Category Archives: dessert

Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake/Macerated Berries

DSCN4135Lemon Yogurt Cake

Fresh out of the oven

Fresh out of the oven

I have been playing around with this recipe for a while. I originally got the inspiration from Barefoot Contessa television show. I like anything with lemons, and love using them as often as possible. I have made changes in this recipe that suit me.  It is easy and very yummy served with fresh berries. I have also used oranges in place of lemons; it gives it a different flavor but just as good.

Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and a little bit extra flour to dust the pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain yogurt (greek yogurt is perfect. you can use low fat)

1 cup sugar

3 extra large eggs (not cold from fridge, let sit out for a while)

3 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons). Save lemons after zesting for glaze

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan (I use Pam baking spray) and Line the bottom with parchment paper  (will make removal of cake easier). Dust a little flour in pan and shake it out.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s incorporated well. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean. (I try and check after 40 minutes or so)

In a separate bowl combine the confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice mix with a wire whisk until smooth. it makes a lovely white (did I mention delicious?) frosting. once cake is completely cool Pour the glaze over the top of the cake and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides, frosting will harden a bit.

Serve with berries. or, you can do Macerated Berries with Vanilla Cream which is awesome on the side. Not necessary, but delish even on it’s own!

Macerated Berries:

 6 cups fresh mixed berries (approx. 2 lbs.), Divided into 2 bowls

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Vanilla cream:

1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 cup chilled heavy cream

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Berries: Using a masher (or the back of a wooden spoon,) mash 1 cup berries with the sugar and OJ in a large bowl until sugar begins to dissolve. Gently stir in remaining 5 cups berries. let sit at room temp. tossing occasionally, until berries are juicy (1- 2 hours)

Vanilla Cream:

Put Chilled heavy cream, sour cream, and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a whisk or electric mixer (electric is best), beat until soft peaks form. Cream can be made 30 minutes before serving. Cover and Chill.

More things to do with blueberries (Blueberry Coffee Cake)

Blueberry Coffee Cake

this is an awesome and fairly healthy coffee cake. i believe i got it from ellie krieger and she is a  health conscious cook. quite yummy and something else to do with all the blueberries. it’s not super sweet but sweet enough.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray (I use Pam Baking Spray)

 1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)

2 tablespoons canola  oil

2 large eggs (i like them room temp. just not cold)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I have always used the greek yogurt; it’s fine)

1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8- inch square cake pan (i prefer pyrex glass for this)

Whisk together the 2 flours, the baking soda and the salt. in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. in a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, butter and oil until fluffy. press out any lumps from brown sugar. beat in the eggs (1 egg at a time) and continue beating until fluffy. beat in the vanilla and the yogurt. add in the flour mixture in two seperate batches. batter will be a little sticky (I use a knife to spread.)

spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. sprinkle 1/2 of the nut mixture over the batter, and top with blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the cake, pressing gently. Bake until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in center come out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes. check on cake after 25 minutes. Let cake cool slightly and then unmold or just cut up into squares and put on a pretty cake platter.

Summer Crumble aka Berry Crumble

Berry Crumble Filling

Here we are in Summer thankfully! and you’re looking for a dessert in which you can use what’s fresh and available. Check out those beautiful blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries out there! they can be bought in large quantities and they are delish right out of the box, but even more so when cooked up this way. I’ve played with this recipe forever, and have been asked for it numerous times. So here it is in all it’s worked over glory for you to enjoy! what’s even better is that you can prepare this when you have the berries and the time, freeze it and you have this wonderful crumble to serve when you need a dessert!  it is awesome served with vanilla ice cream or yogurt!  serve hot or warm .

Ingredients:

filling:

8 cups mixed fresh berries (if you prefer blueberries alone, that’s fine. I use blue, black, straw, and raspberries , whatever looks good to me that day)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca (this is optional but I must tell you that it is sort of the secret ingredient. It prevents the filling from getting runny)

crumble topping:

 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss berries with tapioca (if you ar using it,) sugar and lemon zest. Set aside.

Topping:

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, spices and salt. Stir in butter and nuts. Course crumbles will  begin to form. Pour berries into a 9-inch square or round pan. Using your fingers, form topping mixture into crumbs and spread over the filling. Bake until filling starts to bubble and topping is a light golden brown, approx. 55 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

I usually put this in when we sit down for dinner. It smells divine, and it is ready to eat when we are ready for dessert. Something else I do is cook it for about 30 minutes before freezing, this will set it. I take it out of the freezer the morning of the night we’ll be eating it. I then cook it for another 25 minutes or so right before I’m serving it.

Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

Cherry Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are a-mazing! They never fail me. They always crowd please. And i don’t remember where this recipe hails from, so please forgive me for not giving credit 🙂 These are really from my vault and they’re really delish, especially dipped in milk. I must freeze them after my guests leave or else I find myself in the kitchen dunking which I haven’t done since I’m a kid. So enjoy!!!

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened…yikes!)

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp vanilla extract (use a good one)

2 large eggs (at room temperature, don’t ever use cold eggs right out of fridge for baking unless otherwise stated)

4 cups unsweetened chocolate morsels

1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped (I love nuts, but obv. optional)

1 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a medium to large bowl mix together flour , baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this but you can use electric hand beater), beat the butter, sugars and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed until it is well blended, and then add eggs (one at a time). When this is well incorporated, add the flour mixture a little at a time until well blended. By hand, stir in the chocolate morsels and cherries and nuts.

Using a spoon or small ice cream scooper (try to make sure you make uniform mounds, this will help in the cooking process) place mounds about 3″ apart from each other. You will probably need at least 2 cookie sheets. You can do it one cookie sheet at a time, it will just be a slower process. Now place cookie sheet in the fridge for about an hour. (This is why you need 2 large cookie sheets. Sometimes I even use 3 or 4. ) After dough has been in fridge for the hour, bake the cookies in preheated oven for 35 – 40* minutes ’til golden brown . Keep an eye on the cookies to make sure  they don’t burn.  Remember baking requires patience. Cool cookies on baking sheet, then transfer to racks. If you don’t have racks just let them cool, then place on a plate.

* sometimes they only cook for 25 – 30 minutes depending on the size of mounds. So please start watching them after 25 minutes. Recipe says 35 – 40 minutes. However I know that they bake quicker, at least in my oven they did. So I’m just saying…watch carefully , set your timer for 25 minutes and start watching.