Blueberry Coffee Cake

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Unknown   Februari 02, 2015   Comment  

Do you get the urge to bake when it is cold and wet and stormy outside? I sure do. Today was one of those days - with a winter storm giving me a snow day and putting me in the mood to bake.

I decided to make a version of Ann's blueberry coffee cake (from On Sutton Place). Naturally I can't just make a recipe as is, but have to tweak it somewhat. The husband and I are trying to eat healthier so I cut down on the sugar slightly, used whole wheat flour, and added sunflower seeds. After a long snow-shoveling session this afternoon I had a piece of cake and a cup of tea, and man, did it taste great. 

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup margarine or soft butter
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
For topping: 
1/3 c. Sugar 
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup soft butter or margarine

METHOD:
1. Mix the first four ingredients together.
2. Add the baking powder and flour in a separate bowl.
3. Add slowly to butter-sugar mixture.
4. Fold in blueberries
5. Pour into 8 x 8 greased pan.
6. Sprinkle topping over blueberry batter.
7. Bake at 350F for 40 – 50 min. or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Christmas Cookie Week - Speculaas Cookies

Christmas Cookie Week - Speculaas Cookies

Unknown   Desember 05, 2014   Comment  

 

The Speculaas cookies I made last year were such a hit that I had to make them again this Christmas. Last year I used the cookie plank I was given when I lived in the Netherlands years ago. This year I wanted to try decorating them with almonds which I remember was often used on speculaas cookies in the Netherlands. It was fun to arrange the whole almonds and slivered almonds into flowers and stars or just into patterns. Sometimes I got lazy and just put an almond in the middle of the cookie though, which also looked good.

I always consider it a happy coincidence that my husband was born on the day when Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands (December 5th). When I met my husband I had just returned from living in Utrecht for a year and I loved that his birthday was on such an important Dutch holiday. Well that day is today and my handsome husband is celebrating a milestone birthday, which he feels the less said about the better. I however am quite excited about the plans I have cooked up (can't reveal anything on the blog in case he finds out though).  Happy Birthday Honey!

Christmas Cookie Week - Mom's Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Christmas Cookie Week - Mom's Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Unknown   Desember 04, 2014   Comment  

Last year I made M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were fantastic and very popular, but the life of a blogger is that you have to change things up. So this year I decided to make similar cookies, but with a slight variation - my Mom's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with festive M&Ms.

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
I cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 package Christmas M&Ms

Method:
1. Combine first five ingredients
2. Add flours, put soda on top and mix into flour
3. Beat into liquids
4. Add oats and raisins, sunflower seeds, and chocolate chips
5. Drop by teaspoon onto baking sheet
6. Bake 350F for 14-15 minutes. When there is about 5 minutes left on the baking time gently put a few M&Ms on each cookie. Makes 45 cookies.

I can never decide which I like better - chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Life is full of difficult decisions. So if you want regular chocolate chip cookies you can check out last year's post (here) or if you want oatmeal chocolate chip cookies you can give these ones a try. They both taste fantastic.

Christmas Cookie Week - Brownie Bites

Christmas Cookie Week - Brownie Bites

Unknown   Desember 03, 2014   Comment  

I know I have shared this recipe on the blog before, but it is a great tried-and-true recipe and you can never have too many of those. Our family loves brownies so I have to make them every year for the Christmas cookie plate. I thought long and hard about how to change them up this year and finally decided to make them into mini two-bite brownie muffins. 

I put chocolate chips into the batter rather than icing the brownies so they would be easier to freeze. Using chocolate chips might sound like a good idea, but I had my doubts when I tried to take the first batch of cooked brownies out of the tray. All the chocolate chips had stuck to the pan and most of the brownies came out broken into pieces. So I'm passing along my tip for how to avoid this problem. What I did was pour the batter into each well and then add a few chocolate chips on top and gently smooth some of the batter over the chocolate chips. That worked like a charm and the brownies all came out of the pans like they should after that.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup butter or margarine

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup chocolate chips (or more if you want a thicker icing)

Method:

1. Melt chocolate with butter in microwave on medium heat.

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Beat eggs, then gradually add in sugar.

4. Blend in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

5. Stir in flour mixture.

6. Spread in greased 8-inch square pan (or muffin pans)

7. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan.  

You can can see my usual easy brownie icing here and my brownie s'more version here.

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Don't forget to come back every day this week to see what other cookies and squares I made.

Christmas Cookie Week - Butter Tart Bars

Christmas Cookie Week - Butter Tart Bars

Unknown   Desember 02, 2014   Comment  

I love butter tarts so when I saw this recipe for butter tart bars in my recent Canadian House and Home magazine I thought they would be even better than making tarts - less fiddling around with crust and more of the yummy gooey filling. 

I understand that butter tarts are a Canadian delicacy and if you have never had one then you should run, not walk, to your kitchen and start baking right now because they are fantastic. Butter tarts are usually made with a flaky pie crust filled with a sweet, gooey, runny filling containing raisins, although they can also have chopped walnuts or pecans. These butter tart bars have a buttery shortbread crust with the usual gooey filling. 

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, so here is my version:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 cup butter, cold, diced

Filling: 

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 cups raisins

Method:

1. Grease 9 x 13 inch pan and place on a baking tray. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Combine flour and sugar to make crust and cut butter into mixture until it is a fine meal.

3. Press evenly into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

4. Combing filling ingredients in a bowl and blend together. Pour over crust, spreading evenly.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the filling is brown and is set. Cool completely and then cut into squares. 

I found the edges of my bars were a little overdone and didn't look as nice as the middle part ... so... I cut up the centre part into squares and froze them to be used at Christmastime and ate the outside bits. I know, I know, but someone had to do it. Another little tip that I will pass along is that they cut much more neatly when I let them sit for 24 hours. The crust came out with nice clean edges just the way it should rather than crumbling.

Have you had butter tarts? Are you a fan? This is a new recipe to me and one that I foresee becoming a family favourite.

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Don't forget to come back every day this week to see what other cookies and squares I made. 

Christmas Cookie Week - 3 Holiday Shortbread

Christmas Cookie Week - 3 Holiday Shortbread

Unknown   Desember 01, 2014   Comment  

Every year I make shortbread cookies using my Grandmother's recipe at Christmas time. Our family loves shortbread and it just wouldn't be Christmas without them. 

This year my friend Kim and I were discussing the merits of different Christmas cookies and she told me that every year she makes shortbread cookies and in addition to decorating most of them for Christmas, she also decorates a few for Valentine's Day and a few for St. Patrick's Day and puts them in the freezer. How clever is that?

So I decided to emulate my wise friend and that is what I did this year.

I cut out most of the shortbread cookies in traditional trees and stars and other Christmas shapes and decorated them with regular Christmas sprinkles until I had a lovely pile of red and green cookies.

And I also made some of the shortbreads in hearts and neutral shapes and decorated them with red and pink sprinkles. They are tucked away awaiting their debut in February.

And finally I decorated a few with only green sprinkles and sugar and will pull them out of the freezer in March. Won't they make a pretty addition to our St. Patrick's Day dinner.

How clever is that? I wish organizing all of life was that easy.

By the way, you can read about my Grandmother, whose shortbread cookie recipe we use every year, here (and see a picture of her and her house and the view from her kitchen window) and find the cranberry-orange shortbread variation I made a few years ago here.

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Don't forget to come back every day this week to see what other cookies and squares I made.