Apricot Almond Coffee Cake

Yay, it’s Friday!  Hands-down my favorite day of the week.  My family will be relaxing today, recuperating from a super fun but really busy day yesterday.  My mom and sister brought my nephew and little newborn niece up for the day and we spent the first half of it at the lake.  It was warm and beautiful and the kids wore themselves out playing in the water and digging in the sand.  But before they could get a chance to rest, we whisked them off to the circus!  It was my nephew’s first time at the circus and he loved it.  Eva had been to the circus before, but she was only 2 months old, so this was kind of like her first time too.  My girls were totally exhausted by the time we got home last night and went straight to bed. Eva will probably sleep until lunchtime, but Lena, my early riser, was up at 7, which is only about half an hour later than usual for her.

So we will be spending a lazy day at home today.  This coffee cake is the perfect lazy-morning-at-home kind of thing to make.  It uses a boxed pound cake mix, so it’s not too complicated to prepare, but it’s just fancy enough to make you feel like you’re really treating yourself.  It’s adapted from a recipe I found at the website of a bed and breakfast, The Gracehill in Tennessee.  I had been searching for a unique coffee cake recipe the last time I made fellowship treats for church and I stumbled across this one.  It’s a winner!

Apricot Almond Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup apricot preserves
1 (16 oz.) package pound cake mix, divided
1 cup sour cream
½ cup milk
2 large eggs
½ tsp almond extract
16 dried apricots, cut into small chunks
½ cup sliced almonds
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
¼ tsp almond extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat a 9×13” pan with baking spray.

Mix cream cheese, apricot preserves, and 2 tbsp of cake mix just until blended.  Set aside.  Beat sour cream, milk, eggs, almond extract and remaining cake mix on low, scraping sides of bowl until combined.  Then beat on high 3 more minutes. 

Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish.  Spread over the top all of the cream cheese mixture then pour and spread the remaining batter.  Dot the top with the chunks of apricots.   Sprinkle on the almonds on top.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool slightly. 

Meanwhile, to make glaze, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and ¼ tsp almond extract.  Once cake has cooled slightly, drizzle glaze all over the top.

Makes 24 servings.

I made a few changes from the Gracehill version.  First, I doubled the filling ingredients.  Good choice because it came out perfectly.  I also had to come up with my own glaze recipe because it wasn’t included in the original recipe.  I added a tiny bit of almond extract to the glaze; gives it a lovely flavor.

This coffee cake was a huge hit at church.  Even though it is called a coffee cake, it would also make a lovely summertime dessert for any meal.

Summer Vegetable Frittata

Last week I decided to try my hand at making a frittata.  I had never made one before.  A frittata is an egg dish that you start out cooking on the stovetop, then move to the oven.  I found a recipe for a Greek frittata that I really wanted to try, but when I checked my feta cheese supply, I found only feta dust in the container (who put it back in the fridge like that?).  So I will have to try that one next time.  Instead, I created a frittata using two of my favorite summertime veggies: zucchini and tomatoes.  Yep, still posting zucchini recipes here!  This frittata turned out great.  Here’s how I made it.

Summer Vegetable Frittata

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

½ large onion, diced

1 medium zucchini, diced

1 small or medium tomato, diced

6 eggs, lightly beaten

½ tsp salt

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ cup shredded cheese, divided 

Directions:

Preheat broiler.

Heat oil in a 12” broiler-safe skillet over medium heat.  Sauté onion, zucchini, and tomato until onion and zucchini are soft and most of the tomato’s moisture has evaporated.  Add eggs, salt, and Italian seasoning.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Add ¼ cup shredded cheese and stir.  Cook another 3 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup cheese on top, cover, and cook another 3 minutes.  Remove lid and place pan under the broiler.  Broil for a few minutes or until top is lightly browned.  Let rest for 5 minutes, then cut into 6 wedges.  

Makes 3 servings, 2 pieces each.

When I say that it makes three servings, that was when I served it for dinner.  It was our meatless meal of the week, with rolls and a salad.  If you are serving this for breakfast, one piece per person would probably be enough.  I listed Italian seasoning in the recipe, but actually I forgot to put any extra seasoning in it. You could use any kind of seasoning that strikes your fancy.  I think dried dill would go really well with the fresh veggies.  You can also easily switch up the veggies in here. You could use yellow squash instead of the zucchini and bell pepper instead of the tomato; whatever you have on hand.

