warm the icing for a thin, pourable glaze, or you can leave it thick to spread directly on top of the overnight cinnamon rolls. Your choice. Either way, you’re going to love them.

Give these overnight cinnamon rolls a try and be sure to check out all of the goodies on Brandless.com. I’m so pleased to have found a way to simplify shopping, especially this time of year, and I think you’ll agree if you give it a shot. Whip up a batch of these for Christmas morning and let me know what you think. Happy Wednesday and Happy Baking!

This post is sponsored by Brandless. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that my Wood & Spoon possible!

If you like these overnight cinnamon rolls you should try:

Bananas Foster Cinnamon Rolls

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls

Chocolate Sweet Rolls

Orange Cardamom Rolls

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 12 reviews

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 480
Yield: 14
Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 cup (240 gm) milk, lukewarm
¼ cup (60 gm) water, lukewarm
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
6 tablespoons (85 gm)unsalted butter, melted but not too hot
1 large egg plus 2 egg yolks
1/4 cup (50 gm) brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 gm) sugar
2–3/4 cups (385 gm) all-purpose flour
1–1/2 cups (210 gm) bread flour
½ teaspoon salt

For the filling:

5 tablespoons (70 gm) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, if desired
¾ cup (150 gm) brown sugar

For the frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup (55 gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (115 gm) powdered sugar
2+ tablespoons of milk

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Instructions

To prepare the dough:

In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine the milk and water and sprinkle the yeast over top of it. Allow the yeast to dissolve, about 5 minutes. Stir in the butter, egg, egg yolks, and brown sugar, and sugar until smooth. In a small bowl, combine the flour, bread flour, and salt. Dump about half of the dry ingredients into the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Pour in the remaining dry ingredients and knead in the bowl using the dough hook attachment until smooth and slightly tacky, about 7 minutes. If you notice your dough isn’t pulling away from the sides of the bowl or it’s too wet, add flour 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a little dough “tornado” around the dough hook. Once done kneading, place the dough into a large lightly greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap to double in size, about 1-1/2 – 2 hours.
Once the dough has risen, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into a large rectangle about 11”x21” in size. Pour the melted butter and spread it out over top. Combine the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over the buttered dough. Starting with one of the long ends, tightly roll the dough from end to end and pinch the edges together to seal. Cut the dough into 1-1/2” sections and lay them out 2” apart in a lightly greased baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
In the morning, remove the rolls from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Keep the baking dish close to the oven while it preheats to help the rolls come to room temp. Once preheated, bake in the oven for about 22-25 minutes or until the edges are barely golden and the internal temp is 190 degrees. Remove from the oven and prepare your frosting.

To prepare the frosting:

Cream the cream cheese and butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and milk and beat to combine. Add additional milk to thin out the frosting or more powdered sugar to thicken it. You can also gently warm the frosting to pour over the rolls as a glaze. Cinnamon rolls are best enjoyed warm.

Poached Pear Trifles

Leave a Comment / Confections and Candies

I’m slowly learning that parenting is approximately 20% trickery. Whether it be with potty training, getting dressed for school, or even coercing them into (or out of) the bath, I often find myself leaning on trickery to get my kids to do what I want them to do. Awesome parenting, right?

Tricking Your Kids to Eat

Take for instance eating new foods. The current battle royale in our home is convincing my kids that they will like a food they’ve never tried before. Now don’t be fooled into thinking this issue lies specifically with fruits, vegetable, or other decidedly “healthy” foods. No, it seems that when my children come under the notion that they will not like a food they will simply refuse to eat it, often with little reason at all. This morning, Aimee decided she didn’t want bagels with cream cheese and jam. Yes, you read right- bagels. She took one look at it and had a near meltdown. Did I know she would like the bagel? Yes. Was I sure it would take only one bite for her to fall in love with those chewy rounds of bread? For sure. But you try convincing a strong-willed 4-year-old of that. Impossible.

In some respect, I understand. I have tricked them into eating out of the ordinary dishes before. There was the sushi incident of 2015 and that one time I tried to pass off spaghetti squash as actual noodles. No amount of butter can turn cauliflower into real mashed potatoes, and I know my kids don’t believe me when I tell them their plain Greek yogurt is the same thing their friends eat out of plastic tubes at school. So in a way, experience has taught them they can’t take me at my word. Again, awesome parenting, right?

