Recipe #77: Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins

I tried this recipe with both raspberries and blueberries to use up buttermilk from another recipe. It was pretty good. I'd definitely be willing to try it again, though I would like to find a healthy muffin recipe.

Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins
From Allrecipes.com

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries*

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and buttermilk; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in berries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes or until browned.

Recipe #76: Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
From Cooking Light

* 2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
* 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
* 3 tablespoons dark rum
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
* Cooking spray
* 1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
* 1/2 cup powdered sugar
* 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice


Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe #75: Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal

Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal
From Food Network’s Ellie Krieger

* 1 3/4 cups water
* 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats, or Quick Cooking Oats
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup dried cherries
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons cherry jam, or to taste
* 1/4 cup 1 percent low-fat milk, plus more to taste

Put water, oats, salt and cherries into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes for Old Fashioned Oats, or 1 minute for Quick Cooking Oats. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and cherry jam. Put into serving bowls and pour 2 tablespoons of milk over each bowl.

Recipe #59: White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
from Bon Appetit Magazine via Epicurious.com

18 vanilla wafer cookies
1 cup almonds, toasted
4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 ounces imported white chocolate (such as Lindt), chopped
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened, thawed, drained
1 8-ounce container sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2-pint baskets raspberries or one 1-pint basket strawberries
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place large piece of foil on heavy large baking sheet. Set 8x2-inch bottomless heart-shaped cake pan atop foil. (If unavailable, use 8-inch springform pan; omit foil.) Wrap foil around outside and 1 inch up sides of pan. Butter foil and pan. Finely grind cookies and almonds in processor. Add butter and blend until mixture forms very moist crumbs. Using plastic wrap as aid, press crumbs firmly onto bottom and 2 inches up sides of pan. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool. Maintain oven temperature.

For Filling:
Melt white chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water until smooth, stirring often. Remove from over water. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and peel in large bowl until smooth. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined. Beat in white chocolate.

Spoon half of batter into crust. Top with 3/4 cup berries. Spoon remaining batter over. Bake until edges of cake are set but center 3 inches still moves when cake is shaken, about 45 minutes. Cool 20 minutes. Maintain oven temperature. Using fingertips, press down gently on edges of cheesecake to flatten slightly.

For topping:
Whisk sour cream, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Spoon over cake, spreading to edge of pan. Bake 5 minutes. Transfer cake in pan to rack. Run small knife around sides of cake. Cool completely. Chill cake overnight.

Fold down foil along sides of pan. Lift cake pan off cheesecake. Transfer cheesecake to platter, discarding foil. Cover cake with berries. Bring jam to simmer in small saucepan, stirring often. Gently brush jam over berries. (Can be prepared 3 hours ahead; chill.)

Recipe #54: Pumpkin Muffins

I am making pumpkin muffins for us to take to work each day this week for breakfast. After I started the recipe, I realized that I was making as many substitutions as I was using the recommended ingredients. Some of the substitutions are ones that people recommended in reviews of the recipes, while others were because I didn't have all of the ingredients. We'll see how they turn out...

Pumpkin Muffins
from Food Network's Ellie Krieger

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I doubled the amount)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I doubled the amount)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I doubled the amount)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I doubled the amount)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses ( I used pure maple syrup instead)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (I used plain yogurt)
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Recipe #51: German Chocolate Cake

German Sweet Chocolate Cake
from A Taste of Georgia published by the Newnan Junior League

4 ounces of German chocolate
½ cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Heat the oven at 350 degrees. Melt chocolate in boiling water; let cool. Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and chocolate, beating well after each addition. Add flour with soda sifted in, alternately with buttermilk. Fold in egg whites. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 8 or 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. When cool, frost with Coconut Pecan Icing.


Coconut Pecan Icing

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cook milk, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract until thickened. Add coconut and pecans. Cool, then beat until it is of spreading consistency. Makes 2 ½ cups, enough for a 3-layer cake.

Recipe #50: Waffles (again)

Waffles
from Allrecipes.com

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
3 egg whites

Preheat waffle iron. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Blend in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.

Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray, or lightly brush with oil. Ladle the batter onto preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately.

Recipe #37: Buttermilk Waffles

I watched a few shows on Food Network this morning to try to get ideas of what I want to make this week. An episode of "Down Home with the Neely's" inspired me to make waffles again. Last week's recipe was delicious, but it was also pretty time consuming. I am hoping that this recipe will be a little easier.

Buttermilk Waffles
from Food Network's Cooking with the Neely's

3 large eggs, separated
Pinch cream of tartar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks butter plus 1 tablespoons, melted
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with a hand mixer until stiff peaks appear.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk, vanilla and 2 sticks of melted butter.

Into a large bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

Combine with the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Fold the whites into the batter, gently.

Grease the waffle iron with a small amount of melted butter and heat the waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Ladle batter onto the waffle iron and cook until golden brown, about 3 1/2 to 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter

Recipe #31: Belgian Waffles

One of the things that we bought with the Macy's gift cards that we were given as wedding gifts is a belgian waffle iron. We thought that waffles and fruit would be a fun weekend morning treat. None of the waffle recipes that I found online jumped out at me, so I used the Joy of Cooking's recipe for belgian waffles. It ended up being a longer process than I had expected, but the result was very good and was worth it. The waffles were also pretty good heated up a few days after.

Belgian Waffles
from The Joy of Cooking

Whisk together:

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm (105 to 115 degree F) milk

Let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about five minutes. Whisk together in a large bowl:

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

Whisk in the yeast mixture along with:

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add, in three parts:
4 cups all-purpose flour

Alternating, in 2 parts, with:
2 1/2 cups warm (105 to 115 degree F) milk

Beat until soft peaks form then fold into the batter:
3 large egg whites

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Stir to deflate the batter.Preheat your waffle iron. Follow your waffle iron's directions.