#15) Blueberry Cheese Coffee Cake

I know, I know.... You are all getting tired of my blueberry concoctions, but the berries are almost all used up, I promise. HaHa. This recipe came from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook. The book was was a b-day gift from bf, and seeing as he is coming to visit tonight, I thought I would make a sweet treat from it. I chose this one because bf's two faves, besides me of course LOL, are cheesecake and blueberries. This coffee cake has a subtle layer of cream cheese infused with loads of blueberries in the middle, so I figured it was a safe bet. It was a little more labour-intensive than my lastest posts, but I figured he was worth the extra effort :).

The cake is made in three sepearate steps:

1. Crumb Topping

1 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 3/4 tbsp)

1/3 cup butter, melted

-In a small bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Drizzle with butter and stir until moistened. Set aside.

2. Cream Cheese Filling

1 pkg (light) cream cheese (250 g)

1/4 sugar

1 egg

1tsp lemon rind (I used lemon juice)

-Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg and lemon until smooth. Set aside.

3. Cake

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (fat-free) sour cream

1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used a little more than 2 cups)

-Beat butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.

-In seperate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

-Add flour and sour cream to butter mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture. (flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour) Mixture will be thick.

-Spread into greased 9-inch springform pan (I used 10-inch, hence the extra berries).

-Sprinkle half of berries on top. Cover gently with cream cheese mixture. Spinkle with remaining berries. Sprinkle evenly with crumb topping.

-Bake for 1 1/4 hours at 350°F. Let cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes.

#14) Birthday Brownies

Even students have to take a break for their friends' birthdays, right? And you can't celebrate a birthday without mouth-watering sweet treats, right?

Well if you answered yes to these two questions, you are officially in my good books. :)

It is my new roomie's birthday tomorrow, so I decided to whip up a nice batch of dense, chocolately brownies.... What women doesn't appreciate a chewy brownie? *Be honest ladies! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Steps:

-Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8x8 inch pan.

-Place butter in microwave-safe bowl. Melt in microwave (about 1.5 minutes).

-Stir in sugar and vanilla.

-Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.

-Add cocoa. Beat until blended.

-Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat well.

-Pour into greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until brownies begin to pull away from sides.

-Cool completely then cut into squares.

*Makes about 16 brownies.

*This recipe is easily doubled, but be sure to use a 9x13 pan.

#13) Banana Blueberry Bread

OMG! One week into my Education degree and I am already exhausted.... But I guess we wouldn't be good teachers in the end if our profs didn't make us work hard for it, right? That being said, my studies don't leave me much time for baking (*tear*), so when I whipped this delicious sweet treat together I done it as quickly as possible. But don't worry, the taste of this sweet bread will not tattle to anyone that you didn't slave away to make such a wonderful treat :)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, separated

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup blueberries (fresh work best; frozen will change your baking time)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

-Beat butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla. Stir together.

-Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture. Stir junt until moitened. (Over-mixing will produce a dry bread)

-Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray oil.

-Add 1/4 batter to bottom of pan. Sprnkle 1/3 cup blueberries over top. Cover with another 1/4 of the batter. Repeat until berries and batter are gone. (It will be necessary to spread the batter, as it is quite thick. I used a butter knife and gently pulled on the batter layers to cover the berries. Easy enough!)

-Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over top and place in pre-heated oven.

-Bake for approximately 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.

#12) Cocoa Peanut Butter Cookies

Okay, the semester has started... I had my first classes of my Bachelor of Education today :) Overall the day was good, busy and a little stressful, but there is something satisfying about taking those first steps towards what you want in life. To celebrate taking these first steps, I decided to bake a new sweet treat, combining two of my faves again, good ol' PB and chocolate :)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup chopped almonds (or just use crunchy PB)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate is best for this recipe)

Steps:

-Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
-Cream together butter, sugars, peanut butter, and nuts.
-Add eggs and vanilla.
-Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture in thirds (not with an hand-mixer, the batter is too thick).
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes then move to cooling rack.
Tips:

-Do not drop too much dough for each cookie because they will spread out and meet (not pretty HaHa).

Sweet & Simple Bake #1 - Victoria Sandwich Cake

Here is my first food blog challenge, compliments of Sweet & Simple Bakes! This challenge was fun for me because I have never made a cake quite like this one before - no chocolate in sight! I do not have scales so it was a bit difficult to do the measurement conversions from the original, but the end result was delicious. Also, I substituted some homemade raspberry cake filling for the jam so there was an extra challenge :) Here is the original recipe and my own simple alterations and substitutions...