If we’re being completely transparent, there’s a lot of foods I simply won’t spring for either. The best example I can come up with right now is when people try to pass off non-dessert items as dessert. Like, a cheese plate? Not dessert. Diet wafers? I’d rather not. When I indulge in dessert I really want it to satisfy my sweet tooth in a special and indulgent way, so even things like fruit, for me, don’t work as a dessert. That is, until these poached pear trifles.

Poached Pear Trifles

A pear, on it’s own, wouldn’t really send me over the edge into dessert bliss. But what if that pear had been poached in cinnamon and red wine? What if they were layered with perfect, buttery French madeleines and a creamy whipped filling? What if the whole thing was topped with sugary-spiced nuts? TOTALLY DESSERT.

Donsuemor

I’m sharing today’s recipe for these poached pear trifled with Donsuemor, the makers of the most delicious French madeleines. Made with the very best ingredients and no preservatives or artificial coloring, Donsuemor’s madeleines are dessert all on their own but extra-special when layered in a festive holiday dish like this. Although I ordered online, you can pick these little guys up at Costco and the rest of your desserts are history! You can use them in place of lady fingers in tiramisu, serve them alongside bowls of homemade ice cream, or even dip them in melted chocolate and crushed candies for a semi-homemade treat. I love from-scratch desserts as much as the next person, but in a treat like these poached pear trifles, it’s worth relying on a trustworthy brand to do some legwork for you.

Making the Trifles

To make these poached pear trifles we start with the pears. Peeled and quartered pears are cooked in a red wine, sugar, and cinnamon mixture until the pears are soft to a fork. Throw in a handful of fresh cranberries to cook until soft and then remove the fruit to cool. Let the wine mixture continue to cook until slightly reduced and thickened. In the meantime you can prep the filling! I’ve made this filling both with mascarpone and cream cheese, so you can use whichever you prefer. Mascarpone cheese definitely changes the texture of the filling in a way that I didn’t prefer as much as the cream cheese, but you can make that choice for yourself. Simply whip with heavy cream until the mixture is lightly fluffed. Orange zest is added for just a smidge of flavor too.

Both the pears and the cream can be made slightly in advance and layered in with the madeleines just before serving. Add some wine syrup to the bottom of a glass with some of the fruit, top with a madeleine and cream, and then repeat the process again. I finished the dish off with fresh pomegranate and candied nuts, but this is entirely optional. These poached pear trifles just scream FANCY and are perfect for this holiday time of year. I hope you’ll give them a try in the coming weeks and check out Donsuemor’s site for more info on these yummy little bites.

Wish me luck in the “tricking your toddler” department. So far I’m losing that battle, but I think there’s still plenty of hope. Happy Friday to you all and happy baking!

This post is sponsored by Donsuemor. Thank you for supporting brands that make Wood and Spoon possible.

If you like these poached pear trifles you should check out:

Cookie Butter Pretzel Mousse

Peppermint Bark Icebox Cake

Strawberry Pretzel Tart

Strawberry Shortcakes

Poached Pear Trifles

Print Recipe

These poached pear trifles feature red-wine soaked fruit, a fluffy and tangy whipped filling, and buttery homemade madeleines. Adapt the recipe to make anywhere from 4 to 8 servings!

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 60
Total Time: 90
Yield: 8

Ingredients

For the pears:

1 bottle mild red wine (I used a red table blend)
¾ cup sugar
2–1/2 pounds of pears (I used Barletts), peeled, cored, and quartered
1 cinnamon stick
¾ cup fresh cranberries (optional)

For the cream:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla

Additional items:

6 French Madeleines (I use Donsuemor)
½ cup pomegranate seeds
Candied walnuts, pecans, or almonds, if desired

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Instructions

To prepare the pears:

Combine the wine and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat, and, while stirring, allow the sugar to dissolve into the wine. Once dissolved, add the pears and cinnamon stick and simmer over medium-low heat for 25-30 minutes until soft to a fork. Time will differ depending on the ripeness of your fruit. Once done, carefully remove the fruit and continue cooking the wine to reduce it another 30 minutes. If you wish to use cranberries, add them in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. The berries will burst and lose their shape the longer they cook, so I recommend only cooking up to 10 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool if you’re making in advance, otherwise allow it to cool to taste.

