Blueberry buckle

I know, blueberries aren't exactly in season anymore...but...this will be an exercise in using your imagination. Pretend it's a lovely June day (but don't pretend you're in Texas; you'll melt. Try Indiana or Pennsylvania or somewhere up north). Clear blue skies, a few wispy clouds here and there, an occasional breeze. You're relaxing on a hammock, perhaps with a book in hand (put away your iPod; listen to those birds chirping!). Lunch was a few hours ago, and what better mid-afternoon snack than a piece of blueberry buckle (coffeecake), perhaps topped off with a dollop of whipped cream?

Sounds good, huh? Terribly sorry if this now has you longing for those relaxing summer days of yesteryear. You may not be able to lounge on a hammock right now (or at least not without a couple of blankets and a stack of [home]work), but you can still enjoy the deliciousness of this blueberry buckle recipe. You don't even have to have fresh blueberries (though fresh is always preferable); I used frozen berries when I made this, and it turned out just fine.

Blueberry buckle

For the cake:

2 cups and 1-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (separated)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 pint blueberries (again, I used frozen blueberries; I let them thaw a little in the refrigerator before using)

For the topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (like yesterday's recipe, I keep the butter cold and then cut into recipe with a pastry blender)

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease an 8-inch springform pan (I just used a regular 8x8 baking dish). Set aside.

2. Sift together the 2 cups of flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Set aside.

3. In separate bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk.

4. Toss the blueberries with the remaining 1-2 tablespoons of flour (to separate and scatter evenly through the batter). Fold into mixture.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Set aside.

6. Combine topping ingredients with a fork or pastry blender to make a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle over batter.

7. Bake for one hour, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Cranberry apple crisp

'Tis the season for cranberries and apples, and so I was super excited recently to come across this recipe for cranberry apple crisp. Sweet and tangy and bursting with color (I know, now I sound like a commercial), this is the perfect dessert to enjoy on a cool fall day (perhaps topped with a bit of vanilla ice cream!).

Cranberry apple crisp

3/4 cup orange juice

2 cups white sugar (the second time I made this, I reduced the amount of sugar to about 1 1/2 cups)

5 cups fresh cranberries (I think I probably only used about 4 - 4 1/2 cups)

4 Gala apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup butter (the original recipe says the butter should be softened, but personally, I think it works better if it's cold -- but that's probably because I use a pastry blender to cut it in)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x12 baking dish.

Heat the orange juice, sugar, and about half the cranberries in a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer until the cranberries pop, stirring occasionally.

Mix in the apples and the rest of the cranberries. Remove from heat, allow to cool for several minutes, and then pour into prepared baking dish.

In a bowl, mix together the pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oats. Stir/cut in the butter until thoroughly incorporated. Pour over fruit mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the oat topping has begun to brown.

Enjoy it warm (with vanilla ice cream!) or cold.

"Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns!"

-- George Eliot

Homemade applesauce

Surprise, it's me! I am sooo far behind on posting, but I've been so busy recently there just hasn't been time for it. I have still been baking, though, so maybe eventually I'll get around to posting the recipes and photos from some of these ventures.

Originally I planned on doing my Vintage Recipe Thursday post today, but about two paragraphs in, I realized that I don't actually have the recipe with me...yep, that's a fail. I'm in Florida right now sibling-sitting while my dad and stepmom are out of the country, and though I considered bringing my little recipe book with me that contains all the family recipes, I ended up leaving it at home. What was I thinking? Not smart. But, nothing I can do about it tonight, so rather than posting a vintage family recipe, here's a super easy and incredibly yummy one that my brother and I used yesterday:

Homemade Applesauce

- 8 apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)

- 1 cup water

- 1/4 cup sugar (note: the original recipe called for 1/2 cup, but the apples I used were pretty sweet, so 1/4 cup was plenty)

- cinnamon to taste

James using this super cool, handy-dandy gadget that peels, cores, and slices the apples for you. Amazing.

1. Put the apples and water in a saucepan; cover and bring to a boil.

2. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in sugar; let dissolve.

4. Add cinnamon.

5. Mash/blend apples to desired consistency.

6. Serve warm or cold.

So delicious!

Raspberry peach cobbler

This week's recipe is one of my favorites as of late; I've made it probably 4-5 times over the past month or so because not only is it really easy, but it's also pretty popular with my coworkers (to whom I pass off the majority of my baked goods in order that I won't eat them all myself!).

This recipe comes from my Gramma Dunwoody (as did the apple crisp recipe I posted the other day). Though most of my childhood baking was done with my mother, I do have a vivid memory of helping my Gramma make granola in the cozy kitchen of her mountain farmhouse in North Carolina (though "helping", I'm sure, is a relative term!).

Such a fun memory! So grateful for the time I was able to spend with my grandparents when I was younger, as well as for more recent visits I've had with them.