Ingredients:

The sponge
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Pinch of salt

*My sponge
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 eggs, room temperature (beaten)
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour

For The Filling
4-6 tbsp strawberry jam, or your own choice of flavour
1 tbsp caster sugar

*My filling
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch

-Bring berries and 1/3 cup water to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-Strain the berry mixture and return to heat.
-Add cornstarch to remaining water. Whisk into berry mixture.
-Add sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
-Cool completely.

Buttercream (optional)
75g (3 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature 175g (6 oz) icing sugar Few drops of vanilla extract

*I opted out of the buttercream.

Steps:

-Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until the mixture is pale in colour and light and fluffy.

-Add beaten egg, a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Sift flour and salt and carefully add to the mixture, folding in with a metal spoon or spatula.
-Bake in greased pan(s) for 25-30 minutes, until golden and pulling away from sides. (*I used one greased 8-inch spring-form pan)
-Let cool completely, cut in half (if applicable), and add filling.
-Dust with icing/caster sugar.

#11) M&M Mouthfuls

For the past couple of weeks I have been staying at my parents. And see, no one loves cookies more than my brother so seeing as I am moving out again tomorrow, I decided to get him to help me make my latest sweet treat. So I went back to that wonderful cookie cookbook from my birthday and adapted a "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookie to make this adorable version.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup M&M minis
Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt.
-Cream butter with sugars. Add eggs, one at a time.
-Add flour mixture to creamed mixture in three additions. Fold in with rubber spatula.
-Fold in chocolate chips and M&M minis.
-Drop onto un-greased cookie sheet from rounded tablespoon.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes.

*For that true bakery look, we added some chocolate chips and M&M minis on top of the dropped cookies before baking.
*Should make about 4 dozen cookies :)

#10) Bakeapple Muffins with Streusel Topping

School starts soon and that means my baking time will be drastically decreased... But you all know what that means, right? As much baking as possible before September 4 LOL. I still had some bakeapples left in the freezer when I went in search of a sweet treat main ingredient today, so I decided to make some muffins, and what makes a tasty muffin even better???? Streusel topping of course. Dig in!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp sour cream
1 1/2 cup berries

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Steps:

-Thaw berries, if frozen.
-Preheat oven to 425°F and spray muffin tin(s) with non-stick spray.
-Stir together flour, sugars, salt, and baking powder.
-In a small boil whisk together oil, egg, milk, and sour cream. Add to dry ingredietns with as few strokes of the spatula as possible.
-Fold in berries.
-Using a 1/4-cup measure, fill muffin tin(s) to the top.
-In a bowl mix together the brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Sprinkle over muffin tin(s).
-Bake for 20-25 minutes

*Makes about 18 muffins
*Be sure not to add too many berries... The muffins will not bake properly.

#9) Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes

Recently, while on vacation, bf and I went to a U-Pick. Now I have a cherished bag of raspberries crying out to be turned into delectable sweet treats... Today I decided to make some of my raspberry cake fill and pair it with some oh-so-sweet chocolate. This recipe makes a rich cupcake filled with sweet and sour raspberries and gooey chocolate.

Ingredients:

Filling
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch

-Bring berries and 1/3 cup water to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-Strain the berry mixture and return to heat.
-Add cornstarch to remaining water. Whisk into berry mixture.
-Add sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
-Cool completely.

Cupcakes (All at room temperature)
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk, shaken (1 cup regular milk + 1 tbsp vinegar)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp brewed coffee
1 3/4 cup flour 1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150 chocolate chips (preferably dark)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line pan with paper liners.
-Cream butter with sugars for 5 minutes on high.
-At low speed, add eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
-In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee.
-In a third bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
-At low speed, add the milk and flour mixtures to the butter alternately, in thirds. (You should begin with the milk and end with the flour.)
-Mix only until blended. Fold slightly with a spatula.
-Place 1 tbsp of batter in the bottom of each liner. Top with 1 tsp cake fill and 5 chocolate chips. Cover completely with remaining batter.
-Bake for 20 minutes.

*Should make about 30 cupcakes. Happy eating!

#8) Bakeapple Bars

As part of our vacation, the bf and I spent some time in southern Labrador with the "in-laws." While we were there we spent a day picking bakeapples. It was my first time tasting bakeapples and I fell in love a little... Okay, let's be honest, I fell in love a lot. I like mixing them with sugar for toast well enough, but these berries are too good not to bake with. This sweet treat is my own spin on blueberry squares, so you can use practically any berry you like. Don't let the length of the ingredients scare you - this recipe is simple and delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, divided in half cups
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cornstarch
4 cups berries

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 375°F.
-Grease a 9x13 pan.
-Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, flour, and baking powder. Add salt and cinnamon.
-Beat egg with vanilla. Add to flour mixture.
-Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. The mixture will be crumbly.
-Pat down half the dough into the pan.
-Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in berries.
-Spread berry mixture over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over top.
-Bake for 50 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

*The smell of the the bakeapples baking is enough to make you hungry :)
*A scoop of ice cream over top makes this sweet treat even tastier!

