Cherry Cheesecake Bites

Today I wanted to share a simple treat that you can make for your 4th of July celebration.  It literally took me minutes to put together and is a super cute way to celebrate America's birthday.

I've had these Cherry Cheesecake Bites bookmarked for quite some time but to add to the red, white, and blue festivity, I decided to try to dye my graham cracker crumbs blue.  Not wanting them to get too wet I ended up using gel food coloring.  If you attempt it with regular food coloring please let me know how it turns out!  And of course you could make them with naturally colored graham cracker crumbs, too.

I feel like most Fourth of July desserts feature strawberries and while that would be great as well, I went with cherries.  Because is there anything more American than Cherry Pie?

Looking for more ideas Summer recipe ideas for your Independence Day Celebration?

• Summer Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Vinaigrette (Panera copycat)
• Firecracker Shrimp
• Pork Sandwiches with Cilantro-Jalapeno Slaw
• Loaded Baked Potato Salad
• Herbed Potato Salad
• BLT Corn Salad Wrap
• My Mother-in-law's Broccoli Salad
• My Mother-in-law's Pasta Salad
• Sweet Beginnings Summer Pasta Salad
• Tomato Basil Orzo Salad
• Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes
• Watermelon Slush

Cherry Cheesecake Bites

Ingredients

• Fresh cherries (or strawberries, raspberries, etc.), washed and dried
• 1/2 block (4 oz) low-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Blue gel food coloring (optional)

Directions

1. In a small food processor (love my Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender for this!) or bowl with electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and salt.  Transfer sweetened cream cheese mixture to a small bowl.
2. In a small ziplock bag, add some graham cracker crumbs.  If desired, add a few drops of food coloring then seal bag and mix to combine.  Repeat until desired shade of color is created.  Pour prepared graham cracker crumbs into a bowl.
3. Make sure cherries are dry then dip into the cream cheese then graham crackers.  Repeat until you've dipped them all.
4. Eat and enjoy, taking care not to swallow the cherry pit!

Source: Barely modified from Oh, Bite It!

SRC: Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

This month's Secret Recipe Club assignment comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Jennifer at Mother Thyme.  Jennifer had guest posted for me last year with her very popular Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.  It's always fun to get to know a new blog through SRC but sometimes, it's also good to get one you know and follow already because you just know it will be filled with great recipes!   I had already bookmarked her Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothies and so it seemed it was destiny that made her my assignment for the month.

What I loved about this recipe was how it tasted just like strawberry cheesecake filling.  With strawberries in season and having bought FOUR POUNDS from Costco, I added twice as much in my smoothies for extra strawberry oomph.  This made mine a bit thick so I had to add a splash of vanilla almond milk to thin it out.  It was awesome and so simple!

Jennifer topped hers with whipped cream and some graham cracker crumbs for the full cheesecake flavor experience.  Looks pretty, too!

Do you have any favorite strawberry recipes?

One Year Ago: Creamed Chard and Spring Onion Pasta and Fresh Strawberry Pie
Two Years Ago: Lemon-Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt (I used 0% Fage Greek Yogurt and added about 1/2 tsp vanilla)
• 3 ounces light or fat free cream cheese
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1-2 teaspoons agave nectar (I used about a tablespoon of honey)
• Vanilla almond milk or regular milk (optional)

Directions

1. Add all ingredients except for the milk into a blender.  Process until smooth and creamy.  If needed, add milk of choice to thin the smoothie out to your desired consistency.  Serve immediately.

Source: Modified from Mother Thyme

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Summer just really wouldn't be complete without ice cream.  I gave my facebook fans a chance to pick which recipe I would post today and Jaida of Sweet Beginnings voted for the dessert option while my normally sweets-loving friend Brenda wanted me to do the savory entree.  Secretly though, I think Brenda wanted to see the dessert recipe first, too.  And seeing as it is Friday, I thought it would be nice to close out this week's posting with a dessert, just like you would with a multi-course meal.

I made this recipe for my friend JJ's birthday.  He had recently been in Japan for an extended business trip and one of his first weekends back was his birthday.  Knowing that he probably wouldn't have food at home nor go shopping or even cook for awhile (because he's a bachelor), I gave him some food as a welcome home gift the night we picked him up from the airport.  This ice cream was my birthday "present" to him.  I chose it because he loves ice cream and he always asked me in the past to make him homemade strawberry ice cream.

