Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

A few nights ago, we went to the grocery store to get some fruit for snacking.  We’ve been on a blueberry kick lately and found ourselves being inexplicably drawn in their direction once again.  Weird, huh?  Blueberries must have some magnetic force that just pulls us to them, crying out for us to take them home and savor eat sweet berry as they explode in our mouths.  But, back to the blueberries in the store, they were on sale – buy one pint, get one free.  So obviously, we brought home even more berries than we bargained for and needed to find something to do with them!  I decided to make blueberry muffins.  I found a recipe for Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins from Ina Garten that sounded absolutely delicious.  However, when I think coffeecake, I think crunchy, sweet topping, so I added a streusel to them.  Boy was that the ticket to the perfect blueberry muffin!  Please try these; I really don’t think you will be disappointed!

Ingredients

Muffins

12 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 ½ Cups sugar

3 Eggs

1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla

8 ounces sour cream

¼ Cup milk

2 ½ Cups flour

2 Teaspoons baking powder

½ Teaspoon baking soda

½ Teaspoon salt

1 Pint blueberries, picked through for stems

Streusel

4 Tablespoons butter, softened

½ Cup flour

½ Cup brown sugar

1 Teaspoon cinnamon

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with muffin papers (the recipe made 20 muffins for me).  Let’s finish prepping so when the batter is done, the muffins can be baked.  We need to make the streusel.  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and cut the butter in so that you have pea size pieces of the mixture.  Now, we’re ready to make the batter…

Step 2

We need to cream the butter with the sugar.  Using a paddle attachment, beat them until they are light and fluffy (approximately five minutes).  Now add the eggs, one at a time.  Then add the vanilla, sour cream and milk and completely combine them.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until they are just combined.  Finally, add the blueberries and stir them in with a spatula, so they do not break.

Step 3

Scoop the batter into the muffins tins; I used ¼ cup of batter per muffin tin.  Then top each muffin with the streusel.  Bake the muffins for 25 – 30 minutes.  They are done when a tester or knife inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Let them cool slightly before removing them from the muffin tins.  Then enjoy plain or with butter – they are delicious both ways!

Gastronome's Note:  Try making them even more like a coffeecake by doubling the streusel recipe.  Then add half the batter, a streusel layer, the rest of the batter and more streusel!  Can you tell I like streusel?!

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries elicit so many spring and summer memories.  My mom often took us strawberry picking with her in late May when the berries were perfectly ripe.  They probably should have weighed us as well as the berry baskets because those sweet, juicy fruits were completely irresistible in the hot sun!  We would take those red jewels home and make strawberry pie, strawberry ice cream topping and my favorite – strawberry shortcake.  My mom, sisters and I didn’t mind quite as much when Dad couldn’t make it home for dinner during the strawberry season because it meant strawberry shortcake for dinner!  Dad doesn’t like many fruits and definitely not berries, so it was not an option when he was dining with us.  But on the days he called and said he wouldn’t make it for dinner, the first response from Mom was, “Strawberry shortcake for dinner!” and I would look forward to the summery treat all day.

I had been craving strawberries this year, but thought I missed the season.  I lucked out though because our cool, rainy spring delayed the strawberries, so I was able to get some great berries at the farmer’s market over the weekend.  When I asked Tim what he wanted me to do with them, he requested strawberry shortcake.  I was only too happy to oblige and called Mom for the recipe we had received from a neighbor years ago.  It was exactly as I remembered it…with some whipped cream added to the top for good measure. J

Ingredients

Shortcake
2 ½ Cups flour

2 Teaspoons baking powder

½ Teaspoon salt

2 Eggs

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 Teaspoon vanilla

Strawberries

Sugar

½ Pint whipping cream

Confectioner’s sugar

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (350 if using a glass baking dish).  You can make it in two 8-inch round pans or a square baking dish, which is what I did because I like a taller cake.  Grease the pan or pans.  Place all the shortcake ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir them to just combine them.  Pour the ingredients into the baking dish.  If using the round pans, bake them for 25 – 30 minutes and if using the one square dish, bake it for 30 – 35 minutes.  Bake the cake until a tester comes out clean.  But while the cake is baking…

Step 2

Clean the strawberries, remove the tops and slice the berries into a bowl.  Then sprinkle on a teaspoon of sugar (more if you want it sweeter) and let the mixture macerate in the fridge.  The sugar will help the berries release their juices and you will have a beautiful strawberry syrup.

