Food And Family

Cheddar Beer Bread

What a week we had! For the first time in months we got to spend time with our sweet smallest granddaughter. She and her mommy were here for over a week. We cooked. We ate. We crawled around in the floor behind her. We played blocks. We sang songs. It was heaven.

We made so many good recipes while they were here. It's the most cooking I've done in ages. Now, you know I cook a lot. But I don't always cook every day. With just two of us here, we count on leftovers for dinner at least a couple of days a week. 

I'll share a few of the favorite recipes in the coming weeks. Maybe the most favorite...and the easiest...was this cheddar beer bread. Mommy sent the recipe to me and Jessica several weeks ago. And before she came to visit, Jessica made it twice at her house. We SHOULD have made it twice here. Yes. It's that good. It is perfect to serve along side a bowl of chili or soup. Or, toast slices for breakfast. It's good by itself.

If your first thought is "I can't bake bread. I don't know how to do yeast recipes." don't skip this recipe. This is a quick bread. It's more like stirring up a batch of muffins. Trust me. You need to make this.

CHEDDAR BEER BREAD

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded sharp yellow cheddar cheese, divided 

1/4 cup melted butter, divided

1 (12-oz) bottle or can of beer

Preheat oven to 375º. Spray an 8-1/2-inch loaf pan with PAM (or similar) cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, pepper, 3/4 cup shredded cheese, and 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Add the beer and stir well. Batter will be sticky. Pour batter into loaf pan.

Top with remaining shredded cheese and drizzle with the remaining butter.

Bake bread for 45-55 minutes, or until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

General rule is to check the bread at the shortest baking time and see if it needs more. All ovens are different.

Jessica said she used white cheddar at her house because that is what they buy. I always have yellow cheddar here. She said it tastes the same but the yellow cheese makes a prettier loaf.

Pattern:  Tchaikovsky Hat, size Child

Yarn: Jodie Young Ciao (DK), Nougat colorway

Needles:  4 & 7

Last year I knitted a nice wooly hat for Jessica with a fur pompom on the top. She asked for a matching hat for Little Lady. That particular pattern (Entwined by Susan B. Anderson) didn't include small sizes and recalculating the cable design was more work than I wanted to tackle. So I used a similar color yarn and made one of my most favorite knitting patterns—the Tchaikovsky Hat from Curious Handmade. This pattern from designer Helen Stewart is written for four sizes...Baby, Child, Small Adult, Large Adult. I made the child size for this 9-month old. (We measured her head and it was close to the child size.) She will be able to wear it for a few years, I think.

We are going to miss our little busybody this week. She is crawling everywhere, pulling up and walking as she holds on to furniture and "tasting" absolutely everything she picks up.