How was it, you ask?  I loved the added tang from the buttermilk.  It really complemented the fresh fruit flavor.  To be honest, I kind of didn't want to give him the ice cream once I had tried it.  This one is a keeper!

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp kirsch or vodka (optional)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6 egg yolks, lightly whisked in a medium bowl
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Before you start, make sure you freeze your ice cream maker overnight.
2. Combine the strawberries, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and kirsch or vodka (if using) in a medium bowl.  Set aside and let the sugars cause the strawberries to soften and release the juices, about 1/2 hour.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, scald the cream and dissolve the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  Pour a bit of the cream mixture into the lightly whisked yolk to temper (or warm) the eggs.  Add the remaining hot cream, whisking constantly to combine.  Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan.  Cook custard until just thickened, whisking constantly, about 4-5 minutes.  Using a fine wire mesh, strain the custard into a medium bowl.
4. In a blender, puree the macerated strawberry mixture until smooth.
5. Combine the custard mixture and the pureed strawberries.  Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least two hours but ideally overnight.
6. Just before churning, add the cup of cold buttermilk and stir to combine.  Churn the ice cream according to your manufacturers instructions.  For a harder, more scoopable consistency, transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 1 hour before serving.

Source: As adapted by and seen on Stresscake from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Strawberries are by far one of my favorite fruits so it's a shame that they're only in season for such a small part of the year.  Eating them at any other time other than their peak just means large berries that appear red and ripe but with a disappointing sub-par flavor because they were shipped green from far far away.

Recall that last year, I had a mission to make a pie crust from scratch as part of my 23 Things in 2011 List.  This is the recipe that I made to complete that task and I remember that I took forever searching for what I thought would be the perfect pie crust.  The theory is that the vodka in the recipe will bake off during cooking resulting in an extra flaky crust.  And, it delivered!

This is me posting this pie recipe nearly a year later so that you can make it with fresh, in-season strawberries, too.  See, there ARE advantages to me being a posting slacker ;).

One Year Ago: Lemon-Rosemary Turkey Meatballs
Two Years Ago: Summer Corn and Vegetable Soup

Three Years Ago: Avocado, Tomato, and Mango Salsa

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1 tsp. granulated sugar (I like to use vanilla sugar)
• 1 c. (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 TBSP chilled vodka
• 1/4 to 1/2 c. ice water, less 1 TBSP

For the Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 1 quart fresh strawberries
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

To prepare the pie crust:

1. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor.  Process for a few seconds to combine.
2. Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture and process until the mixture resembles coarse sand, about ten seconds.
3. Add the vodka then the water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube with the machine running, just until the dough holds together.  Do not process for more than 30 seconds.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.  Divide into two equal pieces and place on two separate sheets of plastic wrap.  Flatten into disks, then wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before using.  Make two 8 to 10-inch single-crust pies pies or one 8 to 10-inch double crust pie.  (Extra crust can be frozen for later use.)

To bake and assemble the pie:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Remove a disk of pie crust from the refrigerator and allow to warm slightly.  Roll out on a floured work surface and then transfer the pie crust to a pie plate.  Poke several holes in the bottom with a fork then bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Set aside to cool.
3. Arrange 3/4 of strawberries in baked, cooled pie crust. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. 
5. In a small bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Serve each slice of pie with a dollop of whipped cream.

Source: Pie crust from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook as adapted by and seen on Apple a Day; Strawberry Pie adapted from All Recipes

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt

I have a confession.  I'm slightly addicted to the tingly, tart taste of Yagoot frozen yogurt.  It's a locally owned froyo place similar to PinkBerry with a mix-in concept like Cold Stone Creamery.  Yum.  Thinking about all the frozen treats from these places is starting me make me drool...


Anyway, after Linda inspired me to make more frozen treats and I kicked things off with the Five-Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream", I decided I should also try my hand at frozen yogurt.  I found a basic recipe from the ice cream guru David Lebowitz and then went from there.  I love fruit flavors and wanted to capture that same tartness that Yagoot is famous for so in went some strawberries, peaches, and my "secret ingredient" for tartness - lemon juice.

Because I knew that adding fruit could result in icy, rock solid froyo, I also added some vodka to help lower the freezing temperature.  It worked...for maybe the first day.  After that, all bets were off and I still got a frozen rock which I waited (impatiently) to soften so I could enjoy the deliciousness that tasted just like my favorite Strawberry Yagoot at a fraction of the cost.  The way I see it, I made a quart (32 oz) of mock-Yagoot froyo for roughly $7 whereas a 1/2 cup small serving (4 oz) at the store would run me $2.50 or $20 for equivalent total ounces.  Yah for huge cost savings!

