Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Few things are universal hits in my house of picky eaters.  This one was a home run with all involved.  Whats not to like...oodles of wild blueberry suspended in a light cake with a cinnamon streusel topping.  Lifes good and its a frequent request that disappears in one day.

Let me again extol the virtues of fresh frozen wild blueberries.  Get them, they have intense real flavor packed into those tiny nuggets.  None of that gritty flavorless qualities of the commercially grown grape sized monstrosities.  To quote my friend Mary Fox, "don't make me hurt you..."  Get the real thing a delightful frozen wild blueberry.'

Another ingredient is not a staple but worth the couple of bucks to get is real buttermilk.  It brings a righteous tang to the cake and the perfect crumb.  Yes I know you can fake buttermilk with whole milk and vinegar or lemon juice, but the flavor is off and affects the crumb quality as well.  What you don't use in the coffee cake...use it in batch of pancakes.

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Topping

• 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 2 T soft butter
• pinch kosher salt

Cake

• 2 c flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 c butter milk
• 1/4 c melted butter
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 c frozen blueberries thawed

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter bottom and sides of an 8X8 glass baking dish.

Combine topping ingredients.  Cut in butter with fork until soft crumbs form and butter is incorporated.  Set aside.

Melt butter and cool until no longer hot to the touch. Combine dry ingredients and whisk together to combine. Combine buttermilk, eggs , vanilla and stir to combine.  Add cooled melted butter to the buttemilk mixture.  Slowly add dry mixture to buttermilk in small batches stirring to just absorbed.  Over stirring will toughen the final product so stir lightly and only until combined

Gently fold in the frozen blueberries.  Pur batter into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven 40-45 months until cake tests clean with a tooth pick and is golden brown.

Roasted Peach Sherbet

I love Sherbet, its even easier to make than ice cream.  Why?  None of that custard making and worrying about scrambling the egg because your mixture is to hot,

This Sherbet is quite the taste treat.  One can use fresh peaches but we are really a few weeks short of them here so I opted for frozen peaches.  If using fresh you can cut your roasting time by 10-15 minutes.

Using buttermilk and sour cream instead of half and half really works magic in the sherbet.  I adds just the right tang to offset the super sweetness of the roasted peaches.   Yummo.

Roasted Peach Sherbet

• 4 c frozen peaches
• 1 c sugar 
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• pinch salt
• 1 c butter milk
• 1/3 c sour cream

Preheat oven to 425F

In 8X8 oven safe baking dish add sugar, salt and peaches.  Split vanilla bean lengthwise.  Scrape out seeds and add seeds and pod to the peach mixture.  Toss to combine.  Bake in oven 50-60 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and sugar dissolved.  Remove from oven.  let cool and put into a container and cover.  Refrigerate 2-3 hours until cold.

In a large blender pour in buttermilk and sour cream.  Remove vanilla bean pod from the peach mixure.  Pour peaches and all the liquid into blender.  Blend on high speed uintil smoot.  Add mixture to ice cream maker and follow instructions to churn until smooth.  Enjoy straight from ice cream maker or spoon off to freezer safe container and enjoy later.

Lemon Coconut Cake

This is the end result of a whim and a brain storm.  Getting together with my cousins tonight for wine and cheese and  Paul suggested something lemon, lemon cake. First thought was hmmm...lemon pound cake, but then I remembered he and my wife adore the lemon cake at Cafe Opera here in town.  I knew I had a germ of an idea.

Of course I use Meyer lemons.  They have a sweeter, less harsh juice and zest than the ponderosa's that are available pretty much all year round in stores.  Seek out the Meyer Lemons as they are in season now and really make the difference in the final product.  Honestly, I won't use the regular groc lemon and get mine off the tree in my yard.  Its my California trip....fresh home grown citrus, indulge me.

To execute you must have a good micro plane grater.  It does a superb job of removing zest and leaving the bitter pith behind.  It also has it in small enough flecks that its not obnoxious in the final dish.

There are 4 simple steps in making this cake.  Lemon cake, Lemon curd, candied lemon slices and Lemon frosting, in that order.

