Blueberry Cream Chese Scones

Blueberries remind me of my favorite scones from Diamond Head Market & Grill in Kapahulu.  I can finally savor these scones when I go back to Hawaii in less than three months!  In the meantime, I made some homemade version of these with the abundance of blueberries I've picked this summer. It was a sticky mess to make but it was well worth it. These are best eaten warm after they're baked. You can refrigerate the rest and reheat it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones
Makes 8 scones

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 T cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces (I grated the butter)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 oz. cream cheese, cut into little pieces

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in center. Combine butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and cut with a pastry blender or two butter knives until crumbly. In a separate bowl, stir egg and buttermilk until well combined. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients, and stir in cream mixture until dough forms into ball. Gently fold in blueberries and cream cheese. Spoon mounds of dough onto ungreased baking sheet, and press lightly to flatten. Tuck in berries and cream cheese as much as possible. Bake until golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Transfer scones to wire racks to cool.

Adapted from here and there.

Blueberry Almond Coffeecake

I went blueberry picking this past weekend and picked over six pounds of blueberries!  Lucky me, I live close to two blueberry farms only a few miles away.  At only $1.25 per pound, it was totally worth the labor.  Blueberries keeps well in the freezer so I stored some in Ziploc bags and froze them for future uses.

Hubby found a blueberry muffin recipe and decided to bake us some goodies! We didn't have enough butter so we halved the recipe.  Also, we didn't have a stand mixer and the hand-held mixer worked just fine.  These were perfect for Monday morning breakfast!

Everlasting Blueberry Almond Coffeecake
From Hungry Rabbit

Yields 12 individual coffeecakes

Streusel Ingredients:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup slivered almond
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp table salt
4 T unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into 8 pieces, softened

Cake Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
10 T unsalted butter (1-1/4 stick), softened but still cool
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. For the streusel: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine flour, almond, sugars, cinnamon, and salt on low speed until well combined and no large brown sugar lumps remain, about 45 seconds. Add butter and mix on low until mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about 2-1/2 minutes. Spread streusel out onto a small tray (do not press to compact) and freeze for 30 min. Wipe bowl clean for cake preparation.

2. For the cakes: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin pan with paper liners.

3. Whisk flours and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. In the stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes; scrape down bowl. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer running at medium speed, add eggs one at a time; beat until partially incorporated, then scrape down bowl and continue to beat until fully incorporated (mixture will appear broken).

4.With mixer running on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat until flour is almost fully incorporated, about 20 seconds. Stir batter manually with rubber spatula, scraping bottom and sides of bowl, until no flour pockets remain and batter is homogenous; batter will be thick.  Gently fold in blueberries with rubber spatula until evenly distributed.

5. Transfer batter to prepared muffin cups; with small off-set spatula or spoon, spread batter evenly to cup edges, gently pushing in to fill all gaps. Remove streusel from freezer, break up in to small chunks with hand and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool until just warm or to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Steel-Cut Oatmeal

It's almost summer and it still feels like early Spring here in the Pacific Northwest.  How lucky are we?  Well, at least I can still eat hot cereal for breakfast thanks to our stubborn weather.  Winter is such a great time to enjoy a nice bowl of hot steaming bowl of oatmeal in the mornings.  I've never really appreciated oatmeal until last year.  I tried many varieties from the old-fashioned to instant oatmeal.  Of course, instant is the least healthiest because of the added sugars and preservatives that come in those convenient little packets.  I even tried to recreate McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal but my imitation has never come close to anything like it.  Then I discovered steel-cut oats.  It takes a little longer to prepare but it is totally worth the wait.  I usually cook up a batch on Sunday mornings so I can eat it throughout the week.  I just add a splash of milk to heat it up in the microwave.  My favorite combination are bananas and walnuts or dried cranberries and sliced almonds.  The combination of fruits and nuts tastes so good with oatmeal!  Of course, I kick it up with a bit of maple syrup or agave nectar to give it just enough sweetness.

Basics of cooking steel-cut oatmeal:
3-4 cups water (depending on how thick you want your oatmeal)
1 cup steel-cut oats

Bring the water to a boil and stir in the oats. Let the water and oats come back to a boil then reduce to medium-low heat. Let the oats simmer with the lid slightly ajar, stirring frequently so the oats doesn't stick to the bottom.  This will take 20-30 minutes depending on how chewy or soft you like your oatmeal.  Remove from heat and divide portions into individual bowls. Stir in your favorite toppings like milk, sweeteners, nuts, and fruits.  Makes about 4-6 servings.