This froyo is best eaten freshly churned (so it's like soft serve) or within the same day of churning (so it's still soft and scoopable...for me this was the literal sweet spot).  Of course, if you have a bit of patience, you can wait for the frozen rock to thaw and serve.

Any tips for churning a froyo that stays SOFT over time?  I'd love to hear them!


Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt

Yields: About 1 quart (32 oz) of frozen yogurt

Ingredients

• 2/3 pint fresh strawberries, chopped
• 2 medium peaches, pitted and chopped
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoon vodka
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3 cups Greek-style yogurt (update: Apparently whole milk is best because it has less water which will prevent rock-hard froyo!)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In small mixing bowl, mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.
2. In a separate bowl, combined chopped strawberries, peaches, sugar, vodka and lemon juice.  Mix together well, cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3. Place the yogurt mixture in your ice cream maker and churn per the manufacturer directions.  After about 15 minutes, add the fruit mixture.  Serve immediately to enjoy soft-serve style frozen yogurt.  If desired, pour the mixture into an airtight container and freeze until ready to use.  Fair warning, it gets pretty hard after about 24 hours so you'll need to let it defrost before it's remotely scoopable again!

Source: Christine's Chronicles Original inspired by Poor Girl Eats Well and The Perfect Scoop by David Lebowitz

Summer Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

I have a cousin that is OBSESSED with Panera.  I'm talking every time she is in a city that has one it is on her "to do" list.  Sure it's a chain but who can blame her?  They do have really delicious food and chains provide great consistency no matter where you go.

This recipe is being dusted off from the archives.  It sat in the deep dark recesses of that black box that is my husband's computer hard drive for over a year before seeing the light of day again right here, right now.  You see, this time last year I was making lots of food but was lazy about blogging.  And then by the time I got time to blog, it just didn't worth doing so because the season had already changed.

Ah seasons.  This salad TOTALLY captures the spring/summer season.  It embodies all that is good about the bountiful seasonal fruits and veggies.  It is also inspired by my cousin's favorite restaurant, Panera.  Please go make this salad today.  It's a beautiful display of color bursting with natural sweetness and filled with nutrition!

Two Years Ago: Pasta Salad - This one ALWAYS gets gobbled up when I bring it to a party!

Summer Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

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Ingredients

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. minced shallot
• ¼ tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. light mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
• 6 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1½ tsp. poppy seeds

For the salad:

• Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
• Strawberries, hulled and sliced
• Blueberries
• Mandarin orange segments
• Fresh pineapple, cubed

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the vinegar, sugar, shallot, dry mustard, salt, mayonnaise and orange juice.  Process to blend well.  With the feed tube open and the processor on, add the vegetable oil in a steady stream and continue processing until incorporated.  Add the poppy seeds and pulse briefly just until blended.  Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. To make the salad, chop the lettuce into bite-size pieces.  Plate individual servings of the lettuce in salad plates.  Top each serving with strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges and pineapple cubes as desired.  Drizzle lightly with the poppy seed dressing and serve immediately.

Source: Salad from Annie's Eats; Dressing from Jamie Cooks It Up

2nd Blogiversary Celebration: Banana Split Cupcakes

Can you believe that it has been two years since I started my cooking blog adventures?  Me neither.  To celebrate I gave away a signed copy of Pioneer Woman Cooks.  It was won by lovely reader S who happens to be a local Cincinnati Nestie that I met earlier in the year when I went to a Christmas cookie swap.

Since not everyone was able to win the grand prize, I'm sharing a consolation prize so that you can all still celebrate this milestone with me.  These banana split cupcakes are like a secret adventure.  The outside gives you no hint of what lies inside.  As my sister Kelly's boyfriend/prom date stated when he bit inside, "Oh my god!  There are strawberries and pineapples!".  It's such a pleasant surprise and I think the filling keeps the cake extra moist.

Speaking of the cake, I would have liked the flavor of the banana to come through more but I think had I put in more banana than called for it would have ended up with a texture of banana bread rather than this fluffy cake.  If there were more room I would have stuffed a banana slice into the center of the cupcake but it was already pretty full.  The whipped cream frosting was perfect (and soooo easy to make.  Don't waste your time on the pre-made stuff like Cool Whip or Ready Whip.  This is infinitely better!).  The chocolate topping really pulled the taste together in my opinion and it gives it that festive look once its finished with sprinkles.  Overall it takes a little effort to make each component and assemble but nothing was especially hard and the look is worth it.  This tasted and looked just like a sundae but in cupcake form.  So fun to eat!

