Posted by sally2 (My Page) on Tue, Nov 11, 08 at 10:18 I just remembered this recipe I've made before, and it was quite tasty. It lists separate herbs, but I bet you can use an equivalent amount of one of your new blends. I think you could use this method for just about any bread recipe, but this is what was in the cookbook, so that's how I'll post it. Herbed Monkey Bread From The Kind Arthur Flour Baker's Companion 10 small servings 1 recipe white bread 101 (recipe to follow) Herb Coating 3 to 5 tablespoons (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 ounces) Olive Oil* 1 tablespoon fresh stemmed thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tablespoon dried 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 garlic clove, minced Combine the oil, herbs, and garlic. Set the mixture aside. Prepare White Bread 101 up through it's first rise. Grease the bottom and sides of a small (8-inch) tube or bundt-style pan, or a deep (2 inches or deeper) 8-inch cake pan or souffle dish. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 32 small pieces, each about the size of a chestnut and weighing approximately 3/4 ounce. Place about a third of them in the bottom of the pan if you're using a small bundt-style pan. If you're using a cake pan, put about two-thirds of the pieces into it. Brush the dough in the pan with the herb coating. Continue to layer with the remaining balls, brushing the top layer with the remaining herb oil. (If you've used the greater amount of olive oil, dip each piece of dough into the oil to coat it completely before layering it into the pan.) Let the bread rise, covered, for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until it's golden. Remove it from the oven and invert it onto a serving platter; the crispy bottom crust should be on top. Serve warm. *Use 3 tablespoons of oil if you simply want to drizzle the herb coating over the bough balls once they're in the pan. To thoroughly coat each dough ball before putting them in the pan, use 5 tablespoons of olive oil. This extra oil will give the bread a delicious crisp crust. Here's the bread recipe. I'll go ahead and enter the complete recipe, even though for the Monkey Bread you'll not use the whole process. White Bread 101 1 loaf, 16 slices 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) butter 1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) nonfat dry milk 1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) potato flour, or 1/3 cup (3/4 ounce) potato flakes 1 1/8 cups (9 ounces) lukewrm water Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together - by hand, mixer, or bread machine - until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Adjust the dough's consistency with additional flour or water as needed; but remember, the more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be. Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour, until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk). Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and shape it into an 8-inch log. Transfer the log to a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, cover the pan (a proof cover works well here), and let the bread rise until the outer edge has risen about 1 inch over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover the pan and bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 10 to 15 minutes if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pan, and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. After 15 minutes, brush it with butter, if desired; this will give it a soft crust. Sally

A little late, but how about this recipe: Apple Cookies 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg 2 c. flour 1/2 c. butter 1 1/3 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1 c. chopped nuts 1 c. chopped apples 1/4 c. milk or apple juice Glaze: 1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar, 1 T. soft butter, 2 1/2 T. cream or milk, 1/4 tsp. vanilla In large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and egg. Mix flour, spices salt and soda and add alternately with juice or milk to creamed mixture. Fold in nuts and chopped apple. Drop by teaspoonful on greased baking sheet. Bake 400 degrees 11 min. or at 375 14 min. Cool and apply glaze. It was posted by dottieq on a cookie thread some time ago. I'm thinking about making some for my church's Applefest and making the glaze a maple or caramel glaze.

Linnea....I've been making that exact same quick bread recipe for years and the nuts are just fine. I use chunky chopped [my chopping] walnuts. I've never tried pecans. Also, I encourage you to follow the directions regarding coarsely chopping the frozen cranberries. I've made the recipe both ways...whole and chopped. Chopped is far superior to the flavor. All together when served, it tastes a little like a light fruitcake without all the "heaviness" of the traditional fruitcake. I have neighbors who actually call me to be sure I'll be giving them one for the holidays. It's a delicious quick bread. You'll get compliments! :-)

Here's the recipe I made. I would definitely make it again, perhaps with some adjustments to the baking time and not using so much baking soda. I might experiment with using a ban marie too. It came out of "An Apple A Day: Vegetarian Cooking by Doctor's Wives." which was published by the Woman's Auxiliary to the Alumni Association of Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Date Nut Bred from Mrs. Ezra Richards 1/2 cup softened butter 1 cup sugar (I used all dark brown sugar) 1 tsp. vanilla 1/4 tsp. lemon extract (I used 1/4 cup candied citron peels as I have some and am trying to use them up) 1 egg 2 cups sifted flour 1/2 tsp. salt (I used 1/4 tsp.) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup chopped dates 1 cup hot water 1 tsp. soda (I used 1.5 tsp. but I think that was a mistake) (I added 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice) Combine shortening, sugar, vanilla, lemon extract, and egg, then flour and salt. Mix well. (I creamed the sugar, eggs and butter and then combined the flour with the salt and chopped walnuts in a separate bowl). Cook and cool the dates and walnuts with the water (I just did the dates and the candied citron peel). Add the soda to the cooled dates and then combine them with the creamed shortening and flour mixture. Put into an oiled and floured loaf pan. (I used 9x5 one). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 min. and then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 min. longer. (I don't think this is necessary. I would bake the whole time at 350 which is what most quick breads call for.) This was my "go to" date recipe, but not what my husband asked for. Harvest Date Cake Makes 12 servings. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. in a 9" square greased and floured pan. 1 cup flour 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt (Combine dry ingredients.) 1/2 cup softened butter or margarine 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla (Cream/mix together wet ingredients) 1 cup milk 1 cup cut up date pieces Add wet ingredients to flour mixture alternately with milk. Stir in dates. Add batter to pan. Top with topping. Bake as directed at top of recipe. Topping (Mix together) 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces 1/4 cup chopped nuts 1 TBLSP brown sugar Here's the one I'm going to try next. I know it is not traditional. I'm not going to use the cans since I don't think they are necessary if you're not steaming, which this recipe does not call for. It makes a lot so I'm going to halve the recipe Boston Brown Bread from Americanprofile.com 6 (14-15 oz.) empty clean tin cans, coated with cooking spray 1 lb. chopped dates 2 tsp. baking soda 2 cups boiling water 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup shortening 2 eggs 4 cups sifted all purpose flour 1 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup raisins Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat the insides of the cans with cooking spray. Combine dates and baking soda in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the dates and let stand to cool at least 5 min. Combine sugar, shortening and eggs in a large bowl. Using a mixer, beat at med. high speed until creamy. Add date mixture and flour and stir until well blended. Add nuts and raisins, mix well. Fill cans about 2/3 full with batter. Bake 1 - 1.25 hours, until wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in cans on a rack for 15 min. Remove bread from pans to cool completely. Makes six loaves with six servings each. 170 calories per serving. 5g. fat, 3 g. protein, 32g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 75 mg. sodium.