Raspberry and Cream Swirled Pumpkin Muffins

I love raspberries and pumpkins. For the past few weeks raspberries have been on sale at Publix which is strange because it is November and I'm in full on pumpkin mode. So when I saw this recipe on the Picky Palate blog I knew I had to give it a try.

It seems like an odd pairing but it actually tastes delicious. Just trust me on this one. I love raspberries so much that I used a whole pint instead of following the recipe and using a half of a cup.

Raspberry and Cream Swirled Pumpkin Muffins

Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 45 min

Ingredients

3/4 cup plain Greek 2% yogurt

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Raspberry Cream Cheese

• 4 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Driscoll’s raspberries, rinsed and dried

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line 18 cupcake cups with liners (foil liners recommended). If using paper liners, spray liners lightly with cooking spray before filling with batter.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat yogurt, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Stir in pumpkin and cinnamon. Slowly add flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, stirring until well combined. Fill liners 1/2 full with batter.
3. To prepare raspberry cream cheese, beat softened cream cheese with sugar until well combined. Stir and smash raspberries into cream until combined and berries broken down. Place 1 teaspoon raspberry cream on top of filled cups. Take a toothpick or skewer and swirl cream throughout batter. Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until baked though. Remove and let cool. Serve room temperature or chilled.

Makes 18 Servings

UGA cupcakes

                                  

I am a huge University of Georgia fan and an alumna. Some of you know we played our biggest rival over the weekend, the University of Florida. For a while now I have wanted to make super Gs from candy molds and I located a mold on Amazon. It is called a fan pan!!! Some what challenging to get chocolate in the small spaces but it was worth it.

               

I baked chocolate cupcakes and iced them with cream cheese frosting. The red and black frosting is glitter gel by Wilton.

They tasted amazing and the best part is Georgia beat Florida, 23-20. That is three years in a row now and we knocked Florida out of their chance of going to the SEC Championship game.

                                 

 

You can't have a football party without chicken wings. The wings at American Deli are amazing. The right is lemon pepper and honey BBQ is on the left. Of course they look fabulous in the chip and dip I painted myself!

 

 

                             

 

                      GO DAWGS!!!

Blueberry Pizza

Blueberry pizza is my 50th blog post! I can't believe I have blogged about 50 recipes. Wow! I found this recipe on the How Sweet It Is blog and new I had to try it. I felt so bad for Jessica that after two failed attempts she was not able to sample this pizza at Cafe Sante. I am glad she created a recipe without ever eating the pizza. That is some skills! Or determination, however you look at it.

 

I cheated and did not make my own dough but I included her recipe below. I'm a fan of the Italian dough that Publix sells. Just follow the directions on the bag of dough for proofing and cooking. A bag of dough does not sound appetizing but trust me it is good stuff.

 

Ready for the oven!

                                 

My mom and I made this pizza over Labor Day weekend. We were not sure how we would like it. It is seriously heaven! We love it! At first my mom was hesitant with all the steps but after she tasted the blueberry awesomeness she said it is a keeper. (Of course my dad was not a fan.)  Not too sure how well the shallots go with the other flavors. Next time we may leave the shallots off and add lemon juice to the ricotta spread.

 

Blueberry Pizza with Whipped Ricotta + Caramelized Shallots

Yield: 1 pizza
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

dough
1 1/8 cups warm water
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 shallots, sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 lemons, zested
8 ounces mozzrella cheese, freshly grated
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in 2 cups flour and salt, stirring with a spoon until the dough comes together but is still sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and work in the additional 2/3 cup flour, kneading it on a floured surface for a few minutes. Rub the same bowl with olive oil then place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours.

While the dough is rising, heat a large skillet over low heat and add olive oil and butter. Add in the shallots and the salt and cover, cooking for 30 minutes and stirring occasionally and reducing the heat more if they begin to brown too much. Stir in the brown sugar and the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Set aside.

Add the ricotta to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and puree until combined. After the dough has risen, punch it down and place it back on the floured surface. Using a rolling pin or your hands, form it into your desired shape (sometimes I use baking sheets and do rectangles or free form pizzas - this specific dough will yield one pizza large enough to feed about 3-4 people) and place on a baking sheet or pizza peel. Place the towel back over the dough and let sit in the warm place for 10 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (or if you're using a pizza stone or the skillet method, follow those directions). Spread the ricotta on the dough and cover it with half of the mozzarella. Add the shallots and the thyme, then cover it in the blueberries. Add the remaining cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly. Remove and serve with parmesan on top.

 

 

Good bye sweet summer time!!!