Tip: You can assemble the cupcake through piping the frosting a day or two in advance.  Then, store the cupcakes in your refrigerator until you're ready to finish with the gananche, sprinkles, and cherry.  Don't do the finishing steps until you're almost ready to serve because otherwise the color of the sprinkles will bleed into the chocolate and whipped cream, becoming muted in color.  Unfortunately I learned this the hard way!

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to me!  Thanks for coming to my party :).

One Year Ago: Blueberry Citrus Cake
Two Years Ago: Crockpot Turkey.  Why or how this became the first recipe I ever posted I am not quite sure but wow how far I've come in such little time!

By the way, need a way to use up the rest of your buttermilk after making this recipe?  Check out my buttermilk tag for ideas.

Banana Split Cupcakes
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Yields: 30+ Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2½ cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. buttermilk
• 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana

For the filling:

• 1 lb. strawberries, hulled and diced small
• 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
• 12 oz. crushed pineapple, drained

For the frosting:

• 1½ cups heavy cream, chilled
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the ganache:

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp. light corn syrup

For garnish:

• Multi-colored sprinkles
• Maraschino cherries

Directions

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Mix in 1 the mashed banana until well combined.  With the mixer on low speed alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing only until just incorporated.
2. Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. To make the strawberry filling, combine the strawberries and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl.  Toss well, smashing slightly with a fork.  Allow the berries to macerate at least 20-30 minutes.
4. To fill the cupcakes, cut a small cone out of the center of each cupcake with a paring knife or small biscuit cutter.  (The excess cake can be discarded or saved for cake balls or parfaits)  Add a teaspoon or two of the strawberry filling to the center of each cupcake.  Top with a teaspoon or two of the crushed pineapple, filling to the top of the cupcake.
5. To make the frosting, add the heavy cream to the chilled bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Add the powdered sugar and continue to whip until thoroughly combined and stiff peaks form.  Be careful not to over-beat!  Blend in the vanilla extract.
6. Add the whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip.  Pipe a swirl of the whipped cream onto each filled cupcake, covering the filling.  Transfer the filled and frosted cupcakes to the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.
7. To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Bring the cream to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Remove from the heat and pour the hot cream over the chocolate; let stand 1-2 minutes.  Whisk together until a thick, smooth ganache forms.  Blend in the corn syrup.  Let stand at room temperature at least 10 minutes so the ganache is not hot.
8. To finish the cupcakes, pour a spoonful of the ganache over the whipped cream topping of each cupcake.  Garnish with sprinkles and maraschino cherries before the glaze sets.  Chill the assembled cupcakes until ready to serve.

Source: Annie's Eats 

White Chocolate Strawberry Parfaits

This is an extremely easy dessert that's light and refreshing.  Chris and I put this together assembly line style and were done in no time!  When it was time to serve, we just dalloped each glass with some cool whip and topped it with a fresh strawberry.

It was the perfect ending to the Prom dinner that I made for my sister and her friends.  The other dishes served were Olive Garden Copycat Salad (recipe to come), Garlic Bread, Pizza Bites, Baked Sausage Ziti, and Chicken Alfredo. 

I was honored that they wanted me to cook for their special night.  It was extremely satisifying to see them clear their plates and go back for seconds.  They said it was better than a restaurant and even asked if they could come back for dinner again in the future!  If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.  I was amazed by how much those boys ate but I guess teenage boys do eat quite a bit.  Every single one of them must have overate though because Chris had to hand out the Tums afterwards haha.  (I probably should have supported my brand and made them take Pepto instead, huh?)

Anyway, did you know that a traditional parfait of this sort would have 490 calories and 40 g of fat per serving?!  Thankfully this version is lightened up with a slim 198 calories and 3 g of fat per serving.  So, now you have room for dessert!

