Vanilla Sugar Blog Tribute to Dawn with Blueberry Muffins and Lemon Crumb Cake!

This is not the way I'd like to be out of "retirement" in the blog world.  I haven't blogged since November of 2020.  It's a bummer to me and I can't tell you how much I miss the old days of blogging about the fantastic things I would bake and share.  Besides not baking like I used to, I'm reminded that typing up posts is my least favorite thing about blogging (as is probably true for most bloggers).  Over the years since starting my blog in 2008, I have made some wonderful friends.  I've been blessed to have met many in person and also have some great friendships with some I've never met--one of the things I love about social media!  There are so many wonderful people out there!

Dawn at Vanilla Sugar Blog was someone whose blog I started reading about 15 years ago.  We both started our blogs early in 2008.  I've always enjoyed her posts.  Besides her great treats and savory food and lots of recipes, I loved that she would do a "Friday Links" post every week with things she'd seen on the world wide web that she wanted to share.  She'd post thing like that on Facebook, too.

On June 8 of this year, I saw Dawn's husband Bob post that she passed away June 1.  What?!?  I never met Dawn and I'm not sure I would have ever made it to her hometown, but I did talk to her quite a bit on Facebook over the years.  She was always commenting on my posts, even just to take the time to say I looked great, my skin look great, etc.  We had some great DM conversations and enjoyed talking about our favorite tv shows from time to time.  Dawn lived on Cape Cod.  She loved seeing all the new candies and flavors of treats that would come out.  But being on Cape Cod she was always a bit dismayed that the new things we never ended up on Cape Cod.  They were never available there.  So I saved up the latest finds, new M&M flavors or others candies and cookies and I sent her packages a couple times.  She was thrilled!

She posted on Facebook often, sometimes quotes she liked, or photos, usually of the Cape, water or animals, birds, sharks, etc. or facts about one of her greatest loves--blueberries!  In January, I noticed I hadn't seen her post for a bit, so I messaged her to see if everything was okay.  She responded that she was just taking a social media break.  I replied, "Okay, that's allowed.  Glad that's all it is. Take care."  She then posted a couple times not long after that, but not as frequently as she had been before.  I didn't think anything of it.

Then her husband posted on her page about her sudden diagnosis with cancer in December of last year and that it took a turn for the worst and she spent the last month or so of her life in the hospital before passing.  My heart is so sad.  I didn't know him at all.  He seems pretty devastated, as expected.  He's posted a few times since then and my heart goes out to him and her family and loved ones.  I'm sad that I won't get to talk to her anymore.  

I haven't been able to get Dawn out of my mind.  Not really sure why.  What could I do?  There isn't anything, really.  I've known a couple food blogger friends who have passed away over the years and it's surreal and heartbreaking.  I guess it has made me realize how much we all need to make sure we are keeping in touch with our loved ones, telling our families and friends how much we love them and even talking to friends and acquaintances more often just to let people know we care and are thinking of them.  I'm glad I took those few minutes in January to message Dawn.  I told her someone said the word blueberry and it made me think of her.  I think of it this way--even when just a simple word makes you think of someone and you haven't talked to them for a while--take the time to do so!

I decided to make a couple things from her blog and share them here.  Since Dawn loved blueberries and knew all the facts about reasons why they are so good for you, I decided to make her blueberry muffins,  I followed her recipe and you can find her recipe on the link.  Okay, I lied, the only difference I made to her recipe was I used buttermilk instead of whole milk.  Dawn loved crumb topping!  So these muffins have a crumb topping.  She even suggested doubling the topping if you like it as much as she did.

Speaking of crumb topping--the other thing I decided to make from her blog was a crumb cake.  She LOVED crumb cake and would make every flavor imaginable.  It was never about the cake.  It was all about the crumb topping!

I decided to make Dawn's Lemon Crumb Cake.  As much as I'm a chocolate lover, I'm really liking lemon things lately.  I was easily sold on how much lemon was in this cake.  Lemon zest and juice in the cake.  Zest in the crumb topping.  And more lemon zest and juice in the icing drizzle.  I could get behind this cake.  I did only make a half recipe of it and used an 8x8 pan instead of a bundt pan (I think she made a bundt cake since my birthday is on National Bundt Day, November 15.  Yes, I'm sure that's it.) 😉 She also mentioned using a 9x13 pan, so since I was halving the recipe, I used an 8x8 pan.

Besides quite a bit of zesting and juicing, the cake is pretty simple to make.  I followed Dawn's recipe exactly!  That's saying a lot for me since I'm known for never sticking to a recipe.  Making just half the recipe, I used five large lemons to get the right amount of zest, so plan accordingly if you're going to make the full recipe or half.  It's worth it to make this cake sometime!  I did taste the cake and it's fabulous.  With me trying not to eat much gluten and sugar, my new goal is to make my own version of this gluten free and with different sugars.  I'll do it for Dawn.  She'd like it if I did that.  Facebook life won't be the same without Dawn commenting on all my posts and I'll miss her posts and our chats now and then.  

I will forever think of Dawn when I'm doing anything with blueberries or even see them somewhere.  I will and always have for years thought of her when I see any crumb cake and I'm sure I'll make a number of her other crumb cakes--she's made at least a dozen different flavors over the years!  Dawn is to crumb cakes 🎂 and blueberries 🔵 as Katrina is to chocolate chip cookies 🍪and chocolate 🍫.  Sending love and prayers to her husband and her family and friends.  I know everyone thought the world of her.  I did.

