wren & feather summer sewing along

Glazed Lemon Blueberry Loaf

I had some blueberries I wanted to use up and found this recipe on the Betty Crocker site:Glazed Lemon Blueberry Loaf

It is a wonderful loaf moist lovely flavor

Glazed Lemon Blueberry Loaf

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Grated lemon peel and juice

2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon  brown sugar

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons half and half or milk

1 teaspoon lemon extract

Directions

Preheat over to 350°F 

Grease the 9X5 inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray

In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar with mixer on medium speed until smooth

Beat in eggs one at a time, add vanilla, sour cream, lemon peel and juice.

Slowly mix in the flour mixture until just blended

Remove from mixer and fold in blueberries

I sprinkled the top of the loaf with 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean

Cool for 10 minutes in pan; then remove to cooling rack

In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth

Drizzles over top of loaf or over your sliced loaf on plate

 

Caramel Pear Pudding Cake

Caramel Pear Pudding Cake

I have been making this cake for around 20 years it came from Better Homes and Garden magazine.

It was a winner in a recipe contest.  We love it. Hope you do as well.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached flour

2/3 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dash ground cloves

1/2 cup milk

4 medium pears, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 2 cups)

or 1 16 ounce can pears, drained and chopped

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup boiling water

Ice cream or whipped cream  

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cloves. 

Add Milk and beat until smooth.

Stir in pears and pecan.

Turn into an ungreased 2 quart casserole.

In separate bowl combine brown sugar and butter and boiling water; pour evenly over batter.

Bake 375 oven for 45 minutes. 

  Serve immediately with ice cream or whipped cream.

 

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Dulce De Leche Glaze

I made these muffins last week.  They are really good the Dulce De Leche Glaze is amazing on them.
The recipe is from Iwasyoudry blog.   The recipe makes 15 muffins.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Dulce De Leche Glaze

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium sized bananas)

4 tablespoons buttermilk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

⅛ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

For the glaze:

 

4 tsp water

1 tbsp creamy peanut butter/ PC Dulce De Leche

⅔ cup powdered sugar

Directions

 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until smooth. 

Add eggs, mashed banana, buttermilk, and vanilla. 

Mix until combined. Add flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. 

Mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spray a lined muffin tin with cooking spray. 

Add batter to cups and fill about ⅔ full. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For the Glaze:

 

Combine peanut butter, powdered sugar and water in a bowl. 

Mix with spoon until smooth. 

You can add more water if you prefer it to be thinner.

Pour glaze over warm muffins.

Enjoy!

Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

I  made these awhile ago they were very good.   This recipe came from the cookbook: Sweet 
Our Best Cupcakes, Cookies, Candy and More, which is all the best from the Food Network Magazine it is a nice cookbook worth looking at for sure.

Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup molasses

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup raisins

Directions

Combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in large bowl.

Beat the butter, sugar and molasses in large mixing bowl, beat on medium-high until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until it is smooth.

Reduce the mixer to low and add the flour mixture and beat this until combined. 

Remove mixer bowl and stir in raisins by hand.

Cover the dough and put in frig for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Form 12 balls, about 2 tablespoons each, arrange 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Flatten with a fork.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to cooling racks.

Enjoy!!

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. Italian sausage, uncased

Chopped, medium onion

1/2 cup diced celery

2 tbsp. oil

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. pepper

dash of paprika

2 carrots peeled and diced

1 28oz. can of diced tomatoes

1  5 1/2 oz.  tomato paste

2 to 4 cups of hot water

2 beef bouillon packets

2 tbsp parsley flakes

1 large potato, chopped

1 small head of cabbage, coarsely chopped

Directions 

In large soup pot saute ground beef and sausage until almost cooked, then add onion, celery  and cook until meat is cooked.

Add all remaining ingredients except the cabbage and combine and cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Add the cut up cabbage combine and simmer covered for another hour.

If the soup is to thick add more hot water.

My Birthday Cake for this Year.

Dan made me this amazing cake this year Caramel Cake with Caramel Icing.  I loved it.  The recipe came from The Rock Recipes. Just look at those layers of caramel.......

The Best Caramel Cake

Caramel Sauce 

 2 cups sugar

2/3 cup butter cut in small cubes

4 tbsp water

1 cup whipping cream

 Vanilla Cake

 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

 1/2  teaspoon baking soda

 2 tsp baking powder

 1 teaspoon salt 

 1/2 cup butter

 2 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract

 1 1/2 cups sugar

 1/2 cup vegetable oil 

 3 large eggs

 1 1/4 cups milk

 Caramel Frosting

 3 1/2 to 4 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup caramel sauce
a few tbsp milk

Directions:

Caramel Sauce:

 Begin by mixing the sugar and water in a large saucepan. 

NOTE: I use a large saucepan of about 3 quarts or larger because the sugar foams up when you add the butter and cream so make sure you have a large enough pot.

Boil the sugar and water over medium heat until the mixture begins to turn a light to medium amber color. The real skill in making caramel sauce does come with experience and knowing the point at which the color is perfect. 

Good advice for beginners is that it is better to be a little too light in color rather than a little too dark because too dark a caramel can often taste a little burnt. 

It is very easy to burn this mixture which can happen very quickly once the proper color is achieved, so have your butter and cream at the ready, as timing is crucial for this recipe.

Do not stir the boiling sugar, this can cause it to crystallize. 

If you find the sugar starts to crystallize, use a pastry brush to brush water around the inside edge of the pot as it boils. You may have to do this several times. 

Carefully swirling the pan occasionally is also helpful to avoid crystallization of the sugar.

When the color is right, quickly add the butter and stir quickly until the butter is melted. 

Remove from the heat immediately and pour in the whipping cream, stirring constantly until the sauce is uniformly smooth. Cool completely.

Vanilla Cake:

Grease two 8 or 9 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

 Sift together and set aside:

both flours

baking soda

salt

baking powder

 In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together well at high speed  until light and fluffy :

butter

vanilla

sugar

 Slowly beat in:

oil

Beat in, one at a time,

3 large eggs

Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with:

Milk

Begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. 

Do not over mix the batter. 

As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared cake pans.

 Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Caramel Frosting:

Beat all ingredients together until smooth, fluffy, and a spreadable consistency. 

Use a couple of tablespoons of milk to begin and add more if need be or of it becomes too thin, just add a couple more tablespoons of icing sugar at a time.

To construct the cake, cut the two layers into 4. 

Reserve about 2/3 cup of the caramel sauce (1/2 cup for the frosting and the rest to drizzle on top of the cake. 

Divide the remaining caramel sauce in 3 parts and use it to fill the three inner layers of the cake. 

Frost with the caramel frosting and drizzle with any remaining caramel sauce.