Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Last week we had fajitas and the large carton of sour cream was on sale so I made sour cream coffee cake with the leftover sour cream. I remember making sour cream coffee cake in my home economics class in high school, although I think it was called something different like "food you can make" or something incredibly cheesy like that. Anyway, I thought it was really weird that the recipe called for sour cream because I thought it would make the cake taste funny. Our entire class did. Boy were we surprised when it came out of the oven. It was yummy and moist and you couldn't taste the sour cream at all! I was one surprised little high-schooler.



Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

For the streudel:
1/2 cup light or golden brown sugar, packed
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 4 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined.
4. For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble.
5. Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Blueberry Muffins

This post was going to be a French strawberry tart but then my mom and boyfriend ate all the strawberries. So now it's a blueberry muffin post. I'm not a fruit-in-desserts-or-pastries person but for some reason, I was craving blueberry muffins. Actually, I was craving kheer, a sweet Indian rice pudding, but I wasn't allowed to make it because it would have all been gone before my boyfriend got to taste any. So in actuality, I wanted to make a strawberry tart but couldn't so next in line was kheer but that was out so I settled on blueberry muffins.


Most of the muffins I've made in the past have been chocolate or with chocolate chips so this was a departure from my norm. It was pretty tasty considering that I don't like fruit in my desserts. Let me clarify here that a strawberry/fruit tart does not qualify as having fruit in the dessert because the fruit is not actually in the dessert. It's on top. Nevertheless, this muffin was pretty tasty and if you like muffins or baked goods with fruit in them, I recommend you try them.



Blueberry Muffins

Muffins:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup white sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp milk
3/4 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffing tin with with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg then stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Stir the flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield: 6 muffins

Chocolate Scones

I've always bookmarked pages in cookbooks and online recipes for scones but have never gotten around to make them. I had planned to make banana bread with chocolate chips tonight but my bananas are not ripe enough so I made chocolate scones! I've never made scones (as I just said) so I didn't know what to expect with the dough. For this particular recipe, it was super moist and sticky and I was frightened that the scones would not turn out correctly but after 17 minutes in the oven, they were light and crumbly and scone-y. Perfection.



Chocolate Scones
Adapted from this recipe

1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter, and using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter chunks into the flour until they are reduced to pearl-sized nuggets. Stir in the granulated sugar. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips, and stir to form a dough. The dough will be firm but moist, and a bit sticky to the touch. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl about ten times (be careful not to over-knead).
5. Form the dough into a 7-inch round disk on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 6 or 8 wedges, and using a spatula, transfer the wedges to a baking sheet.
6. Bake the scones for 17-18 minutes, or until set.

Yield: 6 large or 8 small scones

Apple Puff Pancake

Sunday brunch.



Apple Puff Pancake
Adapted from ReadyMade Feb/Mar 2010

1 apple
1/4 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used soy)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. In a 10-inch oven proof skillet melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat. Add apples, cut in wedges, and saute until golden brown, about 5 min.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour, vanilla, and salt. Pour over apple mixture in skillet.
4. Place skillet in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until puffed and browned. Remove from oven.
5. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the pancake. Bake 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy!

Serves 2-4

Buttermilk Pancakes

Good morning!

I've been sleeping for 11-12 hours every night lately and waking up too late to eat breakfast so today, I decided to wake up early and change that.


Normally I make waffles because I love my waffle iron and the little nooks are great for holding lots of butter and maple syrup (I'm a true maple syrup snob. None of that artificial syrup for me). However, I left my waffle iron in Austin so I've decided to try my hand at pancakes. I'm awful with a spatula. The batter goes everywhere instead of in the pan. But I tried. At least I got to use my pink tulip-shaped Williams-Sonoma spatula. Yes, it is for kids. Yes, it is cute, Yes, it works.


The book I took this recipe from says to "avoid overmixing the batter to ensure that the pancakes will be airy." It also says to use homemade buttermilk, with an accompanying recipe. I didn't do that. I mean, I woke up early to make the pancakes - I didn't think it was necessary to wake up (or not go to bed) at 11 pm and wait 12 hours to make the buttermilk.



Buttermilk Pancakes
Adapted from The Home Creamery

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk, stirred well
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 cup butter, melted

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Whisk the buttermilk, milk, egg, and vanilla extract in another bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended but still lumpy; do not overmix.
2. Spread 1/2 tablespoon melted butter on a hot griddle over medium heat. Pour the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the hot griddle, spacing 2 inches apart. Cook until bubbles break on the surface, about 3 minutes. Turn pancakes over. Cook until bottoms are golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to plates. Repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to skillet as needed.

Yield: 10 pancakes

Butternut squash cookies and muffins

A few recipes from the past to start.

This past fall, I had an obsession with butternut squash. I bought it in bulk at Costco and ate it plain, mixed with other things, as soup, and then proceeded to make cookies with them. If you like pumpkin things, I recommend you try these squash cookies. Yes, they sound weird but (pre-cubed) butternut squash becomes really soft and sweet when baked in the oven at 400 F for about 20 minutes. (Just be sure you sprinkle some water over them before baking or they will burn). I added lots of spices but you can add as much or as little as you want.




Squash Cookies and Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed, cooked butternut (or any winter) squash
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 F for cookies or 350 F for muffins. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and white and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and squash. Mix in vegetable oil. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt until well blended. Roll into tablespoon-sized balls and place on cookie sheet.
3. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: 3 dozen