Hug your loved ones.  Check on family and friends.  Let them know you're thinking about them.

I'm doing well, by the way.  It's been two and a half years since I've blogged.  Life is crazy and busy and somewhat day-to-day life as usual, but I am super blessed with pretty good health since I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013.  Family is growing way too fast.  Kevin spoils me rotten.  Maybe I'll try to blog more often.  I hope to.  I want to.  We shall see.  

 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe and Zucchini Lemon Cranberry Walnut Muffins Recipe

This original post from 2009 disappeared from my blog.  Not sure how or why.  But here’s a new current repost of it---It's that time of year.  You practically have them growing out your ears.  I'm talking about zucchini.  Some of them are huge.  They aren't quite as good for savory cooking when they get too big.  But they make a dang good killer chocolate cake!  Bah--look at this!

Yep, believe it or not, there is zucchini in there!  I know.  I hear ya.  You just would NEVER know it's there.  So this means this cake is healthy, right.  Well, we can pretend anyway.  Sigh. 

Yeah, it's not healthy.  But for goodness sake, it's delicious!  (Dad--it's chocolate cake!)

After buying two giant, cheap zucchini at the farmer's market last week, I went on a Google search for just what to do with them.  I already shared with you my zucchini ("apple") crisp.  I knew there were all kinds of quick breads and muffins out there with zucchini and I even knew there were zucchini snack cakes.  But THIS cake, it's not just your run-of-the-mill "snack".  This is big time dessert here.  Kevin was even a little bummed that I didn't have any ice cream to serve with it.  (I know, me, slacking on the ice cream making! ;)

I found this beauty on Em's blog,  The Repressed Pastry Chef.  I actually didn't even know she was a fellow TWD baker.  (What?  I can't read them all.  I wish.  But after finding this cake on her blog and browsing around a bit, I've added her blog to my reader.)  Em found this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 inch baking pan.  I made some minor changes, so here's the recipe as I made it, but please when you're done with me, go look at Em's!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake, adapted by Katrina from The King Arthur Flour Company and Em at The Repressed Pastry Chef (halved)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup canola oil

6  1/8 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup buttermilk (original recipe calls for sour cream or yogurt)

1  1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1  1/8 ounces Dutch-process cocoa

(optional 1 teaspoon espresso powder)  I did not use it

1 cup zucchini, finely grated (middle/seeds removed)

1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips  (I used 58% cacao Ghiradelli chips)  (I didn't halve the chips)

Ganache Icing--

3 ounces heavy cream

4 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (I used the Ghiradelli chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil.  Spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Beat in the egg.  Scrape sides of bowl. 

Stir in the buttermilk alternately with the flour.  Then add the cocoa.  Mix until well combined.  Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

Pour and spread the batter evenly in the baking pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took 32 minutes), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake on a wire rack.  Remove the cake from the pan using the foil edges.

Prepare the ganache by heating the cream to a simmer.  (I actually used the microwave and it worked great, just do it in 20-30 second intervals and stir in between.)  Pour the cream into a bowl with the chocolate chips.  Let sit a minute or two.  Stir the melted chocolate and cream until combined and smooth.  Spread over cake evenly with an offset spatula.  See how long you can wait before cutting slices of the cake and eating it.  (The ganache hardens as it sits, but doggonit it's good right away! ;)

You know you want a bite.  I'm not kidding, there's zucchini in there.  (You would never in a million years know it, Bob!)

__________________________________________________________________________________

Now after all that, take a deep breath, it's going to be okay.  Breathe.  Okay.  I kind of feel like these poor little muffins will take a huge back seat to that cake, BUT just keep in mind, sometimes you feel like a muffin and sometimes a little cake and the muffins really could be considered somewhat healthy and a great grab and go breakfast or perfect snack and they are also delicious if I do say so myself.   You'll have to try them and give them the credit they too deserve just as much as that cake.  Again, in my Googling around, I ran across this Low Fat Lemon Zucchini Bread on about.com.  These muffins were inspired by that bread, but I changed many things and came up with these darn-tootin' good muffins.

Zucchini-Lemon Cranberry Walnut Muffins, by Katrina

1  3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or could use all purpose)

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)

1/4 cup coconut oil (or any vegetable oil)

1 large egg

1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup low fat buttermilk

1 cup zucchini, seeded and finely grated

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

turbinado sugar for sprinkle over top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners (this made 14 muffins). 

In medium sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Whisk together and set aside.  In another bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest, combining it together with your fingers until the sugar is moist, yellow and fragrant.  (I got this idea from Dorie Greenspan and love it.)  Combine the zesty sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until well mixed with a wire whisk.  Stir in zucchini.  Add the dry ingredients with the wet and fold together just until moist.  Fold in nuts and cranberries.  Fill each muffin cup with a good sized scoop of batter.  Sprinkle each with turbinado sugar.  Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Set pan on wire rack and cool for five minutes.  Remove the muffins from the tin and cool to room temperature on wire rack.

There is some nutty, berry-sweet goodness hiding in there and a wonderful lemon flavor!

