Blueberry Coffee Cake

I don’t know about you, but I love coffee cake.  I love the cinnamon sugar that’s usually involved, I love the crunchy streusel; it’s just all around delicious, and this recipe doesn’t disappoint.  I decided to make this because I had some leftover buttermilk that I was trying to use up, we never have buttermilk on hand, so this was a rare treat!  I would definitely make this again!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Makes 1 bundt cake 

Adapted from The Pastry Affair

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or just more all-purpose flour)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1  1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Lightly grease your bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the egg, buttermilk, yogurt, oil, and brown sugar until completely combined.  Sift flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and gently fold into wet ingredients until just combined.  Carefully fold in the blueberries.  Pour/scoop (it’ll be pretty thick) batter into prepared pan and then add the hazelnut crumble.

Hazelnut Crumble

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients until well mixed.  Sprinkle over the top of the batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (or about 30 minutes if using frozen blueberries), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning cake out.

Cake was even better the second day.

Carrot Herb Rolls

My kneading muscles (who knew that was a thing) are out of shape!

Monday I spent most of the day making delicious rolls.  I think this was the first time I’ve ever made rolls myself, although I’m sure I’ve been around when my grandma or mom made them.  It’s definitely not a quick process, but it was very satisfying.  I made two recipes (not a double because they need space to rise, so I had two separate doughs going at the same time) which worked really well.  If you’re going through all the effort and time you might as well get twice as much out of it!  I was also able to try one recipe with white whole wheat flour, and one with regular all-purpose flour.  They were both delicious (I didn’t notice much of a taste difference), the all-purpose flour were a bit fluffier/bigger, so use whatever is on hand and convenient for you.

I followed this recipe, but without any special equipment (like a thermometer or a plastic bin for the bread).

Carrot Herb Roll

Makes 16 3″ rolls

Adapted from Farmgirl Fare

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups carrots, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 Tbsp fresh)
• 2 1/2 tsp salt

Mix the bread flour, white whole wheat flour, and yeast in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and pour in the water and melted butter.  Stir until combined.  Mix in the carrots, parsley, rosemary, and thyme and stir until a soft sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 5 minutes, sprinkling on a little more bread flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the work surface.

Cover the dough with bowl and let rest 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and knead for another 5 minutes until the salt is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and still slightly sticky, adding more flour if necessary.

Put the bowl in a large, warm, greased mixing bowl covered by a damp towel (just damp enough so that the dough won’t stick to the towel).  Let dough rise until doubled in size about 1 to 2 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.  Let rest 10 minutes, then divide into 16 pieces. Press down on each piece to expel any air bubbles, then shape into balls.  Place rolls on parchment paper covered baking sheets, cover with a towel and let rise until double in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Just before placing rolls in oven brush on a little salted water for a light shine and crisp baked crust.  Bake  until tops are golden brown and the bottoms ound hollow when tapped, about 25 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container or freeze.  If desired, reheat at 350°F for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, this will crisp the crust up again.

Pumpkin is delicious any time of year!

I spent all day yesterday making Carrot Herb Rolls for SCL.  I think they’re fantastic.  Totally worth all the time it took!  I’ll post that recipe (and the other recipes from tonight’s SCL dinner) soon, but in the meantime here’s one of my favorite snacks!

I’m a big fan of pumpkin.  I’ve also totally taken for granted that I can get cans of pumpkin year round at my local grocery store, so I’ve never really thought about pumpkin as being fall specific.  But if you think pumpkin should only be eaten in the fall, or that’s the only time you can get it, make sure you bookmark these recipes!

Pumpkin Granola Bars

Makes 10 granola bars

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

• 3  1/4 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cover an 8″x8″ pan with aluminum foil with enough hanging over that you can use to lift it out of the pan when they’ve finished cooling.

In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices and salt together.  In a medium bowl, stir brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla until smooth.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.

Press mixture evenly into prepared pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, cut into bars, remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

I like storing these in the freezer and then just putting one into the toaster oven when I want to eat one.  I especially like them crumbled over fruit and yogurt…makes a delicious parfait!

My new favorite pumpkin recipe, that my friend, Elan discovered is from the Pioneer Woman.  I normally would stay away from a recipe like this because you have to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.  However, I recently read about a trick to freeze the butter and then grate it in.  I find this much easier (since the pieces of butter are nice and small like you want them)!

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Makes about 24 muffins

Adapted from the Pioneer Woman

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1  1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1  1/2 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp (1  1/2 sticks) butter, frozen and grated
• 1 large can (29oz or about 4 cups) pumpkin puree
• 1 (regular size, I think 14oz) can evaporated milk
• 3 eggs
• 1  1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease two muffin tins and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.  Cut in (or grate frozen) butter into dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Pour pumpkin mixture into flour mixture and fold gently until just incorporated.

Scoop into muffin tins, filling almost to the top (they don’t rise very much).  Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Seriously amazing.  So moist!

Kalamata Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins with a Goat Cheese Center

These muffins were quite tasty.  I’m a big fan of olives, but didn’t find these to have an overwhelming olive taste (so if you don’t like them, don’t be scared; if you do like them, you might add some extra).

Kalamata Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins with a Goat Cheese Center

Makes 32 muffins:  About 217 calories (7 g protein!)

Adapted from The Best Quick Breads by Beth Hensperger

• 6  3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp yellow cornmeal
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1  1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups milk (I used skim)
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup pitted black olives, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 10 ounces plain goat cheese, cut into 32 pieces and rolled into balls

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease muffin pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the milk, olive oil, and eggs with a whisk until well mixed.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until ingredients are just combined.  Do not overmix!  Gently fold in the olives and tomatoes.

Fill muffin cups halfway, place goat cheese ball in center, then spoon more batter over the top until muffin cups are full.  Bake in the center of the oven for about 15-20 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer.

Miniature makes it better

I have to say that one of my favorite kitchen tools is my mini-muffin pan.  There’s just nothing as cute as a mini little bite of something.  That said, I was instantly drawn to these Mini Ham and Cheese Quinoa Cups.  These are like mini quiches, but without the decadent crust.  The quinoa (a high protein seed that works well as a whole grain) adds delicious substance and extra nutrients.  The fact that their mini, makes them great for snacks, buffets, appetizers, and kids’ meals.  Although if you don’t have a mini-muffin tin I’m sure they’ll be just as delicious in a regular muffin tin (although slightly less cute).  While I haven’t had a chance yet to experiment with new flavors, I’m sure these would be great with a variety of flavors!  I’m eager to try various vegetarian versions, so I’ll keep you posted on my experiments!

Mini Quinoa Bites

Makes 28 mini muffins (or 24 with 1 ramekin sized one)

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

•  2 cups cooked quinoa* (about 3/4 cup uncooked)
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup ham, diced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.  In a greased (or nonstick), mini-muffin pan, spoon mixture into each cup (fill to top, as these don’t rise).  Bake for 20 minutes, until edges are beginning to brown and the center is set.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan before removing to a cooling rack.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.  Reheat in microwave for 30 seconds.

*To cook quinoa, rinse in a fine mesh sieve, then place in pot with twice as much water as quinoa and about 1 tsp of salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed.  (If you’re too lazy to rinse the quinoa, like me, you can put it in the pan and toast it briefly on medium-high heat before adding the water.  The rinsing is supposed to remove whatever makes quinoa taste slightly acidic/bitter.  I’ve never really noticed/had a problem with it when I just toast the quinoa.  Do what feels right to you!)