Step 3

When the cake is out of the oven and has cooled to your desired temperature (which meant an agonizing five minutes until I decided I would just eat it hot!), whip your cold cream.  When it’s almost whipped, add enough confectioner’s sugar to get your desired taste.  Then finish whipping until it is stiff, but has not turned to butter.

You're ready to assemble your strawberry shortcake!  Enjoy!

Quinoa and Corn Summer Salad

Quinoa and Corn Summer Salad

I. Love. Corn. In my mind, corn = summer.  As a child, the first corn on the cob of the summer meant the season of endless play had finally arrived!  I even didn’t mind (too much, anyway!) the dozens and dozens of corn ears I had to shuck, so we could freeze the kernels for winter use.  At least the day ended with a dinner accompanied by that delicious cob smothered in butter and sprinkled with salt.  It really made it all worth it!  It truly was my favorite “vegetable.”  Since then, I have come to find corn isn’t a vegetable.  Blow me down!   Who knew?!  Apparently, it’s a cereal grain!  Corn is my favorite “cereal grain”…not the same flow to it.  So, I just put that out of my mind and focus on different, summery ways to use that beautiful yellow morsel.  Here’s the latest (adapted from a Wegmans recipe):

Ingredients
1 Package (7 oz) Red Quinoa, cooked to package specifications and cooled

3 Cups corn kernels, frozen or canned

¼ Cup fresh cilantro, chopped

¾ Cup green onion (scallions), cut on the bias

2 Plum tomatoes, diced

2 Avocados, cubed

½ Teaspoon salt

½ Teaspoon pepper

Vinaigrette

½ Cup olive oil

¼ Cup red wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper

Step 1

Cook the quinoa according to package specifications.  This was my first time cooking quinoa and I followed the recipe precisely, but ended up with too much water at the end…the quinoa had not absorbed all of it.  I drained the quinoa in a strainer and just continued on…turned out fine.  When the quinoa is drained, let it cool while you continue with the recipe.

Step 2

Chop the cilantro, slice the scallions, dice the tomatoes and avocados.  Put all of these into a bowl or lidded container.  Add the corn.

Step 3

Prepare the vinaigrette and add salt and pepper until it is perfect for you.

Step 4

Add the cooled quinoa, salt and pepper to the vegetable, fruit and GRAIN mixture. J Add about half the vinaigrette and combine.  Taste and then add the vinaigrette until it is to your own taste preference.  I actually ended up adding all of it and thought it was perfect.  But that’s just me.

Place plastic wrap directly over the salad to prevent the avocado from browning.  Then chill the salad and serve!  Welcome Summer!

Coconut Curry Bliss

Coconut Curry Mussels

Mussels are one of my favorite things to eat in the summer.  One bite and I am transported to some fabulous vacation spot sipping wine, picking mussels from their shells, not a care in the world.  They are delicious cooked in any sauce that involves wine and butter.  Of course, that means I always need crusty bread with my mussels because wine and butter should NEVER go to waste. 

One of my favorite mussel sauces is a coconut curry sauce.  I fell in love with this style at one of my favorite restaurants in Buffalo, NY – the Empire Grill.  They have fantastic food in a chic, urban style restaurant.  It actually opened while we were living in Buffalo and was only two minutes from our apartment, so we frequented the restaurant and became rather familiar with their menu.  Their coconut curry mussels were one of my favorite items on their menu (along with the pomegranate martini – they make THE BEST pomegranate martini!).  While missing the Empire Grill this past weekend, we decided to recreate their mussels.  I think we came pretty darn close.  Here’s what we did:

Ingredients
Mussels (we buy them in a 2 lb. mesh bag at the grocery store)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Serrano pepper