Frittatas turn out much flatter than their cousin, the quiche.  They don’t puff up as much.  But still very delicious.  I didn’t think my husband would like this all that much.  He doesn’t usually like chunks of tomato in things and I thought he might be getting tired of zucchini, but he proclaimed several times throughout the meal that he loved it.  He loves it when I make egg dishes for our meatless nights because he loves eggs.

I made a special cheese-free mini frittata for my daughter who is allergic to dairy.  Basically the same thing as the one above, minus the cheese, but I used two eggs in an 8″ pan and didn’t put it under the broiler, just cooked it completely on the stovetop.  She gobbled up the whole thing.

I always have plenty of eggs and some kind of veggie on hand, so this will be a great go-to meal on days when I don’t have anything planned. 

Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche

It’s going to be a fun week here on Edesia’s Notebook. I’m participating in another fun blog hop series hosted by Savannah of Hammock Tracks.  This series is called “The Garden’s Bounty” and includes a week’s worth of recipes chock full of fresh garden produce.

Today we are sharing with you casseroles or other hot savory dishes, tomorrow will be salads, Wednesday will be soups, Thursday will be preserves, pickles, or salsas, and on Friday we will share with you some sweet treats to end the week.

The hot savory dish I chose for today is a quiche that I created a few weeks ago.  My family loves quiche (my four-year-old daughter Lena calls it “egg pizza” because it’s wedge-shaped), so I make it for dinner quite often.  I have already shared with you my Broccoli Cheddar Quiche and my Spinach Cheese Quiche with Potato Crust.  I happened to have a handful of mushrooms and some asparagus leftover from some other meals, so I thought they would be fantastic in a quiche together.  Since roasting is the only way I prepare asparagus, I tossed the mushrooms and asparagus together and roasted them for the quiche, maximizing their flavor.  The resulting quiche was amazing.

Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche


Ingredients:
½ lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed
4 oz. fresh mushrooms, chopped
Olive oil
Kosher salt
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
½ tsp salt
9” pie crust


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Cut asparagus into 1” pieces.  Place asparagus and mushrooms on baking sheet and drizzle with oil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Roast 12 minutes, stirring halfway through.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Reduce oven temperature to 350°.


Combine eggs, cheese, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add roasted asparagus and mushrooms.  Pour into pie crust.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until set.


Makes 6 servings.

This quiche did not disappoint.  The roasted flavor of the veggies comes through nicely and gives the quiche an added depth of flavor.  I’m not a big fan of Swiss cheese, but it is very mellow in this dish and seemed to fit perfectly.  

Check out the great savory vegetable-packed recipes below, and come back tomorrow to see some great fresh-from-the-garden salads!

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Breakfast Meatballs

Who’s ready for breakfast?  Today I have for you a very simple, yet genius breakfast recipe.  Meatballs!  Meatballs for breakfast?  Yep!  It’s a brilliant idea and recipe I found over at Budget Gourmet Mom.  Ground sausage, pancakes, and maple syrup all rolled into little bite-sized balls.  Pure genius.

Breakfast Meatballs


Ingredients:
2 lbs. bulk sausage
¼ cup maple syrup plus a little extra to drizzle
1 egg
4 pancakes, cubed


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.


In a medium bowl, mix the sausage, syrup, and egg together.  Mix in the pieces of pancake until evenly distributed.  Form into balls slightly larger than a tablespoon and place on a baking sheet.


Drizzle with some additional maple syrup and bake for 22-25 minutes.  Serve warm.


Makes 24 meatballs.

 Mix together sausage, egg, and maple syrup.

Chop up a few pancakes.  If you really want to make these meatballs but don’t want to take the time to make pancakes first, you could chop up a few warmed up frozen waffles.  I haven’t tried it that way, but I’m sure it would work.

 Mix pancake pieces into the sausage.

Shape into balls and bake.