You've seriously got to try these.  Coming soon--more zucchini!  I bought two giant ones remember.  These two recipes didn't even use one whole one.  Did you know you can grate the zucchini and freeze it in plastic bags?  It will last a couple months in the freezer.  Run to your gardens, neighbor's gardens, farmer's markets, grocery stores now and stock up!  You'll for sure want to make this cake and these muffins over and over again! ;) 

White Popcorn Lime Kettle Corn

Looks like regular ol’ popcorn, I know.  But it’s different and better and……yummy!  Sometimes I want/need a little treat.  I’m over the wish for decadent desserts, cakes, cookies, brownies, ice cream, etc., well, mostly over it.  Every now and then I want something like that.  But I just get over it.  Healthy treats, like the ones I occasionally make with dates and such do the trick.  Every now and then, I want something crunchy and salty. 

One of my favorite things is making popcorn.  NEVER, and I’m serious, never eat microwave popcorn—all that butter “flavoring” stuff in it is NOT good for you.  Bad, bad.  But before I knew that a few years ago, I found Orville Redenbacher’s Lime and Salt microwave popcorn and I loved it.  Nowadays, I make my own with my Orville Redenbacher Presto Stirring Popper (no affiliate link, just love it).  Photo courtesy of Amazon.com. 

I have come to love white popcorn.  It’s just better.  Try it if you haven’t.  You can find it in most stores now.  Even better, but harder to find is organic white popcorn.  The kernels are smaller and it just has a more tender crunch.  You can use any popping corn you like.  The popper is great, you add a little oil to it and I ALWAYS use organic coconut oil.  I’ll never go back to anything else.  I love the slight coconut flavor and that it is a healthier option.  Plug in the popper after adding some oil, let it heat for just a minute.  Then add the popping corn and put the big, ventilated, plastic lid over it.  You can watch the corn start browning a bit, hear the sizzle and then you see the corn start popping.  Listen for the pops to almost stop, then unplug it and turn the whole thing upside down and the lid becomes the bowl (until you move it to a bowl that isn’t ventilated with holes to add all the yumminess to it).

I most often make the popcorn with just the coconut oil and some salt.  It doesn’t need butter!  Sometimes I add lime zest.  That lime and salt really is a great combination on popcorn.  Try it!  Just zest a little lime right onto the freshly popped and salted corn and stir it together.  Mmmm!

Today though, I felt like a little sweet and salty, so while the corn was popping (it’s fast), I mixed together a little salt, organic cane sugar and lime zest so that as soon as the popcorn was done, I could sprinkle it on the fresh, hot corn and stir it all together.  You can drizzle it with a little more coconut oil as soon as it is done popping, but it isn’t necessary. 

White Popcorn Lime Kettle Corn, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/4 cup organic coconut oil, 1 tablespoon or more to drizzle over popcorn if desired

1/2 cup white popping corn kernels

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons organic cane sugar

zest of 1 lime

Put the 1/4 cup of coconut oil in the popper (*I use the Orville Redenbacher Presto Stirring Popper).  Plug it in and let the wire arm start moving around and the oil heat up for a minute.  Add the popping corn and put the lid on the popper.  Combine the salt, sugar and lime zest in a small bowl and stir it together.  Within minutes the popcorn will pop the corn.  Unplug it and carefully (with hot pads) turn it upside down so all the popped corn is in the lid.  Put the popcorn in a large bowl, drizzle with extra coconut oil if desired. Sprinkle the salt/sugar/lime mixture evenly over the popcorn a little at a time and stir it to combine.  Serve.  When you get to the bottom of the bowl, you’ll see lots of the lime mixture left, but you can still taste it throughout.  (I tried a little coconut oil drizzle on some and stirred the lime mixture around and it stuck to the popcorn more, but I was fine with the taste when it had less, so do it to taste.) *You can pop popping corn with any popper you’d like, including an air popper, this is just my preferred method.) 

There is a big bag of popcorn at Costco called Skinny Pop because it just has popcorn, oil and salt.  My friend, Paige, at For Love of the Table mentioned how hard it is to eat just a little bit once you open the bag.  I’ve seen it and resisted the temptation to buy it because I know I can just make my own popcorn at home.  I thought it was funny that Paige posted a photo of the empty bag of popcorn with Skinny crossed off the label and she wrote in Piggy.  She thinks it should be called Piggy Pop because it’s hard to stop eating it once you get started.  I’ll just say that this combination of lime and salt (and a little sweetness from the sugar) as well as just my version of plain popcorn with coconut oil and salt is pretty hard to stop eating when I make a big bowl of it.  It’s my version of Piggy Pop.

Lemon Cupcakes—Baking Chez Moi—Tuesdays With Dorie

These cupcakes were so fun to make and were a hit with everyone who ate one.  Wish I would have doubled the recipe.  It made exactly twelve cupcakes and the frosting was the perfect amount.  Dorie’s recipe was for Limoncello Cupcakes and since that is an alcohol, I made them just using fresh lemon juice in place of the limoncello.  An option was to put lemon (or orange) marmalade in the middle of the cupcakes, but I decided not to do that.  The cupcakes out of the oven are brushed with a lemon syrup.  To make sure the lemon flavor was kicked up enough, I poked holes over the tops of each cupcakes with a toothpick while they were still hot so the syrup seeped into the cupcakes more. 

The frosting was simple and delicious.  Again, I replaced the limoncello with lemon juice and also used a little milk to get the consistency I wanted. 

The cupcake batter has a bit of cardamom added, which was a great little addition.  Dorie also suggested in place of that some black pepper.  Both just make you ask, “Hmm, what is in there?”  I received quite the compliments on these cupcakes and even though I didn’t taste them and they didn’t have chocolate (ha), I will use this recipe when I need lemon cupcakes again.