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.

- Alex Haley

Raspberry peach cobbler

1 stick margarine

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

approximately 2-3 cups fruit (I've been using one large peach and 1 pint raspberries)

Preheat oven to 325F (350F for metal pans). Melt margarine in 8x8 baking dish as the oven heats.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in milk; batter may be slightly lumpy. When butter has melted, pour flour/milk mixture into baking dish; stir slightly but do not combine.

Spread fruit over mixture.

Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until cake tests done. (The original recipe says 35-45 minutes, but I usually have to leave it in longer.)

Enjoy by itself or topped with vanilla ice cream!

Aja's Lemon Tea Cake

I haven't done a whole lot of baking with lemon in the past (hmm, come to think of it, I'm not sure I'd ever baked with lemon prior to yesterday), but I have a feeling it's going to become much more of a regular occurrence from here on out. Just in the past few days, I've come across so many delicious-looking lemony recipes that I'm excited to try out, plus there's just something so refreshing about lemons that makes them even more fun to use (I know, that was an obvious statement - lemony fresh! - but still. It's true.).

Anyway, one of my lovely coworkers had a birthday on Sunday, so I told her I would bake her something in celebration. Her only request was that it have lemon in it, and so I commenced my perusal of several different food blogs in quest of an idea. I finally narrowed it down to two choices: lemon tarts and lemon tea cake, both of which looked amazing, and then after much deliberation (and due to time constraints and lack of tart molds), I decided to make the cake. (I do, though, plan on acquiring tart molds at some point in the near future and giving the other recipe a try!)

I took a few pictures while I was baking and then after the cake was finished, but none of them turned out very well, so if you want to see what the cake actually looks like, click on the link above for photos from the blog where I originally found this recipe (I can almost guarantee they'll make your mouth water).

This was a pretty easy recipe to make, and I think it turned out pretty well. Next time, though, I'll be sure to chop the lemon zest more; I personally wasn't a fan of getting chewy bites of it from time to time. But anyway, here's the recipe:

Lemon Syrup Tea Cake

For the cake:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup + 1 tablespoon self-rising cake flour*

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk

* You can also substitute 3/4 cup + 3/4 teaspoon all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt for the self-rising cake flour.

For the syrup:

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons (about 4 tablespoons)

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

To make the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and line the loaf pan with parchment paper (note: parchment paper and wax paper are NOT the same).

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, beating well.

3. Sift in the flour and salt, folding in gently. Add the milk; combine well.

4. Spoon the cake batter into the loaf pan.

5. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden.

To make the syrup:

1. While the cake is baking, combine the lemon juice and confectioners syrup in a saucepan.

2. Heat until sugar dissolves completely; set aside.

Putting them together:

1. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, puncture all over the top with a toothpick.

2. Pour the syrup over the cake.

3. Allow to cool before removing from pan to avoid crumbling. (I was a little pressed for time and didn't let it cool all the way; it did indeed crumble. Oh well.)

Enjoy!

I know it's Saturday, but...

Whilst perusing various cooking blogs yesterday, I came across this fun idea:

Vintage Recipe Thursday (VRT) is meant to preserve your own original vintage family recipes, or out-of-print, copyright-free recipes from old cookbooks, magazines, newspapers or postcards.

Each Thursday, those who have joined this "blog community" post such recipes on their own blogs, as well as link to the Joy of Desserts vintage recipe post each week. Since, obviously, I love baking, and I also have quite a plethora of family recipes that have been passed down through the generations, I am quite excited to jump on this bandwagon and post a well-loved and memorable family recipe each week. So excited, in fact, that I'm cheating and starting today because I just don't want to wait 5 more days (patience, perhaps, is something I'm still learning!). So, here's my first contribution to Vintage Recipe Thursday, from a little cookbook my mom put together for me for my 18th birthday:

Apple Crisp

3-4 medium apples, sliced (I usually don't bother peeling them, but go ahead if you'd like!)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (if you want; this is my own recent addition to this recipe)

1 stick margarine

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Place apple slices in 8 x 8 baking dish.

3. Sift together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.

4. Add margarine and crumble together until fairly well-mixed.

5. Sprinkle over apples.

6. Bake for 30 minutes.

And that's it! Super easy and super yummy! Enjoy!

Super simple baguette

Seriously. This is probably the easiest bread I've ever made, and it's reeeaaally good. Serve it alongside soup or chili...use it for sandwiches or french bread pizza...eat it plain... There are lots of ways to enjoy this yummy bread!

Ingredients

1 packet active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cups water (105 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit)

4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. With a wooden spoon, stir in two cups of flour until combined.

3. Stir in salt and two cups of remaining flour until mixture forms a stiff dough.

4. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough with lightly floured hands until smooth and elastic, kneading in enough of the last 1/2 cup of the flour to keep dough from sticking.

5. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled deep bowl. Turn to coat lightly with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let dough rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Preheat oven to 475 F. For best results (chewy interior and crusty exterior of the bread), place a dutch oven or pan filled with water in the oven to create a humid environment.

7. Punch down dough and form into a long slender loaf about 21 inches long and 3 inches wide (or, divide dough into multiple loaves).

8. Put loaf diagonally on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, about 30 minutes.

9. Make 3 or 4 diagonal slashes on bread and lightly brush top with cool water.

10. Bake loaf in middle of oven for 30 minutes, or until golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Crumb-topped banana muffins

Recently, while searching for a new way to make use of the quite ripe bananas that frequently inhabit my kitchen (as I generally only eat the first half of each bunch that I buy and save the other few for baking purposes), I came across this fantastic recipe for crumb-topped banana muffins. It's fairly straight-forward but is very likely the best muffin recipe I've ever used, full of flavor and very moist.

This past weekend, I visited my grandparents in east Tennessee (and oh what a glorious time of year it is to be in this part of the country!). Upon walking into their kitchen, I was a tad bit excited to discover three very ripe bananas sitting there on the counter, just begging to be turned into a delightful little treat. How could I refuse? Especially since I got to use such cute utensils as these:

So I set to work, and within no time, the muffins were in the oven and the whole house was filled with a lovely aroma of banana and sugar and spice.

And, twenty minutes later, out of the oven they came, a fairly successful batch, if I do say so myself. However, the best part (for me, anyway) was packing several of these up and heading to the mountains to enjoy them along with the splendor of the magnificent fall afternoon that God gave us. Glorious, utterly glorious.

Anyway, whether or not you're able to get to the mountains to enjoy the lovely fall colors (which I highly recommend, if at all possible), perhaps you can at least make some yummy muffins and enjoy a beautiful sunrise/sunset wherever you are. So, grab some ripe bananas, and have fun!

Crumb-topped banana muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste

1 tablespoon cold butter

1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. In a large bowl, mix the first four ingredients.

2. In separate bowl, mix bananas, sugar, egg, and butter.

3. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just moistened.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. (If you don't use muffin cups, be sure to grease the muffin pan.)

5. Combine first three topping ingredients.

6. Cut in butter until crumbly.

7. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins test done.

9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chocolate espresso sandwich cookies

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." - Charles Schulz

I've joked several times recently that I think I'm on the verge of becoming addicted to reading food blogs, and though that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it is true that I could easily spend hours perusing the many delectable recipes contained on these sites and dreaming of future baking endeavors. This particular recipe - chocolate espresso sandwich cookies - comes from one such blog that I discovered on the first night of my VIA baking frenzy (a blog to which I'm sure I will be going back frequently for more great recipes). Though these cookies weren't necessarily my favorite, I was told that customers loved them and were asking for the recipe. So, with no further ado, here it is:

Chocolate espresso sandwich cookies

For the filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces white chocolate, finally chopped

1/2 teaspoon flavored VIA

For the cookies:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon mocha-flavored VIA

15 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 3/4-inch pieces

To make the filling:

1.

In a small saucepan,

bring the cream to boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate and VIA

. Make sure all the chocolate is covered by the cream. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk the white chocolate until completely melted.

2. Transfer the filling to a small bowl and let it cool to room temperature. The original recipe says to then cover it and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes until a thick consistency is reached, but I forgot to do this both times and it seemed to work out fine. So, either way :) If you do refrigerate the filling and it gets too hard, you can microwave it for a few seconds.

To make the cookies:

1.

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. The original recipe says to use a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; as you see, my mixer is a 30+ year-old 3-speed handheld without any special attachments...and it worked just fine. So, whichever type you have, combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and mocha-flavored VIA in a large bowl.

With the mixer running, add the butter a few pieces at a time. The mixture will have a sandy texture at first and then will begin to form pebble-size pieces. As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop the mixer.

3.

Transfer the dough to a board and use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to shape the dough into a block about 5 by 7 inches. Cut the block into two pieces.

4.

One at a time, roll each block of dough between two pieces of lightly floured parchment paper until about 1/8-inch thick. Using a cookie cutter (or whatever round object you have on hand; oddly enough, there was not a round cookie cutter to be found in my assortment of shapes, so I had to improvise), cut into 2 inch rounds. Place 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking. Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for 2-5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely.

To assemble the cookies:

1. Place half of the cookies upside-down on a work surface. Whip the filling lightly with a whisk to loosen it. It will lighten in color and fluff up. Don't overwhip or the filling may begin to separate.

2. If you have this/want to be fancy, transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. I just used a teaspoon. Pipe or dollop one teaspoon of filling in the center of each upside-down cookie. Gently, using your fingers, press the cookies together until the filling comes just to the edges.

And there you have it!