Couldn’t be easier.  And makes a wonderful, tasty breakfast.  If you want to turn these into a grab-and-go kind of breakfast, you could freeze them after baking (laid out on a baking sheet so they don’t stick together), then throw them in a large freezer bag.  In the morning, take out however many you want, pop them in the microwave for a minute and you’re good to go!

Be sure to come by on Monday, which is the first day of another great blog hop series I am participating in.  It’s called “Garden’s Bounty” and it’s five days of recipes that use fresh-from-the-garden produce.  We will be sharing with you fruit and veggie filled recipes for hot savory dishes, salads, soups, preserves, and desserts.  Don’t miss it!

Orange Spice Coffee Cake

So you all probably know by now that I’m not a baker by nature, but I have been trying to increase my experience in that realm.  I have made several different kinds of muffins, and usually stick to those when it is my turn to make treats for our fellowship time at church.  But this time I just wasn’t feeling the muffins.  Got bored with them, I guess.  I wanted to try my hand at coffee cake.  I had never made a coffee cake before, so I wasn’t sure what to even look for when I was searching recipes.  One of my searches brought up an orange coffee cake recipe.  It was kind of weird though; it called for a yellow cake mix and instant pudding mix.  Not really what I had in mind.  So I looked for and found a recipe for a more traditional coffee cake recipe that included orange, on a blog called Macheesmo.  The only problem was that it made a 9×9 cake and I wanted to make a 9×13.  It’s quite difficult to find a coffee cake recipe for a 9×13 pan.  Most of them are bundt pans.  I read somewhere that a 9×9 contains 8 cups and a 9×13 contains 15 cups, so I just doubled it.  I think my cake turned out a bit taller than the original, but that’s okay.  I changed a couple tiny things about the recipe; here’s my version.

Orange Spice Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
Batter:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
⅔ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp orange zest (about 2 oranges’ worth)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
⅔ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp orange extract

Topping/Filling:
2 cups brown sugar 
½ cup butter
½ cup flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp orange zest
1 cup pecan chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.  Coat a 9×13” baking dish with nonstick baking spray.

For the batter: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, orange zest, and pumpkin pie spice.  Add oil, eggs, milk, juice, and extract. Stir until just combined.

For the topping/filling: In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cold butter, flour, pumpkin pie spice, and orange zest.  Use a pastry blender to cut up the butter.  Combine until you have pea-sized crumbs.  Stir in the pecan chips. 

Pour about half of the batter into the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle with about half of the topping/filling.  Drop the rest of the batter on top of the filling by spoonfuls.  Try to distribute it as evenly as you can.  Sprinkle with remaining topping.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center.

Let it cool for at least 5 minutes.  Serve warm.

If you want to make this ahead of time, let cool completely, cover, then refrigerate.  The next day, take it out of the fridge and place in a 170° oven for about an hour.

I have to say that this is everything a coffee cake should be.  Tender, fluffy cake with sweet and crunchy streusel topping.  The orange flavor is really nice too.  It’s not an in-your-face kind of orange flavor.  It’s very subtle but noticeable.  The orange and the pumpkin pie spices go really well together.  And I love how there is a layer of the topping that creates a filling inside the cake.  Because, let’s be honest, the topping is the best part of the coffee cake, so why not have more of it?

For church, I made one of these cakes, and a pan of Blackberry Apricot Crumble Bars.  I wanted something nut and cinnamon free because we have some members with allergies.  But I wish I had made another one of these coffee cakes anyway.  It went really fast!  In fact, not everyone was able to try it. 😦  I guess that means I will have to make it again the next time I bring treats!

Chaya from Bizzy Bakes chose to make this recipe when she was assigned my blog for the Secret Recipe Club in July 2012.  Click on the button below to check out her post!

Eggs Benedict Casserole

This is the dish I made for our Easter breakfast at church this year.  At first, I couldn’t decide what to make, but then Pinterest helped me out!  I get an email whenever someone repins one of my pins, and this recipe was constantly getting repinned, so I really wanted to try it out.  Usually I like to chose “tried and true” recipes when cooking for church events, but I decided to take a chance with this one, and I’m glad I did. It was the perfect Easter brunch dish and it turned out beautifully.  It’s a Taste of Home recipe.