Want the recipe?  Get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  I’m loving being a part of Tuesdays With Dorie again.  Good times.  Great recipes and yummy treats to share.  Check out the Tuesdays With Dorie link to see everyone else’s cupcakes this week.

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake (Gluten Free)—Secret Recipe Club

I really like this Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake that I made from my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month!  Even better, I love that I made it gluten free and with some other substitutions all on my own.  This may not seem like that big of a deal, but for me in my new adventures in to a gluten free life as well as refined sugar free, I was really happy with how this turned out (and scared it wouldn’t).  Win!

My assigned blog this month was Ilona's Kitchen.  Ilona’s blog is full of all kinds of yummy desserts (and some other things, too)!  It was, as usual with Secret Recipe Club, hard to pick what to make.  It seems that Ilona and her family really enjoy cakes of all kinds as there were many to choose from, but I wanted to pay tribute to that by making one of the cakes.  Lo and behold, since it is blueberry season, as soon as I saw her Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake, I decided that was the cake I needed to make.  Besides, I’ve been buying blueberries by the ton and lately always have some in my fridge.  I’ve decided, while I’m not sure I’ve ever met a fruit I don’t really like, berry season is my favorite—especially raspberries and blueberries!

My next task after deciding to make this cake, was to make it gluten free and use unrefined sugars, so that I could have some of it, too.  Though I don’t go without butter all the time, I also decided to swap the butter in this cake for coconut oil and at the last minute realized I didn’t have any more sour cream, so I used some plain whole fat yogurt in its place.  Lots of changes, but basically, Ilona’s bundt cake and mine could be twins, at least fraternal twins. ;  )

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake (Gluten Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2  1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I used Namaste GF Organic Perfect Flour Blend from Costco)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup unpacked (150 grams) organic light brown cane sugar

2/3 cup (227 grams) raw honey

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain yogurt (whole fat)

zest of one large lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice (save the rest of the juice for a glaze)

2 cups blueberries, washed and set on a towel  in single layer to dry

1/4-1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar

Glaze--

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Brush the insides of a bundt pan with coconut oil, making sure to get all the crevices.  Set aside.  Whisk together in a medium sized bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In an electric mixer, combine the coconut oil, brown sugar and honey.  Beat until combined.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.  Add the yogurt, lemon zest and juice and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix well just until combined.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Pour the batter into the bundt pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes.  Invert cake onto a wire rack (set the rack on top of the cake, then carefully turn it upside down until setting the rack on the counter, the cake should drop right out).  Cool completely.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Make the simple glaze.  Put the honey and lemon juice into a small microwave safe dish.  Microwave for 20 minutes, whisk until well combined.  Let cool.   Drizzle a little bit on servings of cake (I did this instead of drizzling the whole cake at once).

I really like the hit of lemon in this cake from the zest and juice in the cake and the simple honey lemon glaze.  You could glaze the whole cake before serving, and I splurged on 1/4 teaspoon of powdered sugar and dusted the cake, then just put glaze on individual pieces of the cake.  Kevin thinks it would be good with a sugar-laden glaze or whipped cream and I’m sure it probably would, but my way is yummy and better for you.  Even though the cake is gluten free and “different”, usually my family steers clear when I tell them that, but they have been eating the cake.  I love the almost crust-like edges of the cake. 

Check out Ilona’s blog, Ilona's Kitchen for more great recipes!  I actually made another recipe from her blog, it was a last minute salad I needed to take to a ladies church activity.  I loved it.  Again, I made a few changes, but you can find her Spinach and Edamame Salad here.  Ilona’s salad didn’t have blueberries and had pine nuts instead of pecans. 

Spinach Edamame Blueberry Pecan Salad, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 (10 ounce) bag of frozen edamame

1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

1/3 cup dried cranberries (I used apple juice sweetened)

1 cup blueberries, washed and dried

1/2 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

1 (5 ounce) bag of baby spinach

juice of 2 lemons (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Cook edamame according to package directions.  Rinse under cold water until cool.  In a large bowl, combine the edamame, chickpeas, dried cranberries, pecans, blueberries and spinach.  In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Whisk until well combined.  Dress the salad just before serving with the lemon dressing a little at a time, tossing between each tablespoonful.  Don’t overdress it.  You could also dress individual servings as well.  (You won’t use all of the dressing, you could probably even halve the dressing recipe but it will be great on other salads.  Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator in a jar.)

Lots of delicious recipes to choose from  on Ilona’s blog!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Coconut Mango Ice Cream (Paleo, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free)

Does that not look like the most delicious bowl of ice cream?  Yeah, I know, there’s no chocolate.  I live in a world of chocolate and prefer it most often.  But this ice cream is delicious and basically health food.  You’ve got to make this!

I started with a couple mangoes.  Then I added a little raw honey and some lime zest and lime juice.  Mango and lime are a match made in heaven.  Instead of dairy cream, I used a full fat coconut milk.  That’s it.  So easy, fresh, healthy, delicious.  This ice cream is Paleo, dairy free, and void of refined sugars, but you’d never know it isn’t there and you won’t miss it.  I happened to have some toasted unsweetened coconut, so I sprinkled that on the ice cream and drizzled it with a little honey.  Love the texture and flavor it added!

Course, it’s good “plain”, too.  The first photo is right out of the ice cream maker.  The second photo is after it hardened in the freezer.  Both are good!  the mango flavor comes through, the lime is there and you can taste the coconut, even without the toasted coconut on top. 

