Katie, I have never made bagels, and I've been wanting to...guess I'll have to get brave and give it a try. But it's your birthday - you shouldn't have to bake. Of course, if you're like me, you probably WANT to bake.
After I took that cheese bread out of the oven and tasted it, I decided I had to share it with you all. I rewrote the recipe and since I also changed it a bit, I'm hoping this will pass muster:
Quick Two-cheese Bread
Preheat your oven to 350F.
First, grate 3 ounces of Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup). Spray your 9 X 5 loaf pan with cooking spray and scatter half of the cheese on the bottom.
Next, combine dry ingredients and whisk them together:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBS baking powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Gently fold in one cup of sharp cheddar cheese, cut into ½ inch dice. Make sure all the pieces of cheese are coated with flour.
Now, for your wet ingredients:
Lightly whisk one egg. Add to 1 and ¼ cups whole milk, ¾ cup sour cream and 3 TBS melted butter. Whisk it all together.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don’t over mix.
Pour batter into pan (it is thick) and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup Parmesan over the top.
Bake for 45-50 minutes.
Turn out of pan after cooling for 5 minutes and wait about 45 minutes to slice it. This would be good with dry onion, bacon, sun dried tomatoes, lots of other goodies added. I'll have to begin experimenting!