Gourmet Gifts Made Easy

Clockwise from bottom clear bowl: Aromatic Coffee & Cheese Spread, Favorite Jam Spread, Peanut Butter Lover's Cream Cheese Spread, Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread with maple syrup, Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread without maple syrup.

I promised my customers more Christmas gift ideas. This time instead of wrapping ideas I have some spread recipes perfect for making your gift extra special. You could either mix up one of these delicious spreads to put alongside your gift of bread or simply copy the recipe onto a pretty recipe card to stick in with the loaf.

For months I have been dreaming of flavored cream cheese spreads atop Chocolate Pecan Bread. With the onset of winter, thus no farmers' markets filling every minute of my life, I was able to do some recipe research online. The spreads you see in the pictures are the result. After much taste testing my family and I have come up with some favorite bread/spread combinations. See each recipe for our comments.

Peanut Butter Lover's Cream Cheese Spread

The blue ribbon winner! This can be eaten on any bread, but nothing could beat a generous slab of Chocolate Pecan Bread smothered with this spread.

1 c. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

Using an electric mixer beat until smooth.

I found this to make a very clumpy, dry mass. It may have been this way because I was using our favorite natural peanut butter (only ground peanuts and salt). Whatever the cause, these are the additions I made to get a desirable smooth texture plus a sweeter flavor since our peanut butter has no added sugar:

2 T. + 2 tsp. powdered sugar

4 oz. (1/2 c.) butter

Aromatic Coffee & Cheese Spread

Ahhh! The rich and comforting flavors of coffee and chocolate. Definitaly a spread for Chocolate Pecan Bread. Even Mom and Maren who are not coffee drinkers didn't mind a bit of this one.

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules (or up to 1 tsp. for more flavor; may need to add more hot water)

1/2 tsp. hot water

In a small bowl beat cream cheese and sugar. Dilute coffee granules in hot water. Add coffee to cream cheese mixture until it is light and fluffy.

Favorite Jam Spread
This one got mixed reviews. The general consensous, though, was that it needed more jam flavor, especially if served on Chocolate Pecan Bread. I personally enjoyed the spread on French Batard, one of my signiture artisan breads.

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. butter, softened

4-6 T. jam, any kind (I ended up using much more homemade cherry jam for more flavor. It still wasn't as cherry flavored as I would have liked, so I would try adding even more and eliminating all or part of the butter to keep it from getting too soft.)

Cream together the cream cheese and butter (if using) until well mixed. Add jam to your taste. Do not overmix or it will separate.

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread

I originally made this one to try on Pumpkin Pecan Bread. While very good I still prefer this bread with just a little butter. A la French Batard this taste bud pleasing spread made a very yummy treat! Maren gave the spread with maple syrup the highest rating, while Hannah voted for no syrup. What's your vote?

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 T. brown sugar

2 T. pure maple syrup (optional for a sweeter spread)

1/4 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and syrup (if using) until creamy. Add pumpkin, spices, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Refrigerate for at least an hour. (It will be softer if using maple syrup.)

Autumn French Fare

Today's noon menu: Pumpkin Pecan Bread French Toast

Last fall when Pumpkin Pecan Bread was brand new, two of my faithful customers came up with this food idea independantly. Great minds think alike!

This noon my family finally tried it out for ourselves. My customers were not kidding. It was a spectacular meal. My favorite was drizzling the toast with pure maple syrup, but our home made syrup was tasty on it, too.

Here is the Stowman's staple syrup recipe. My dad would prepare this as a mix in his younger adventuresome days when he went canoeing in the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota .

Stowman's Table Syrup

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. water
1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

Mix all together in a medium size sauce pan. Place on high heat and bring to a boil. Boil one or two minutes.

Serve warm over French toast, pancakes, waffles, or corn bread. Save the left overs in the refrigerator to be used cold at another meal.

Bread Hits the Road

Shortly after saying good-bye to my sister, Hannah, when she flew to Pennsylvania to visit a friend, I said farewell to some of the fruits of my labor. A sister in PA equaled a perfect opportunity to test my bread's endurance in mailing. Two days after sending the frozen loaves, I got the email. The Priority Mailed bread had made it to Mt. Joy safe and sound.
Joey, our PA friend and operations manager at the Global Aid Network (GAiN) warehouse, opening the package in the warehouse kitchen.
A hearty loaf of Multigrain Bread waits its turn while Joey cuts slabs of French Batard for the official taste test.

Hannah as freshness and flavor judge.

Taste Tester Todd. All warehouse staff got to be a part of the fun.

The verdict? French Batard showed a few signs of age but still was good enough to eat. This was not at all surprising for a lean bread (no added fats or sweetener), especially considering these loaves had been to a farmers' market before being put in the freezer. Multigrain Bread got higher ratings, or should I say raves. As good as fresh! Not a bad report for experiment #1.

Test Day

Whole Wheat French Bread anyone?