Coconut Mango Ice Cream, Dairy Free, Paleo, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 mangoes, peeled and cubed

1-14 ounce can of full fat coconut milk

2 tablespoons raw honey ( a little more to taste)

zest of half a lime

juice of 2 limes

*optional topping—toasted coconut and honey

Put all the ingredients in a blender (or a food processor would work, too).  Blend until smooth.  Put the mixture in the bowl of a frozen, prepared ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Serve as soft-serve ice cream with toasted coconut and a drizzle of honey if desired.  Put ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer.

Mmmm, you’ve got to try this!

Cranberry Almond Date Balls, Grain Free (Paleo), Refined Sugar Free

Love how simple all the different grain free, refined sugar free treats I’ve been making are, as well as they are often no-bake.   I love that you can often just put together any nuts with dates you want, add any other flavors and end up with so many different tasty treats.

I recently made a couple different kinds for my sister-in-laws’ baby shower.  She requested nothing with chocolate and grain free, as well as no sugar.  I made a couple different versions of these.  Of course, you can probably tell in the photo that these particular ones do have chocolate.  It just seems strange to me to not have chocolate in there, so after taking a couple versions of these with no chocolate to the shower, I made some for myself a couple days later with chocolate. ;  )  There isn’t very much chocolate, but just enough for me.

Cranberry Almond Date Balls, Grain Free (Paleo), Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup almonds (I don’t toast them, but since I store them in the freezer, I put them on a baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes just to take the chill off them)

1 cup dried cranberries (sweetened with apple juice)

1 cup pitted dates (I always cut them in half to check for pits and I always find at least one)

2 tablespoons raw honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (optional)

2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the almonds until they start becoming nicely chopped.  Add the dates and cranberries.  Blend until all ingredients are starting to be well combined.  Add the vanilla, salt and honey.  Pulse until it is all clumping together.  Add the chocolate and/or coconut and pulse a few times.  Form into walnut sized balls, squeezing it together and rolling it in your hands.  Set on waxed paper lined baking sheet/plate.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 18, depending on how many bites you snitch while rolling into balls. ;  )

Cranberry Lemon Pecan Date Balls, Grain Free (Paleo), Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup pecans

1 cup dried cranberries (sweetened with apple juice)

1 cup pitted dates

zest of one lemon

pinch of salt

1-2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

Follow the same directions for the above recipe, if it is not all sticking together in well in the food processor, add a little honey until you like the consistency.  I didn’t add honey to this version.  Pecans may have more moisture.    I also rolled about half of these in coconut, which you can do to any of the date balls.

Cranberry Lemon Pecan Date Balls

I love having a couple different treats like these stored away for me to snitch on now and then and I don’t feel one bit guilty!

Lime Honey Almond Cookies—Six Years of Blogging!

I started my little old blog six years ago today!  So hard to believe and while my blog hasn’t evolved into the great food blogging websites that some have in that time, I’m happy to still be here.  I have discovered that baking and cooking and blogging and sharing are truly some of my passions in life and combining them all here on my little spot on the internet have been one of the greatest things for me. 

Yes, life is certainly crazy with four boys and I certainly could not be who I am in that part of my life without my amazing husband and all the wonderful family and friends around me.  I have found that I have needed and love being a small part of the food blogging world.  Times have certainly changed.  Six years ago, food blogging was still a rather new thing.  There were those already known.  When I started my blog, I actually didn’t even know about food blogging.  I just wanted to start keeping a written account of things going on with my family so I could share it with the rest of my family and friends. 

Just a few short weeks after starting to blog things that were going on, my youngest son, Sam, turned one and I posted about the lame cake I made for his birthday.  (How cute is my baby!  This picture is a lot better than the ridiculously not-that-great turtle cake I made for him.)

All my boys are growing up too fast!  Here they are almost six years ago.

Scott is now almost 16, is at least six inches taller than me, and has his driver’s permit.  Parker is 12 and finishing up the sixth grade accelerated program and getting ready for junior high (Yes, I know, for some reason it’s not called junior high anymore and is called middle school.  I was just telling Parker yesterday I will always call it junior high.  It’s kind of like how hard of a time I’ve had calling them flip flops now, they will always be that other word to me.)  Taylor is ten and lighting up our lives with his awesome talents of origami and balloon twisting that he has taught himself.  And little Sammie, he’ll be seven soon.  I can’t believe my baby is almost seven!  We need a new family picture!  That is on the list of things to do in the next year!

A lot has happened in these six years.  When I started my blog, we lived in Kansas as Kevin taught accounting at the University of Kansas.  We lived there for a total of five years, but when he did not get tenure there in 2010, we moved back home to Utah where he got a job at Utah Valley University and got tenure a year later.  We are here in Utah to stay and are happy to be near family.

Another change in our lives—in April 2012 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  Can’t tell you how much I hate saying those words.  My grandmother died in 1947 at the age 24 from MS.  My mother was only about two years old.  We have always been told she had MS.  Not enough was known in 1947 to fight the things that come along with it.  It is believed she had an unknown infection that took her life.  THEN, in 1999, my sister, Mandi,  passed away at age 33 after being diagnosed at age 19 and having quite the big trials MS inflicted in her life.  We watched the disease take things from her as the short years went by.  It was definitely totally unexpected and a big shock to also be diagnosed. 