#7) Double Chocolate Banana Cookies

My birthday was a little better than a week ago, and being as smart as she is, my bestest girlfriend gave me a cookbook all about cookies. I couldn't wait to try one of the yummy looking recipes, so here is my first attempt. This sweet treat goes heavy on the chocolate, so if you aren't into cocoa as much as me, I would steer clear :)

Ingredients:

3-4 extra-ripe bananas
2 cups oats (I used quick oats)
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1 /4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped roasted almonds

Steps:

-Beat bananas with hand mixer.
-In another bowl, combine oats, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
-Stir in bananas, butter, and eggs until blended. Add chocolate chips and almonds.
-Refrigerate for 1 hour, until partially firm. (Batter will run if not chilled, as seen below)
-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Drop batter unto greased cookie sheets by the 1/4-cup measure. Flatten slightly with a spatula.
-Bake for 15-17 minutes on the middle rack. Cool on wire rack.

Info:

-I halved the recipe above and got 20 large cookies.
-the 1/4-cup measure makes for a big cookie. If you would like smaller try tablespoon drops.
-Refrigerate batter right up until you place it into the oven. If not you will get monsters like those in the second picture HaHa.

#6) Peanut Butter Balls

Vacation was fun, but once it was over all I could think about was getting back into the kitchen to make some home-style sweet treats. Two of my favorite things in life are peanut butter and chocolate, and any recipe that puts them together is worth a shot! This one is an old favorite that is religiously requested by the bf and my brother :) The recipe is easily doubled, or tripled even, so make as many as you want as big as you want!

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (light works fine)
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup rice crispies
1 tbsp butter
1pkg chocolate chips (I used 1 cup milk chocolate discs from my local bulk store)
1/4 block parowax (pure refined wax, used commonly for candle making)*

*I assure you, even though it doesn't say on the box it is edible, it is.

Steps:

-Mix together peanut butter, icing sugar, rice crispies, and butter together. Roll into balls.
-Cover one or more cookie sheets with waxed paper.
-Melt the parowax over low heat, then add the chocolate. Stir until smooth.
-Keeping the chocolate mixture over very low heat, dip the balls in one at a time, transferring to cookie sheets with two spoons.
-Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes.

Tips:
-Leftover chocolate can be used to dip almost anything: marshmallows, gummy candy, fruit...
-Semisweet chocolate is a bit healthier than milk chocolate.

Vacation

Hey everyone!

So, remember when I mentioned that "much-needed vacation?" Well the time has finally arrived!!!

I will be back with even tastier sweet treats by Aug 15th. See you all then!

Dani

#5) Practice Peanut Butter Bites

Lately my kitchen, err my rental kitchen, I should say, has been in an uproar... Not only are the bf and I getting ready to go on a much needed vacation, we are also in the process of packing up to move to another apartment. Needless to say, measuring cups are missing, bowls are packed, and certain baking essentials are lacking (notably - EGGS). That being said, I still wanted to bake today. One ingredient I did have a lot of was peanut butter (*yummy) so I threw some in a bowl and hoped to find a sweet treat at the end of this experiment...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cups brown sugar
2.5 tbsp skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup flour

1 tbsp cocoa

1 tsp baking powder
(*chocolate chips)

Steps:

-Cream butter, sugars, milk, and vanilla together.

-Stir in peanut butter.

-Add flour, cocoa, and baking soda.
-Roll into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, sparated.

-Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.

*Just before the first sheet of cookies was done baking, I removed it from the oven and pressed in the middle of each cookie with a spoon and placed chocolate chips in the dip. I then returned the cookies to the oven for less than 1 minute.

Although they look cute, my plan didn't work as I had intended. I wanted the chips to soften so I could swirl it with a spoon, leaving a chocolate topping on the cookies, but they were so messy I wouldn't even take a picture. BUT, they were tasty :p.

Discoveries:

-Eggless PB cookies bake out thinner and crispier than a traditional recipe.

-Anything bigger then a 1-inch ball produces a cookies too large and too flimsy for my liking.

-Increasing the cocoa may have given the cookie more depth.

