Blueberry Muffin

The fact that this is my seventh muffin recipe on the blog shows how much I love them. I'm certainly not the first to proclaim the muffin top to be the best part. When the muffins are not intended for any occasion the following day, there can be half a dozen mangled muffin bodies after Steven and I are through with them. The tops are best after the muffins have rested for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. This crucial wait allows for the exterior to set into a slightly crunchy crust and allows for the muffin to cool enough for eager fingers to pry the tops off of the unsuspecting body. We can't let the precious tops go to waste. After muffins sit around, you lose the distinction between the top and bottom and the next day, you're left with a plain, uniform muffin. The tops are never the same, even after reheating them in the oven. I wondered why I’ve never seen a pan that capitalizes on muffin-top love like game changing edge brownie pan.

But a quick google search proved me wrong!

In fact, Chicago Metallic deemed themselves the creator of the Original Muffin Top Pan . While the idea is brilliant, I’m not for paying $15 for a pan that only makes 6 muffin tops when my current muffin pan that was a fraction of the cost works just fine. For similiar reasons, I never purchased the $30 (highway robbery for a student in debt) brownie pan when I can still bake them in my $5 pyrex.

But with a little more digging, I unearthed a similar shallow "whoopie pie pan" that looks like it will make the same end product. The ridged edge along the rim of the pan will make it a little more difficult to wash than the Chicago metallic but it’s cheaper and bakes twice as many muffins. This one is going on the registry.

Now back to the actual muffin. Four years of blogging and I have finally made the quintessial blueberry muffin. My past recipes have used sour cream or a combination of sour cream and buttermilk. But years of baking have led me to refine my original recipes (which are still good by the way). I’ve found that batter made with sour cream alone is very thick and a little difficult to work with. Batter made with plain milk becomes a good consistency but the finished product lacks in flavor. Buttermilk muffins have the same subtle tang and delicate crumb of sour cream muffins but the batter is easier to work with. When it comes to the fat in the recipe, butter offers the best flavor hands down, but adding a little bit of a neutral oil creates a moister product when eaten at room temperature. As for the berries, it’s best to use frozen or fresh blueberries. I think canned berries have an odd, sometimes metallic flavor, and their squishiness does not stand up well to being mixed into batter. Lastly, a note about baking. I've been baking my muffins at 400 degrees for years now. After experimenting with a different recipe at various temperatures, I found that the higher temperature gave them a handsome golden brown crust. Now I discover that higher temperature also contributes to the coveted domed top. How serendipitious!

Blueberry Muffin
2 cups (8.8 ounces) all purpose unbleached flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted 
4 tablespoon (1/4 C) neutral oil like vegetable or canola 
1 large egg 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1 cup buttermilk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup blueberries 
Butter or oil spray for muffin tin 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. If you are using paper liners, lightly spray them with some oil so less muffin sticks to them when they're being peeled.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil, egg, and sugars. Then whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold the two sets of ingredients together.

When the batter is starting to come together and no large clumps or streaks of flour remain, add the blueberries. Continue folding until the blueberries are evenly distributed and batter is mixed, a few streaks of flour are okay. Do not over work the batter

Scoop a mounded 1/4 of batter into each muffin tin, making sure the batter is distributed evenly amongst the 12 tins.

Bake at 400 degrees F until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin in the center of the pan comes out clean, about 15 - 17 minutes. But like the article linked earlier in the post says, if your muffins are looking too "peaked" and scraggly for your tastes, try baking them at 375 for 17 - 20 minutes. Every oven is different.

vanilla pound cake

Two years ago I bought 2 dozen vanilla beans for a great price. They were my precious babies so I used them oh so sparingly. The vanilla beans won't be a problem to move and I intend on bringing them with me but I am less stingy about using them now.


I used a Tahitian bean for its floral notes in homemade marshmallows over the Christmas holiday.

This week, I used the creamy Bourbon bean for a simple vanilla pound cake.

Pound cake is one of those things that almost requires no recipe. Like the name suggests, one pound of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, or in my case 8 ounces, and a splash of vanilla, pinch of salt, dash of baking powder.



The crunchy corners on the end pieces are my favorite, just like corner brownie pieces.

simple vanilla pound cake
8 ounces all purpose flour (approximately 1 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
8 ounces granulated sugar (approximately 1 1/4 cup)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or one vanilla bean split lengthwise and scraped
8 ounces or 4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter and flour or line with parchment a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together until no lumps remain. Set aside.

