Wholesome Blueberry Muffins

There is definitely no confusing these muffins with cupcakes.

I've found sometimes that line is close to indistinguishable.  For example, at grocery stores, I can buy chocolate chocolate chip muffins (and I even make a mean version of these), chocolate cherry hazelnut muffins, strawberry and cream muffins.  They have close to the same, light crumb as cupcakes, they are just missing the icing.  I've also made blueberry muffins which were a nice light yellow in color that my husband harassed me for being cupcakes.  The handheld pastry definitions seem to blur easily....cupcakes masquerading as muffins because they lack frosting,  muffins masquerading as scones because they are triangular.  (I've had these fabulous "scones" at the farmers market that have the texture of muffins, but are triangular.  If Brits saw those, I know they would be appalled and believe even more that us Americans are nuts.)

But I have digressed so far.  These muffins are not cupcakes.  They can not disguise themselves as scone if they shifted shapes.  They are muffin.  They are a little ragged on top.  In my efforts to make my food that I eat matter more, I took a basic Moosewood muffin recipe and changed the grains a bit---substituting part of the white flour for whole wheat flour and hemp seeds.  I used less sugar than most people would.

Verdict.  Pretty good.  Rather addicting in fact.  The first bite is a bit of surprise because these aren't overly sweet and have a very nutty flavor because of the hemp seeds.  However, once we each finished our first one, all four of us (the boys, a neighbor boy, and myself) had a second and a third one.

Of course, you could just use 2 c of white flour or throw in flax seeds instead of hemp seeds or just increase the amount of whole wheat flour.  You could also use 3/4 c of sugar.  Additionally, you could substitute other fillings as you desire--they should just equal 2 cups.  As you can tell, this recipe is more of a template than formula.  Play around until you find your ultimate morning muffin that may even leave you feeling a bit good about yourself.

This makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Wholesome Blueberry Muffins
based off a recipe from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c hemp seeds
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
1 c frozen blueberries

6 T butter, at room temperature
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c plus 2 T milk
1/2 t vanilla
1 c pecans and/or walnuts, chopped

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, hemp seeds, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Gently stir in the blueberries (flour on the blueberries before mixing with the wet ingredients prevents them to sinking to the bottom of the muffins).  In a separate medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth, using an electric mixer.  Beat in the egg, then add the milk and vanilla.  The mixture will probably look lumpy and curdled (from the cold milk hitting the warmer butter).  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients  and fold together with a rubber spatula, being careful not overmix and break up those lovely blueberries.  Spoon about 1/3 c batter into each greased or paper lined muffin tin.  Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

Enjoy.

Feel Good About Yourself Breakfast Quinoa

In this new year, I am trying to better control my caloric and sugar intake.  I partook too much over the holidays and I wasn't feeling great physically, so I decided it was time to be more intentional.

However, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy food.  For example, last night we went to friends' house for supper and I took dessert.  I had been craving Chocolate Bread Pudding so that's what I made.  As I poured 2 c of heavy cream and 2 c of whole milk (not lowfat or nonfat the recipe specifically said), I cringed, imagining what this would do to my daily sugar intake, especially when I knew I was going to top this with Bourbon Pecan Caramel Sauce.

Oh, did I enjoy that bread pudding.  It was so incredible.  I suspect I'll dream about it for awhile.  I left a great deal of the leftovers with my pregnant friend, so I wouldn't need to finish all of it myself, because I would.  And I would have totally enjoyed it too.

However, this morning I wanted something that would make me feel more nutritionally good about myself.  I needed something to help get me back on the straight and narrow, food wise.

This was my answer.  I found it on 101cookbooks.com--the food blog for people who love food and want to eat more healthily.  I must admit, I didn't love this recipe when I had it.  A little salt helped a bit.  What won me over though was the fact that 3 hours after breakfast I wasn't hungry.  That did wonders for the recipe and convinced me to make it again.

This will serve 2 (which is enough for that because the kids aren't impressed).

Breakfast Quinoa
from 101cookbooks.com

1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1/2 c quinoa (red, black, white, doesn't matter)
1/4 t cinnamon
1 c fresh or frozen berries (of course fresh is best, but in January, frozen will do)
1/4 c chopped pecans, toasted if desired
dash of salt
2 t honey or agave nectar (optional--I left this off my accident and didn't miss it at all)

In a small saucepan, bring water, milk, and quinoa to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed the liquid.  While the quinoa cooks, toast the pecans in a preheated 325 degrees over for 5 or so minutes, until the pecans are fragrant.  Remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon and berries (if you are using frozen berries, you may put it over low heat to keep the quinoa from becoming cold from the frozen berries).  Sprinkle with toasted pecans.  Feel good about yourself for the morning

Blueberry Crumb Cake

In Virginia, I ate incredible blueberries from both my aunt's blueberry bushes and the farmer's market. It made me sad about the lack of flavorful, fresh blueberries I was finding in my farmer's market in Texas. Low and behold, within a week, I discovered Central Market had Texas grown blueberries. I bought a pint, a little scared to hope for too much. They were incredible!! Two days later, I was back, buying two more pints and Curtis was dreaming of a blueberry crumb cake for breakfast.

