Blueberry Coconut Scones

Posted on August 9, 2015 by HintofNutmegg

Where do I even begin? Should I start with how much I missed you? Or, where I’ve been the past two months? Or, should we just dive into these scones? Cause, I really can’t decide.

Maybe we’ll just go in order.

I’ve missed you a lot. Like, A LOT, A LOT. Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine you Loved (with a capital L) chocolate chip cookies. They were you’re absolute favorite thing to eat. And then, for two months you just couldn’t eat them. YOU JUST COULDN’T. How much would you miss them?

A lot, right? Like, A LOT, A LOT.

That’s how much I’ve missed you. You’re kind of a big deal to me. Just saying.

So, why did I leave you hanging for two months?

Summer school, that’s why. You know, it wasn’t totally bad, but it was kind of bad. I took two classes and a lab, and was working, and I could go on and tell you every little detail, but instead I’m just going to say: stress + lack of sleep + more coffee than you can imagine + work + studying = no time for baking. Absolutely NO TIME.

Pretty sad, huh?

Now, let’s talk about the goods.

You know, I never even liked blueberries—I would eat around them in a fruit salad or pick them out of parfaits. But then, they opened up a juice bar near my work with acai bowls, which I absolutely love. Please tell me you eat those, cause they are pretty darn delicious. It’s like eating a bowl filled with a really thick, almost ice cream like, fruit smoothie topped with fruits, oats or granola, honey drizzle, and shredded coconuts. Sounds amazing, huh?

But, it has blueberries. Lots of blueberries. Mixed in the bowl. On top of the bowl. And, there’s no way to pick all of them out. Believe me, I tried the first few times. It was just too much.

So, I ate them. All of them. And you know what, it wasn’t half bad. It turns out I actually like blueberries, especially when eaten with a spoonful of shredded coconut. That combo is pure heaven.

You know what else is heaven? These Blueberry Coconut Scones.

The scones are jam-packed with blueberries. Completely jam-packed. As in, every single bite has a blueberry, or four. Aren’t you proud of how far I’ve come?

Lets not forget the coconut shreds. Each scone is filled with them.

Oh and the scones, so soft and moist on the inside and biscuit-like on the outside. This recipe is cream-based, which means no butter, no eggs, and no buttermilk. Best scone recipe ever? I think yes.

Blueberry Coconut Scones
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 to 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, plus more for brushing the tops
1 ½ cups blueberries
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
sugar for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
In a liquid measuring cup, mix together 1 1/3 cups of heavy whipping cream and vanilla. Pour liquid into the dry mixture, tossing and stirring as you pour. Add the blueberries and coconut shreds. Toss together. Add up to 2 more tablespoons of heavy cream, if needed, to create a moist, but not sticky, cohesive dough.
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into a round disk with a ¾-inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter (or a cup) cut circles from the dough disk. Brush each disk with a little heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown and cooked all the way through.
Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Raspberry Streusel Muffins

Posted on April 13, 2015 by HintofNutmegg

I was going to make banana bread.

Or, banana muffins.

Or, mini banana loaves.

Something so jam-packed with bananas that all your taste buds would scream in excitement. Well, at the very least, the taste buds of my coworkers. You see, I’ve been getting a ton of ~~demands~~ requests for banana bread, which is actually totally fine with me, because I love the stuff. And, by love, I mean I would live in a house made of banana bread and eat a slice, or seven, with each meal. That’s not even a joke either. I’m one hundred percent serious. Oh, and don’t worry, there’s a spare room waiting for you in my banana house. You’re welcome.

I had one little problem though: no bananas. So, I went to the market, walked right by the stand with bunches of perfectly ripe bananas, and placed two pints of raspberries in my cart.

Wait, what? Yeah, you read that right.

I left the market without a single banana.

Go figure.

I’m not even that huge a fan of raspberries either. We have a rather neutral relationship with each other. Translation: I avoid them for the most part and they avoid me. It really works for us. And, yet, out of the nowhere I felt the need to put them into muffins.Why? Who knows. Who. Even. Knows.

It could be because I’m really into muffins right now. Like, really, really really into them. I want one with every cup of coffee I drink. And, we all know how much coffee I consume. To clarify though, I restrain myself to only eating one a day. To further clarify, the muffins I’ve been eating are blueberry muffins made with Greek yogurt and honey. Yes, they are from Starbucks. And, no, I’m not getting compensated to promote them.

But, I made raspberry muffins.

Not banana.

Not blueberry.

Raspberry.

I can’t even with myself.

I’m all about a bigger muffin too. Why?

‘cause they’re heartier.

‘cause I can pack more raspberries in them.

‘cause I can top them with more streusel. MORE STREUSEL. Oh so sugary and crumbly streusel. If I get to live in a banana bread house, then I want to vacation in a streusel house. Am I right?

So, Jumbo Raspberry Streusel Muffins. That means a large and in charge moist and fluffy muffin packed with raspberry flavor and topped with a sweet streusel crumble.