Beat butter until smooth and creamy, approximately 2 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs and beat briefly until eggs are scrambled. Drizzle 1/4 cup of the beaten eggs into the butter mixture and continue beating the butter until the eggs are completely incorporated. Scrape the bottom of the bowl. Repeat with another 1/4 cup of egg and continue until all the eggs have been beaten into the butter, scraping the bowl between each addition.

Sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on the lowest setting until almost no streaks or clumps of flour remain.

Finish the batter by folding with a rubber spatula to get rid of any last streaks or lumps.

Scrape the batter into a prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 70 to 80 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut and Brown Butter Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

I had some flopppy carrots and a half bar of cream cheese that needed to be used up so the obvious choice was a carrot cake. My original idea was to spice things up by adding currants instead of the traditional raisins because I hate raisins. But Trader Joes, my go-to source for quirky ingredients, no longer carries currants and I wasn’t about to go to Whole Paycheck and drop $10 on some fancy heritage currants from the South of France. Instead I got the next best thing, pineapple. I’ve actually never purchased a can of pineapple before or any canned fruit for that matter, so the first step was locating the canned fruit aisle in grocery store, an aisle I avoid like the plague. Who knew there were so many ways you could cut and can a pineapple—crushed, tidbits, chunks, rings? Many recipes call for crushed but that stuff looked a little too beaten up for my tastes, whereas the chunks were way too big. I wanted discernible pieces of pineapple in my cake so the tidbits were perfect. After adding pineapple, the logical next step is to add coconut (another leftover ingredient that needed using up) and of course you can't have pineapple and coconut without some rum.






After 2 trips to the grocery store and a few hours later, I was standing in my kitchen frosting a cake at nearly midnight and realized my quest to use up 3 leftover ingredients had yielded an enormous 2 layer cake probably weighing close to 5 pounds. Funny how things turn out sometimes. It was way too much cake for Steven and me, but we had plenty of people to share it with. I have yet to meet someone that does not like cake, especially homemade cake. Not to mention, cake for breakfast is a truly glorious thing.

If you can’t find the tidbits, crushed is a good substitute or if you really want to go the extra mile you can cut up the pineapple chunks into smaller pieces. A food processor would come in handy for shredding the carrots but grating by hand is not impossible. Next time I might try to bump up the carrot content to a full 1 pound.

Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut
3/4 pound carrots, peeled and finely grated
8 oz. can pineapple tidbits or crushed, drained
2 C (8.8 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove or allspice
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 C (4 oz.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 C canola or vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe follows
Approximately 1 C toasted, shredded and sweetened coconut to decorate the outside, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 8 inch cake pans. A 9 inch cake pan would also work but baking time will be shorter.

Add the drained pineapple to the shredded carrots and set aside.

In a blender, add the 4 eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Blend on a low speed for a minute. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and oil and blend for 4 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. After the liquid mixture has finished blending, pour the blender contents into the dry ingredients, add the grated carrots and pineapple, and gently fold the batter with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour or chunks of carrots remain.

Pour the batter evenly between the two cake pans and bake at 350 for 30 – 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Start checking the cake after 25 minutes.


The completed cake before going into the fridge. Breakfast the next day.

This frosting is absolutely magnificent. Like pineapple and coconut, browned butter and rum is one of those combinations that just works. This is a great all purpose frosting and can be used for other cakes, not just carrot cake. After browning the butter, the milk solids can be strained out for a clean looking frosting but I like the freckled look. The specks of milk solids also camouflages any cake crumbs that falls into the frosting, something I appreciated as I was frosting a cake in a sleep deprived state at 11pm.


Brown Butter Rum Cream Cheese Frosting
Enough to fill and frost an 8 inch 2 layer cake, but easily doubled
4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. or 1 stick unsalted butter
2 1/2 – 3 C powdered sugar, sifted
2 - 3 Tbsp dark rum

Have a heat proof bowl resting in an ice bath ready.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter medium low heat. Cook the butter slowly and stir occasionally. First it will look like melted butter, then it will start to bubble and sizzle, and after a while it will start to clear and the milk solids will start to separate out of the fat. Slowly the solids will turn golden and then a light golden brown and the butter will smell nutty and caramely. When this happens, take the off heat and pour it into the bowl in the ice bath to cool it down quickly. If you let it sit, it solids will continue to cook and may burn.

Cool the butter to room temperature. Meanwhile, take the cream cheese out and bring it to room temperature.

After the butter has cooled, beat the cream cheese and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and add another cup of powdered sugar. Add more sugar according to your tastes. I added 3 cups of powdered sugar total and the frosting was the tiniest bit grainy at that point but it wasn’t a deal breaker. Next time I'll stop with 2 1/2 cups. Slowly drizzle in rum to your tastes, starting with 1 tablespoon. I like my frostings on the boozy side but too much liquor and the frosting will be too runny. A good rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of liquor for every cup of powdered sugar you add. Continue beating the frosting until it is fluffy and pillowy. It will have a consistency similar to whipped cream but have more structure.