I discovered just the recipe to try--Dorie Greenspan came through for me again! The cake was wonderful. Hopefully, the store will have Texas blueberries again so I can make this again this summer. I am also looking forward to making it again in the winter with frozen blueberries when I need a reminder of summer and sunshine. Do I need to say how we all loved it? Well, mostly. M only wanted to eat the streusel off the top, but that suited me fine. The streusel was my least favorite part.

This makes approximately 8 servings, depending on how big the pieces are.

Blueberry Crumb Cake
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the streusel:
5 T butter, at room temperature
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 c pecans, chopped (optional)

For the cake:
1 pint (2 c) blueberries (fresh or frozen, unthawed)
2 c plus 2 t flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2/3 c sugar
1/2 lemon, grated zest only
6 T butter, at room temperature
2 lg eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk

For the streusel: Put butter, sugar, light brown sugar, flour, and salt in the food processor. Pulse until mixtures forms clumps and holds together when pressed. Stir in nuts, if using. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For the cake: Toss the blueberries with 2 t flour (this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 c flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a mixing bowl, rub the sugar and zest together until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add butter, and beat in an electric mixture at medium speed until mixture is light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Gently stir in berries with a rubber spatula. Put the cake in a buttered 9" diameter springform pan or an 8" square pan. Top with streusel mixture, breaking up mixture into pieces as you scatter the top. Press them down slightly into the batter. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 45 - 50 minutes for a 9" round pan or 55 - 65 minutes for an 8" square pan, or until top is golden and a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool, removing the sides (if using a springform pan).

Orange Blueberry Muffins

I don't love citrus plain. Grapefruit, is the exception, but even then, I grow tired of eating it. Thankfully, M loves oranges and I can feed her oranges almost every day for snacks. I like using citrus in baking (what don't I like using in baking?) and was thrilled to find this simple blueberry muffin recipe that had and orange in it. I was able to pull out some of the blueberries I had frozen over the summer to throw in these muffins, which made them even better (because it didn't involve a trip to the grocery store). We all loved them.

Orange Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

grated zest and juice of 1 orange
about 3/4 c buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 T honey
1/2 c butter, melted and cooled
1/3 c sugar
2 c all purpose flour (or up to 1 c whole wheat flour and 1 c white flour)
1 T baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 c blueberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed)

Pour the orange juice into a measuring cup. Pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 c. Pour into small bowl and whisk with honey, eggs, and butter. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar smells strongly of oranges. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir quickly, but gently to blend. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups (either with muffin papers or greased). Bake in a preheated 400 degrees oven for 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to rack, cool 5 minutes, and then enjoy!

Watermelon, Lemonade, Blueberry Popsicles

We are enjoying these popsicles greatly. They are a huge step up from the kool-ade popsicles from when I was a kid. They are rather time intensive for popsicles. Make sure you start them at least a day ahead of when you want to eat them. I think we will making lots of plain watermelon popsicles this summer and save these for special occasions. They would make great 4th of July popsicles with their red, white, and blue (or Bastille Day if you want to celebrate France's independence day later in July).

A warning---these are really messy for kids to eat. The lemon melts the slowest which means a lot of the blueberry ends up on the kid. Ideally, the lemon would be a the bottom. However, then you wouldn't have the nice color contrasts and sweet/sour contrasts. It would be a whole lot cleaner though.

I think next time I make this, I may add less sugar to the watermelon--it was really sweet. I also used lemonade instead of lemon juice to make the process a little easier.

Popsicles!
from Bon Appetit

Watermelon Ice
2 1/2 c (1/2" cubes) seeded watermelon
1/4 c sugar

Lemon ice
1/2 c water
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 t vanilla extract
(or 1 1/4 fresh squeezed lemonade)

Blueberry ice
2 c fresh blueberries
1 c water
5 T sugar
1 t fresh lemon juice

Materials
8 (5-oz) disposable paper cups (small Dixie cups)
8 popsicle sticks or wooden coffee stirrers

Blend watermelon and sugar in a food processor until smooth. Strain puree into bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much fruit as possible. Place cups in shallow baking pan (I used a round cake pan). Spoon watermelon puree into cups, about 3 T in each. Freeze until mixture is almost frozen, about 2 hours. Cover cups with rounds of foil, sealing tightly at edges. Push popsicle stick through slit and securely into watermelon ice without hitting bottom of the cup. Freeze until watermelon ice is solid, about 1 hour longer.

Bring 1/2 c water and sugar to boil in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. remove from heat. Mix in lemon juice, orange juice, and vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Place frozen watermelon popsicles on work surface. Carefully remove foil. Spoon lemonade into cups, about 3 T into each cup. Reseal foil. Freeze until lemonade is solid, about 2 hours.

