Blueberry Coffee Cake

I was recently asked to make a coffee cake for a wedding shower. I was surprised to realize I have never made anything like this, so I was excited to find this recipe online and see that it had excellent reviews. The recipe was a success; it disappeared so quickly at the wedding shower that I wished I had doubled it.

Ingredients: 

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Zest from 1 whole lemon

7/8 cup sugar*

1 egg

1 t vanilla

2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

Before starting, allow butter and eggs to come to room temperature. Tip - if you want to speed up the butter warming from frozen or refrigerated temperatures, slice it into a bowl and it will thaw/soften faster. Putting it in the microwave is not the best idea, as this will effect the texture and fluffiness of your final product.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss blueberries with 1/4 cup flour and set aside. Combine remaining flour (1 3/4 cups) with baking powder and salt and mix well with a wire whisk.

Combine butter, lemon zest and sugar and beat until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well until mixed. Add flour and buttermilk slowly, alternating between the two ingredients and mixing well. Add blueberries last, folding into dough with a large spatula or spoon.

Grease a 9x9 pan or similar size pan with butter. Spread dough into pan and sprinkle sugar over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

I am also thinking this recipe would make great blueberry muffins too... maybe next time I will try that.

References:
http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Blueberry crepes

As you may have noticed, this year I am spending my Labor Day weekend in the kitchen! I have four days in a row off and it has been so relaxing. The only problem is that I keep creating dirty dishes.

I woke up this morning and immediately thought of the fresh blueberries I bought yesterday. My first instinct was to make blueberry pancakes, but I knew pancakes would result in a carb coma that could lead to a very lazy day. Crepes seemed to be the answer.

Ingredients: 

Filling:

1 pint blueberries

2 t sugar

3-4 T water

Crepes:

2 eggs
6 T all-purpose flour
2 t sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
2/3 cup milk or almond milk
2 t coconut oil*

Topping:

1 pint heavy cream

2 t sugar

*Some other sort of oil would probably be OK, but I've always used coconut oil for my crepes for some odd reason.

Combine blueberries, sugar, and a small amount of water (3-4 tablespoons) in a saucepan on low to medium heat. Cover and cook until desired sauce-like consistency (about 5-10 minutes) stirring often. A small amount of corn starch could probably help thicken the berries, but I didn't have any. Leave on low heat and stir occasionally while cooking crepes. Leaving the lid off at this point will also help the sauce thicken as water evaporates.

Make whipped cream before starting the crepes. In mixing bowl, beat heavy cream on high setting until it forms peaks and is whipped-cream consistency. Be careful not to over-beat the cream or you will get butter! Add sugar and mix minimally. Taste the whipped cream to test the flavor; you might like more sugar than I do. Set aside.

Homemade whipped cream is soooo good, and you avoid all those weird chemicals! 

Combine all crepe ingredients in a blender and mix well. Heat a medium-sized frying pan to medium/medium-high heat (on my electric stove, the line between medium and medium-high is the perfect setting for crepes). Allow the pan to heat well before adding batter. Spray a small amount of non-stick spray before each crepe to help with clean and easy flipping.

Add a thin layer of batter to fill the pan, using a large spoon to spread the batter and even out the crepe. Allow to cook until there is no more liquid batter visible.

Use a rubber spatula (not a stiff one that you would use to flip pancakes) to loosen the edges, working the spatula under half of the crepe and flipping quickly. Don't feel bad if your first crepe doesn't flip properly; I ruined a few crepes the first time I made them before I got the technique down.

A perfect flip!

Spoon a line of blueberry filling into the center of the crepe. I strained out some of the liquid because my sauce was a little thin. Use the spatula to fold the crepe in thirds over the berries.

I always find the trickiest part is getting the crepe out of the pan without destroying it. Hold the pan at an angle over a plate, work the spatula under the front edge of the crepe, and slide it onto the plate, using your spatula as a guide.

This recipe makes four crepes. If you have extra batter, cook the crepes without filling and layer with parchment paper in between. Wrap in tin foil to keep from drying out. I'm not sure how long they will last in the refrigerator; mine will certainly not last more than 24 hours because someone will eat them.

 

Red, White, and Blue Pizza

Happy Independence day everyone! This is my favorite treat to make for Fourth of July parties. Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Ingredients:


1 16-oz package of ready-made sugar cookie dough
1 pint blueberries
2 pints strawberries
8 oz. cream cheese (*do NOT use low-fat)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t vanilla


Before you start on the dough, take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator so it can come to room temperature.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a pizza pan or cookie tray covered with failed or parchment paper, smash/spread cookie dough to form whatever shape fruit pizza you would like. A rectangular pan makes a nice U.S. flag, for instance. Kraft suggests cutting the dough into cookies and pressing the cookies together to form a circle.


Bake your huge cookie at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let come to room temperature before attempting to frost. Wash fruit and slice strawberries while waiting for the cookie to cool and the cream cheese to come to room temperature.


When cream cheese is no longer cold, combine in a mixing bowl with sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. I learned the hard way that it is very important that the cream cheese is room temperature - within seconds of turning on the mixer, the whole chunk of cheese was stuck in the beaters.

Oops.

Spread the cream cheese frosting onto the cookie in a thin, even layer. Arrange strawberry slices and blueberries into whatever pattern you like. Refrigerate before serving to help the frosting set.

*Note: Kraft adds a step that I skipped because I ran out of time. Mix 1/4 cup apricot preserves with 1 tablespoon water, push through a sieve to remove lumps, and brush across the top of the pizza. This creates that clear glaze that you see on fruit pizzas in the store. I'm sure you could do this with other flavors of preserves too. Paula Deen drizzles melted chocolate chips on top, which certainly sounds amazing too.

References:

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/philadelphia-fruit-pizza-57079.aspx

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/fruit-pizza-recipe/index.html