Blueberry Muffins

Yesterday was a very lazy day here in our household!  My Husband was a bit under the weather and came home from his Doctor appointment with an insane amount of medication.  Poor Guy.  So I decided to make some homemade blueberry muffins to cheer him up.  An afternoon of warm blueberry muffins, Tosh.0, Army Wives (yes, he is a trooper), and naps.  Those days are nice every once in a while.. and Husband is feeling a bit better today.  I think it was the muffins.  ;)

 Perfect Blueberry Muffins
recipe by Smitten Kitchen

• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, no need to thaw out)

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners or spray muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat well, then sour cream (or yogurt).  Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a separate bowl.  Pour half of dry ingredients over batter.  Mix until combined.  Pour remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears.  Gently fold in your blueberries.  The dough will be fairly thick, closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups.

You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden.  Cool on a wire rack, if you can wait that long (we couldn't!).  They are yummy straight out of the oven with a little butter!

I promise you won't be disappointed!

Cherry Turnovers - The Easy Way!

I had some leftover cherry pie filling from when I made those cheesecakes, so what better thing to make than cherry turnovers?  Now you can get all fancy and make homemade pastry dough and all that jazz, but I decided to make them the easy way.  Simple AND delicious.  I like simple, especially when it's 9pm and all I want to do it stuff my face with cherry turnovers.  I don't like waiting.  ;)  This recipe makes 4 turnovers.

Cherry Turnovers

• 1 (8 oz) package refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 cup cherry pie filling (or a small can)
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Separate dough into the 8 triangles.  Now you're going to make 4 squares; take 2 triangles and press the seams together to form a square.  Put about an 1/8 cup of pie filling into the center of each square.  Fold to make triangles and pinch together edges to seal -- you don't want the filling to leak out!  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

For the glaze, mix together confectioners' sugar and milk, then drizzle over the turnovers.  You can even add a little vanilla (or cinnamon!) to make the glaze a bit more exciting!  Serve the turnovers while they're still warm!

And, of course, you can use whatever filling you want.  I've also made these using sauteed apples and blueberries!  Or you can do strawberries, peaches, even chocolate (naughty!)... whatever strikes your fancy.  :)

Warm Berry Crumble

I made this berry crumble snack (or if I put ice cream on top, would it be a dessert?) after dinner one night.  It's very tasty and fairly healthy, unless you pile on the ice cream like me, heh.  This recipe serves 6 people.

Warm Berry Crumble
recipe from Rachael Ray 

• 1 1/2 cup sliced almonds, slightly crushed
• 2/3 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 tbsp and 2 tsp sugar
• A big pinch of cinnamon
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 4 tbsp butter, softened
• A couple drops of vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 (12 oz) bag frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1 (12 oz) bag frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 F and grease 6 seven-ounce ramekins.  

For the topping-- combine almonds, oats, 2 tsp sugar, and spices in a bowl.  Add the softened butter and, with a fork, rub the butter into the mixture until coarse crumbs are formed.  Set aside, now onto the filling!

For the filling-- pour the berries into a strainer over a large bowl so the bowl catches the juices.  Add 1 tbsp sugar and cornstarch to the juices and mix until dissolved.  Gently fold the berries back into their juices, then divide the mixture among the greased ramekins.  Top each ramekin with the crumb topping mixture.  Place the ramekins on a baking sheet line with foil and bake 20-25 minutes, until bubbling hot and the top is golden.  When it's done, allow to cool for about 10 minutes.  And of course I think it's even better when you add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top!  Delicious!