One of my favorite things about summer is fresh fruit. As much as I love chocolate and all other unhealthy foods, if fresh fruit wasn't such a rarity at all times except summer, I'd probably be much healthier (I can say this since it'll never happen). Blueberries work with everything: breads, muffins, pies, pancakes, ice cream, smoothies. What a dynamic little fruit.

Back in the day when I was applying to colleges I saw an essay contest for the North Carolina Blueberry Festival (because apparently I come from a blueberry-loving state) where you could win some sort of scholarship just for writing about blueberries. I remember thinking, seriously...an essay about blueberries? That's it? I LOVE BLUEBERRIES! How could I not win?

Well, procrastinating and never writing the essay is one way. A few months down the road I was talking with a friend of mine who was laughing about how he won a scholarship for writing an essay about blueberries, and that he didn't even like blueberries. Naturally I've been kicking myself ever since. I'll spare you all from my long-overdue essay on blueberries, but I will give you this amazing blueberry muffin recipe.

Blueberry muffins should be bursting with fresh blueberries. The key is not to have a single bite without a blueberry. This recipe takes things up a notch by adding a homemade blueberry jam on top and swirling it around a bit. And just in case you still felt like taking things up even more, you then add a crunchy lemon sugar topping. You can taste the crunch of the sugar, and oh is it good. I added about 1/4 cup extra blueberries to the pan while cooking down the blueberries because I wanted as much blueberry flavor as possible. I doubt that was necessary, but mission accomplished.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Recipe from The Little Kitchen
Yield: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
1 1/2 tsp finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins:

Non-stick cooking or baking spray, I used Baker's Joy
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 tsp
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
2 large eggs
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

FOR THE TOPPING: Combine sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir. Set aside.

FOR THE MUFFINS: If not already done, move oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin tin with baking spray.

Add 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to a small saucepan at medium heat. Allow to simmer and cook, mash the berries with the back of a spoon until all of the berries are broken down. Stir frequently and cook until mixture is thickened and reduced to about ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and whisk.

To another bowl, add 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs and whisk until thick, about 45 seconds. Whisk in butter and oil slowly, until combined. Then, whisk buttermilk and vanilla in, until combined.

Using rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, fold in egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Do not overmix. The batter will be lumpy and that's fine.)

Using an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop, add batter evenly to each of the muffin cups. The muffin cups will be full. Take one teaspoon of the cooled blueberry jam and add to the top of each mound of batter. Using a chopstick or skewer, swirl the jam into the batter a few times. (Cook's Illustrated says to use figure eight motions.)

Add the lemon-sugar topping evenly over all of the muffins.

Bake the muffins until they are just about gold on top, about 17-19 minutes. Halfway through the baking time, be sure to rotate the muffin tin. Allow muffins to cool in the muffin tin for about 2-3 minutes. Using a butter knife or offset spatula, remove the muffins from the tin and allow them to rest at an angle. Cool for another 5 minutes and place on a cooling rack. Serve with softened butter.
These muffins can be stored in a zippered plastic bag for 2-3 days.

When life gives you blueberries, you make blueberry muffins. Unfortunately, life (or your neighborhood grocery store in this case) does not always give you blueberries. I'm not one to shy away from out of season fruit--with the exception of watermelon--so when I decided a week ago that I was making blueberry muffins I didn't even consider that I wouldn't be able to find any. What I did find was 2 for 1 strawberries. Order was restored and I took this delicious blueberry muffin with blueberry jam recipe and just subbed in strawberries.

The only thing I didn't like about these is that I "forgot" to give any away and I couldn't eat them all on my own. Strawberries tend to hold a lot of moisture, so you won't be able to get away with eating them a few days in unless you happen to enjoy mold. I'm sure keeping them in the fridge would help. I've never frozen muffins before, but I popped a few of these in the freezer to test out the results. I'll update the post when I try them.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemon Muffins
Recipe Adapted from Damn Delicious

Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sliced strawberries, divided
• 3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the lemon sugar topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup strawberries and 1 tablespoon sugar. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool 10-15 minutes.

To make the lemon sugar topping, combine the sugar and lemon zest, rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingertips; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.
Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.
Add the remaining 1 cup sliced strawberries and gently toss to combine.
Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Top each muffin with 1 teaspoon strawberry jam, swirling into the batter using figure eight motions. Sprinkle with lemon sugar mixture.

Place into oven and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

ps - Sorry for the lack of creative place settings. This is what happens when you rush pictures.

This is a perfect example of the kind of food I simply cannot have around my house. It's effortless, bite-sized and addictive. I have a theory for puppy chow: it is 10x better when you double the toppings and keep the amount of chex mix the same (it's truly a wonder that I'm not 400lbs by this point in my life). Still, if you want to make the best puppy chow around, try it out. No one likes digging around in the bowl for the pieces with the most topping.

This lemon puppy chow reminds me of lemon cooler cookies from the grocery store (their real name is escaping me). I'm enjoying them as a nice break from chocolate, but I will also be happy when the bag of them isn't tempting me in my kitchen. I've grabbed a handful pretty much every time I've been in there...and I'm in the kitchen a lot. If you're ever looking for something quick and easy to bring to a party, this is it. I'm the type to spend days coming up with what I will contribute to a buffet, but I'm also finally coming to the realization that it's often the easiest things that get the best reviews. Enjoy!

Chex Lemon Buddies
Recipe from Joyful Whimsy

9 cups Rice Chex cereal 
1 1/4 cup white vanilla baking chips 
1/4 cup butter or margarine 
4 tsp grated lemon peel 
2 Tbsp lemon juice 
2 cups powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 more seconds or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into a 2-gallon re-sealable food storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar, seal bag and shake until all the cereal is well-coated. 

