Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

Dear. God. This. Is. Heaven.

Heaven = glaze + citrus + cake + no butter.

Stop. take me now.

Crumbly cake toppings are the perfect canyons for lemon glaze to drip onto...I can barely handle it.
There really is no better place for glaze.

It's also healthy - there is no butter, full of fruit, and no trans-fats. The moisture is from low-fat plain yogurt and a lemon simple syrup drizzled over a still warm loaf. I lightened it even further from the original post by reducing the amount of sugar in the syrup by half and using low-fat yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt!

Finally, it's glazed over with a lemon glaze giving krispy kreme a run for their money (ooohhh...that wasn't funny...they are out of money...)

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf
Adapted from: Sweet Peas Kitchen

For the loaf:

1 cup low-fat yogurt (plain)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups flour + 1 tablespoon for the blueberries
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) thawed and rinsed


Preheat your oven to 350F and butter/oil a 9x5 inch loaf pan (or a muffin tin!?)
Toss your blueberries in 1 tablepoon of flour to prevent your whole loaf from turning blue. Mix your yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, extract, and oil together. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Combine the flour mixture with the yogurt mixture and carefully fold in the blueberries. Plop into your loaf pan and bake 50 minutes. In my less than fancy oven here, I only baked for 40 minutes, but these ghetto ovens have a tendency to run high so make sure you check on yours. If there is a give when you touch the top, or the toothpick comes out clean, you're good to go! Take the cake out and set it onto a cooling surface. While the cake is cooling...


For the syrup: 
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar


Heat on medium high until the sugar has dissolved. Then continue to keep on heat for another 2-3 minutes. Poke tons of little holes into your still warm loaf with a toothpick and brush this syrup over the cake - letting it settle into all of the little holes and infusing the cake with lemoney simple syrup. 


For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice


Mix together and drizzle allll over your loaf - letting the glaze fall off the sides. Let the glaze set for about 15 minutes and then ENJOY. 



                                                                                                                        Sam

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

I love cupcakes and I LOVE cereal so what could be better than a recipe that combines both? Nothing that I had come across until I tried these cupcakes. These cinnamon-y cupcakes are moist and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream is a stroke of genius. Yum! 

Cinnamon Cupcakes

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

¾ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup sour cream

Yellow cake mix

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder (measure into a bag and CRUSH it)

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Recipe developed from Your Cup of Cake 

1. Whisk together the eggs and oil. Mix in the milk, vanilla, and sour cream. Add the cake mix and cinnamon and mix until smooth.
2. Fill greased cupcake tins (or you can use cupcake liners) ¾ full and bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 375 F.
3. Make the buttercream by beating cream cheese and butter together until light. Add the vanilla, powdered sugar, crushed cereal, and beat until smooth.  Add enough milk to get a spreadable consistency.
4. Frost cupcakes and enjoy! 

Sam & Elyse 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake

These lovely bars are a delightful combination of cake, cream cheese, raspberry topping, and brown sugar buttery goodness. While there are a few steps to putting it all together, you can easily break up the work…The berry topping can be made in advance, and if you’re baking with friends one person can make the cake while someone else makes the cream cheese layer and crumb topping!

What better way to get you through an evening of studying than having these to look forward to!

Shout out to vanilla sugar blog for this awesome idea! 

Berry topping
about 2 cups berries (we used frozen red raspberries)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Cake
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg
¼ cup canola oil
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sour cream
½ cup + 2 tablespoons half & half 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream cheese mixture
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
about 1 to 2 tablespoons of the berry topping

2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (Chambord! Optional, but who can resist that adorably tiny container, pictured below)

Crumb topping
1 cup flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1. Make the berry topping:

Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium until the mixture reduces and thickens, took us about 15 or 20 minutes. Allow to cool. This part can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.

Some suggest straining the seeds, but we actually love the rustic look and consistency with the seeds left in (not to mention saves time and washing the strainer…just sayin’.)

2. Make the crumb topping:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Once your melted butter has cooled, pour into dry ingredients, and mix together until large crumbs form. Set aside.

3. Make the cream cheese filling:

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients well. Set aside.

4. Make the cake:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, butter, sour cream, half & half, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until combined.

5. Assemble it all:

Spread cake batter evenly into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.

Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over top of the cake batter.
Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the cream cheese layer.

Drizzle the berry topping over top (we put it in a Ziploc bag and squeezed it on in diagonal lines for optimal beauty…a worthwhile step - thanks for making us do this Sam!).

