Quinoa Muffins with Blueberries

 

Quinoa pronounced keen-wah is a grain similar to cous-cous but with more protein. One cup contains 20 grams of protein! Used by the Incas, this quinoa muffin recipe is not too sweet, chewy in texture, and perfect if you’re trying to sneak some healthy into your baking!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup quinoa, rinsed (just run the quinoa in a strainer under some water to get rid of some of the starch)

1/4 vegetable oil (I used canola and it was fine)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk (2% or higher)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries (You could also use whatever you want in your muffins. I was planning on using orange-flavored cranberries but I had some blueberries left over from the red velvet cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper cups.

In a medium saucepan bring quinoa and 1 cup of water to boil. Cover and simmer until the water has been absorbed. 11-13 minutes. 

Whisker together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

In another bowl whisk oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. 

Add quinoa to dry ingredients and then add oil mixture. Stir well. 

Fold in blueberries. 

Fill each tin about halfway with batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

 

Red Velvet Cake with Strawberries and Blueberries

I rarely make cakes. I think I’ve made under 10 in my whole lifetime. The thing about cakes is that not only do you have to make them but then there’s the added pressure of decorating them. My cake decorating skills are non-extistent which is WHY I rarely make cakes. 

 So every so often I have to do what I call “obligatory baking” meaning I make items that I normally wouldn’t be inclined to make. Usually the obligation stems from a food allergy or a request for a specific item. I view these opportunities as a challenge so when my sister needed to find a good velvet cake recipes and my brother was having a southern-theme birthday BBQ, I figured what the heck. 

So I found this recipe on epicurious.com and I decided to try it out. I thought the addition of the strawberries and blueberries would add some freshness to the cake. 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (I used pastry flour since I didn’t find cake flour at the store I went to) 

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon red food coloring 

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 pint baskets of strawberries

2 1/2 pints baskets of blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch cakes pans. (I highly recommend owning two cake pans, I only own one and I had to bake the cake one pan at a time. Not only did it take twice as long but the cake layers are uneven because I put most of the cake batter in first cake layer! Needless to say I am buying another cake pan.)

I rarely sift the flour when I bake I usually whisk the ingredients. But since I was making a cake I decided to sift the flour. If you don’t own a flour sifter just tap the flour through a metal sieve. 

Whisk sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Make sure there are no lumps! My cocoa was a bit lumpy so I had to break them up with a whisk. 

In a small bowl whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. (Careful! You are adding food coloring and vinegar watch your clothes!)

In a mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until well-blended, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, making sure to blend well after each one. 

Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk  mixture in 3 additions. (In english this means add 1/4 of the flour mixture then 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture and continue to alternate flour and buttermilk until the whole thing is well blended). 

Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for about 27 min or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

For frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth (about 3 minutes). Beat in vanilla and then add powdered sugar and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. 

To frost cake put the cakes in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Lay down first cake and add about 1 cups of frosting as filling and add blueberries and sliced strawberries. 

Frost the cake, don’t worry if you have “bald”patches, put cake in the freezer again for about 10 minutes and then continue to frost. Putting the cake in the freezer makes it easier for the frosting to adhere.

So everyone liked the cake. The actual cake part had a slight cornbread tinge to it but combined with the cream cheese frosting and the berries it was GOOD! 

So at my brother’s party I wasn’t the only that was festive. My dad made my brother Ozzy a birthday watermelon with jicama letters. Yes I know it says Birday but he carved it out of jicama! Cut him some slack!

Happy Birday Ozzy! 

 

Toasted Hazelnut Cherry Biscotti

 

Biscotti means twice baked in Italian and sure enough, it is twice baked. You can use various combinations such as pistachios and golden raisins or chocolate and pecans. I like the hazelnut and cherry combination the best , the biscotti dough can be sticky and since this recipe requires cooling time, I would suggest leaving about a 3 hour window to make these. 

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 27 3 inch biscotti

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup toasted hazelnuts chopped

1 cup dried cherries ( I used Rainer cherries which are sweet and not tart. They’re also pretty big so I cut each in half)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt 

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a medium bowl whisk together  flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cherries and then the chopped hazelnuts. Note: the cherries were sticky so when I added them to the flour mixture I coated each one with flour so they don’t stick together or sink to the bottom. To coat after adding to the flour just stick your hands in there and make sure each cherry is flour coated and not stuck to each other.

In a small bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla. 

Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix until combined. Dough will be crumbly. 

Divide dough in half. I used a bench scraper because I own one but you can also just use a spatula. Or if you’re ambitious you can also just make one big log, the biscotti will be longer but you’ll end up with less pieces. 

On a lightly floured work surface, roll each half into a 12 inch log, transfer logs into a baking sheet  and press into 7/8 in thickness.(Just under one inch)

Bake for 30 minutes until risen,firm, and a light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for about 30 minutes. 

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and cut logs into 1/2 inch slices . Lay slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until dry and starting to brown about 15-20 mins. 