As I sit here waiting to leave for my 6:45 cycling class, for some reason there's nothing I want to do other than bake. I think it may be that cycling continuously kills me (I'm convinced it never gets easy) and baking is just about as far in the other direction as it gets. Maybe I'm just trying to make the excuse, "Well I can't leave while it's in the oven." So, to avoid all of this I figured I should catch up posting some recipes I've made over the past week. I'll start with a delicious strawberry buttermilk cake. This cake is way too easy to be as good as it is. That's not a bad thing, though. I think anyone could make it, and the whipped cream definitely takes it to a whole new level. Truth be told, I was just experimenting around with the whipped cream and don't remember the exact measurements for how I made it, but it was amazing. I think maybe I'll just make lemon-blueberry whipped cream from now on and put it on everything. YUM. When looking at that recipe, if you make it and it doesn't taste quite sweet enough (or doesn't have enough lemon or blueberry flavoring) add to it! I got the idea from Eats Well With Others, where she made blueberry buttermilk cake with strawberry whipped cream. The same strawberry buttermilk cake has been surfacing all over the food blog world recently, but the idea of fruit flavored whipped cream sounded too good to pass up. I know local strawberry season has sadly just about ended, but they're still pretty cheap at the grocery store (or Costco/Sam's Club if you want them in bulk). Enjoy this recipe, it won't last long once you make it!

Easy Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
Recipe from Food and Fun Cafe
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
** Use 1/2 cup buttermilk instead of the egg as an alternative
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh strawberries (about 5 oz)

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F, placing the rack in the middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and keep ready.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy; this should take about 3 minutes, then beat in the vanilla. Finally add the egg and beat well for another 2 minutes.

Switch the mixer setting to low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Remember, do NOT overbeat.

Fold in half of the strawberries into the batter. Spoon the prepared batter into the cake pan, smoothing it on the top. Scatter the remaining strawberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, roughly about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the cake pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Invert it onto a serving plate.

Using a knife warmed by placing under hot running water, slice the cake into wedges and serve. You can also make it fancier by topping it with a dollop of whipped cream, or dusting with some more Confectioner's sugar.

Blueberry Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/4 cup blueberries
Zest of 1/2 lemon

In a blender or food processor, puree the blueberries and lemon zest. If you desire a sharper lemon flavor, lemon juice can be added to this as well. Next, beat the cream until barely thickened. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Fold in puree and beat slightly more until whipped cream reaches desired consistency.

*Everyone makes whipped cream a different way. Some people use powdered sugar, some regular sugar, some add vanilla.. that's not really what matters here. Make the whipped cream as normal, but add the zest and blueberry mixture to the almost finished product.

My mom loves coconut. The only problem is, no one else in our family does. I've gradually started to like it more since I tried my first Samoa and realized it wasn't half bad, but I would never order anything coconut off a menu.  I've also never made anything coconut. At christmas she makes macaroons, I make meringues. But, Friday was her birthday so I decided I'd give a coconut recipe a try. This recipe was a disaster from beginning to end in the making. I was rushing to get it done and in turn destroyed two batches of lemon curd, which was supposed to be the filling (that's a lot of lemons and eggs!). Luckily, the icing I chose for the outside of the cake was amazing and the batch turned out to be plenty to frost the whole cake. I liked the final product so much I won't be trying this recipe with lemon curd, it was perfect how it was. Because the original recipe calls for it, I'm sure it's even better with it. I think I'm just fed up with lemon curd for now, but that doesn't mean you all shouldn't give it a try! My only suggestion would be to put parchment down in the bottom of the pans before pouring the batter in. Not doing this contributed to part two of my disaster: One of the layers split in two.
Like I said before, no one in my family likes coconut, but everyone tried this cake and liked it. I didn't add the extra coconut between the layers so the lemon flavor came through much more which made it more appealing to everyone. My mom said she thought it would've been even better with it, though, so if you like coconut, add it. I ended up taking these pictures three days after I made it and after it had been put in the fridge so they don't do the cake justice. Trust me on this though, this recipe has made me like coconut even more than when I tried the Samoa (and it's pretty hard to beat Girl Scout Cookies). I thought it was much better before going in the fridge so I would recommend covering it and leaving it out to help it stay moist.

Coconut Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Ingredients for the cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canned coconut cream (such as Coco Lopez)
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Ingredients for the frosting:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
5 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

*This is a great recipe for just plain cream cheese frosting too if you leave out the coconut. It also can be made into a fruit cream cheese frosting with the addition of 1 cup fresh berries. YUM!

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside (I used 3 pans)
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer.
5. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and stir by hand to mix well.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and coconut cream. Stir until all the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix.
7. With an electric mixer whip the egg whites in a separate bowl 2 to 3 minutes, until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake 40-45 minutes (If you use more pans, like I did, decrease this time by about 10 minutes. Remove from oven when cakes are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 
9. Remove from the oven and cool the cakes 10 to 15 minutes in the pans. Remove from the pans and continue to cool on a baking rack.
10. Place the butter and cream cheese in a bowl and cream together with an electric mixer until light and smooth.
11. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth.
12. Add the orange zest and vanilla and continue to mix on high speed about 1 minute to make the frosting light and fluffy.
13. Add 2 cups sweetened falked cocnut and stir until well blended.
14. Once the cakes have cooled completely, use a long, serrated knife to slice off the top rounded potion of each cake to make a flat, even surface. Discard trimmings.
15. Place one layer cut side down on a cake plate. Spread generously with icing and sprinkle cocnut over layer. Continue with next layer and spread top and sides of cake with frosting.