Joy the Baker » blueberries

Blueberry Black and White Cookies

joythebaker — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:29:24 +0000

Baked pancakes with two kinds of frosting… that’s basically what I’m asking you to put into your face today.

But first… here are the three questions I have swirling around my brain this afternoon:

- At what point in the dating process can I start shaving my legs less often? I’d like to be prepared for that moment… you know, mark my calender. If I am currently dating you… um… let’s just recognize that this moment is a little awkward. Yea…

- Is it rude, when at a small dinner party, to eat three times as much as the hostess… then ask for more food? If so… oops.

- How many of these downright sinful cookies can I eat between lunch and dinner. Follow up question: can I call these cookies dinner?

aaaand. Cookies.

Is that a bobby pin in the above picture? Yes. Geeez! Where is my good sense?

I really love Black and White Cookies. They’re like small cakes with two kinds of sweet frosting… what could go wrong?

I spruced these black and white cookies up with fresh blueberries baked into the cookie and topped them with a blueberry lemon glaze.

I also really love smashing blueberries into a purple pulp and making them into a pretty purple glaze.

Yes I dipped my finger in this glaze. Yes… more than once.

Black and White Cookies get their bottoms frosted. You all knew that, right?

I have to tell you something… these cookies are best eaten the day they are made. Why? Well.. you see how the baked blueberry goodness is peeking through on the bottom of these cookies? Once frosted and left overnight, the blueberry juice will weep just a bit and make the frosting on top of it look a little sunken. The taste is still spot on, but the cookies might look a little funny.

Chocolate and butter. It’s meant to be.

Frosting these cookies is my favorite part…

… because I like to frost the entire cookie with blueberry glaze, let it set for about 30 minutes… then go over half of the cookie with chocolate glaze. Ridiculous.

Blueberry Black and White Cookies

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

makes one dozen large cookies

Print this Recipe!

For the Cookies:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

about 1 cup fresh blueberries

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed for one minute after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredient alternately with the wet ingredients. Starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl down to ensure all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed then beat for just a few seconds on high speed.

Scoop about 1/4-cup scoops of the cookie batter onto a foil lined baking sheet. Spread the batter slightly with a butterknife. Cookies should be rounds about 3 or 4 inches across. Dot each dough circle with 5 or 6 blueberries then use the butterknife so gently, though not completely, brush some batter over the blueberries. It doesn’t need to be completely covered or perfect.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom and spring back to touch on top. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the Blueberry Glaze:

small handful (about 20) fresh blueberries

juice of half a lemon

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

a splash of vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

2-3 teaspoons water

In a medium sized bowl, using a fork, mash the blueberries very well until the pump is pulverized and the blueberries have let off their pretty purple juices. Add the lemon juice, corn syrup and vanilla extract and stir. Pour in the powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of water. Whisk until thoroughly combined. If you’d like to thin the glaze out just a bit more, add just a touch more water. Set aside until ready to glaze cookies. If glaze top hardens a bit, just give it a good whisk before applying to the cookies

For the Chocolate Glaze:

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips of pieces

3 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon corn syrup

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave. I usually microwave this mixture until the butter is somewhat melted, then just stir to melt the chocolate and butter together. Add the corn syrup. Stir. Set the glaze aside until ready to apply to the cookies.

To Glaze the Cookies:

Allow cookies to cook completely. Use your fingers to brush any extra crumbs off the bottom of the cookies. Glaze the entire bottom of the cookie with blueberry glaze. Let set for about 30 minutes. Once set, gently glaze half of the cookie with chocolate glaze. Let set for another 30 minutes then wrap individually in plastic wrap.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are made. Otherwise the baked in blueberries weep through the glaze a bit. They taste great but might look a little strange.

Brown Butter Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Apricots

joythebaker — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:22:30 +0000

There are moments in my life when I know that I’m a baker to the core. I had one such moment today. Why? Well, I was thinking about cornbread all day. Of all things! Cornbread. I was turning over cornbread formulas in my head, thinking of possibilities, researching recipes and jotting down notes. That’s how I know I’m a baker, because I think about cornbread for hours on end. And even if I were stuck in some random job as an accountant, I’d be the accountant that thought about cornbread all day.