To prepare the cream:

Cream the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl until combined. Add the heavy whipping cream and beat on medium speed until thick enough to hold its shape. Add in the orange zest and vanilla and mix just to combine. Set aside in fridge until you’re ready to assemble your trifles.

To assemble the trifles:

Determine if you’d like to make 8 smaller (Weck Jar Sized) or 4 larger (as in the glasses shown here) trifles. If your pear mixture has been chilled, feel free to rewarm to a comfortable temperature briefly. Cut the pears into large chunks if you wish the trifles to be eaten easily with a spoon and stir them in with the cranberries and wine. Spoon a small layer of this mixture into the bottom of each dish and dollop a layer of cream on top of that. Pinch off a few pieces of madeleine to place on top of the cream and repeat the layering of the wine and pears with the cream once more. Finish each trifle with a half of a madeleine coming out of the trifle and garnish with pomegranate seeds, nuts, and additional cranberries and pears, if desired. Serve immediately. If you wish to make these ahead you can serve them cold.

Notes

You can use mascarpone cheese in place of the cream cheese although the texture will change.

Pumpkin Danishes

6 Comments / Breakfast, Confections and Candies

So you might recall that last weekend was my birthday. We spent Friday and Saturday in Birmingham with friends and family, but the actual day-of was rather standard procedure. Leading up to the day of, Aimee became fixated on preparing me breakfast in bed, and much to her delight, Brett was more than willing to help facilitate.

I wish I had a picture of her face as she tiptoed into my room that morning. Aimee had filled her tiny plastic tea party tray with miniature cups of orange juice and unicorn cereal, Mickey Mouse waffles and French toast sticks. There were cinnamon rolls and fresh coffee, even a couple of cards and those neon colored daisies that they sell at the grocery store. The whole operation just screamed “ AIMEE DID THIS,” and honestly it was one of the sweetest moments of my motherhood thus far.

In that moment it was clear that even from a young age humans experience innate joy from celebrating the people they love. Aimee, my four year old who can’t even reach the toaster, took such delight in having a hand in preparing something that she thought would be so special to me. She celebrated me how she would have wanted to be celebrated, and there’s so much feeling and hormonal heart swelling attached to that memory that I could cry just thinking about it. The breakfast itself was special, yes, but it was really nothing more than frozen waffles. The fun in it all for her was being able to share in something that felt out of the ordinary and celebratory. Even my four year old has figured out that it’s good to celebrate the people you love.

Pumpkin Danishes

I adore these pumpkin danishes. They’re delicious, equal parts buttery and sweet, but they’re definitely not a run-of-the-mill breakfast food. Danishes take time and tons of intentionality. They’re not something you just whip up on a whim, and honestly, that’s kinda what I like about them. I appreciate how special they feel. I love that they’ve got more gusto than a breakfast bar or bowl of cereal. These pumpkin danishes are a dish that says, “Hey! I love you! Let’s celebrate.”

If you’ve hung out around this block long enough, you know about the danishes we’ve done in the past. The dough take time and patience, but once you understand the concept of folding and layering the dough, you’re almost all of the way there. For these pumpkin danishes, we utilize those same dough-making methods and then cut, fold, and fill them to create a cute little 3 bite treat. The pastry is 90% of the work and the filling is really simple, but I also threw in a brown butter glaze that’s really unnecessary. We’re just going all-out over here, okay?

Making the Danishes

The trickiest part of these pumpkin danishes is the shaping of the pastry. In the oven, the pastry will want to unfold and leave an angled corner hanging out on the edge of the danish. Instead, be sure to keep your dough cold and to press the pastry in tight when you shape them. Because the pumpkin filling has egg in it, it does tend to “grow” in the oven. To combat this, I took a cue from Yossy Arefi and doubled filled each one. I filled a little, baked the pastry, filled a little more, and did a final bake. Kinda tedious and really only necessary from an aesthetic standpoint, so if you don’t mind messy pastries you can skip this step.

