blueberries – Page 2 – The Pajama Chef

Blueberry Buckle

July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 Sarah

This dessert is a great way to enjoy fresh blueberries during the summertime!

If I had to pick, nine times out of ten I would choose a fruit dessert over a chocolate dessert. The other time? If it was a PEANUT BUTTER and chocolate dessert, like these yummy bars. So addicting! But back to fruit. I’d had never really heard of the dessert called a ‘buckle’ until recently, but when I got a great deal on fresh Michigan blueberries, I knew I had to try it out.

From what I could tell, its basically a crumb-topped blueberry coffee cake. Serious Eats gets a little more technical and explains: “A buckle is a popular New England dessert that’s made by adding berries or sliced fruit to a single layer of cake batter. During baking, the fruit sinks and the cake emerges from the oven with a “buckled” appearance.” Well, I’m not sure my berries sank quite as much as they were supposed to since I floured them before folding them in, but nevertheless, this dessert is out of this world amazing!

The crumbs! The juicy berries! Whatever you do, use sweet, fresh, juicy blueberries for this treat. There isn’t much sugar so the berries really shine. We’ve been enjoying our Blueberry Buckle all week long as a light dessert, and think we’ll fancy it up tonight with some homemade vanilla ice cream. I can’t even imagine how good that’s going to be. Crumb streusel + ice cream + blueberries has got to equal fabulous, I’m sure. You can’t go wrong with this, so I hope you enjoy!

P.S. So, Saturday was my three year blogiversary! I celebrated by doing nothing, haha. But I’m going to start linking back to my old recipes to bring ’em back to life. It’s crazyville to consider that I’ve been blogging here for THREE YEARS!! It’s true. 🙂 Have a great weekend!

a year ago: Mango Coconut Granola
two years ago: Lavender-Lime Scones
three years ago: Enchilada Sauce

Blueberry Buckle [from Martha Stewart]
click to print

Ingredients:

for cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened + more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour + more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
5 cups blueberries, patted dry and sprinkled lightly with flour

Mrs. Kostrya’s Streusel Topping

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10 inch springform pan, then set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed. Reduce speed to low and beat in egg and vanilla. Scrape sides of bowl as necessary.

Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to bowl, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Remove from mixer and fold in blueberries. Pour into prepared pan and set aside.

Prepare streusel topping by stirring together flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in vanilla and butter with a pastry blender or two knives. Sprinkle topping over batter.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until streusel is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then release the sides and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before cutting.

Time: 90 minutes.

Yield: 16 servings.

Linked up with: Foodie Friday, Friday Food Frenzy, and Weekend Potluck.

Beef, Main Dishes, Recipes

SRC: Blueberry Burgers

June 3, 2013June 5, 2015 Sarah

Blueberry burgers? You must think I’m crazy. And you might be right. However, to borrow a phrase from Katie who blogs at This Chick Cooks and introduced me to this fabulous recipe, these burgers might sound so wrong, but they taste so right. Ben and I made these burgers last week for our Memorial Day dinner and let me tell you–they do not disappoint!

Unfortunately, we don’t have a grill at our apartment so we had to cook them indoors on the George Foreman, but they still were a tasty introduction to summer eats… and a great recipe for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post! I love SRC days because they encourage me to broaden my culinary horizons while introducing me to a new blogger.

If you’re new, you might be a bit confused. SRC? What’s that? Let me explain. It’s a pretty amazing blogging club. Basically, the premise is this: you’re assigned a different member’s blog every month. You visit their blog, choose any recipe you want, then make it and share it on your blog… all while keeping your assignment a secret! Everyone else posts about their secret blog the same day. It’s fabulously fun to try out new blogs. If you have a blog, definitely check it out and consider joining! I highly recommend it.

Katie writes This Chick Cooks with a focus on eating and cooking real, whole foods. It is her mission to feed her family well, and she has plenty of recipes to accomplish that. She has tons of wholesome, tasty recipes–including many for muffins and coconutty treats… two of my loves! 🙂 Aside from making these unique burgers, in the future I’m definitely going to try Coconut Cream Larabars, Cornmeal Apple Cheese Muffins, and Creamy Corn and Chicken Summer Soup. They all sound so amazing, but for now, let’s talk about these burgers!