Umm, yes please.

Take my advice, the next time you want banana or blueberry muffins, buy raspberries.

Let it happen.

Just let it happen.

Raspberry Streusel Muffins
Yields: 6 jumbo muffins

Ingredients:
Streusel Topping
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Raspberry Muffins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cool slightly
2 cups fresh raspberries*

Directions:
Streusel Topping
In a small bowl whisk together sugars, cinnamon, and melted butter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour. The streusel topping will be very thick, like a paste, and crumbly. Set aside.

Raspberry Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a jumbo muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl combine egg, egg yolk, sugars, vanilla, and Greek yogurt. Add the butter, whisking until just incorporated. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed, the batter will be very thick and lumpy. Using a spatula, very gently, to avoid leakage of color, fold in the raspberries–don’t worry if some of the raspberries leak or break apart, it’ll still taste good!
Divide batter evenly between the 6 cupcake liners, filling each to the very top. Sprinkle tops with streusel crumble. Bake muffins at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 25 more minutes or until tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the streusel topping looks like it’s browning too quickly, loosely cover the pan with foil. Allow muffins to cool slightly before digging in.

Notes:
*I’ve made this recipe twice now and the second time, I sprinkled my raspberries with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar before mixing them into the batter. There was more leakage of color, but I liked the added touch of sweetness it added to the muffin.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Posted on June 17, 2014 by HintofNutmegg

There is less than a week before summer. Well, more specifically, in five days it’s the first ‘official’ day of summer.

Emphasis on the official part. I’ve always been one to mark the first day of summer by the last day of school or the first day in June, which means I’m about seventeen days into my summer. But, hey, that could just be me. I have a tendency to go off book when it comes to holidays or events labeled on calendars.

Little known fact about myself: I like to celebrate (if I remember that is) the random, obscure, and definitely-not-listed-on-any-calendar national holidays. National Yogurtland Day? Best believe I’m waiting in line to eat my weight in free frozen yogurt. National Donut Day? Why, hello, Krispy Kreme drive thru, where have you been all my life? National Siblings Day? Instagram will be blown up with pictures of my brother and I, mainly because we were adorable kids, but also because the holiday demands it. Who am I to ignore these wonderful national holidays? But, better question, who are you to ignore them?

Maybe it’s just me, but I find these kinds of days to be fun. I believe it’s the little things in life that make you happy, and these national holidays are the epitome of the little things. But, before I get more philosophical on you, let’s get back to the first official day of summer. A day that is listed on calendars, but not given very much attention on the celebration scale.

I vote we change that. I think it should be celebrated. And, what better way to do that than a Raspberry Buttermilk Cake? Yeahh, I’ll answer that question, there is no better way to celebrate it. So, if I were you, I’d join me. Like now, before the entire cake is eaten.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. Funny story. I don’t ever have buttermilk or raspberries, for that matter, in my fridge. It’s just not something I buy with frequency. Actually, if we are being completely open, this was my first time buying raspberries. I know, how weird, right? Raspberries just aren’t my thing. In fact, the only berry that is my thing is a strawberry. Again, I know, how weird.

But, Costco had a sale. And raspberries scream summer. And, okay, fine, there wasn’t a good-looking box of strawberries left. So, the raspberries found themselves in my fridge, sitting next to a half-opened carton of buttermilk, which I had used to make a healthy potato salad (substitute buttermilk for mayo…surprisingly quite tasty) a few days before.

And then I saw a recipe for a Strawberry Summer Cake on Smitten Kitchen. I think it was the world’s way of telling me to grab the raspberries and buttermilk and make a cake in honor of the first day of summer. And, when the world speaks to you like that, you don’t even think about it, you just do.

So I did. And, can I just say, I’m glad I did. The buttermilk cake is super moist, flavorful, and pairs rather nicely with the tartness of the raspberries. As the cake bakes, the raspberries turn into puddles of jam that soak into the cake, making your house smell amazing and your stomach grumble in anticipation. This dessert isn’t overly sweet, but I found a hefty spoonful of homemade whipped cream definitely makes up for that. It’s a light, summery, easy-to-put-together kind of dessert—so, basically, the ideal way to celebrate the first official day of summer if you ask me!

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yields: 1 9-inch cake

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter + extra for springform pan, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
16 oz fresh raspberries, washed and dried

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan (or cake pan or deep dish pie pan).
In a small bowl whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Mix in egg, buttermilk, and vanilla until well combined.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just smooth.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Arrange raspberries, bottoms up, on top of the batter in a single layer. Sprinkle, as evenly as possible, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the berries.
Bake cake for ten minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking for 50-55 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean (gooey raspberries on the toothpick are a given). Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into slices and serve with whipped cream.

Blueberry Coconut Scones Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

Raspberry Streusel Muffins Yields: 6 jumbo muffins

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen Yields: 1 9-inch cake

Blueberry Coconut Scones
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

Raspberry Streusel Muffins
Yields: 6 jumbo muffins

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yields: 1 9-inch cake