It has definitely changed my life and my family’s life.  But I plan to fight this little annoyance in my life with all I’ve got.  Right now, my biggest issue is that I always just feel tired and fatigued.  It wasn’t until all of this hit me that I really understood the difference between being tired and feeling fatigue.  Fatigue takes more out of you, you feel weak, like you just can’t do as much even if you want to.  I feel happy and blessed that I have never had to stay in bed and that I can’t take care of my family.  It has been hard for me to right how give up exercise as I was doing it before.  I will be making more adjustments, but know that getting back to some form of daily exercise for my body will be helpful.

Another thing I’ve changed is my diet.  I know it kind of stinks for a food blogger who loves baking goodies to have given up gluten and refined sugars (as well as most processed foods and some dairy).  That said, I am enjoying finding new things in the gluten free world and how enjoyable things still are using honey and dates and coconut palm sugar instead of refined sugars.  I consider it a fun challenge.  Does that mean all you’ll find on my blog now are those things?  No, I still love baking for my family and friends and do plenty of that.  I just no longer eat it.  Do these diet changes help with MS and other auto immune diseases?  Well, for myself, I don’t really know.  Everyone asks.  I made those changes last June.  I don’t know.  But I don’t really want to find out that I’d be a lot worse by trying to go back.  So here I am.

Six years later.  Happily plugging along.  This is the main reason why—Thank you, Kevin, for EVERYTHING!

Can we move on to cookies already?  I thought it would be so hard, almost impossible, to give up sweet things.  It hasn’t been that hard.  What do I really miss the most?  Sometimes I just want a good whole grain peanut butter and honey sandwich.  I have yet to find a gluten free bread as good.  I will keep searching and so far all the ones I’ve made are pretty good.  And you know what, I’m not gluten intolerant, so when really “necessary”, I do cheat.  A few times when Kevin and I have gone to dinner, I have taken a bite of one of our favorites—molten lava chocolate cake or some heavenly battered and fried artichokes we had once.  Delicious.  But I have found a bite or two and I’m okay, it’s not going to hurt me.  I’m sure I could even cheat more than that.  But I’m fine eating the things I do and don’t feel deprived.  Maybe that’s helped by not giving up chocolate.  I switched from my favorite 70% dark chocolate to eating 85%.  Now when I eat even 70%, it’s SO sweet to me.  Gotta have a little bite or two of my 85% just about everyday. 

Sometimes I don’t even have to have chocolate.  Like when I come up with cookies as good as these Lime Almond Cookies I am sharing today.  They are SO good.  And the are not only gluten free, but grain free (Paleo) as well.  They are sweetened with just a little raw honey—in other words—they are good for you! ;  )

Lime Honey Almond Cookies, (Grain Free, Paleo, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free) by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  1/4 cups (120 grams) almond flour

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup (84 grams) raw honey

zest of 2 limes (about 1 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon lime juice

1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.  Combine the almond flour, arrowroot, salt and baking soda in a food processor.  Pulse until combined.  Add the honey, zest and lime juice.  Pulse until well combined and the dough is all moist.  Add the chopped almonds and pulse a few times.  (You can also just stir them in if you want the nuts in bigger chunks.)    Form the dough into balls with a cookie scoop.  Press the dough firmly into the scoop with your fingers.  When the dough is released from the scoop, it should stay in its shape.  (You could also just form balls of dough with your hands.)  Bake for 10 minutes.  Let cookies sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 16.

When I first tasted these, I thought they weren’t sweet enough and wasn’t all that thrilled with them.  After tasting more than one and having a few the next day, I’ve decided they are delicious.  They have a perfect chewiness to them and the lime and honey are great with the almond nuttiness.  I like them so much I came up with another version that doesn’t have lime but includes chocolate.  Stay tuned for those—and more—as I continue sharing all the things that make my life what it is.

And thank you so much to all my readers over the years.  I have made some of the greatest friends of my life, and it seems so silly to say since many I haven’t even met face to face yet.  How awesome is that!  It has been such a joy to actually meet some as well.  Kindred spirits, all of us food bloggers—what could be better than food, family and friends.

Layers of Lemony Love Dessert and Crustless Cheesecake with Raspberry Pie Filling from Lucky Leaf

Lucky Leaf is at it again.  They sent me more of their pie fillings to try.  Lucky leaf, lucky me! Check it out on Twitter, too at #LuckyLeafLuckyMe.   I have enjoyed using their pie fillings.  Because of health reasons, I am no longer eating any processed food, also gluten free and no refined sugars.  My question is, CAN I DO THIS?  Yes, I can.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t make things my family and friends will enjoy and that’s just what I did with the yummy things Lucky Leaf sent me.

I feel a little bad, they sent me some fun jars to make individual desserts in jars.  But we were heading out of town the next morning that I used the fillings and it was easier to make regular sized treats for the company we had over.  I will for sure use the jars once we get home.  There is still some peach pie filling to use!

I often have a giveaway for my readers from Lucky Leaf and wasn’t able to do that this time since we are out of town, but I’m sure I’ll hear from them again! ;)

My family and our company (which we also family) that had these two desserts I made using the pie filling said they were great.   If you’re looking for super simple desserts, head over to the Lucky Leaf website and check out all their recipes.  I got the recipe for the Layers of Lemony Love Dessert on their site.  It was probably a favorite of the family we had over and since we were going out of town,  I sent them home with the leftovers.  They were happy.