Blueberry Burgers are so fresh and tasty. I totally get the sentiment that fruit in burgers is just weird, but hear me out. The sweet, ripe burst of blueberries throughout is a sophisticated [Ahem… Can burgers be sophisticated? I vote yes.] foil for the salty, vinegary tang from the balsamic and Worcestershire sauce. Add in the bite of minced garlic and this meat really shines.

When I first saw this recipe, I wondered how to top these burgers. Normally I’m a cheeseburger-all-the-way kinda girl, but I thought these burgers bursting with juicy berries were perfect with just a bare minimum of fresh burger toppings like lettuce, tomato, onions, and ketchup [some unpictured because I forgot the sliced tomato and onion on the countertop until I was halfway done with my burger…ha!]. My homemade pretzel rolls [click here for the recipe!] made these burgers even better. Thanks, Katie–I enjoyed checking out your site and will be back soon. 🙂

Now, before the recipe, I do want to make one shameless plug–I recently made a Facebook page for The Pajama Chef. Please take a moment to check it out and like it here. Thanks!

Blueberry Burgers

Servings: 5
Time: 20 minutes
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from This Chick Cooks

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup blueberries [fresh or frozen]

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Add pepper to taste, then gently mix in blueberries. Shape into burgers, then cook as you normally would. On our George Foreman, this took about 8-9 minutes. Serve on buns with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and desired condiments.

Be sure to check out other great recipes from this month’s SRC round-up at the linky below. Have a happy Monday!

Breakfast, Oatmeal, Recipes

Maple Berry Overnight Oats

May 8, 2013May 6, 2013 Sarah

Now that it’s getting warmer out, I’m needing some interesting cold breakfasts. After a morning run in the heat, curling up with a hot bowl of oatmeal sounds like absolute torture! There are so many cold breakfasts that are actually good. Cereal is delicious but kinda boring, and in my opinion, things like yogurt and granola bars are only tolerable so many times before I get sick of them. They’re better for snacks or lunch, I think. Smoothies are one of my favorite breakfasts, but I just don’t want to get the blender out everyday, you know? Enter: overnight oats.

I first tried overnight oats a few years ago and felt kinda ‘meh’ about them. But recently, I decided to give them another chance. I went with the amazing flavor combination of maple berry, and let me tell you… this is pretty much the best creamy, sweet, cool breakfast ever!!

Overnight oats, like the name implies, are made the night before you want to enjoy them. Oats are mixed with milk and yogurt so they get all soft and delicious. With the addition of vanilla, cinnamon, and maple syrup, along with the sweet pop of fresh berries, they just taste SO good!! I can’t wait to experiment with other kinds of berries as the summer goes on.

Enjoying them on the porch is optional, but highly recommended. 🙂

Maple Berry Overnight Oats [from Tartlet Sweets]

click to print

Ingredients:

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons plain or vanilla yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons maple syrup [or to taste]
1 1/2 cups sliced berries

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir together oats, milk, yogurt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Sweeten with maple syrup to taste. Divide between two bowls or Mason jars. Top each bowl with about 3/4 cup berries. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or about 8-12 hours. Serve with additional milk as desired.

Time: 5 minutes plus overnight.

Yield: 2 servings.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes, Reviews

Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins

March 2, 2013 Sarah

Ben and I are huge yogurt fans. Every week, without fail, our grocery cart contains at least 10 cartons of yogurt [one for each lunch of the work week plus a big tub or two for smoothies or eating at home]… some Greek, some regular, some fruity, some plain or vanilla… whatever I’m in the mood for or whatever is on sale. For awhile I was making my own yogurt in the crockpot, but then grad school began consuming my life too much and making yogurt plummeted on my priority list. There are just too many good storebought brands, right? I look forward to the yogurt in my lunch everyday…it’s my dessert of sorts.

Even though yogurt is something I love a ton, one thing that I don’t do enough of with it is baking! Yogurt is a great ingredient to bake with because it makes muffins and even cakes incredibly pillowy, light, and soft for a fraction of the fat and calories of butter or oil. The inclusion of Liberté Blueberry Greek Yogurt is the secret ingredient in these yummy Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins, and the reason [in my humble opinion] why they are so, so, so good… sweet, hardy, and soft. Perfect trifecta for muffins, I think!

