Portuguese Easter Bread

Now I'm not too sure how authentic this recipe is, but I was searching around for Easter breads from around the world. And because Jake's maternal grandfather was Portuguese, I figured it would be both a culinary adventure and an ancestry lesson!

Dylan laughed when I told him the story of his "girl name." Before we knew that we were pregnant with a little boy, Jake and I had picked names for both genders. If Dylan were a girl, we wanted to honor Jake's grandfather by using that surname as our little girl's middle name. So, if Dylan had been a girl, he would have been Thalia Augusta Mann.

This Portuguese recipe appealed to me because of the combination of honey, unsweetened cocoa, and nutmeg. Necessity breeds invention, right?! The original recipe called for more honey, but I ran out and added some plain yogurt instead. With the alacrity at which these little treats disappeared from my cooling rack, I'd call them a hit.

Like the French canelé, these have a thick, almost caramelized crust, with a tender center. I wonder what Grandpa Augusta would think of these...

INGREDIENTS:
3 C white whole wheat flour
1 C organic granulated sugar
3 T unsweetened chocolate
3/4 C honey
1/4 C plain yogurt
1 t ground nutmeg
1 T butter, melted
1 C milk
1 t baking powder

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a pan. Combine all the ingredients and pour into a buttered baking dish. I opted for mini bundt pans, to look like little baskets. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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