Blueberry Cream Muffins with Streusel Topping

Jim loves blueberry muffins and since I was in the mood to bake the other day, I decided to pick up some fresh blueberries and make muffins. I found this lovely recipe that adds sour cream to the mix and had to try it! I made a few slight changes/additions so below is what I did. Enjoy!

4 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

zest of one lemon

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups sour cream

2 cups blueberries, divided

For streusel:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 tbsp. cold butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add sugars while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in oil. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, salt and baking soda.

Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with sour cream. Gently fold in 1-1/2 cups of the blueberries. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Place remaining blueberries on top of muffins and press them in slightly.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top of muffins before baking.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I had the urge to bake yesterday and remembered this recipe that I clipped from my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. These were really good. I didn't have wheat germ, so I just left that out and we don't really like nuts in our cookies, so I left that out too.

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 oz. dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour. Stir in rolled oats, flax seed meal, wheat germ, chocolate, cranberries, and walnuts (dough will be a little crumbly).

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Makes about 30 cookies.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I was in the mood for baking and had some pretty sad looking, really ripe bananas hanging out in my kitchen, so something with banana in it was what I was going to make! I found this recipe and thought it would be perfect. A little banana, a little chocolate, what could be bad about that? Mine turned out a little darker than I would have liked, so I probably didn't need the full hour of baking time, but it's still delicious! The only slight changes I made was that I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour, and I only used 2 bananas instead of three, since that was all I had.

1-3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 heaping c. chocolate chips
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3 large extra ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare loaf pan. In medium bowl, combine all flour but 2 Tbsp, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Whisk to combine and set aside. In small bowl, combine remaining flour and chocolate chips, tossing well to combine and set aside. In bowl of stand mixer, combine shortening and sugar. Beat on high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time until thoroughly combined. Add milk and vanilla, then banana to mixture and combine well. With mixer on low, add flour mixture until just combined then fold in chocolate chips. Spread into loaf pan, tap to remove air pockets, and place in oven to bake. Bake loaf in oven for 1hr or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let loaf cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Tiramisu

Holy crap, this was heaven! It was the perfect dessert for our Valentine's Day dinner. The only thing I changed was using Kahlua instead of rum. I thought we had rum, but apparently I was wrong. I made this the night before so it had time for the flavors to mingle, but oh sweet lord. I couldn't get enough of this. Not exactly the healthiest dish in the world though...lol.

6 egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
2 tablespoons rum (Kahlua)
2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfinger cookies (I used one 7-oz package of Alessi Biscotti Savoiardi Lady Fingers)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover tightly and chill in refrigerator 1 hour.

In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth.

In a small bowl, combine coffee and rum (Kahlua). Split ladyfingers in half lengthwise and drizzle with coffee mixture. (I laid the ladyfingers in the dish first and drizzled the coffee mixture on top of them).

Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7x11 inch dish (I used an 8x8 dish). Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, then half of whipped cream over that. Repeat layers and sprinkle with cocoa. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set.

Oat 'n' Toffee Grahams

So Jim decided to have his dad over to watch the Super Bowl since we didn't have any plans. I wanted to make something sweet and came across this quick and easy dish. OMG, so yummy!

12 graham crackers
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp. flour
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate pieces - I had half a leftover package and added in a Hershey bar
1/2 cup whole smoked almonds, coarsely chopped - I left these out

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond edges of pan. Arrange whole graham crackers in a single layer in pan. In a large bowl, combine oats, sugars, and flour. Stir in melted butter, egg and vanilla until well combined. Spoon over graham crackers and spread evenly to edges of pan to cover graham crackers. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until oat mixture bubbles and is lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and sprinkle with almonds and chocolate pieces. Pop the pan back into the over for another minute or two then remove from oven and spread the chocolate out a little, as best you can. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Use foil to lift from pan. Remove foil. Cut or break into bars.

Hershey's Best Brownies

OK, so who doesn't love brownies?? I was in the mood for them so I decided to peruse the Internet and see what delicious recipe I could find. Well wouldn't ya know it...Hershey's has a recipe :o) These were so good! And really easy to make too.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional) - I left these out

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Place butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 2 to 2-1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost if desired. Cut into bars. About 36 brownies.

Hershey's Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Usually when it comes to making cakes and cupcakes I head straight for the box...so much easier that way. Well today I wanted to try and actually make cupcakes without the box! I found this recipe and it seemed easy enough. It only makes 12 cupcakes, but that's plenty for just me and Jim...I don't plan on sharing these :o) The frosting recipe I found came from Good Things Catered. I know it might sound like a strange combination, but it's fantastic! My cupcakes did deflate a little when I pulled them out of the oven, but nothing a little frosting can't hide. They're yummy!

4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
6 tbsp. Hershey's Cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

Place rack in center of oven and heat to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with 12 paper liners; set aside. In a large bowl, combine cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter, milk, egg, and vanilla. Using a hand-held electric mixer on medium speed, beat for two minutes. Add boiling water and beat to combine (batter will be thin). Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Honey Cinnamon Frosting
Everyday Food

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. honey
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Whether you're on a gluten-free diet or not, if you're a chocolate lover, this cake is for you! This is definitely NOT cake-like, but more fudgey and dense and delicious. Make this for the chocolate lovers in your life!

1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan and added 5 minutes to the cooking time) and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

We had a little get together with the girls today since a friend was visiting from out of town, so I figured I'd have some desserts ready for us after we got back from lunch. These are really easy, and gluten free! Perfect for Rachel!