If you’ve never tried Liberté Greek and Méditerranée yogurt before, you should definitely check it out. Ben and I had tried it once or twice before I received a BzzKit from BzzAgent, but after eating this yogurt in place of our normal brands for a week, I think I’m going to become a loyal Liberté fan! The Coconut Méditerranée is amazing! Here’s some info about the yogurt… then I’ll get back to the muffins!

Liberté is not just made. It is crafted, by hand, to be the absolute best. In true artisan fashion, Liberté Méditerranée yogurt is made using whole milk and cream to achieve a silky texture in seven different rich, deep flavors. The six flavors of Liberté Greek yogurt are hand nurtured using skim milk to create a smooth, creamy, protein-rich yogurt that’s perfectly balanced and (surprise!) fat free. Each Liberté variety is punctuated with real fruit to up the taste even more in these natural, indulgent treats.

Liberté is new to the US yogurt scene, but has a long history in Canada so I found a recipe for Raspberry Coconut Muffins on their website and modified it based on what I had on hand. I was so pleased with these muffins that they might become my basis for other yogurt muffins in the future! You can definitely modify this recipe based on the fruit, yogurt, and nuts of your choice. I usually don’t add nuts to muffins, but the toasted walnuts in these were excellent. When I baked them last Sunday afternoon, they made my whole kitchen smell absolutely divine, and then they stayed fresh all week long for a lunchbox addition. Yum-o! Can’t wait to make some more. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins [adapted from Liberté]
click to print

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 carton Liberté Blueberry Greek Yogurt [5.3 ounces]
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup blueberries [fresh or frozen]

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on a cookie sheet and toast in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn! Set aside to cool, then increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla. In a larger bowl, stir together flours, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.

Chop cooled walnuts, then gently fold walnuts and blueberries into batter. Spoon into muffin cups, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Time: 40 minutes.

Yield: 16 muffins.

Disclosure: I am a BzzAgent and received free coupons to try out Liberté. All opinons are my own. Thanks to BzzAgent and Liberté for a great experience!

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Grandma’s Blueberry Muffins

July 5, 2012July 17, 2015 Sarah

Hey! Hope you had a happy Independence Day! Ben and I didn’t do anything super exciting… just had a little cookout [with awesome coleslaw and some Greek burgers he made], played Mario Kart on the Wii [I’m getting pretty good!], and watched a few fireworks on our balcony from the neighbors and the town’s celebration. We decided we didn’t want to deal with the traffic. 🙂 But we always enjoy the 4th of July because it was on that day that we got engaged four years ago, when I was staffing a summer project with Cru in Virginia Beach. Ben and a friend drove out to surprise me… so fun. 🙂 But anyways, back to the week.

I think these muffins might help your week out, don’t you?

My Grandma’s Blueberry Muffins are the absolute bestest blueberry muffins you ever did taste! So don’t you dare change a thing about them. 🙂 I certainly wouldn’t dream about it, even though the amount of butter and sugar in these little guys is really enough to warrant the name “cupcake” instead of “muffin.” Like, seriously. But they are worth it! I promise.

Even more so than the sweet muffin or the naturally sweet, juicy, fresh-picked blueberries, the crumb topping is what I absolutely adore about these blueberry muffins. Could that get any better? I think not. These muffins might look like your average bakery blueberry muffins, but they are absolutely not. And I’m not saying that just ’cause they’re from Grandma. Not at all. These muffins are sweet and a wee bit over the top, but they are still super light and fluffy to let the berry shine… unlike heavy bakery muffins. I don’t even bother trying other recipes anymore because I’m never satisfied. My Grandma simply knew what she was doing with these muff muffs! 🙂

Once you try them, I’m sure you’ll agree! Enjoy!

Grandma's Blueberry Muffins

Servings: 24
Time: 30 minutes
Print

from my Grandma

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease or line muffin tins with paper liners, then set aside.

Put flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix well. Cut in butter until crumb like. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture.

Add eggs, milk, and vanilla to crumb mixture in large bowl. Beat until smooth, then gently fold in blueberries. Fill prepared muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full.

Place reserved crumb mixture into a small bowl, then dribble in melted butter. Toss with a fork to make crumbs. Sprinkle on top of each muffin cup.

Bake for 20 minutes or until crumb topping is golden brown. Store covered for up to one week, or can be frozen up to six months.