 

 

 

 

The Best Fudge Brownies Ever

 

I got this recipe from the back of a King Arthur flour bag. They claim to be the best ever so I just had to try it. One of the great things about making brownies is you don’t need a mixer so you have less clean-up. The recipe calls for a 9 x 13 in pan, I don’t have one so I thought I could use my 9 x 9 in brownie pan, but was I wrong. The brownies came out moist and crunchy at the top but they were THICK! I would strongly recommend using the 9 x 13 in pan or halve the recipe. But if you like super thick chocolate-y brownies then follow the recipe below. Oh, and these are perfect with vanilla ice cream! 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups  unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chip

1 cup walnut pieces (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degree oven.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Then add the sugar and stir. Return the sauce pan to the heat and stir until the mixture is hot but not bubbling. The mixture will look shiny and the sugar will not dissolve but take on a more uniform consistency.  Transfer the sugar mixture to a mixing bowl. 

Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. 

Add the eggs, beating until smooth. 

Then add the flour, chocolate chips, and walnuts and stir until well-combined. One thing to note about this mixture is when you first start to add the ingredients they just sort of just stay at the top. You really have to stir and fold in the ingredients or else you will have an uneven consistency. 

Spoon the batter into a greased pan (I used Bake Joy which is a butter/flour spray and great for baking) and smooth the top with a batter knife or small spatula. 

Bake for 28-30 min (if using a 9 x 13 in pan) I had to add 15 more minutes for my pan so if using a 9 x 9 in pan bake for 45 minutes. Poke a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean (except for a few crumbs) then the brownies are done. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Noel Nut Balls, Russian Tea cakes, etc…)

I’ve used three different recipes for this type of cookie and every time I learn a new name for it. I’m gonna go with Mexican wedding cookie since noel nut ball reminds me of a bad South Park joke. But basically this refers to a crunchy nutty cookie rolled in powdered sugar. I like to make these around Christmas time since they remind me of snow but they’re good year round. I strongly recommend using pecans for this, the sweetness of the pecan really comes through. I’ve also used walnuts and pistachios but the pecan gives it the best flavor by far. 

 

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 45 1 inch cookies

2 1/4 cups of shifted all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)  plus more I’d say at least another 1/2 cup for rolling)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon bourbon or orange juice (it’s such a small amount you can just buy an orange and juice it, I’ve also used store bought OJ before and I’d say the results are about the same)

 

Whisk together flour, pecans, powdered sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

With a mixer, mix butter and honey on a medium speed until fluffy. Add OJ or bourbon and mix to combine. 

Add flour to butter mixture and beat to combine. 

At this point the mixture will be a bit crumbly. With a spatula spoon the mixture to one side and gather the mixture in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours. (This step is IMPORTANT in saving your sanity when baking the cookies so do not skip! Also do not put in freezer to make it chill faster since it might freeze then be really hard to roll out. Just make these cookies when you have to do something for three hours while your dough is chilling) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. You can either use two teaspoons or if dough is firm enough, use one teaspoon to measure out dough and roll with your hand into a ball. Space cookies about 2 inches apart. 

Bake for 12-13 minutes and rotate baking sheets halfway through until cookies are lightly browned. 

On a wire rack cool cookies until they are warm. Roll in powdered sugar once.

When you are done with all the cookies, roll them one more time in the powdered sugar and pat the sugar in to give them a more velvety finish. If you are giving the cookies away you might want to use to a small strainer to tap more powdered sugar on them for a more professional looking touch. The small candy wrappers (as seen in the photo at the top of the post) are a good way to package them. 

 

*These cookies because of the powdered sugar tend to stick together so the best way to store them are in an airtight container in the fridge. Take them out about 30 mins before you intend to serve them.*

 

Hummingbird Cupcakes

Originally a southern dessert, the exact reason for its name cannot be determined. Some say its because the dessert is sweet like the nectar given to hummingbirds. Whatever the case may be, these cupcakes are delicious, easy to make, and leave quite an impression. I also used toasted coconut as decoration (most recipes use pineapple). I find the coconut gives it a crunchy texture and nicely compliments the cream cheese frosting. 

INGREDIENTS

Makes 24 cupcakes.

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted then cooled. 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 cups mashed ripe bananas

8 oz of crushed pineapple drained

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup flaked coconut

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 bar (8 oz) of cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened

16 oz ( 2 cups)  confectioners sugar

2 cups flaked coconut, toasted

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with cupcake papers. 

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Mix together butter, vanilla, and sugar until well combined about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Beat until egg is fluffy and yellow (about 2 minutes after last egg)

Stir together (by hand) bananas, pineapple, walnuts, and coconut. Then using a mixer add banana mixture to egg mixture. Beat for one minute and then slowly add flour mixture until everything is well combined. 

After banana mixture is fully incorporated it should look like this:

Using either a metal ice cream scoop or two spoons scoop mixture about 3/4 of the way full into the paper cups. 

Bake for 28 minutes rotating halfway or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. 

To make the frosting simply mix the cream cheese, vanilla, butter, and confectioner’s sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed for about 3 minutes. Spread a smooth layer on the cupcake and then sprinkle the toasted coconut on top. You can add food coloring to the frosting if you’d like to make them more festive.