I hope you find a reason to celebrate with these pumpkin danishes ASAP. There’s lots of happy to tap into around us if we just take the time to recognize and love on it. Happy Thursday and happy baking!

If you like these pumpkin danishes you should check out:

Brown Sugar Danishes

Braided Breakfast Danish

Swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Tarts

Pumpkin Pecan Tart

Pecan Apple Dutch Baby

Pumpkin Danishes

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

These pumpkin danishes include a buttery pastry dough and a pumpkin spice filling. There’s an optional brown butter glaze if you’re feeling super fancy.

Author: Kate Wood
Prep Time: 240
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Yield: 12
Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

For the dough (Adapted from Samantha Seneviratne:

1 ½ cups bread flour, plus more for rolling dough
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
14 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg
¼ cup cold whole milk

For the filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cold
½ cup canned pumpkin puree
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 egg, divided
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of salt

For the brown butter glaze (optional):

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

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Instructions

To prepare the dough:

Combine the flour, granulated sugar, yeast and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to combine until butter is distributed in pea-sized pieces throughout the flour. Put the flour mixture in a medium bowl.
In a separate, small bowl, whisk the egg and milk with 2 tablespoons of water. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold the mixture until the liquid is evenly distributed, being careful to not overwork the dough. Dump the contents of the bowl out on to a lightly floured surface and pat into a rectangle. Chill for at least 3 hours, and up to 2 days.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to an 8-by-15-inch rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the rolling and folding process. Dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking, rotate, roll, and fold a final time, ending with a small, rectangular piece of dough. Wrap the dough in Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Repeat the entire rolling and folding process one more time. You will have rolled and folded the dough six times. If the dough becomes loose or tacky, place in the fridge to rest for a bit. Wrap the dough and place in the fridge for 2 hours or up to overnight.
To prepare the danishes:
In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar, and sugar on medium speed just until smooth. Break the egg yolk and spoon most of it into the mixture, leaving some behind in a small bowl. Add the pumpkin pie spice and salt to the mixture and stir to combine. Pour the filling into a piping bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off. If your filling is loose, place it in the fridge while you prep your pastry.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a roughly 10”x13” rectangle. Trim ¼” off of each side to straighten edges and cut the dough into 12 equal sized squares (I usually make 3 rows of 4 squares.) Beat the remainder of the egg and brush a dab of it on the four corners of each square of dough. Fold each corner in to the center and press down firmly (but without pushing your finger through the dough!) Transfer each one to a parchment lined sheet pan and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap to rise and puff for about an hour or so. The dough should barely start to spring back when you touch it when it’s ready.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If the centers of your pastries have risen a ton you can push down on the centers again. Brush the pastries with the thin layer of the reserved egg. Pipe ½ tablespoon of filling in the center of each one, reserving the additional filling. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes and then decrease the temp to 375. You’ll notice that the pastries will have risen quite a bit and likely displaced a lot of the filling- don’t worry. We anticipated this. Quickly and carefully remove the pan from the oven and pipe an additional ½ tablespoon of filling on top. You can use the back of a spoon to move it around to cover the old filing a bit if you’d like. Continue baking at 375 for an additional 8-10 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove from oven to cool.

To prepare the glaze (optional):

Cook the butter over medium heat on the stove until melted. Continue cooking, stirring all the while, until the butter has begun to brown and smells nutty. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the powdered sugar and milk. Allow it to cool to drizzle consistency before glazing the pastries.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Biscuits

46 Comments / Breakfast

If you’re anything like me, Mondays can hit you like a freight train. I think we need an excuse to sit quietly, zone out, and have a few moments of rest before we dive into a week of hustle and bustle. To keep your eyes and palate pleased, I’ve rounded up a list of things to read, watch, and savor on this Monday morning. Oh, and there’s cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits too. You’re welcome. 🙂

What to Read

Food52 released their fall list of must-read books. In a shocking turn of events, there’s not a single cookbook on the round-up! Check out the list of favorites on their site here.