 

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend recommended that I make these Paleo chocolate chip cookies. She said they were the best chocolate chips cookies she has ever had. We went to the Tucker Farmers Market the other week and when we found almond flour I knew I had to bake the cookies. Next step was tracking down coconut oil so I located some by LouAna at Wal-Mart. Yes, I said Wal-Mart...I know, I know. I rarely shop there okay?!? Then Ghiradelli was on sale at Target so I picked up a bar of the Sea Salt Soiree...woo hoo! I have been on a Farmers Market kick this summer and purchased local honey at the Statham Farmers Market a few weeks ago so I went with that for this recipe.

 

The batter is very interesting. I did not know what to expect since this was my first time baking with almond flour. It smells delicious! I let my parents and a friend try these cookies. None of us like them. My dad went as far to say I wasted perfectly good chocolate. I assured him it was only a quarter cup so no big waste. I said I may take them in to work to share with my coworkers and mom said "You better not. You will mess up your baking reputation." A Southern girl never wants to tarnish her baking reputation..lol. You may ask why I decided to share this recipe if it was a total fail. Well, I decided we all have different tastes and someone, like my girlfriend, might enjoy them. At least I do not feel too guilty eating them. Oh and of course no one wanted any cookies to take home so yeah I get to eat the rest. To end on a positive note I purchased Maple Caramel Almond Butter from NaturAlmond at the Farmers Market and it is AMAZING!!! I may track down a recipe to bake something with the almond butter. Then again I may be selfish and enjoy it all by myself!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Prep time

5 mins

 

Cook time

11 mins

Total time

16 mins

Dairy, gluten and grain free chocolate chunk cookies that taste just like the real deal.

Author: Gina Matsoukas

Recipe type: cookies

Serves: 10 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond meal
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil (*update: make sure to measure oil after melting so that you’re not inadvertently using too much. This can cause cookies to flatten)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon almond milk
• ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate pieces

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Add wet to dry and mix together.
5. Fill a tablespoon measure with batter and press down to form a half-circle. Tap batter out onto baking sheet and lightly press down in the center.
6. Bake for 10-11 minutes until bottoms just start to turn brown.
7. Remove from oven and let cool 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will be soft when removed from oven but firm up in a couple of minutes.

Spiced Peach Muffins

This may be hard for ya'll to believe but this is the first year that I've been crazy about peaches. I was born and raised in Georgia so I know it is shocking. It started last year after I had a Monte Cristo sandwich with peach jelly at Duck's Cosmic Kitchen with a side of some amazing peach salad concoction. Then this year my mom made her 2nd annual blueberry-peach galette. Yum! A couple of weeks ago I bought some peaches at the Tucker Farmers Market and enjoyed eating them all by themselves. Georgia peaches are so sweet and juicy! Apparently the trick to getting them soft is to leave them in a paper bag on the counter. Wow I learn something new everyday. Any who, I came across this muffin recipe and decided to bake it up.

 

The muffin is a little taste of summer with a dash of fall. I did not have allspice so I substituted pumpkin pie spice. Some of you may find this strange but I love pumpkins so I was pleased with the outcome. I will suggest that you use the biggest mixing bowl you own because it is a lot of batter and a mound of peaches. Also, I was able to get 23 muffins. I had too much for 16 muffins and not enough for 24 heaping muffins. Always a bummer when that happens. So some are small and some are gigantic. Nothing wrong with that I guess.

 

Spiced Peach Muffins

Makes 16 muffins.

4 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups milk
4 peaches, diced (not peeled)
granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease a 16 cup muffin tin, set aside.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir in eggs, vegetable oil and milk, then gently stir in fruit.

3. Heap the batter into cups; they’ll be very full. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until muffins test done.

Biscones

Last fall during a trip to Savannah, GA I checked out Back in the Day bakery. I learned about this bakery and one of owners, Cheryl Day, while watching a couple of episodes of Paula Deen on the food network. Before leaving I read up on the bakery and knew I had to go. My mom and I loved it! The cupcakes were to die for and the bakery had this adorable vintage motif. Of course we bought the cookbook! Mom has made the old fashioned cupcakes a few times. In an effort to bake with blueberries I decided to try out the biscones. At first I was not quite sure what a biscone is but I know I like biscuits and scones so why not combine them???

 

It is a one bowl recipe that could not be easier. Then you just scoop them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper - no rolling - no shaping!!! I baked them for 23 minutes which was too long because some of the bottoms browned. When I checked them though at 20 minutes they still looked gooey. Nope, apparently that is  the texture because they looked the same 3 minutes later.  Not quite golden brown like the recipe says but fully baked. Baking times will vary so word to the wise do not expect the biscones to be as dry as a biscuit nor a scone.