Stir blueberries, 1 c water, and sugar in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Boil until berries are very soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Strain mixture into small bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much fruit as possible. Mix in lemon juice. Cool to room temperature. Place pan with frozen pops on work surface. Carefully remove foil. Spoon blueberry mixture into cups, a little more than 3 T in each. Reseal foil. Freeze until frozen solid, about 8 hours.

Berry Jam Muffins

These are my new favorite blueberry muffins. You can use any berry in these, I've tried both raspberries and blueberries, but I prefer blueberry. You can also use any berry jam in these as well. They make just a dozen and don't last very long at all.

Berry Jam Muffins
adapted from Joy the Baker who adapted it from the Gourmet Cookbook

6 T unsalted butter
1/3 c milk (whole milk is preferable, but skim works fine)
1 lg egg
1 lg egg yolk
3/4 t vanilla
1 c flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 - 1 c frozen or fresh blueberries (or whatever berry you may have that you want to use)
3 T strawberry, blueberry, or blackberry jam (or any other berry jam--that's just the ones I've used)

For the topping
1 1/2 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/4 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar

Melt butter. Whisk in milk, egg, yolk, and vanilla until well combined. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a separate medium bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Gently but thoroughly fold in berries and jam. Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and stir (using your fingers if necessary, which always is for me) until crumbly. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups lined with cupcake papers. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter in muffin tin. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven on the rack in the upper third of the oven until the muffins are golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 - 22 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes, then remove muffins from the tin. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Blueberry Hill Cupcakes

I've been in a blueberry mood (thanks to buying 3 flats of berries this summer). When M's birthday approached I decided to try a blueberry cake. I knew she'd be fine with it, she only eats the icing anyway. I used the cake as a base for a cake we decorated. As a cake this seems like a cake. In cupcake form, Curtis says they are more like muffins (which brings to wonder, what is the difference between muffins and cupcakes? I'd say whole wheat flour and lots of added in chunky ingredients. I don't think there is enough extra ingredients or whole wheat flour to make these muffins...) The original recipe, which you can find on Epicurious, has a maple sugar frosting. I used a basic white fluffy icing so I could color and decorate with the icing. You can also make this as a 9 x 13" cake, just bake longer.

The recipe...

Blueberry Hill Cupcakes
from Bon Appetit

3 1/4 c flour (all purpose)
1 1/4 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t coarse salt
1/4 t baking soda
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c canola oil
2 large eggs
1 c buttermilk
1 c whole milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 t grated lemon peel
1 1/4 c fresh blueberries, frozen 4 hours (to help them from sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes)

Sift flour and next 4 ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk melted butter and oil in a medium bowl. Add eggs; whisk to blend. Whisk in buttermilk, milk, vanilla extract, and lemon peel. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just to blend. Stir in frozen blueberries. Divide batter evenly among two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for about 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. (if baking on two racks in the oven, rotate half way through baking to ensure even baking). Transfer cupcakes to racks and cool completely before icing.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Really? Need I say more than this picture? My favorite blueberry treat (other than just plain, fresh blueberries) are these bars. They're a hit with the family too. :) Curtis thinks they're pretty good for breakfast or a mid-morning snack.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

1 c white sugar
1 t baking powder
2 c flour
1 c rolled oats
1 c butter
1 egg
1/4 t salt (optional)
1/2 t cinnamon
4 c fresh blueberries
1/2 c white sugar
3 t cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 c sugar, flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix in salt, if desired. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, gently mix together blueberries, 1/2 c sugar, and cornstarch. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Blueberry Pudding Cake

I splurged and bought a flat of blueberries at the Farmer's Market. They taste absolutely wonderful. I froze 3 2-cup bags for later use (freezing blueberries are quite easy. Wash them and then dry them gently on dish towels. Put in a bag and throw in the freezer). The rest we are eating plain or using in recipes. I choose a recipe I wanted to use and Curtis gave specific directions for what type of recipe he wanted. This was his recipe. It is a wonderful recipe---cake like on top, gooey blueberries on the bottom. J loved it (evidence is the messy blueberry face and hands). M didn't, which we didn't mind. We will definitely make this again!!

Blueberry Pudding Cake
straight from Gourmet, July 2005

1/3 c plus 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 t cornstarch
2 c blueberries (approx. 10 oz)
1 c flour
1 3/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 large egg
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 t vanilla

Stir together 1/3 c sugar with water, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small saucepan, then stir in blueberries. Bring to a simmer, then simmer, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/2 c sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, butter, and vanilla in a large. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking until just combined. Spoon batter into a buttered 9-inch square baking pan, spreading evening. Pour blueberry mixture evenly over batter (before picture at top--berries will sink--as noted in the after picture). Bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of cake portion comes out clean. Cool on rack and serve warm, topped with ice cream. Store leftovers at covered at room temperature (if there is some left after that, store in the refrigerator).