One Year Ago: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Treats

White Chocolate Strawberry Parfaits
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Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours, 20 minutes
Yields: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low-sugar strawberry preserves
• 1 1/4 cups sliced strawberries
• 1 package (1 oz) sugar-free, fat-free white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat 1% milk
• 1 1/4 cups thawed fat-free whipped topping
• 24 mini vanilla wafer cookies
• Whole strawberries (optional)

Directions

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave strawberry preserves on high in 15 second intervals until melted.  Add sliced strawberries and toss to coat.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk pudding mix and milk until well blended, about 1 minute.  Let stand until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.  Stir in 1 cup of whipped topping.
3. In each (8 oz) dessert glass (I used a wine glass), layer 1/3 cup pudding mixture, 2 Tbsp sliced strawberry mixture, 6 cookies, and 1/4 cup pudding mixture.  Top with remaining sliced strawberry mixture.
4. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours.  Just before serving, top with remaining whipped topping and if desired, garnish with whole strawberries.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 198
Protein: 4 g
Fat: 3 g (1 g saturated)
Trans fat: 0 g
Cholestrol: 6 mg
Carbs: 39 g
Sodium: 365 mg
Fiber: 1 g
Sugar: 22 g

Source: Woman's World, March 2010 p. 33

Orange Berry Muffins

Hi again.  Sorry I've been so sporadic in posting.  Toby keeps me very busy and even though I wake up at like 6AM daily now because of him I've been spending my extra hours cooking and uploading vacation photos rather than blogging.  There are so many great things I still need to blog about but I've been struggling to sit down and make myself write...err...type. 

Posting recipes is surprisingly a lot of work!  There's witty commentary to be made, photo editing, finding the recipe again months after you made the dish (I was about to give up on finding this one again!), recipe copy/pasting/modifying, and then making a printer-friendly link (another project left unfinished...I was supposed to back convert older recipes and am probably only halfway through.  Mental note to self to finish that up...).  Now add to the mix a dog that you have to watch to make sure he's behaving and you've got yourself some blogging difficulty.  It's a wonder I can even *cook* anymore.  But, I wouldn't trade my beagle Toby for the world.  He's awesome and so loving!

Back to the story on this recipe.  I made this one wayyyy back on EASTER WEEKEND!  Whoa that's a long time ago.  I had made these to eat as a snack in the car and for quick and inexpensive breakfasts while we were spending time with our friends Sig and Kristen on a couples road trip to Washington DC to see the Cherry Blossoms.  They were beautiful albeit I had expected it to be more enchanting.  Guess that's what happens when you go in peak season.  I was so mad when I saw people picking the blossoms and/or whole branches off the trees.  Way to ruin it for everyone!  The city itself was soooo much more awesome than I remember.  The last time I had gone was probably elementary school.  I definitely would like to visit again someday.  We *almost* saw President Obama on the way to Easter Sunday service but got tired of waiting for (at the time) what we thought might actually be nothing.

I'd have to say that Sig and Chris probably had more than their fair share of these muffins.  And I can't blame them.  They're TASTY!  The orange zest (use organic oranges to avoid the pesticides!) gives it a great morning wake-up zing while the berries burst with flavor.  The zest also smelled so fragrant and citrusy when I was rubbing it in the sugar...I'll admit I kind of wanted to stop right there and just eat the orange flavored sugar haha!  They are relatively healthy because I substituted some whole wheat flour for the white and there's relatively little sugar for a sweet bread type recipe.  I must have added strawberries to my muffins because I had some leftover.  The original recipe was just for blueberries but why not do a berry mix for some gorgeous color :).  I definitely plan on making this one again.  Especially with berries being in season now.  Yum!

One Year Ago: Exquisite Pizza Sauce

Orange Berry Muffins
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Yields: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• About ¾ cup lowfat buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ⅓ cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
• 2 cups (9.6 ounces) all-purpose flour (I substituted 1 cup whole wheat flour for the same amount of all-purpose white flour)
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries and/or strawberries – fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
• Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)

Directions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line the pan with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups.
2. Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.
3. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the berries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Source: Slightly modified from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my Home to Yours, as seen on The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Strawberry Topping

This Strawberry Topping was made for our March Breakfast Themed Dinner Club as part of our Make Your Own Belgian Waffle Bar.  It was rediculously simple to make and tasted very fresh.  I added some lemon juice to brighten up the flavor.  Excellent on waffles, pancakes, ice cream, or cheesecake!

My personal contributions for this dinner club consisted of:

• Country Fried Steak
• Belgian Waffle Bar (with homemade Strawberry Topping and Syrup)
• Bacon Egg and Toast Cups
• Mimosas (equal parts of champagne and orange juice)

Check out our Dinner Club blog for some additional yummies from my friends!