Layers of Lemony Love Dessert, from Lucky Leaf

1  1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (1  1/2 sticks)

1   8 oz. package cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat kind), softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1  21 oz. can Lucky Leaf Premium Lemon Pie Filling

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  8 oz. container frozen whipped dessert topping (like Cool Whip), thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease bottom of 9x13 inch baking pan.  Mix flour and butter (I used a food processor until it was all combined, like coarse meal.)  Spread evenly in pan and press it down slightly.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.  Let crust cool.

Beat cream cheese in mixer until smooth, add powdered sugar, Lucky Leaf lemon pie filling, vanilla and half the whipped topping.  Pour and spread over the cooled crust.  Spread the remaining whipped topping over pie filling mixture.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

For those who didn’t want the lemon dessert, I made a cheesecake to go with the raspberry pie filling.  After deciding to make the cheesecake, I realized I didn’t have anything to make a crust, so I made a crustless cheesecake.  Some family members were happy to have a lighter, healthier option.  One of the things I love about Lucky Leaf Premium Pie Fillings is that they have no high fructose corn syrup.

I got the recipe for the crustless cheesecake from Rachael’s blog, Simply Fresh Cooking.  The only thing I did different from her recipe is that I didn’t use organic ingredients and I didn’t put the sour cream topping on the cheesecake.  There was vanilla in the sour cream topping, but I added it to the cheesecake instead. Check it out.  Everyone said it was a great cheesecake!  I served it with the Lucky Leaf Red Raspberry Premium Pie Filling and some fresh raspberries.

The raspberry pie filling is full of raspberries!  When I have been in a pinch to quickly find a last minute dessert, these pie fillings are great.  Thank you again to Lucky Leaf for the fun package!

Check out all the other goodness from Lucky Leaf on Twitter and Pinterest.  #LuckyLeafLuckyMe

Coconut Lime Cranberry Pecan Bars—Secret Recipe Club

These Coconut Lime Cranberry Pecan Bars that I made for the Secret Recipe Club were a perfect pick to make.  I made them for the monthly book group I’m in and also gave some to one of the boys’ bus drivers to thank her for the year of rides home from school.  They really are good!  The blog I got them from was my assignment for June, Anna’s blog, bcmom's kitchen.  Anna’s blog was a new one for me and I really enjoyed looking through her recipes.  Yum!

Anna got this recipe from her local newspaper’s food section that was posted in a cookie contest.  I made a few little changes to the recipe.  The filling has some cranberry juice in it and while I was at the store to get some, I saw some cranberry lime juice and thought that sounded really good.  So I decided to use that and lime zest instead of orange zest that was also in the recipe.  That cranberry lime juice was really good, it was from Ocean Spray.   Other than that and some slight changes to the icing recipe, I followed Anna’s recipe.

Just for the heck of it, I only iced about half the bars.  They are good both ways.  I put some lime zest in the icing, so there is a little extra kick in that.

Coconut Lime Cranberry Pecan Bars, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Anna at bcmom's kitchen

Crust:

1  1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup finely chopped dried cranberries

Filling:

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cranberry lime juice (or cranberry juice)

1 teaspoon lime zest (about half a large lime or all of a small lime)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup chopped dried cranberries

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon cranberry lime juice

1/2 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with non stick foil (or don’t, you don’t have to).  For the crust, put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.   Add the cold butter and pulse until well combined.  Also combine the pecans and cranberries.  Press the mixture onto the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 12 minutes.

While the crust is baking, make the filling by whisking together the eggs, sugar, cranberry-lime juice, lime zest and vanilla.  Stir in the pecans, cranberries and coconut.  Pour evenly over hot crust (spreading it carefully).  Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack.

Make icing by combining all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisking together until smooth.  Remove bars from pan by lifting the foil edges.  Set on a cutting board and slide the foil out from under the bars (that’s what is so great about non-stick foil and you don’t have to cut bars in the pan).  Cut bars into desired sizes.  Drizzle icing over as many bars as you’d like.  (You can drizzle the icing before cutting the bars if you’d like, but I like having icing dripping down the sides of each one.)  Let icing dry for 20-30 minutes to harden if you want to stack the bars for storage or serving.

Being a chocolate gal, these are still great as is, but I also can’t quite thinking that they’d be good with some mini chocolate chips in the filling or possible drizzled with melted white chocolate.  Ooh, yum.  Great blog, Anna.  Thanks!

 

 

Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!  While you math people celebrate in your own special ways, I choose to celebrate with pie! ;)

Today I decided to make a Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie because of two reasons—I had a couple Meyer lemons in the fridge begging to be used and two—I  also had some buttermilk to use as well.  I really like Meyer lemons.  I have gone through a dozen of them in the last month or so.  When I first bought some, I looked up all kinds of recipes and had a hard time deciding what to do with them.

At one time, I used them in a lemon poppy seed dressing with a spinach and strawberry salad.  De-lish!  I used one in some lemon cornmeal cookies I made recently—they were good, but I didn’t think they were that pretty, so I didn’t post them.   Basically, lately when I made something that needs lemon, I’ve been using Meyer lemons.  I love that they aren’t too terribly tart and have their own distinct flavor with a little hint of orange or tangerine.

So, in that search a month or so ago, I found this pie and have had it on my “to make” list since then.  The recipe for this pie is found on a new-to-me blog by Alanna, The Bojon Gourmet.  She is a baker and pastry chef and has gorgeous photos of the things she makes.  This Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie recipe is so well written and Alanna tried it different ways until she felt it was perfect.  Like she mentioned, she had never made a buttermilk pie before and neither had I.  I wanted something a little different than just making a lemon meringue pie or lemon bars or something like that so when I saw that this had buttermilk, I decided that was what I wanted to try. 