½ Stalk lemon grass, sliced

½ Cup onion, diced

2 Cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons Thai red curry paste

1 (14 oz.) Can coconut milk (we used Thai Kitchen’s Lite Coconut Milk)

1 Cup white wine

3 Tablespoons cilantro (leaves and stems), chopped

2 Teaspoons basil, chopped

Salt

Bread, for dipping

Step 1

If you have never prepared mussels before, let me prepare you for what I did not know until I made them my first time.  They are alive.  At least, the edible ones are alive.  Don’t worry, the won’t snap their shell on your finger or anything scary like that (which is what I imagined my first time!).  But you do want to test them to be sure they are living.  So rinse the shells under cold water to clean them, make sure their shells stay firmly shut or stay closed when you shut them, and pull out any “beard” that is sticking out of the shell.  Then put each cleaned mussel in a big bowl of cold water.  Discard any mussels that do not stay closed or any with cracked shells.

Step 2

It’s veggie prep time now!  Using gloves, clean as much of the ribs and seeds from the Serrano as you would like, keeping in mind ribs and seeds = heat.  If you don’t like the heat at all, use a jalapeno instead.  Small dice the Serrano once you clean it.  Thinly slice the lemon grass, dice the onion and mince the garlic.  While you are at it, you should probably just chop the cilantro and basil, but keep these separate.

Step 3

Now it’s time to start cooking!  Melt butter with the oil in a large lidded pot over medium high heat.  We obviously do not want the lid on right now, but it will be necessary later, so make sure the pot has a lid.  When the butter has melted and the oil has heated, add the Serrano, lemon grass and onion.  Sauté the veggies until they begin to soften (approximately 3 minutes) and then add the garlic.  Let this cook for another minute and then add the Thai red curry paste.  Stir the veggies until the curry paste completely coats them.  Now add the coconut milk and wine.  Mix the sauce together and then taste it.  I thought it needed some salt at this point, so I added it.  If you don’t need salt, then yay for you and your blood pressure! J  Cover the pot and bring it to a boil.

Step 4

When the liquid boils, turn the heat back to medium low and add the mussels (minus the water the mussels have been swimming in).  Stir the mussels to coat them in the sauce and then cover the pot and let the mussels simmer/steam.  They should open in 4 – 6 minutes.  When the mussels have opened, pour them – sauce and all – into a serving bowl.  Sprinkle the fresh herbs over the mussels.  Serve them with the bread and enjoy!

Gastronome's Note:  Please, please do not eat any mussels that stay closed after steaming!  They can make you sick!

Birthday Sweets and Treats

Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I love birthdays.  Period.  I love planning, months ahead of time, what I am going to give to someone for their birthday.  I love begging people to tell me where they will choose to spend their birthday dinner even though most of the time they have not even thought about it yet.  I also love the sweets that are involved in a birthday celebration!  It is so fun to see what sweet treat a person selects to share (or eat on their own – I don’t judge!) in honor of their special day.  My husband, on the other hand, is not so into birthdays.  I begged and pleaded with him to tell me where he might like to dine for his birthday (granted, I did start about two months prior to his birthday…but what can I say?  I’m enthusiastic! J).  I pestered him over and over to tell me what sweet treat he might like to take to work to share for his birthday.  He would tell me that he didn’t care; I could make whatever I wanted.  So I did.  I made Ghirardelli’s Macadamia White Chip Cookies, but altered them slightly with a couple changes.  The most significant is that I turned them into Double Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.

Before the recipe though, I want to show you a gift my husband received from a colleague.  I had seen them on various food shows and was so excited to see one in person!  It really does taste like a fortune cookie too!  It was from Cookie HQ.  Check out their website to see all the large fortune cookie varieties! 

(Disclaimer:  I am in no way affiliated with Cookie HQ.  No one at the company even knows that I exist.)

