Update: find this post on my blog here. Enjoy!
Need ideas for your Mother’s Day brunch menu? Or just interested in trying my new favorite, easy [semi-healthy] French Toast Bake, made with juicy blueberries, cinnamon, and hearty multigrain bread? If you answered yes to either of those questions, be sure to check out my post on Today’s Housewife right now! Enjoy your day! 🙂
Tag: blueberries
Royal Berry Coffee Cake
So, it’s springtime… but not quite berry season yet. Never mind–frozen berries work just fine in this fluffy, light coffee cake that features not just one but two kinds of delicious berries for your enjoyment. Drool! Raspberries and blueberries pair perfectly in this indulgent breakfast-y dessert treat. There’s just something so special about raspberries, huh? I think so, anyway.
Royal Berry Coffee Cake was the product of a recent Saturday night baking experiment. Those are the best! I started the tradition in high school when I’d bake at night after getting home from running at a cross country or track meet, watching classic TLC shows like “Trading Spaces.” Sometimes friends would be over baking with me, other times it’d just be me and the pets. Now, it’s me and the kitty… with Ben someplace nearby.
The recipe originally was my mom’s, pulled from a newspaper or newsletter of some sort [the credit goes to a woman from at Purdue… just googled her, apparently she’s a chef at at dining hall]. My mom had noted that it was delicious in August 2006, and I am happy to report that it was absolutely phenomenal in April 2012. 🙂 Sweet!
The main change I made to the original recipe was doubling it and baking it in a Bundt pan instead of a 9×13 pan. I did not double the amount of berries [because I wouldn’t have had enough otherwise], so feel free to halve the recipe if that works better for you–just bake it for about 30 minutes instead.
However you make it, this springtime cake is sure to satisfy. Each bite of vanilla cake is dotted with berries, and looks impressive when it’s really a cinch to make. The hardest part is waiting for it to bake… the smell is just incredible, and it tastes even better! Make this now!!
What are you baking this spring?
Royal Berry Coffee Cake [adapted from Grace Brutsman, Hillenbrand Hall]
click to print
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup frozen red raspberries
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
Directions:
Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan, then set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together flour and baking powder. Set dry ingredients inside.
Then, cream butter in a stand mixer, incorporating sugar gradually, beating well after each addition until mixture is fluffy and light. Stir in eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute to combine.
Stir vanilla into milk in a measuring cup. Then, alternate adding dry and wet ingredients into bowl of stand mixer, beating well after each addition.
Place half of each type of berry in bottom of prepared pan. Cover with half of cake batter, add rest of berries, and top with remaining batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 65-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cover with foil after about 45 minutes if the cake starts to get dark.
Cool for 15-25 minutes before inverting on cooling rack, loosening edges with plastic knife if necessary.
Time: 85 minutes [10 minutes active].
Yield: 16-20 servings.
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Green Monsters
Come over to Today’s Housewife to check out my take on Green Monster smoothies [my favorite summer breakfast] and their cold-weather replacement, Green Monster Muffins… that even my spinach-fearing husband loved.
Here’s the link. 🙂 Have a great Thursday!
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Honey-Lime Fruit Salad
So, I made a mistake. I made this fabulous fruit salad several months ago, and promptly forgot about it. When I found the photo this week, I just knew I had to blog about it before it was too late. Before all of summer’s fresh fruit is gone. And I know that may be sooner, rather than later, but I just had to share. I hope you understand.
This Honey-Lime Fruit Salad is absolutely fantastic. I’m not used to making dressing for fruit salads, but it’s definitely something I can get used to doing! The dressing is sweet, fresh, and tangy–sweet with honey and brown sugar, fresh from the mint, and tangy from the lime juice. Tossed with the fruit, this salad is light and sweet–and the perfect complement to your next brunch or any meal, really. You can make it with whatever fruit you have on hand or what’s fresh and available, and then whip up the dressing before serving. This is definitely an easy and yummy side dish that I will make again and again.
Reader Question ~ How do you dress your fruit salads?
Honey-Lime Fruit Salad [from Jenna’s Everything Blog]
printable version
Ingredients:
- 10 cups fresh seasonal fruit [berries, melon, kiwi, mango, etc.]
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
Directions:
Prepare dressing by whisking together the lime juice, mint, honey, and brown sugar. Peel and chop fruit, then toss with dressing. Garnish with extra mint. Can be prepared in advance but if you include berries or brightly colored fruit [i.e. watermelon], wait to add until serving as they may bleed.
Yield: 6-8 servings
Time: 15 minutes
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Lemon Blueberry Bread
I love quick breads. They’re usually filled with fruit and/or yummy spices, so they have the appearance of a healthy treat… yet they’re sweet enough to masquerade as a dessert. Plus they are [by condition of their genre] quick. They only take a couple of minutes to mix up and after a turn in the oven, bake up nice and fluffy. This Lemon Blueberry Bread is no exception.
Each slice is reminiscent of a warm summer day. Plump, sweet blueberries are accented by the light, tartness of fresh lemon… divine perfection! Though it’s March, spring isn’t quite here yet [at least not in Bloomington], but this bread will help ease the burden of late winter for just a little while longer.
Lemon Blueberry Bread
from the kitchen of Becky Bennett, Vera Bradley Product Development
Ingredients:
For bread
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 cup blueberries [frozen works just fine, but keep them in the freezer until ready to mix in]
For glaze
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
Stir together flour and baking powder in a small bowl. In the bowl of stand mixer, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in eggs one by one, then mix in flour and milk alternately. Fold in lemon zest and blueberries, then pour into pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While bread is baking, prepare the glaze. Whisk together lemon juice and sugar, then heat in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves.
After bread has cooled for a few minutes, pierce with a fork all over. Pour glaze over the top. Cool completely before cutting bread.
The Pajama Chef 