Strawberry Topping
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Prep Time: 15 Min
Cook Time: 5 Min
Ready In: 35 Min
Yields: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pint strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Cut about 1/3 of the strawberries in half.
2. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine uncut strawberries, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally and smashing strawberries with spoon as they soften, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Add remaining 1/3 of cut strawberries into cooked mixture. Store in refrigerator to cool before serving over waffles, pancakes, ice cream, or cheesecake.

 Source: Slightly modified from All Recipes

Berry Buttermilk Cake

Are you wondering what to do with leftover buttermilk?  Well, as this is apparently a common question, I've now added a "buttermilk" tag to my blog and will be featuring a few different recipes in the upcoming days as additional ideas.  Surprisingly, I already had a good 6-7 recipes using buttermilk before this series of recipes but I generally used the trick of taking regular milk and adding a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to make it sour and curdle a little.  That's all fine and dandy but it really isn't the same as using REAL buttermilk.  And I had a giant half-gallon jug of it to use!  So come explore some recipes with me, my friends...

This. Recipe. Is. Awesome. 

Even better is that it is really really simple.  I whipped it up and was in and out of the kitchen in well under an hour INCLUDING baking and cleaning time.  It's a very light cake with a delicate crumb and the slight crunch of the sugar on top adds a nice contrast to each bite.  It's light enough to be enjoyed as a breakfast yet satisfying enough to serve as your dessert, too.  Chris' family ate it right up and we enjoyed it so much that I made it again that same week.  Now, I don't know if you've noticed or not but I tend to try a bazillion new recipes so anything that gets made multiple times is a keeper in my eyes!  (I'm sorry, the photo really doesn't do this cake justice!)

The original recipe was called Raspberry Buttermilk Cake but I didn't have any raspberries, I only had frozen blueberries (which were leftover from our Belgian Waffle Bar from Dinner Club...I still need to post those recipes...d'oh!).  Thankfully this recipe is very forgiving and you can use whatever the heck berry you want and I found frozen works just fine in this case.

So if you want a lightly sweet treat tonight that's relatively healthy (less than 200 calories a slice = 1/8th of the cake!), make this one.  You won't be sorry!

Berry Buttermilk Cake
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Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup plus 1.5 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup well-shaken lowfat buttermilk
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz.), blackberries, blueberries, and/or strawberries*

*Note: If using frozen berries, add the berries to the batter frozen.
 
Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400, with a rack in the middle. Butter and flour a 9″ cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and 2/3 cup sugar at medium-high until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, and then egg.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the buttermilk.  At low speed, mix until just combined.
3. Pour batter into a cake pan and smooth the top using a rubber spatula. Scatter berries on top and sprinkle remaining 1.5Tbsp. sugar.
4. Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan 10 minutes and then turn onto a rack and cool to warm, 10-15 minutes.
5. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired :).  (Sorry that will put you over the 200 calorie per serving mark...but it would taste so delicious!)

Source: Slightly adapted from Gourmet as seen on Elly Says Opa!

Nutritional Information for 1/8 of the cake: Calories: 196 / Fat: 6.7g / Saturated Fat: 3.9g / Carbs: 31.5 / Fiber: 1.5g / Protein: 3.1g

Cheesecake Cupcakes

The theme for this week is to use up as much of the house warming party leftover food as possible.  It takes some creative repurposing so we'll see what I come up with.  The first item that I made tonight were Cheesecake Cupcakes to get rid of some of those nilla wafers that we had leftover from the chocolate fountain (which, omg was awesome!). 

The recipe comes from a site that I discovered during my engineering days at UC.  If you look at the original recipe, the formatting for the instructions is a little different than a traditional cookbook but makes so much sense and takes up so little room.

Cheesecake Cupcakes
(Source: Cooking for Engineers)
Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 lb cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 c sugar
• 12 vanilla wafer cookies (such as Nilla Wafers)
• topping of choice - cherry pie filling, strawberry pie filling, blueberry pie filling, mandarin oranges, chocolate kisses or chips, nuts, etc...choose your poison ;)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a muffin tin with aluminum foil muffin cups.
3. Place a vanilla wafer cookie in the bottom of each cup.
4. In a mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Let rest and disperse air bubbles by tapping mixture.  (This will prevent the cake from "falling" after you remove it from the oven.)
5. Fill cups about 3/4 full with cream cheese mixture.
6. Top with topping then bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
7. Take out of oven and remove cups from pan.  Place on a cooling rack until completely cooled then transfer to refrigerator.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.