Eggs Benedict Casserole

Ingredients:

10 oz. Canadian bacon, chopped

6 English muffins, split and cut into 1” pieces

8 eggs

2 cups 2% milk

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika, divided

1 tsp shallot salt

4 egg yolks

½ cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp Dijon mustard

½ cup butter, melted

Directions:

Place half of the Canadian bacon in a greased 9×13” baking dish; top with English muffins and remaining bacon. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, onion powder, garlic powder, ½ tsp smoked paprika, and shallot salt; pour over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 375°.  Sprinkle with remaining ½ tsp smoked paprika. Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

In a double boiler or metal bowl over simmering water, constantly whisk the egg yolks, cream, lemon juice, and mustard until mixture reaches 160° or is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Reduce heat to low. Slowly drizzle in warm melted butter, whisking constantly. Serve immediately with casserole. 

Makes 12 servings.

The only thing I changed was that I added a little bit more seasoning to the egg mixture, because some other reviewers said it was a tad bland.  I really loved the Hollandaise sauce and will probably use it the next time I need Hollandaise sauce for another recipe.  It was really easy to  make.

 If I was making this at home, I would put the Hollandaise sauce in a gravy boat and let each person pour out as much as they wanted.  But since this was being served at a buffet, I just poured it all over the top of the casserole and served it that way.  That worked out really well.

The casserole was a hit at the Easter breakfast.  One lady told me it was the best dish there.  There was only enough leftover for me to have a little bit for breakfast the next morning.  Sounds like a success to me!

This recipe was shared at:

• Newlyweds Blog Recipe Linky
• Totally Tasty Tuesday at Mandy’s Recipe Box
• Tastetastic Thursday at A Little Nosh

Dark Chocolate Chip Blueberry Muffins with Chocolate Streusel

 It’s time once again for the Crazy Cooking Challenge!  In this challenge, all the participants make and blog about the same dish each month.  Each blogger is to scour other blogs for a unique version of whatever that month’s dish is.  The goal is to highlight and promote personal food blogs. This month’s assigned dish was blueberry muffins.  So we were to find a unique blueberry muffin recipe, make it, and blog about it.

Confession time: I don’t like blueberries.  I know, I know, they are super healthy and stuff, but I just don’t like the flavor of them.  I much prefer raspberries and usually substitute them whenever a recipe calls for blueberries.  So while I love making muffins, I wasn’t too excited when I found out that this month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge theme was blueberry muffins.  I started scouring blogs for a recipe that sounded fun and unique.  What’s the best thing to do when you have to bake something you’re not crazy about?  Add chocolate to it, of course!  I got to thinking about how blueberries are good for you because they have a lot of antioxidants and that dark chocolate also has lots of antioxidants, so why not put them together?  I searched for a blueberry chocolate chip muffin recipe and found one over at Cupcake Muffin.  She actually used blueberries, regular chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips.  I left out the white chocolate chips so I could add more dark chocolate ones!   I used Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels and they were perfect.  I thought the tops needed something, so I threw together a chocolate streusel.  The streusel really makes the muffins, in my opinion.  Here’s the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Chip Blueberry Muffins with Chocolate Streusel

Ingredients:

1½ cups flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

⅓ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup milk

½ cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

½ cup dark chocolate morsels

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp butter, cold

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° and coat a muffin tin with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the 1½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ⅓ cup sugar, brown sugar, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Carefully stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until just barely combined.  Batter will be lumpy.

If you’re using frozen blueberries, toss them in about 1 tbsp flour.  Pour the blueberries and dark chocolate chips into the batter and fold in gently.

For the streusel, combine the ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup flour, and cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Cut up the butter and place it in the bowl.  Using a pastry blender or fork, work the butter into the cocoa mixture until it is crumbly.  

Divide batter between muffin cups.  Top each muffin with a generous amount of streusel.  Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Let cool before removing from muffin tin.

Makes 12 muffins.

I can honestly say that these are the best blueberry muffins I have ever had!  The chocolate morsels really do make you forget the fact that you are also eating blueberries.  🙂

Irish Cream and Coffee Muffins

Here is a lovely muffin recipe to get your St. Patrick’s Day started off right.  It’s my adaptation of one I found on Food.com.

