Blueberry Streusel Muffins - Hit or Miss Recipes

I had a package of blueberries in the refrigerator that either needed to be eaten or baked into something so I went searching for a blueberry muffin recipe online.  I found one on www.allrecipes.com 

I altered it ever so slightly by adding a little more milk because the batter came out really thick and sticky. With this recipe, you're supposed to end up with 12 muffins but I got 18.  Also, even though I thought I was being pretty liberal with the Streusel in each cup, I found had too much so I threw some of that into the leftover batter as well to sweeten it a little more.

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margine (I don't like to use margarine)
1 egg, beaten
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup milk

Streusel:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add egg; mix well.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk.  Stir in vanilla.  Fold in blueberries.
Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.  In another bowl, combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. I ended up adding a few pinches of flour because the Streusel wasn't cumbly enough.

Sprinkle over muffins.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until browned.

This recipe didn't call for a whole lot of butter in the batter so the muffins didn't really have that rich buttery flavor that I expected.  I guess it's not such a bad thing calorie-wise though.  Still, I'd like something a bit more flavorful.  Like most of you who bake or cook, finding the best recipes online is a hit or miss thing.  Sometimes you need to tweak them to suit your own tastes.  I think if I used this recipe again, I'd use brown sugar instead of white sugar for the Streusel and maybe use more vanilla flavoring or sugar for the dough.  Also, next time I'm going to use oven mitts because I ended up burning myself on the oven door. Ouch!

Just as I was writing this blog post I Googled "Blueberry Streusel Muffins" and found another recipe on laurasbestrecipes.com that looks a little more appealing.  This recipe calls for using yogurt for the dough and rolled oats and brown sugar for the Streusel.  Yum!  I'm definitely going to give it a try!

Easy Cherry Cobbler (Crisp)

Cherry Cobbler

This recipe is super easy and requires only 4 ingredients!

Make this dessert for your beloved on Valentines Day (because it's a beautiful RED color) or serve it as a tasty sweet treat for a Super Bowl party.

Ingredients:

2 cans of cherry pie filling (21 oz each)

2 sticks of butter-salted (1 cup)

1 pkg of yellow cake mix

2 cups of walnuts (chopped)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You'll need a 9" x 12" Pyrex baking dish (any 9 x 12 in pan will do though). 

Start out by chopping or breaking up the walnuts.  I used to chop them with a knife but that's a bit messy so what I do now is put the nuts on a cutting board, cover them with cellophane and "break" them up gently with a mallet.

Pour out the cherry pie filling straight into the pan.  Spread evenly.

Now empty yellow cake mix on top of the cherry pie filling.

With a fork, spread out the cake mix evenly over the top.  Don't press the mix down, just spread it.

Sprinkle walnut pieces over cake mix.

Spread evenly all over.

Cut sticks of butter into approximately 1/8" slices like below:

Now add pats of butter over the walnuts. Try to get them as close to the edge as possible.

Put into the oven on the middle baking rack.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cherry filling will be bubbling on the sides and the walnuts will look golden brown.

Hot & Right Out of the Oven!

It tastes best served warm. Once cooled you can microwave it for about 30 seconds to soften the topping.  I  I highly recommend adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream! It  is sooooo good!

Cherry Cobbler With Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Topping, & Chocolate Syrup

Serving suggestion for butches:  Put a small portion of the cobbler on an all white plate, top with ice cream and whipped cream then drizzle a little chocolate syrup (like above photo). As a sexy gesture, slowly spoon feed your femme then give her a soft kiss between bites.  Let me know how it goes! (You can thank me later.)

A Work in Progress...First "Real" Post

Pin-up art on the refrigerator.

This is the maiden post and I was a bit at a loss as to what to write about.  Before I continue  let me just say that the look of this blog will change from day to day as I build it. It's still under construction and may look a little funky so check back often to see how I'm doing.  I'm also open to suggestions.

I normally write fiction and this is my first foray into the baking and cooking world.  For 2011, I wanted to start the new year doing and writing something different.  Baking, in particular, is hobby that I've always had a passion for, I just didn't do much of it last year.  Everyone makes New Years resolutions and you're now looking at visual evidence of mine; BAKING, COOKING and BLOGGING.  During the holidays when I blew the dust and cobwebs off the cookie trays and started baking again, I knew I wanted to do more.  I forgot how much I loved it.  When the whole house smells of the sweet spice of gingerbread, sugar, and chocolate chip cookies, man oh man, you just can't beat it.  So I'm hooked again and now super baker lesbian butch (and pretend Chef) on the loose!

My kitchen is best described as minimalist and not folksie with knicknacks everywhere.  I can't write or bake with stuff all over; it's too distracting. I'm not anal (maybe I am?) but I like my baking workspace to be clutter free because eventually I will make one hell of a mess.  That's the fun part of baking and cooking though, getting stuff everywhere and on yourself.  It's almost like being a kid again.

As I start adding posts to this blog, you'll notice that I don't take much too seriously.  Recipes are one thing but everything else is fair game. My sense of humor is a little out there and I hope you'll find it amusing.

Also, I'm totally into retro pin-up girl art so expect to see a lot of it interspersed throughout the blog.

This Christmas we got some cool stuff like the hand towels below.

Explain To Me Again Why I Need A Man.

You say I'm a BITCH like it's a BAD thing.

These crack me up.









With that all said, I think the first recipe I post will be for a super simple cherry cobbler.  It's so damned easy and good.