Lemony Blueberry Muffins

This is a mishmash between two Penzey's muffin recipes- I couldn't decide between them so I just put them together.

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1 1/2 cup sugar (I use Trader Joe's organic)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp apple pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups blueberries- 1/4 cup and 1 3/4 cups

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 TB sugar

Zest & juice of 1 lemon

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add a tiny pinch of lemon zest, a TB of lemon juice, vanilla, and the eggs one of a time.

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside.

Mash up the blueberries and keep the juice and mashed bits, then mix slowly into the batter.

Add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, and finally slowly beat in the rest of the flour.

Once the batter is smooth, gently fold in the last of the blueberries.

If you use frozen blueberries, like I did, the batter will be thick and almost mousse-like, and a little difficult to get into the paper-lined cupcake tins.

Put the 2TB of sugar into a small bowl, add another pinch of zest, and a hint of vanilla. Mix together into a streusel-like topping. Sprinkle it over the muffins before they go into the oven.

Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes.

Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup  granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract- I prefer Mexican vanilla for it's stronger flavor

Zest of 1 large lemon (outer yellow skin of lemon- this has to be done by hand but is essential. Don't skip it or substitute!)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup lemon juice- approximately the juice of one lemon- Again, you want to use real lemons, the flavor is 10x better

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Prepare your preferred pan type by greasing and lightly flouring- I like a bundt pan with a pretty design (it also holds the glaze beautifully) 
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, slowly.
Add the vanilla and lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the batter along with the lemon juice. Mix only until incorporated. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Batter will be thick.

Bake about 40 -45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool, then gently flip over the pan. 

Glaze: Combine sifted confectioners' sugar with 2 tablespoons lemon juice. (You want the icing to be thicker than a glaze but still thin enough that it will just run over the sides of the cake. If not the right consistency add more lemon juice or powdered sugar, accordingly.) Pour the frosting over the top of the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides. Let the icing set before covering.

This cake will keep for several days in an airtight container.

This recipe is adapted slightly from Joy of Baking.com

Read more:http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonFrostedLemonCake.html#ixzz1X5yWpKcB

Ok, well, it's been over a year since I've updated here. Um, oops?
But I have lots of new recipes and a new co-author! I'll let this lovely and talented lady introduce herself while I clean up my lemon cake recipe :)

I'm currently in Dublin, Ireland, and hopefully this week I'll be attempting these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Sour Cream Fudge Cake

(This recipe is nearly verbatim from the 90's edition of The Joy of Cooking)

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare two 8" or one 9x13" pan.

Either melt in double boiler (or mix up from cocoa powder like I did) until smooth

3oz unsweetened chocolate

and set aside for now.

Sift into a large bowl:

1 3/4 cup cake flour (if you don't have cake flour, scoop a cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 TB of the flour, then add 2 TB of cornstarch per cup of cake flour called for)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 Tsp baking soda

1 Tsp salt

Add and beat on high for 2 minutes:

1 cup sour cream

6 TB (aka 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Then add the chocolate,

2 large eggs

1 Tsp vanilla

1/4 hot water or coffee (I used 1/4 cup of haute chocolate tea from Teavana)

Beat for another 2 minutes and pour into pans, baking until a toothpick comes out clean.

For round pans, 20-25 minutes, for rectangular 25-40.

I didn't bother to frost this, it was so good, but the recipe suggests chocolate frosting, powdered sugar, or serving with whipped cream.

Personally, I'm thinking of serving it with a nice strong chai and fresh whipped cream...

Cranberry Apple Butter- with pics!

People look at me like I'm crazy when I say that canning apple butter is easy.

Seriously, it is.

The single hardest, most annoying part, is peeling the apples.

And ever since I got my handy-dandy apple peeler:

that's gone much faster.

I do rather miss peeling them by hand, though. There is an old superstition that if you peel an apple in a single long strip (hard,but do-able, trust me!) and throw it over your left shoulder, the peel will fall into the first initial of your true love's name.

I've never done it. Maybe you will.

Meanwhile:

1/2 peck peeled, chopped apples (the finer the better, and I used Honeycrisp in this batch)

1/2 cup brown sugar or honey (I prefer the flavor of darker sweeteners, but white sugar is fine)

1/2 can of cranberry sauce (I use whole cranberry sauce, but it's irrelevant)

1 tsp apple pie seasoning

Combine in a saucepan, set on simmer, and go about your business... trying desperately to resist the lure of the yummy smells coming from your stove.

The sugar will caramelize and turn brown- this is good and normal!

There's almost no maximum time to leave it- I've cooked my apples down anywhere from3 hours (on medium, stirring regularly) to in a crockpot for nearly 36 hours.

You'll probably want to run it through a food processor or blender to get out any remaining lumps and ensure a creamy texture.

Pre-processing, after about 20 hours in a crockpot:

Post-processing, shortly after:

Once the butter clings to the spoon rather than all running off, it's ready. be sure to taste it at regular intervals to, you know, ensure proper amounts of sugar, spices, etc.... I keep extra buttermilk biscuits handy for this purpose ;-)

I won't tell you how to can it- that's gone into in far more detail in many other blogs, and I don't want to steer you wrong.

But your finished product will likely look something like this:

Now give it away, and/or serve at home with pancakes, biscuits, or my favorite pumpkin spice scones :)

Best Winter Soup EVER

Jack's mother taught me this recipe, and it's a hugehugehuge hit in my house. I make it by the stockpot, freeze it, and we eat it all winter :)

Best Black Bean Soup

1 med onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, thinly sliced (we used less, and chopped them)
2 celery stakls, thinly sliced (I diced them)
4-6 cloves garlic (we used the equivalent of 6, minced from a jar)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp basil (dried)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp tabasco sauce (we omitted this)
2 16oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed (we drained one and not the other)
1 14.5oz can crushed tomatoes (we used 2, plus 1/2 can water)
2 14.5oz cans chicken (or veggie) broth

1/2 cup cooked rice

Put all ingredients (except rice) in crock pot. Cook on high 4-6 hours or Low 8-10 hours. Add cooked rice 10-15 mins before serving.

Try tortilla chips, sour cream, and/or cheese on top- I used all 3, and it was WONDERFUL.