Ingredients
1 Cup butter, softened

1 ½ Cups granulated sugar

1 Cup brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla extract

3 Cups flour

½ Teaspoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt

2 Cups (1 bag) white chips

1 Cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ Cups Macadamia nuts, chopped (I used half salted and half unsalted)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy (approximately 3 minutes).  Then add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time.  Beat the mixture well so that everything is completely combined before we add the flour.  When it’s mixed thoroughly, add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until it is just combined.  Then stir in both types of chips and the macadamia nuts.  Drop the cookie dough by the teaspoon full onto ungreased cookie sheets (I lined them with parchment paper because it makes cookie removal MUCH easier!).  Bake the cookies for 10 – 12 minutes.  When I removed the tray from the oven, I kept the cookies on the sheet for three minutes because once they were slightly cooled and set, they were much easier to keep intact when removed from the sheet.  Cool them on a wire rack…but do be sure to enjoy at LEAST one while warm…ooey gooey chocolate chips are just the best!

Enjoy!

Gastronome's Note:  Next time I make these, I think I am going to try toasting the Macadamia Nuts to get even more flavor.  Try it and tell me what you think!

Girl Scout Inspired

Samoas Style Cookie Bars

This past winter, I learned just how much I was missing growing up in a coconut adverse family.  This is because this past winter, I realized there are more Girl Scout cookies than Thin Mints and Tagalongs.  I was introduced to a cookie with a perfect little shortbread crust, bathed with luxurious caramel, encrusted with toasted coconut and encased in decadent chocolate – I was introduced to the Samoas.  I was hooked at first bite.  We tried to ration that box full of the perfect cookie, but alas, before long, the midnight dips into the cookies came to an end when my expectant hand came up empty.  At that moment, I knew I had to recreate this cookie.  I chose to change it a little, adding my own spin and twists on it.  This is what I did.  I hope you enjoy.  As for me, they will carry me through the year until a little girl in a green uniform knocks on my door next year.  I hope I don’t scare her when I shriek with glee…

Ingredients
Shortbread Cookie Crust
1 ¼ Pound butter, unsalted

¾ Cup sugar

3 Extra large eggs

¾ Teaspoon vanilla

4 ½ Cups flour

½ Teaspoon baking powder

¼ Teaspoon salt

Caramel

4 Tablespoons butter, unsalted

3 Cups sugar

5 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1 Cup heavy cream

3 – 4 Cups shredded coconut

11 ½ Ounces chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)

Sea salt

Step 1

The first step in making these cookie bars is to prepare the crust.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar together; it will take about three minutes for them to combine perfectly.  Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix until they are completely combined.  Finally, add the dry ingredients and mix only until they are just combined.  We don’t want to overwork that flour!  Then spread the dough into an ungreased sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until it is just starting to brown around the edges.  Remove the cookie crust and let it begin to cool while we move on to step 2!

Step 2

Next, we want to toast the coconut.  With the oven still at 350 degrees, spread the coconut on a sheet pan and put it in the oven.  Stir the coconut every 2 – 3 minutes, until it is a toasty golden brown.  It will take anywhere from 7 – 15 minutes, depending on how moist your shredded coconut is.  When it is toasted, let it sit while you move on to step 3.

Step 3

This is the most tricky portion of the recipe, but it is not nearly as scary as most caramel recipes…so just bear with me and we will get through it!  You will want to use a rather large pot for this because it will boil up later on and we don’t want it to cook out of the pot and onto the stove – what a mess that would be!  I used a medium sized soup pot that has a nice, thick bottom (that way my sugar would not burn).  Turn the heat on to medium to medium high and add the sugar and corn syrup to the pot.  Now, this is not the time to answer the door or start a load of laundry…this requires your complete attention.  You will need to stir the mixture (I used a wooden spoon with a nice long handle due to a later part of this process) about every 30 seconds to 1 minute.  It usually takes me about 5 – 10 minutes, but cook and stir the mixture until the sugar has completely melted and it has become an amber color.  Now, please be careful at this point!  You will need to reduce the heat to low and add the cream and butter.  BUT BE CAREFUL!  It will bubble up and you will need to stir.  For me, this means a potholder and my longest handled wooden spoon and stirring until the steam is too much and then taking a break.  Do not burn yourself!!!!  Just cool your hand a moment and stir again.  When the mixture has been combined to a smooth caramel, pour it over the cookie crust.  Use your spoon to make sure it is spread evenly.