6. Bake:

Place cake in preheated 350° oven.  Bake for 12 minutes, rotate pan, and bake another 12 to 15 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool before slicing (if you can wait! We could not….tastes delicious warm, just don’t burn yourself!).

7. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Sam & Elyse

Butter Free Banana Bread

That's right. Butter free. The running club is having a bake sale tomorrow and since we're runners, we make our bake sales "healthy". So in place of a banana bread laden with oil and butter, this one is laden with a lighter option - applesauce. 

Note: large chunks of banana. This is a great, easy recipe for mid-week baking and I definitely helped myself to the edges of the loaf! Given it's missing about 1,000 extra calories, this loaf is certainly not lacking in flavor or texture ...just the guilt. It has that lovely "healthier take" taste that I so love in these kinds of recipes. I love the layer of rustic "this is real food - not a block of fat" flavoring that is so great about healthier versions of classical favorites.

I've seen lighter recipes that call for the addition of applesauce but then still add in oil, or at least a pat of butter. This one is completely oil and butter-free! I'm definitely going to be dipping some in my morning coffee tomorrow. Come get some at the bake sale!

Butter Free Banana Bread
 Adapted from: kitchen runway

3 ripe bananas
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs beaten


Preheat your oven to 350F

Mash up the bananas. I left my banana chunks pretty large - I love seeing them in the bread! Add in the vanilla, apple sauce, and 2 eggs

In another bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking soda.

Mix together being careful not to overmix! With these healthier options, moisture is quickly lost if you overmix and develop the gluten.

Bake for 45-50 minutes and enjoy!

You could always add nuts & chocolate chips for a twist on texture or sweetness! I omitted the nuts here since at a bake sale, you never know who has a nut allergy...but alternatively, I would have definitely thrown in a handful of walnuts...mmm blueberries?!...next time!

                                                                                                                               Sam 

Lavender Lemon Cupcakes

Yes, there's snow on the ground but let's pretend it's spring. 

Another cupcake post? Well yes. I do love them so what's the harm? Today's post is a particularly special one. After what may be now known in history as "the worst exam ever" - I came home to find that my fiance's mother had sent me none other than food grade organic lavender buds!! 

Look at how gorgeous these guys are! The purple buds delighted my imagination as I had been eyeing a certain lavender recipe for quite some time but have been lacking the key ingredient. But fret no more as these buds provided the missing flavor to these lavender lemon cupcakes.

Oh they're so pretty! To make these guys, I bathed some sugar in lemon zest and lavender buds and baked them into cupcakes. The citrus flavor complemented the floral aromas from these flowers into one of the most delicious cupcakes I've ever tasted! The lavender is not at all overwhelming. In fact, I might even step up the flavor next time by pre-seeping the lavender buds in some sugar for 1-2 weeks thereby ensuring that the floral scent is picked up even more. 

I even went to my local craft store to buy some beautiful cupcake liners and they were so worth it! I could oogle over these all day - in fact, I just might. These cupcakes are topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting and topped with some lavender buds too!

So many pictures! I can't help it they're too pretty! Try this recipe out for yourself, it's too much fun!

Lavender Lemon Cupcakes

Adapted from: Hilary Makes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tsp lavender flowers

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup butter at room temperature

4 eggs

2 cups flower

3 tbsp baking powder

4 tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 325F

In a small bowel, combine the sugar, flowers, and lemon zest until the flavors tickle your olfactory epithelium (ack sorry, med school talk - shut down). Add this mixture to your butter and cream until light and fluffy. Incorporate eggs one at a time and then add in your flour, baking powder, and milk. Bake for 15-18 minutes depending on how big you make them. I would err on the side of smaller since they tend to rise a bit. Let cool completely before assembling the lemon cream cheese frosting!

For the icing

2 sticks butter at room temperature

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon zest

4 tsp lemon juice

4 cup confectioners sugar

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add in the vanilla, zest, and juice. Finally incorporate the confectioners sugar one cup at a time until light and fluffy. I also decided to add a little red and blue food coloring to make purple (yay elementary school color wheel!). Pipe onto the cupcake or simply spread on and decorate with more buds, edible pearls, sprinkles or perhaps simply devour on the spot. 

Keep refrigerated until you eat them all or give them away 

                                                                                                                             Sam 

These are a few of my favorite things

Get ready for the cutest. post. ever.

Look!!! teeny tiny cookie on a cupcake covered with teeny tiny chocolate chips!!!

And is that all? No...this has been a rough week, we needed something extra special to cheer us up. They're filled with more cookie!!!!! (MORE!)