I followed her recipe to a tee.  My only issue was, even though I did exactly as she described in her recipe for the crust, mine still shrunk a bit.  Hate it when that happens.  I’m wondering if that could be solved with some high altitude tweaking, but who knows.  So after prebaking the crust and seeing it had shrunk a bit, I knew all of the filling wouldn’t fit in the crust.  I filled it as full as it could be without overflowing.  Then I made a quick cookie crust with Nilla Wafers and baked the rest in a 9x5 inch bread pan that I lined with non-stick foil.  It came out great!

The cookie crust was simple and could easily be doubled in an 8x8 inch pan.  Here’s the recipe for the bread pan.

Nilla Wafer Cookie Crust, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup Nilla Wafer cookie crumbs

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter until it is the consistency of wet sand.  Spread evenly in a 9x5 inch bread pan lined with non-stick foil, leaving some foil hanging over the edges to easily release the tart from the pan.  Prebake the cookie crust in a 325 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

As if you couldn’t tell, I made some whipped cream for the top of each slice of pie and the tart.  With the Meyer lemons, this isn’t as tart as regular lemons would be.  If you’re a lemon fan, and especially like Meyer lemons, go check out the blog with the recipe, The Bojon Gourmet.

Sweet Potato Spice Cake with Cinnamon Honey Glaze—Secret Recipe Club

I made this delicious cake after pouring through my assigned blog for March for the Secret Recipe Club.  The decision on what to make wasn’t easy—I could not decide.  Check out Kate’s blog, Food Babbles.  She is truly a gal I can relate to with a love of baking, sharing and writing.  I loved reading through her About Me page all about her love of baking, photography and writing and hearing about her family.  She’s married and has two cute little girls.  (Guess that’s where we differ with my husband and I having four boys.) ;)  I love her weekly post called The Weekend Whisk as she does a run down of what has happened during the week.

I also like on Kate’s blog that she and another blogger have a group called First on the First where on the first of every month they bake/make and post a newly challenge recipe/concept/idea.  Look at the cute cake she just made (on the link to First on the First.  You would never see the flaws, but she keeps it real with the challenges she had and learning new things.  This month was all about decorating a cake.  She made a white cake with raspberry lemon filling (yum!) that has some cute little bees on top and is so nice looking with flowered chocolate transfer sheets.  I have never worked with those, but now I want to try.

I seriously couldn’t decide what to make from her blog.  And I actually started with her Lemon Biscotti.  She dipped the bottoms of her in melted white chocolate.  I drizzled mine.  They were good!

I could have just blogged those, but was looking through her blog again another day and found this Cinnamon Crusted Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Honey Glaze she made and well, there were two reasons I decided to make the cake.  One, she made it on my birthday last year, November 15, which just happens to also be National Bundt Cake Day.  Two, every time I’d gone in my pantry over the last couple weeks, I saw 3-4 sweet potatoes I had that I was neglecting (not sure why, since I love them).  So I was inspired to make her sweet potato cake.  I knew I’d like it and for that reason, I halved the recipe (portion control)!  I changed a few things, but really not too much.  Just to make myself not feel so guilty when I ate some, I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.  I also added some cinnamon to the cake batter and the honey glaze (as well as the streusel, which she included in her recipe).

After making the batter, I put it in a six inch round cake pan and still had enough batter left to make four cupcakes.  I made the cupcakes with just streusel on top (no glaze)—delicious!

The cake was good, too!  No one here at my house had a clue I used whole wheat flour and I didn’t even tell them it had sweet potato in it, just told them it was a spice cake.  They would have turned their noses at sweet potato in a cake.  (Tricked them!)

Sweet Potato Spice Cake with Cinnamon Streusel and Cinnamon Honey Glaze, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (adapted from Kate at www.foodbabbles.com)

For the Streusel:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the cake batter:

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cooked and pureed sweet potato (about 1 large)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons whole wheat flour (165 grams)

pinch of allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

6 tablespoons fat free milk

3 tablespoons apple juice (or cider)

For the glaze:

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon fat free milk

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter then flour a six inch round cake pan a line muffin tin with 4 liners (or you could just make an 8 inch round cake or all cupcakes—which was actually my favorite with the streusel on top).

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon for the streusel.  Drizzle with the melted butter and mix well with a fork.  Set asides or refrigerate until needed.

For the cake batter, in the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add the pureed sweet potato (previously cooked in the microwave with fork piercings for 3-4 minutes until soft all the way through, then cooled enough to remove skin and puree’ in a food processor until smooth).  In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, spices, baking powder and salt and whisk together.  In a cup, combine the milk and apple juice.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk/juice beginning with some of the dry ingredients, then half the milk mixture, ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat into the batter until well combined.  Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan and/or lined muffin tin.  Add a good amount of the streusel to the top of the cake batter, then top it with more batter.  Scoop the rest of the batter into the muffin tins and top with the remaining streusel.

Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. (The cupcakes baked for 21 minutes and the six inch cake baked for 37 minutes.)  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. 

For the glaze—In a small bowl, combine the honey, powdered sugar, milk and cinnamon and stir until smooth and no lumps of sugar remain.  Drizzle over the cooled cake. 

Check out Kate’s blog, Food Babbles if you haven’t already!