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the ingredients and roll into small balls. Roll the balls in white sugar, place on cookie sheet and make the ever-so-recognizable peanut butter cookie design using the back of a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool.

Autumn Apple Cake

So I was browsing through my first issue of Cooking Light and came across this recipe. I was so glad I had everything I needed to make this. I realize the ingredients aren't that much to ask to have on hand, but I actually had a Pink Lady apple AND golden raisins. Awesome. The best thing was that I actually wanted to bake something today, but wasn't sure what...this fit the bill. It's yummy!

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup finely chopped peeled Pink Lady apple (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts - I didn't use them since we're not really fans of nuts in our desserts
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour. Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 ounces flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 6.75 ounces flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer until well blended. Beat in vanilla and egg. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in apple and raisins. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Sift powdered sugar over cake. Cut into wedges.

Ginger Pumpkin Meringue Pie

I found this in my BH&G magazine and just HAD to make it. I still had a pre-made crust in my freezer so I used that instead of making the gingersnap-graham crust. It was still really good though!

1 pre-made crust or 1 gingersnap-graham crust, below
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 Recipe Brown Sugar Meringue, below

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare Gingersnap-Graham Crust; bake 4 minutes. Cool on wire rack. For filling, in bowl combine pumpkin, sugar, ginger, salt and cinnamon. Add eggs.; lightly beat with fork to combine. Gradually stir in milk and maple syrup. Pour filling into pastry shell. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Uncover edges. Reduce oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully spread Brown Sugar Meringue over hot filling; seal to edge. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Loosely cover and refrigerate within 2 hours.

Gingersnap-Graham Crust:In large bowl combine 3/4 cup finely crushed gingersnaps (12 cookies), 1/2 cup finely crushed graham crackers (7 squares), and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter. Spread evenly on bottom and up the sides of 9-inch pie plate.

Brown Sugar Meringue:In large mixing bowl let 3 egg whites stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Beat on medium until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed until mixture forms stiff peaks (tips stand straight).

This isn't the greatest picture, but you get the idea. And it was strange...it seems like the brown sugar sort of beaded up on top of the meringue once it cooled.

Sour Cream Apple Pie

While on the Decorating and Renovating board over on The Nest, nestie DianeTaylor posted this recipe. It calls for 4-5 large Granny Smith apples but I only used 1 large Granny Smith apple and 2 Empire apples and it was plenty. I saw it and just had to try it! It was so easy and really good! It made the house smell fabulous too. Enjoy!

Topping
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. flour

Filling
1-1/3 cup sour cream

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

2 large eggs

3 tbsp. all purpose flour

4 or 5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
Pie crust (you can make your own, or use a pre-made one from the refrigerator section of the grocery store — I used this) fitted into a deep-dish 9" or 10" pie plate and chilled

To make the topping, in a bowl blend the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and flour until the mixture is combined well. Cover and chill the topping.


To make the filling, whisk together the sour cream, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and flour until the mixture is smooth. Add the peeled, cored, and thinly sliced apples and stir the filling and apples together.

Spoon the filling into the chilled shell and crumble the topping evenly over it.

Bake the pie on a baking sheet in the middle of a pre-heated 350-degree oven, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (You might need to put a bit of tinfoil on top of the pie during the last 15 minutes to prevent the top from burning.) Transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely.

Chocolate Passion Bowl

So the in-laws were coming over for dinner and I decided to make dessert. I was going to try a different recipe, but I had never made it before, and I didn't want the test run to be on them. So I decided to make this Chocolate Passion Bowl instead. Easy...Delicious...Fun...did I mention delicious? I'm not going to list the ingredients or what I did since it's so easy to make, but I did use strawberries instead of raspberries. We're still eating the leftovers. Enjoy!!

Zucchini Bread

I was at my parents' house one day and my mom pretty much forced a bag of shredded zucchini on me saying she didn't have time to make the bread she had planned for it. Well all right then, looks like I'm making zucchini bread. Normally I would have taken the recipe from her, but there was no time for that! So I did a search online and kind of combined a few recipes and added a few of my own and her touches. I didn't add nuts to this bread since I'm not a big fan and Jim is sort of allergic. Sort of allergic you ask? Yes. When he eats nuts, he says they make his teeth itch. I guess it sounds like some sort of allergic reaction, but I'd really rather just not hear about his itchy teeth...lol. Feel free to add nuts if you'd like.

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

3 tsp. vanilla

1-1/4 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2-4 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)

rum for soaking raisins

Soak raisins in rum for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two bread pans. I had 9x5 pans, but 8x4 would also work. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat the eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla and sugars together. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini and raisins until combined. (I used 4 cups of shredded zucchini, but anywhere from 2-4 cups will work). Divide batter into pans and place in oven. Cooking time will really depend on your oven, but I had to cook mine for about 65 minutes. I would start checking the bread with a toothpick at 45 minutes.

Lemon Glazed Cake

I had a lemon cake mix sitting around and felt like baking. So I took to the Internet and started searching. I came across this recipe, and decided to go for it. Of course I didn't have lemon gelatin, so I used vanilla pudding instead...turned out great.

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package lemon flavored gelatin mix, (lemon or vanilla pudding will work too)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. I set my oven to 325 degrees since I was using a non-stick bundt pan. I did grease and flour it though. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and gelatin (or pudding) mix. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil, water and eggs. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and then continue to beat on medium speed for 4 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For the glaze, in a bowl combine the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar. At this point you would add the melted butter and water, but I didn't find it necessary. Poke holes in the top of the cake and pour the glaze over.