Step 4

Sprinkle the toasted coconut over the caramel and press slightly (without touching the hot caramel, of course!).

Step 5

While that begins to cool, use a double boiler or homemade double boiler (pot with water covered with a bowl) to melt the chocolate.  Make sure the bowl is not touching the boiling water.  Stir periodically until the chocolate is perfectly smooth.  I then put the chocolate in a squeeze bottle to top the bars.  You could also use a pastry bag with the writing tip.  Another option is just to take a spoon and drizzle it over the top of the bars.  Regardless of how you accomplish it, just get the chocolate on the cookie! J

Step 6

I then sprinkled sea salt over the top of the bars and let them cool to room temperature.  Then I put them in the fridge for an hour to make them easier to cut.  I cut them and stored them in the fridge.  I recommend letting them come up to room temperature before serving because the cookie is much softer and the caramel is not as likely to break a tooth (dentist’s orders! Haha). 

Enjoy!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Chipotle Turkey Chili with Chipotle Cornbread

Hola mis amigos!  It’s almost Cinco de Mayo!  In honor of this south of the border holiday, I thought I would share this Chipotle Chili recipe with you.  There’s also a bonus quick and easy recipe for Chipotle Cornbread…just because I thought ya’ll might REALLY want to celebrate. J  I made the chili to use some leftovers from the turkey breast recipe I posted last week and it turned out fantastico!  Seriously, Tim (my husband) and I were blown away by the flavors in this simple and HEALTHY chili!

I find chili to be more of a method than an exact recipe.  So this time around, I’m going to post the directions first and the ingredient list (with my measurements) second.  Finally, I’ll post the directions for the quick and easy Chipotle Cornbread. 

Step 1

Dice some onion and chop some garlic and chipotle peppers in adobo.  At this point, I also cubed my turkey breast.  Feel free to use leftover beef or chicken instead if that’s what you have in your fridge.  If you don’t have any leftover meat sitting around that you want to use, ground turkey, chicken or beef would work just fine!

Step 2

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium high heat.  Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  When it’s hot, add your onions.  Cook them until softened (about 3-5 minutes) and then add the garlic and chipotle peppers.  Stir them together and let the mixture cook for another minute.  Then add the meat.  Since my meat was already cooked, I just stirred them together and let them heat while I went to the next step.  If using ground meat, you will want to brown it before proceeding.

Step 3

Drain and rinse a can of kidney beans and add those to the pot.  Then hand crush a can of stewed tomatoes (mine had onions, celery and green peppers in the can as well) and add those to the mixture.  Combine the ingredients.

Step 4

Add chili powder, some of the adobo sauce from the can, chicken (or beef if using beef) stock, oregano and...drumroll please…TEQUILA!  Yes, you read that correctly!  I tasted it after adding the other ingredients and thought it needed some depth.  I had no beer on hand, so I reached for the only Mexican alcohol I had which was tequila.  It made all the difference!  Just try it…I don’t think you will be disappointed!  Finally, add some salt to taste and let the chili simmer, covered, for at least 20 minutes.

Step 5

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Ingredients

3 Cups turkey, cubed

1 Onion, diced

2 Cloves garlic, chopped

2 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

1 Tablespoon adobo sauce (from the can)

1-14 Ounce can stewed tomatoes

1-14 Ounce can kidney beans

2 Teaspoons chili powder

½ Teaspoon oregano

2 Cups chicken stock

2 Tablespoons tequila

Salt

Sour cream

Shredded cheddar cheese

Gastronome's Note:  Chili can be a rather personal thing.  If you like it to be more of a soup, add more stock.  If you like it thick, add less stock (I know, common sense...just felt I had to say it! :-)).  Add spices to your own taste.  Make it the way you like it!

Chipotle Cornbread

To use leftover chipotle peppers from the chili, I added them to some cornbread.  I just used a Jiffy corn muffin mix and made it to the package specifications.  To the batter, I added 2 chopped chipotle peppers, a handful of frozen corn kernels (for texture) and about a half cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  I then spread it in a square, greased baking dish and bake it according to the package directions!  It was perfect served along side the chili!