Irish Cream and Coffee Muffins


Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 packet Starbucks Via instant espresso
1 tbsp hot water
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup Irish cream
½ cup milk
2 eggs
Powdered sugar, to dust tops


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.  Spray a muffin tin with baking spray and set aside.


Place flour and baking powder in a small bowl.  Set aside.


In a large mixing bowl, dissolve instant coffee in the hot water.  Add the brown sugar, oil, Irish cream, milk and eggs.  Stir to combine.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated, being careful not to overmix.  Batter will be lumpy.


Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and dust with powdered sugar.  


Makes 12 muffins.

These are some tasty muffins!  The amount of Irish cream is just right, giving them a lovely flavor.  And I love  the powdered sugar on top.  I’ve never done that with muffins before, but it’s just right for these.

I always use decaf Via in my baked goods so that no one is restricted from eating them, (I am making three dozen of these babies for church tomorrow), but use regular if you want a nice little pick-me-up in your muffin.

Here are some of my other St. Patrick’s Day recipes for your enjoyment.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Irish Cream Brownies

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Chocolate Banana Muffins

These are the muffins I made on Friday, which was a snow day here in Michigan.  They are very easy to put together and are the perfect weekend treat.  This recipe is directly from For the Love of Cooking. It was posted less than two weeks ago, but I couldn’t wait to try it and then after I tasted it, I couldn’t wait to share it with my readers.

Chocolate, Banana, and White Chocolate Chip Muffins


Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
½ cup canola oil
¾ cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of flour
¼ cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°.  Coat a muffin pan with baking spray.


Place the bananas in a large bowl; mash.  Add the oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla, stirring until well combined.


In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the white chocolate chips.


Spoon the batter evenly into each muffin cup. 


Place into the oven and bake 22-25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.


Let the muffins cool on a rack. 


Makes 12-14 muffins.

Amanda at Fake Ginger chose to make this recipe when she was assigned my blog for the Secret Recipe Club in May 2012.  Click on the button below to check out her post!

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Improv Challenge: Cranberry Eggnog White Chocolate Chip Muffins

Today is reveal day for the Improv Cooking Challenge.  The premise of this challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.

Last month, the challenge was pumpkin and cream cheese and I made those lovely Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls.  They were a big hit!  I’m probably even more excited about my recipe for this month’s challenge ingredients: eggnog and cranberries.  I don’t think I have ever cooked or baked with eggnog before.  It’s not something I like to drink, but I don’t mind the flavor, so I was eager to try it in a baked good.  And muffins are my go-to baked good of choice, which you already know if you are a regular reader.

I found this recipe for Eggnog Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins at Your Homebased Mom.  I was not familiar with Leigh Anne’s blog, but she has some really tasty-looking stuff on there!  I thought these muffins sounded so delicious.  I made just a few minor adjustments.  Here’s my amended recipe.

Cranberry Eggnog White Chocolate Chip Muffins


Ingredients:
2¼ cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
¾ cup eggnog
5 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup white chocolate chips
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, slightly softened


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°.  Coat 18 muffin cups with baking spray.  


In a medium bowl, add together the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine.  In a large bowl, add together the sugar, eggs, eggnog, oil, and almond extract.  Stir until well combined.   Add in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.  Do not over mix.


Divide the batter among the 18 muffin cups.


For the streusel topping, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or a fork until a coarse, crumbly mixture forms.  Sprinkle the mixture  on top of the muffin batter.


Bake for about 18-22 minutes, or a until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.


Makes 1½ dozen muffins.

I know this recipe pretty well by now, as I made it three times in about a month.  I made these muffins once, to try them out for the challenge, and they were so good that I made another batch to give to my sister when we went to her house for Thanksgiving, then I made them again for our fellowship/coffee time at church earlier this month.  They are not the easiest muffins to throw together; chopping the cranberries is quite tedious, but the end result is so much better than using dried cranberries.  I love the bright tartness they add to the muffins. They are the perfect balance to the sweetness of the other ingredients.  And I just love their vibrant red color.

As Leigh Anne says in her post, these muffins taste like Christmas!

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