Raspberry Buckle

Is this a dessert? Is it a coffee cake? Is it cake? No folks, it is a buckle.  What is a buckle you may ask, well, according to Lori Longbotham who wrote this recipe, "A buckle is a buttery one-layer cake made with fruit, often berries, and sprinkled with a streusel topping. The cake rises and puffs up as it bakes, then it buckles. The result is a golden cake with berries peeking through the crispy topping."

Whatever it is, it is delicious. I made it for dessert the first night and ate it with ice cream and it was tasty. The next morning, I had some for breakfast, and I think it was almost tastier because it seemed that all the flavors had matured and combined together even more. Try it, love it!

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

I love blueberries. I think they are delicious. I love them fresh, in oatmeal, in fruit salads, in crisps, on ice cream, in fruit smoothies, and of course, in muffins. But here is the thing about muffins, I often think they are too oily, especially store bought muffins. So imagine my happiness when I found this recipe from Tosca Reno, the Eat-Clean Diet lady. While I didn't follow every ingredient in the recipe, I did substitute the egg with a flax seed/water mixture (the picture above left is ground flax seed, which I regularly add to my oatmeal, yogurt, etc) and use Greek yogurt - which is yummy. These muffins weren't as sweet as I maybe would have liked them, but I think using coconut oil instead of olive oil (which is what I used) would add a great flavor. I might also add about 1/4 cup of sugar if I wanted them to be a bit sweeter, but I don't know if I defiantly would, because as you can see from the picture above, the dough is thick, and closer to a biscuit dough than your average muffin batter. So whether or not to make them sweeter would be a personal choice. Either way, I enjoyed these fresh out of the oven with a bit of melted butter and I really appreciated that they were not oily like many muffins I have tried in my life.

Blackberry Cornbread

Breakfast? Afternoon snack? Dessert? This bread could satiate cravings at any time of day. It's a pleasant combination of traditional southern corn bread and a blackberry pound cake, and perfect for a Sunday brunch or summer evening barbecue.

Blackberry Cornbread
Recipe adapted from Southern Living June 2009
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream*
1/2 cup butter
2 cups fresh blackberries

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Grease an 11 x 7 (or similar sized round or oval pan).
   
2. Stir together cornmeal, powder, soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
   
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream and butter. Add to cornmeal mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Fold in blackberries. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.**
   

*We also tried this with half sour cream, half plain yogurt. The batch with the yogurt was definitely more moist than the sour cream only (not that it needed to be more moist! The sour cream only was perfectly fine), but probably healthier.
**You may want to cover the top with foil after 25-30 minutes to prevent the top from becoming too brown.