While we admit - this recipe involves some pre-made ingredients, it's perfect for a quick whip up and you are sure to impress with these gorgeous little cakes! The cake batter is made with cake mix and the usual players but we added pudding and sour cream to give an extra kick of moisture. Also - added bonus, the pudding added another layer of delicious taste bud delighting chocolate.

The cookies inside are a fun surprise but gosh how cute is the frosting? It's buttercream, in case any of you were wondering.

Cutest. post. ever, right?! How could anyone have a bad week after seeing and eating these guys. Especially if you're like us - because we sampled them in every single part of their assembly process. We licked the bowl, we ate the mini cookies, we sampled them warm and unfrosted, then the frosting, and then in their completion. They're that good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Adapted from: mybakingaddiction
Yield: 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 box devil's food cake mix (we used Mr. Duncan Hines)
1 5.9 oz package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon instant espresso granules
1/2 cup warm water
Your favorite variety of premade cookie dough

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioner's sugar
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Preheat your oven to 350F. Dissolve your instant espresso granules in 1/2 warm water and mix all of the ingredients for the cake batter together. Done! So easy!

Line your muffin tins and divide your batter up to half way to two thirds full into each cup. Be careful not to over fill the tins otherwise your cupcakes will spill over the sides and make little mushroom edges and be harder to frost while keeping that aesthetic cuteness. Then here's the fun part, take a bit of cookie dough and push it down into the batter for each cupcake. We took one of those pre-divided 24 cookie packages and cut each of the squares into half so the cookie dough pieces should be pretty small. Make sure to cover up the tops of the dough with some batter if the dough is showing.

Proceed to lick the bowl, spoon, and spatula clean. Also eat some cookie dough.

Bake for 18-22 minutes and let cool.

For the frosting, beat all of the ingredients together until light and fluffy. Pipe onto the cupcakes or simply spread it on with a knife (old school style) and dig in! You can use the mini chocolate chips to decorate like we did or just eat it right then and there.

Enjoy!

                                                                                                                Sam & Elyse

Modernly cute, timelessly classic Tiramisu

Guess Elyse and I both decided to make something with whipped cream and chocolate shavings the week we got back from break...

My fiance has been on the near obsessive search for a serving of this italian dessert for weeks. So instead of continuing to be dragged from coffeeshop to bakery once a week, I just decided to make him as much as his heart desired.

Gosh that is gorgeous. Who knew chocolate shavings could look that good? For this recipe - I ran into a bit of trouble finding mascarpone cheese but was determined to make this classic dessert and used a substitute that is cheaper, very easy, and definitely readily available. Also, it tastes virtually identical!!

Also - a new camera was gifted unto me and I went a little crazy with the photography. Let's call this one Tiramisu in Nature. But really - natural sunlight shows off those layers like no other. Lady finger layer check. Mousse layer? Check. Chocolate shaving layer? Check check check!

Also - as you can tell, I put them into little wine glasses! The perfectly proportioned little dessert with an elegant presentation is great for parties or simply to be devoured one by one on the sanctuary that is my kitchen floor.

• 
  
• Tiramisu
• 
  
• 7 yolks
• 1 cup sugar for yolks
• 3 cups mascarpone (or substitute: 16 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup whipping cream)
• 3 egg whites beaten until fluffy and glossy
• 1/4 cup sugar for the whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup heavy cream whipped
• 2 1/2 cups cooled coffee or espresso
• 1/2 cup coffee liqueur
• 20-24 lady fingers 
• 1 cup chocolate shavings

Beat the 7 yolks and 1 cup sugar until pale and yellow and fluffy. Mix in the mascarpone substitute (for those that can't find it or can't afford it!) or if you can find it and afford it, the mascarpone itself. 

Add in 1/4 cup sugar for the egg whites and vanilla into the egg whites and beat until fluffy, glossy peaks form again. Fold into the mascarpone mixture being careful not to overfold! Finally, fold in your whipped heavy cream. 

Mix your coffee liqueur with your coffee/espresso and very quickly dip your lady fingers one at a time into the coffee mixture. Plate a single layer of lady fingers into a 8x10in baking pan. If you would like your tiramisu with more cake (like I do) just double the amount of lady fingers and coffee dip and cake away! Layer on a layer of your mascarpone cheese mixture and half the chocolate shavings. 

Repeat with another layer of lady fingers, mousse, and top with the last of your chocolate. Set in the fridge overnight and then dig in! Trust me, it is soooo worth waiting overnight. The mousse gets soaked up by the lady fingers, firms up, and the flavors meld together like italian amore. 

Enjoy! (Also that wooden fork there was saved from my virgin trip to Sprinkle's cupcakes a year ago. It's true. I save a fork. )

Sam