Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Bread

I made this yummy treat for the girls to eat while getting ready for our wonderful friends Dan and Danielle's wedding.  I had the honor of being a bridesmaid and was asked to bring something for the girls to snack on while getting ready the morning of the wedding.  One of the other bridesmaids asked for the recipe, so here ya go Caitlin. :)  This bread is a wonderful combo of tangy and sweet and a delicious summer breakfast treat.

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Bread
Makes 1 5x9" loaf or 9 2x4" mini loaves
 1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for pans

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (approx. 4 lemons)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 6 ounces blueberries (1 1/4 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter nine 2 1/2-by-4-inch baking pans, and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
2. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves and syrup is thickened, about 4 minutes. Let stand.
3. Combine heavy cream, remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and the vanilla in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.
4. Beat butter, lemon zest, and remaining cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour. 
5. Gently fold in blueberries using a rubber spatula.
6. Divide batter evenly among pans. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 30 minutes for mini loaves and 55 minutes for 1 large loaf.
   
7. Transfer pan(s) to wire rack, and brush tops of loaves with lemon syrup. Let stand for 15 minutes. Turn out loaves from pans, and brush all over with remaining syrup. Let cool completely on wire racks.
   

Site Make-Over

Notice my awesome new banner?  It was created for me by my best friend Christine from Memories By Christine.  She's super talented so be sure to check out her work!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I haven't made anything for the hubby to bring to his office lately, so I thought I'd send something in this week.  Mr. Sprinkles is a HUGE fan of cinnamon and brown sugar so I thought a cinnamon, brown sugar, and walnut streusel coffee cake would be nice to have for those Monday morning meetings.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Makes 12 servings

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon; set aside.
2. Using a mixer, cream together the granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl. 
3. Add egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 
4. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.
5. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
6. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat well. 
7. Spread half of batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle half of walnut streusel over batter. Spread remaining batter over streusel. Top with remaining streusel.
8. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Have a happy birthday you will!

Today is Mr. Sprinkles's birthday.  Happy Birthday Hubby!!!  He's a huge Star Wars fan so when  I saw these cookie cutters at William Sonoma, I HAD to buy them.  As a special birthday treat I made sugar cookies and decorated them with royal icing (recipe for both here.)  I chose to make storm trooper and yoda cookies.  I added some neon green food coloring to the yoda ones and made the details on the storm trooper in dark grey to prevent any tongues from turning green/black and was pretty happy with the end result.

DFTS Original Recipe: S'mores Cookies

My boss at my summer job showed me a recipe for S'mores Bars.  While they looked super yummy, they also looked super messy.  When baking for my buddies in the box office at my summer job, I look for easy to eat cookies that could be quickly eaten without plates and without making a huge mess.  I found a recipe for s'mores cookies at Baked Perfection.   Normally I love their recipes, but my cookies were a burnt mess at 8 minutes and still needed to go back in for 3-4 minutes more according to the recipe.  Yuck!  I'm not sure what happened but I decided to toss the remaining dough after 2 tries in the oven and just make my own recipe.  I liked the end result even better than I think I would have liked the Baked Perfection version and I hope you like them too!

Don't Forget The Sprinkles S'mores Cookies
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

• 11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 4 graham crackers, pulverized
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, graham crackers, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and combine on low speed.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips and marshmallows.
6. Place tablespoons of dough on baking sheets about 2 – 2 ½ inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Cranberry Cookies

This cookie combines 3 of my favorite baking ingredients: chocolate, citrus zest, and cranberries.  I whipped these up for my mom and the wonderful nurses she works with.  I used orange flavored cranberries to enhance the orange flavor and used semi-sweet chocolate chips to balance out the sweetness of the cranberries.

Chocolate Orange Cranberry Cookies
Makes 3 1/2 - 4 dozen cookies

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Using an electric or stand mixer, cream together melted butter and sugars. Mix in the eggs, stirring them in one at a time, then add the vanilla and orange zest.
4. Stir in the flour mixture, then the dried cranberries and chocolate chips.
5. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet leaving about 2 to 3-inches between cookies to allow for spread.
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until cookies are set at the edges and tops are slightly cracked looking. Cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Lemon Blueberry Scones

My sister took me to this great place in the city for brunch a few weeks ago that had the most wonderful food.  We started our meal with blood orange scones served with lavender honey.  They were delicious beyond description.  Ever since our brunch date I've been printing out scone recipes to try and started with this one.  I love the combination of lemon and blueberry.  The tart clean flavor of lemon and the sweet blueberry flavor just compliment each other in a way that screams SUMMER!  You can drizzle them with the glaze recipe below (recommended if serving them within 1 day or they can get a little soggy), honey, or butter (not that they need it).  If you're serving these for a brunch of your own, try tripling the glaze recipe and let guests drizzle on as much as they'd like while eating.

Lemon Blueberry Scones
Makes 8 scones

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons of butter, chilled
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 cup frozen blueberries (do NOT thaw) 

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 
3. Cut butter into 6-8 chunks and add to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until mixture is sandy and butter is well distributed, with no pieces larger than a pea.
4. Add in milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until dough comes together. If dough is too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour to the dough.
5. Either keeping the dough in your mixing bowl, or turning it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 1 minute. 
6. Here's where it gets messy.  Flatten dough and add blueberries. Knead gently for 30-60 seconds to distribute them. If you have unruly blueberries like I did, try adding half at a time or dividing the dough in half and working the dough as two separate sections.
7. Divide dough into two balls and press each into a disc about 3/4-inch thick. Use a knife to divide each disc into quarters and place scones on prepared baking sheet.
8. Bake for 17-22 minutes, until scones are golden brown. 

Lemon Glaze

•  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1.  Whisk glaze ingredients together until smooth, then drizzle over still-warm scones before serving.