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