Banoffee Bread

jump to the new blog for banana bread recipe



Banoffee Bread

3 large overriped bananas.
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/4 C plain yogurt or sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
2 C all purpose unbleached flour, (8.8 oz)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
3 1.4 oz. Heath bars roughly chopped (or other toffee candies, like Almond Roca)
Optional coconut topping: 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and 1/2 C of sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position or one level below the middle. Butter and flour a loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.

Optional - making the coconut topping: mix the cream cheese and sweetened shredded coconut until it is evenly mixed (I just used my hands). Set aside for later.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas until a few chunks remain. Mix in the melted butter, sugar, eggs, yogurt/sour cream and vanilla until smooth and evenly mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together and evenly mix and aerate the ingredients. Add half of the dry mix to the banana mix and fold the batter with a rubber spatula a few times. Then scatter the chopped toffee and the remaining flour mix. Continue to fold the batter gently until there are no more streaks of flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Scatter the coconut mixture on top if using.

Bake at 350 deg F for 60 – 70 minutes, or until a skewer stuck into the banana bread comes out clean. Rotate the loaf pan 180 degrees about 30 - 40 minutes into the baking time. Keep an eye on the coconut topping, if it starts to get too brown, cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of foil. I did this and rotated the pan about 30 minutes in.

Raspberry Lemon Cream Tart

Whoops! Only had 2 minutes to take pics and forgot to take the tart out of the pan.

Short and sweet recipe post today! I still had some cream cheese leftover from the wedding and the giant 3 pound Costco tub was taking up valuable fridge space. I was trying to do something with it but couldn't manage to use all of it. Then I made way too much filling for one tart shell so now not only is the gargantuan tub still sitting in the fridge, but I also have a container of whipped filling taking up even more room. Crap! Now I'll have to think of something else to use up the whipped filling but honestly I'll probably just end up eating it with some fresh fruit.

Too bad I didn't get a photo of the sliced tart because the hidden layer of raspberry jam is a nice surprise-an idea I took from Dorie Greenspan's Hidden Berry Cheesecake. Speaking of which, I bet this recipe would work just as well with blackberry jam and fresh blackberries.

Raspberry and Lemon Cream Tart
1 Prebaked Sweet Tart Crust
2 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 C heavy cream or whipping cream
1/4 C lemon curd
1/4 C raspberry jam, preferably seedless
1 C fresh raspberries

I scaled the recipe down to make enough filling for one tart. Depending on the sweetness of your lemon curd, you may want to use less sugar. I was using store-bought lemon curd (Trader Joe's makes a good one) and it's very sweet so I used 2 tablespoons of sugar. Homemade lemon curd is more tangy so you may need to use 3 tablespoons of sugar.

With a whisk attachment, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium high speed until fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd.

Spread the raspberry jam on the bottom of the baked tart shell. Then add the lemon cream cheese mixture. Top with raspberries and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Prebaked Flaky Pate Sucree
for an 8 or 9 inch pan

1 C flour
1/3 C confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp cold milk or ice water
1/2 tsp of vanilla

Add the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt together in a food processor and pulse once or twice to combined. Add the pieces of butter and pulse until the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea. Alternatively use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in the butter, or freeze the butter and coarsely grate it then use your fingers and rub the pieces into the flour. It is very important to keep the butter cold otherwise it will melt and make the crust greasy and you'll lose all the flaky layers.

Mix the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla together. Drizzle the mixture over the butter and flour mix in the food processor. Pulse again until the dough start to form large clumps. If it looks too dry add a little more milk.

Scrape the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press the clumps together to form a disc. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and chill at least an hour up to overnight. Or store it in the freezer for as long as you want.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough to into a large circle. Move the crust around often to make sure it doesn't stick to your work surface.

Transfer the dough to an 8 or 9 inch tart pan. To make this easier, drape the dough over the rolling pin and lay it over the pan. Lift the edges of the crust and gently press the dough down into the pan. Roll over the top of the pan with a rolling pin to trim any overhanging dough.

Prick the surface of the dough with a fork. Press a sheet of aluminum foil onto a crust and add pie weights, beans, or clean pennies on top. I like using pennies because they are the best heat conductor. Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and baking weights (be careful the weights will be very hot!) and return the crust to the oven to bake for another 10 or so minutes until it is golden. Cool to room temperature before filling

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Pecans

jump to the new blog and oatmeal cookie recipe