Here's a tip - buy bulk and you'll save a ton of money because you can buy as little or as much as you like.  My local Wholefoods sells it for just $1.19/lb!

Zucchini Muffins

It's been a while since I baked so I decided to dust off my mixer and muffin pan for some yummy zucchini bread. I was looking back and noticed that I made zucchini bread when I first started this blog. I must have been very lazy at that time because I didn't post the recipe.  I couldn't recall where I found the recipe so I had to sort through all my printouts in my old recipe binder and tada!  I found it!  I've adapted the recipe to include whole wheat flour and less sugar.

Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from Joy Joy of Baking


1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 cup peeled and grated apple (about 1 large apple)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)


Preheat oven to 350 F and place rack in center of oven. Coat each muffin cup with cooking spray or butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Beat in the grated zucchini and apple. Pour in the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the nuts and coconut.

Distribute the batter equally into the muffin cups, filling them up to the top. Bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove the muffins form the pan and let cool.

Makes about 12-14 muffins. (I had more batter than was needed for 12 muffins so I made a couple of mini muffins).

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I had a lemon that's been sitting in my fridge for a long time.  I finally decided to make lemon poppy seed muffins with it this past weekend.  Blogger, Elise, from Simply Recipes based her recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  The muffins turned out very light and fluffy.  I followed the recipe to the T except I was a little short on yogurt and I added a teaspoon of almond extract.  I love the smell of almond flavor.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder (no more than 6 months old)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 T poppy seeds
10 T unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 T lemon zest

Glaze
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Directions:
1.  Adjust oven rack to the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt and set aside.
3.  In a large mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy (about 2 minutes with an electric mixer).  Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one.  Beat in lemon zest.
4.  Beat in one third of the dry ingredients until just incorporated.  Beat in one third of the yogurt.  Keep beating in the remaining dry ingredients and yogurt, alternating between each until just incorporated.  Do not over beat.
5.  Use a standard 12 muffin pan.  Coat each muffin cup with oil or butter with a pastry brush or line the cups with muffin cups like I did.  Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups.  Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.  Test with a toothpick to make sure they center of the muffins are done.  Set muffin pan on wire rack to cool.  After 5 minutes, remove muffins from pan.
6.  While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze.  Add more lemon juice if necessary.  While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pasty brush to brush the glaze over each muffin.  I just drizzled the glaze over the muffins with a spoon.  


Makes 12 muffins.  Best eaten fresh and warm!

Buttermilk Cranberry Scones

I made these scones last night and they were delicious. We leave in a few days to go on our vacation and I needed to use up the buttermilk I have leftover from baking a red velvet cake for my sister's birthday over the weekend. The scones were very moist and reminded me of biscuits. I would definitely make these again.

Buttermilk Cranberry Scones
From Pinch My Salt

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped fine

finely grated zest from one small lemon (about 2 teaspoons)

heavy cream (optional, for brushing tops of scones)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Add butter chunks and toss lightly with flour; place bowl in fridge.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, and lemon zest; place bowl in fridge.
4. Get organized: measure out and chop the cranberries; set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat; set aside. Lightly dust a counter top with flour. Pour a little bit of heavy cream in a bowl and have a pastry brush handy.
5. Remove bowls of flour and buttermilk from fridge. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender or rub together with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add cranberries and stir to combine.
6. Add buttermilk mixture all at once to flour mixture and stir until the mixture clumps together. Dump mixture out onto floured counter top and, with floured hands, gather into a ball and knead once or twice to combine everything. Pat into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 8 slices, like a pie, or cut with biscuit or cookie cutters into whatever shape you prefer. Put scones on lined baking sheet and brush lightly with heavy cream (optional).
7. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove to cooling rack.

Banana Bread

This past weekend, my mom gave me some bananas to take home since they had a lot. Apparently, my dad saw a sale and bought a box full of them. They were pretty ripe so I decided to let them sit a few more days to make banana bread. This is a foolproof recipe and the bread is incredibly moist. Except one time I mistook tapioca starch for baking soda and I was puzzled for days before I realized why my bread didn't rise. Funny story. Anyway, I love this recipe because no mixer is needed which means one less thing to wash! I substituted 1/2 cup sugar with brown sugar and added some walnuts to the recipe.



Banana Bread
Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted [optional]

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan and sprinkle walnuts on top. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.