What to Watch

Jimmy Fallon is the late-night show host of my dreams. I love his willingness to be silly and totally off-the-wall. His newest video, a musical photobomb with Justin Bieber, made me laugh out loud and is straight up awesome. Watch your heart out here.

What to Cook

Chrissy Tieghan’s new cookbook came out this week, and Bon Appetit shared a few favorites from the release. There’s a recipe for Thai soy-garlic fried ribs (yes, it’s a thing) looks absolutely beyond. Literally salivating over here. Check out the recipe here.

What to Wear

I’m counting down the days till it’s cool enough to break out jeans and fall clothing. This getup from Madewell is pretty much destined to be my autumnal uniform.

What to Master

I love this article from Food & Wine about how to nail a recipe every time. I frequently have people tell me that they can’t cook, and I’m a firm believer that if you can follow directions on a well-written recipe you can do anything.

What to Bake

As promised, here are the cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits. These are fluffy, Southern-style biscuits with loads of tang and chocolatey goodness to make your breakfasts fab. These morning treats were inspired by the beautiful Carrie Morey of Callie’s Charleston Biscuits . I met Carrie at last year’s Saveur Blog Awards, and I so admire how she has championed her town, baking, and Southern culture with her hugely successful brand. The secret to her biscuits is a healthy mixture of cream cheese and butter, a winning combination that offers loads of flavor and fluff.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Biscuits

These cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits are a nod to Carrie. Simple to make, even easier to consume, these morning bites are a new favorite in my house. When we have a batch in our house, Aimee asks for them for breakfast AND dessert, clearly a girl after my own heart.

To make these cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits, we start by combining the dry ingredients. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt are tossed together before we cut in the cream cheese and ice cold butter. Use the backs of two forks or a pastry cutter and integrate the fat until pea-sized clumps exist throughout. Add the chocolate chips and then stir in the buttermilk until a shaggy dough comes together.

A Few Pointers:

For sky-high biscuits, make sure your ingredients are really cold and that the butter is incorporated throughout. I also recommend using a well-floured biscuit cutter (I use these!) to keep the cuts on the perimeter of your biscuit clean. Push straight down with the cutter and then put your tray of goodies into a piping hot oven. The heat mixed with the cold ingredients will cause everything to melt and expand all at once!

To finish off these cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits, I like to top them with a simple cream cheese glaze. You can skip this step if you’d prefer, but I like to be a little over-the-top here. Drizzle the glaze on hot biscuits and then serve immediately. Just be sure you have your coffee ready.

I hope this recipe will get your week off to a delicious start. Have a great week and happy baking, y’all!

If you like these cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits you should try:

Peaches and Cream Biscuits

Honey Nut Biscuits

Maple Oatmeal Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwiches

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Print Recipe

★★★★★

4.5 from 10 reviews

These cream cheese chocolate chip biscuits are fluffy, tangy morning treats full of chocolate morsels and topped with a cream cheese glaze. Read more about making layered biscuits here!

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 12
Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

For the biscuits:

2 cups (280 gm) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup (55 gm) unsalted butter, cold, plus 2 tablespoons melted
½ cup (85 gm) mini chocolate chips
¾ cup (180 gm) cold buttermilk

For the topping:

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup (115 gm) powdered sugar
1–2 tablespoons milk

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Instructions

To make the biscuits:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use the back of a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the cream cheese and butter until large, pea-sized clumps exist throughout. Stir in the chocolate chips and then add the buttermilk, stirring to combine. Dump the shaggy dough out onto a floured surface and used floured hands to gently pat the dough out into a 1” rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter and then pat it out again into 1” thickness. Use a 2” biscuit cutter to cut out rounds of dough. Gently combine the scraps and then pat out that mixture to 1” thick again. Cut out additional rounds. Place the dough rounds 2″ apart onto a baking sheet and brush the tops with the melted butter. Place the pan in the oven, reduce the heat to 400, and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until the tops are puffed and golden. You may need to rotate the pan towards the end of baking if one size is darkening faster than the other. Allow the biscuits to cool briefly while you prepare the topping.
To prepare the topping:
Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar in large bowl just until smooth. Add a tablespoon or more or milk to get the icing a smooth, spreadable consistency. Smooth a dollop on each biscuit and serve immediately!