-They still go great with a tall, cold glass of milk :)

#4) Beautiful Brownies

When it comes to sweets I have many loves, but if I was forced to choose just one sweet treat to have for the rest of my life, it would would be the brownie, without a doubt! I love brownies for many reasons: first of all, I am a chocoholic with a severe dependence on all things cocoa; second, I am a sucker for anything chewy and gooey; finally, a good brownie recipe hands itself over body and soul to a countless number of flavour mash-ups. This recipe is an A+ in my opinion, resulting in a pan of gooey, rich, satisfyingly chocolately brownies :) (The brownies pictured were my minty experiment...... DELICIOUS!)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Sift together sugar, cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add chocolate chips.
-Add melted butter, eggs, water, and vanilla.
-Pour batter into a 13x9 inch greased pan.
-Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out slightly covered in brownie (all ovens vary so be cautious and check often within the last couple of minutes).

*I baked these for 19 minutes, but the boyfriend said they could have baked another minute or so for a better texture.

Flavour Ideas:

-Mint: mint chocolate chips + mint extract
-Terry's Chocolate Orange: rough chopped chocolate orange + orange extract
-Savoury Southwest: monterey jack cheese slices over top of batter

Tip:

-Let your imagination be your only limitation and have fun with it :)

#3) Perfect Pancakes

My blender is one counter-top appliance I simply can NOT live without. I immediately fell in love with how easy it makes life. I now have some recipes specifically written for blenders, but I have also adapted some of my faves to work with it as well. This recipe is a perfect example of one my "blender makeovers". A sweet treat for breakfast, who could ask for more? :)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (soy milk works fine)
4 tbsp melted butter (I used vegetable oil this time and it was fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla

*Add-ins - chocolate chips, lemon zest, pecans, sliced banana, let your imagination go wild! (From 1/4 - 1/2 cup, depending on taste)

Steps:

-Add flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt to blender. Pulse until mixed.
-Add eggs, milk, butter/oil, and vanilla to flour mixture. Pulse until combined.
-Add-ins. Pulse just until incorporated.

#2) Cooking Light Carrot Muffins

If it is a question of having a sweet tooth, I am guilty as charged. But, this is why I try some healthier recipes every now and then. This one is my favorite light version of carrot cake. Granted, it is not as dense as original carrot cake, and no, it isn't smothered with cream cheese frosting.... BUT it does turn out a tasty sweet treat you can eat without one ounce of guilt.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup raisins (optional)
2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp applesauce
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot (2 large carrots cut in chunks, if using blender)
1 1/2 cups canned crushed pineapple, drained

Steps:

*I make my muffins using the blender. It is a time saver and keeps the mess contained :)

-Add the pineapple, carrot, eggs, and applesauce to blender. Mix until carrot is grated and ingredients are combined.
-Add cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and coconut to blender. Incorporate well.
-Add sugar and flour and incorporate. If the batter is too dry add reserved pinapple juice by teaspoon until you acheive a better texture.
-If you are using the raisins, add to the blender and pulse just until the are incorporated.
-Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Yields 1 dozen muffins :)

Tips:

-Allow muffins to cool before removing from the paper muffin cups. They do not separate well when still hot/warm.

-Spread into a 13x9 inch pan sprayed with Pam for a cake.

#1) Confidential Chocolate Chip Cookies

These particular chocolate chip cookies are confidential because I have never shared this recipe before. Guess you could call me greedy, haha. They are the perfect chocolate chip sweet treat, cooking to a perfectly plump finish with just the right amount of chips.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 cup margerine (if using real butter, bring to room temperature before mixing)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips (the better quality chocolate, the better quality cookie)
1 cup chopped nuts (if you omit the nuts add another 2 tbsp flour)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
-In a large bowl, combine margerine, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract; beat until creamy.
-Beat in eggs to margerine mixture.
-Gradually add the flour mixture to the margerine mixture. (I add it in thirds)
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden.

*I get about 3 dozen cookies, but I make them rather large :)

Tips:

-Allow baking sheets to cool between each batch (this can be done by placing the sheet in the fridge/freezer for a couple of minutes).
-Wipe baking sheets clean of grease between batches, or wash and dry baking sheet.
-For a softer, chewier version reduce granulated sugar to 1/2 cup and increase brown sugar to 1 cup.

The beginning...

Who doesn't like a warm and chewy chocolate chip cookie, or a rich and chocolately brownie, or decadent cheesecake, or... The list goes on and on, but at the root of it is that all of us has a sweet tooth hidden somewhere and we all have those little guilty pleasures.

I want to share with you some of my favorite recipes that I have tested and perfected until they produce the tastiest sweet treats you could ask for. Feel free to change them up to suit your tastes, but please share any feedback whatsoever with me :)