It turns out that thinking about cornbread is like opening a can of worms. There are so many styles! There’s the sweet style cornbread with sugar and honey. There’s the dry unsweetened cornbread with fresh kernels mixed in. There’s skillet corn bread. There’s corn muffins. I could go on and on… and I did, in my head, all day. It had to be just right. So I came up with Brown Butter Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Apricots.

Allow me a moment of self congratulation because frankly, I nailed it!

And now I’ll share.

While these muffins are simple in their ingredients, they pack the maximum amount of flavor.

Let’s start with the butter. Browned butter brings out an almost nutty flavor in the butter. That little bit of time over the fire adds a tremendous depth of flavor, and aroma.

Cornmeal is important too. I chose a medium grain stone ground cornmeal. The medium grind adds just a hint of crunch. Brilliant!

Fruit was my summer addition to these muffins. If you wanted to serve the muffins with chili or something savory then leave the berries out. As a morning muffin, the fresh blueberries and diced apricot add an delicious touch.

Other delicious contributing factors- sour cream and honey. Sour cream gives the muffins a light tender crumb. Yes, more tender than buttermilk. And honey adds a depth of flavor to the sweetness.

Now, these muffins aren’t over the top sweet. If you like the your muffins on the sweeter side, increase the sugar from 1/4 cup to a heaping 1/3 cup.

Brown Butter Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Apricots

Print this Recipe!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal, medium grind

1/4 cup sugar, or a heaping 1/3 cup for sweeter muffins

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted until lightly brown

2 Tablespoons honey

1/3 cup blueberries

1/2 cup fresh apricots, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

On a stove top, in a skillet, melt 3/4 of a stick of butter over medium high heat. After the butter is melted, keep an eye on the pan, occasionally swirling the butter, until the crackling stops and the butter is a light amber color. This may take about 5 minutes. Measure about 1/4 cup of melted butter and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine egg, sour cream, milk and honey. Stir until no lumps remain in the sour cream. Pour browned butter into the egg mixture and stir to incorporate.

Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened. Fold in blueberries and diced apricots.

Spoon batter into lined muffin tins and bake at for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperature. These also freeze very well and defrost in the microwave after 15 seconds. Hope you enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake with wild blueberries

joythebaker — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:38:03 +0000

Lemon and blueberry are my go-to ( by ‘go-to’ I actually mean lazy) combination. I’ve never had a bad day if lemon and blueberry joined forces at breakfast. It’s true, they never fail me.

Too bad I can’t say the same thing for the fail dogs. Have you seen the creatures? They are dogs (that have little to do with baking, blueberries or lemon) who have tried and failed in one way or another. They make me laugh. They make me cry. I was a cat person until the fail dogs changed my life.

Now back to the Lemon Poppyseed Bread with wild blueberries…

For this pound cake I tried Dorie Greenspan’s Perfection Pound Cake, instead my usual winning recipe. I wanted to see if Dorie’s pound cake was in fact perfect. After all of my dabbling and doctoring, I have to be honest and say, that I thought the pound cake was a bit dry. My fault? Possible, maybe I baked it too long. It wasn’t a complete faildog move- a thick slice with just the right amount of lemon curd, and it’s just lovely.

Perfection Pound Cake

adapted from Baking: from my home to yours

Print this Recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/3 cup frozen wild blueberries

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated backing sheet, or on two regular baking sheets stacked on on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

Rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar until sugar is slightly tinted yellow and is fragrant.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fit with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar mixture on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each addition. As you’re working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and poppyseeds, mixing only until incorporated. Take the bowl off the stand mixer, and use a spoon to fold in the frozen blueberries. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake in the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. It it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Bake the cake for about 70 to 75 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean

Remove cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Wrapped well, the cake cake keep for 5-7 days at room temperature.