Oohhh Crack Bread!

Yesterday my family celebrated Christmas early because my sister is a nurse and usually cannot get Christmas off. Instead we celebrate together before Christmas which works out pretty well for us with the exception of having to purchase presents earlier. I decided to make Crack Bread as part of our celebration during the day. We had it after dinner since we ate super early and figured we all would be hungry at some point.

I think my family is starting to worry about me making so many items that I call "crack." C'est la vie!

The bread is apparently actually called Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pull Bread. The first three words are music to my taste buds...It's quite tasty and as you can tell see from the ingredients, not the healthiest either. But it's the holidays!

I found the recipe originally on Plain Chicken and it is pretty easy to make. The most difficult part is the cutting of the bread. Here's what you'll need:

You can find the original recipe here. The first step is to cut up the bread, but not all the way through to the bottom of the loaf in a checkerboard like pattern.Next you put little pieces of cheese in each of the little spaces like so. Make sure it's nice and thin so that it melts correctly. I made the cuts a bit too thick.

 

Then you add the bacon bits using the same method and pushing them down into the bread. 

Then you mixed the ranch mix and the butter and pour it over the entire loaf. Next cover it in tin foil and bake it for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Then uncover the loaf and cook for another 10-15 minutes. How yummy does this look?

I was going to take a picture of us eating it, but once it was out on the plate I didn't stand a chance! So enjoy!

On a different note, I'm making a resolution for next year. My plan is to make a new item from Pinterest each week, be that a recipe, craft, or just a random trick or tip. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up! For those few of you who might read this, let me know if you have any suggestions!

More Pumpkin! Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread!

I'm sticking with the pumpkin theme since I love it and I had leftover after the Pumpkin Pasta. Since I have also been craving cinnamon rolls, I decided to go with a recipe I made for New Years Even, Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread! I was also told this stuffy is also called Monkey Bread in some places? Whatever, it just tastes....Yum....

This recipe came courtesy of Sunny Side Up and it was relatively easy. Just a lot of waiting...And I hate waiting. But I love this bread so...WORTH IT!

Now the last time I made this recipe, I did something wrong I think. Maybe I didn't let the dough rise enough or maybe the pan was too small. Who knows. All I know is that last time this recipe EXPLODED out of the pan. Fortunately only a couple of the pieces were lost and it was still awesome. Allow me to show you....

Yeah it was nutty. It looked like a mad scientist's experiment. ha. I also made the rum topping that the recipe recommended, but I wasn't really a fan of that so this time around I nixed the rum. It was just too much for me.

You can find the recipe here. Here are the ingredients, although I forgot the vanilla.

 First you brown the butter. I don't think I browned it enough, but eh, it happens. And then we added the milk.

Next step was to to proof the yeast

Add the rest the pumpkin, flour, sugar, and yeast. Then kneed the hell out of it!! Yeah buddy...God I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer.

 Let it rise for an hour or so and then punch it. This is the dough post-punch as you can tell from the imprint.

Roll that puppy out and then add the cinnamon sugar butter filling. I went with putting the melted butter on the dough and then adding the sugar mixture. I think I needed a bit more butter because it was pretty dry.

Then I cut it all up into 36 square pieces and then shoved them all into the pan.  My pieces were a bit thinner than last time because the darn dough got stuck. C'est la vie.

Then it's time to bake that puppy at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Based on my previous experience, I highly recommend that you put cookie sheet on the rack below the pan because sometimes the squares pop and last time it kind of oozed over the side and made a lovely mess on the bottom of my stove.

Here it is fresh out of the oven. I had to use all my self control to not start eating it right then and there because there is still the topping to make!!

I went with the vanilla instead of the rum. Yeah for melted butter and vanilla and sugar!!

And tada! The finished product!And it was just as awesome this time as it was last time which was evident from how quickly mom and I inhaled half of it immediately. Warm, gooey, awesomeness.