LEMON BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE COFFEE CAKE

 I'm a sucker for a good blueberry coffee cake and this one, which not only has blueberries, but cream cheese, sounded like the perfect combination for an upcoming brunch.  Oh and let's not forget a healthy streusel topping.   I mean.......

I have to tell you it was absolutely delicious.  But, I also need to tell you it takes some prep time and a lot of bowls!  Because it's made in a springform pan, it's large.  You'll get 12 good size servings....which in my case, meant leftovers.......so all the effort was worth being able to enjoy more than one serving.

Also, for all my high altitude bakers....I made no adjustments and she turned out just great.

INGREDIENTS:

Crumb Topping:

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Cake:

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup granulated sugar 

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup plain yogurt, or sour cream

¼ cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. lemon zest

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries*  

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg

zest from one lemon

Lemon Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

*if using fresh, reduce oil to 2 Tbsp. 

DIRECTIONS:

Make the crumble:

• In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, flour, sugar and vanilla until crumbly.  Set aside.

Make the cake:

• In a large bowl, whisk together butter, oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, lemon juice and zest.  Whisk until combined.
• Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until just combined.  Stir in blueberries.  Set aside. 

Cream Cheese Filling:

• With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and zest until smooth.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-10" springform pan with parchment (lay it in the base and close the sides around it with the paper sticking out the bottom) and spray with non-stick spray. 

Assemble and Bake

• Spread ½ the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Spread cream cheese filling in the center...try to stay away from the edge of the pan if possible
• Top with remaining cake batter and spread to cover as much of the cream cheese as possible.
• Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until center is set and does not jiggle when moved.  It's a very moist cake, so don't worry about baking so long. It could take up to 80 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool before glazing the top

Lemon Glaze

• Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice
• Drizzle glaze over the top

 Enjoy!

recipe c/o: the reciperebel.com

PAINT PROJECT

 I'm sure you've found as I have, an item that would be really cute as a home accent.....but it doesn't quite match your color scheme.  I can't tell you the number of times, I've re-painted or re-purposed things over the years.  And this past year was no exception.

I found these cute wall accents at Hobby Lobby.  But, I just felt like they needed a little something. There was so much I liked about them, but I felt I really needed to make them my own.  

The picture to the right is how they looked when I found them.  The top picture is what I did to them to liven them up a bit.  I added a narrow white border and brought the flowers to life with some white/green craft paint.  I like how it emphasizes them and enhances the 3d aspect which is what I really loved about them.  

The picture below is the kitchen wall that I added them to.  I already had the succulents in place, and adding these really pulled it all together and took the whole wall "up a notch."    Wouldn't you agree?  

SOURDOUGH ENGLISH MUFFINS

 Happy New Year!!!  I'd like to wish my sourdough starter, Gertie a Happy Birthday!  She's now one year old.  We've been having fun during her first year.  I can't say I've had any "fails" to speak of, but we've learned a lot on our journey together, and we've tried many, many recipes.   My favorite so far, is the fluffy sandwich bread.  I like always having a loaf made.  

I think another favorite might just be English Muffins.  This is one of the recipes that I learned some valuable techniques along the way....but, I've got it down now and I'm happy to share.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 cup whole milk, warmed to 110 degrees

2 Tbsp., melted butter

2 Tbsp., brown sugar

½ cup sourdough discard, room temp

2½ cups bread flour

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS:

Mix milk, butter, discard, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl and let sit for a few minutes.  Next add flour and salt and mix with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until a slightly sticky dough forms and all the ingredients are combined. 

*Cover & let rise until double in size.  Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces.  Form into a ball and press into a disk.   

Place on a pan lined with cornmeal.  Dust both sides well.  Cover & let rise for about one hour, until light and fluffy. 

Pre-heat a skillet over medium low heat and place muffins in the pan, allowing space between.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes.  Reduce heat and flip a few more times until the internal temp is 195-200 degrees.   To slice, use the fork method.  Slowly use the tines of a fork to pierce into the edge all the way around the circumference of the muffin. 

My "go-to" is toasted with a little butter and my favorite fruit preserves while they're piping hot.   Over the holidays, I had a hankering for a breakfast sandwich, so I cooked up my own version.  It was absolutely delicious!  I made a sausage patty the size of the muffin, then melted cheese over it while I was frying up the egg.  

Enjoy!

recipe c/o: wildthistlekitchen.com

*After the rise, you could place the dough in the fridge overnight and continue the next morning.  Form the muffins with the cold dough-allowing approximately 2 hours to rise before frying.  

SPECIAL NOTES:  I tried one other recipe, but I like this one best.  Also, with the first recipe (and many others I've seen) they had you roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter/drinking glass.   This did not work well at all!  The dough is very light and fluffy, it's tough to get a clean cut.  Instead, it flattened the edges.  A three inch biscuit cutter is way too small, so I tried glasses in my cupboard until I was closer to the size of an English muffin. My sizes were all over the place trying to find the right size circle and they didn't rise uniformly. 

I highly endorse rolling into a ball and then using your hands to create the disk.  I separate my dough into 8 balls.  The finished product will be the size of store bought versions, or maybe slightly bigger.