Lemon Coconut Cake

cake

1 stick butter room temperature

1 c sugar

2 T sugar

1/4 t cream of tartar

2 t Baking Powder

1/2 salt

4 room temperature eggs - separated

1 lemon zested then juiced

2 C flour

1/3 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325F  Grease and flour 2 9inch cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom.

Cream together 1 c sugar with butter.  Add eggs one at time.  Beat until well blended.  Add lemon juice and zest.  Beat in well.  Add flour and buttermilk and beat well.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar on low until frothy.  Increase speed and beat on high slowly sprinkling on 2 T of sugar until stiff peaks form.

Take one quarter of the egg whites and stir into the yolk mixture to lighten in it.  Pour lightened yolks into the bowl with remaining whites and fold in until well incorporated.  Don't  over fold as you will deflate eggs.

Bake 23-27 minutes in center of oven until baked through and tester comes out clean.  Cool on wire racks 10 minutes.  Then remove from pan, pealing off parchment paper and cool completely on the racks.

Lemon Curd

8 egg yolks

1 1/2 c sugar

1/4 c butter 

3 lemons, zested and juiced

Place the ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Don't let top pan touch the water. Cook and stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Float a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the curd so it doesn't form a skin while cooling.

Lemon slice garnish
1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 lemon sliced, seeds and ends discarded.
Slice lemons into 1/4 inch thick slices.  In a non-reactive sauce pan mix sugar and water and bring to boil over medium heat.  Add lemon slices and reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer 1 hour.  Sprinkle some sugar on a plate.  Gently remove lemon slices with a slotted spoon and set onto sugar.  Cool to room temp.

Lemon Frosting
3 c powdered sugar
3 T softened butter
1 lemon juiced and zested
1/2 t vanilla
1 heaping cup sweetened shredded coconut
yellow food coloring - optional

Cream together sugar, butter and lemon juice.  Add vanilla and zest.  Thin with water if needed to get to spreading consistency.  Beat in a couple of drops of food coloring if using.  

To assemble.  On a cake plate put a dab of frosting in center to hold cake in place.  Split first layer in half horizontally.  Place bottom of cake onto the cake plate.  Spread with 1/3 of the lemon curd.  Place top of the layer onto the cake. Spread on 1/3 of the lemon curd. 
Split the last layer in half horizontally.  Place bottom on top of the cake on the cake plate.  Spread on remaining 1/3 of lemon curd.  Place top of layer onto the cake.

Frost with Lemon Frosting.  Sprinkle and lightly press the coconut into the frosted cake.  Garnish top of cake with the candied lemon slices.

Simmer Lemon slices over low heat to candy them, take care to not turn it to caramel.

Roasted Raspberry Sherbet

The original recipe came from a magazine and used Strawberry instead of Raspberry.  I simply swapped out the berries and voila there was a tasty treat that is better than ice cream for you.  Stupid easy to make, if you can turn on an oven, switch on a blender and ice cream maker you're in.  It's a wonderful raspberry sherbet that isn't overly sweet and nicely balanced with the acid of the buttermilk and sour cream.

The one thing I forgot about was all the seeds that a raspberry has.  Tons of little seeds that irritate some folks.  For them I'd say just strain the mixture to eliminate them if you think they will be a bother BEFORE you churn the sherbet.  If not don't worry about it.

Roasted Raspberry Sherbet

• 4 cups raspberry
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 1/2 c buttermilk (I use low fat variety)
• 1/3 c sour cream
• 1/2 t sea salt

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a glass baking dish mash 1/2 the berries.  Stir in sugar and remaining berries. Split the half vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out seeds.  Add seeds and pod to berries and stir to mix. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and sugar is dissolved.  Cool overnight in refrigerator.

Remove vanilla pod and discard.  Add berry mixture to blender with buttermilk, sour cream and salt.  Blend on Puree speed until well blended and uniform in color.  Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to your maker's instructions.  When churned serve as is...will be very soft, or scoop out into a storage container and freeze for a couple of hours until firmer.

New to the blog with this post, and it will happen more often than not, I will use the SparkRecipes.com nutrition calculator and include nutritional information on the recipes I post here.
Based on 8 servings from a batch of the Roasted Raspberry Sherbet here is your information...and its way better than an egg and cream based ice cream!

 Click to embiggen and get the full readable facts.  Definitely worth the read and look at the calorie savings over ice cream!