The cookbook gives you the option to make buttermilk biscones or add blueberries and whip up a lemon glaze. Blueberries and lemon please! There is probably half a gallon still in my freezer from picking earlier this month. It takes a couple of bites before your brain can process what you are eating. I had a hard time placing the yummy sweet taste. The recipe calls for cardamom but I opted to substitute with equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg. I think this may have been the sweet deliciousness. My dad liked these which is saying a lot because he is not big on some pastries...umm like scones.

Ingredients

 

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

Salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 1/2 cups buttermilk, plus more as needed

1 large egg

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

 

Directions

 

1. Preheat the oven to 375° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour with the cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and cardamom until combined. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, work in the butter until you have various-size pieces ranging from sandy patches to pea-size chunks and some larger bits as well. Gently stir in the blueberries.

3. Gradually pour in the buttermilk and gently fold the mixture until there are no bits of flour remaining in the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems dry, add a little more buttermilk until it is moist and slightly sticky.

4. Using your hands, gently pat down the dough until it resembles a loaf of bread. Using a large ice-cream scoop, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, arranging them about 1 inch apart. Lightly tap down the tops of the biscones with the scoop.

5. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with a pinch of salt. Brush the tops of the biscones liberally with the egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the biscones are golden and fully baked. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the confectioners' sugar with the grated lemon zest and juice until smooth and creamy. Drizzle over the biscones and serve immediately.

 

Put some SOUTH in your mouth y'all!!!!!!

Roasted Blueberry Cupcakes

Happy National Blueberry Month!!! (Now you all know that July is National blueberry month..in case you did't already.) I picked blueberries at Washington Farms over the July 4th weekend. Not quite sure why my mom and I enjoy this so much but we do. This year we decided to go early in the morning so we would have a chance to pick blackberries too. It was my first time picking blackberries and man was it fun. I'm undecided about baking anything with blackberries. Right now I'm loving them with yogurt, granola, and some honey.

                                     

 

Back to the blueberries and recipe at hand. These recipes on the Bean Town Baker blog popped up before I went blueberry picking and I made a mental note that I had to see these beautifully purple cupcakes for myself. Wow! The color is amazing!

I was a little apprehensive about roasting blueberries in fear that my oven would be a mess. I placed the cute little guys on some aluminum foil and it was an easy clean up. Easy as in crinkle up the foil and throw it away! No harm done to the cookie sheet or oven. It was lots of fun watching the creamy batter turn purple. Now I will say that the bottom of my cupcake wells are slightly purple. I baked the cupcakes in purple liners but I have used these Wilton liners before in red with no problem. Still scratching my head on this one. My attempt at this recipe yielded 15 cupcakes. I'm sure I could have produced one more..oh well.

 

                               

 

 

The only change I made to the recipe was that I substituted almond extract for vanilla. Totally forgot to pick up vanilla extract at the grocery store. Whoops!

This cream cheese frosting recipe is to die for! Very sweet!!! (And it was enough to frost all 15 cupcakes with a little extra left for sampling.) My friend asked if there was extra frosting because she wanted to eat the frosting by itself. Silly girl...no leftovers...I took care of that. The girls in my small group noted that the cupcake is heavy and cake like. I agree with them that the consistency is like no other cupcake I have baked before. Must be that roasted blueberry goodness. Only had a few takers during small group so I brought the rest in to work. A coworker e-mailed me to say the cupcake is delicious. This made me think of Julia Child, "It's delicious!" On that note, do not feel like you have to go all out and pick fresh blueberries. Store bought berries will be just fine and then you too can watch the magical transformation into PURPLE batter and cupcakes.

Roasted Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Roasted blueberries have a strong sweet flavor that comes through perfectly in these cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread blueberries on a baking sheet (with sides) and roast for 10-15 minutes, or until berries start to burst. Remove from oven and let cool.

Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined, another 2-3 minutes.

Add flour, baking powder and salt with the mixer on low speed, then gradually increase speed.

Scrape in blueberries and beat on medium speed until the berries break down – about 2-3 minutes. At this point, the berries most likely have enough liquid that you only need to add a small amount of milk to the batter.

Begin adding 1 tablespoon of milk at a time and beat with the mixer until the batter is smooth. You definitely want it to be cake batter and not dough. (My batter took 2 Tbsp of milk)

Pour into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 18-22 minutes or until cake is set. Let cool completely, then frost.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 1 cup (enough to frost 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter at room temp
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium-high until completely smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add the butter and continue to cream until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time) until desired consistency is reached.