Leftovers Club: Red, White, and Blue Biscotti

I made these for the Leftovers Club exchange this month. I sent these to Ginger. Be sure to check out her blog! It's fantastic! Also, check out the Leftovers Club. It's really fun. 

My partner this month is Ginger from Stark Raving Delicious. Definitely go check out her blog! (And make delicious lemon zingers)

If you, like me are going on a road trip this 4th of July, this biscotti is the perfect thing to munch on in the car. That sweet tooth that always seems to hit on long drives is perfectly satisfied with these.

And if your the type who tries to limit how much you eat out of sheer boredom in the car, these are also fantastic. You can limit yourself to a few or because let's be honest that's not going to happen  you can be comforted by the fact that you are at least eating dried fruit.

Or Option #3: accept that the foods that you eat only on road trips are worth overeating on road trips.

Willie Nelson "City of New Orleans"

Ingredients 

• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 1 cups walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in blueberries, cranberries, and nuts by hand.

Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12x2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.

Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).

Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry; cool.

An InLinkz Link-up

Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Muffins

I made these muffins for my APUSH class's food Friday. Most everybody went for seconds. We were taking an essay test, so it wasn't an easy thing to go up for seconds.

Now that things are finally winding down in school. I hopefully will be able to get back to baking and cooking again. AP exams are over, we only have one lab left for chemistry, and my last calculus test for the year is tomorrow. 

We're currently watching The Butler in APUSH. I saw it over winter break, and the film casts such a harsh light on racism in the United State's past. I didn't like the ending the first time I saw it. I feel like it brushes over the racism that is still present in America today.

Oh well, nothing like blueberry muffins to soften the pain of the past, I guess.

Jesse McCartney - "Beautiful Soul"
(Yes, I know, but just in case you're feeling a little nostalgic. It is Throwback Thursday, after all)

From the Joy the Baker Cookbook  (Check out her website for mouthwatering pictures!)

Ingredients

          Topping:

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  
  Muffins:
  
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions

For the Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a muffins pan with paper or foil liners, set aside.

To make the muffins:  Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Keep an eye on the butter.  It will melt, froth, and begin to crackle.  That’s the water cooking out of the butter.  The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly.  Remove from heat when butter solids become a medium brown color and butter smells slightly nutty.  Immediately pour hot butter into a small bowl, or the butter will continue to cook in the hot pan.  Allow to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add browned butter and whisk to combine.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add milk mixture all at once to the flour mixture and stir gently to combine.  Gently but thoroughly fold in the lemon zest, poppy seeds, and blueberries.  Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
To make the topping: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and rub together with clean fingertips until crumbly.  Sprinkle topping evenly over the muffin batter in cups.
Bake muffins 18 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp and a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool muffins in the pan for 15 minutes before removing.  Serve warm or at room temperature.
Muffins will last, at room temperature in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.  I like them best the day they are made.

Blueberry Cheesecake

 Yes, more blueberries!

This cheese cake actually turned out.

Normally my cheesecakes are not quite as smooth as they should be...

 But this came out with relatively few ingredients.

Simple and delicious. My kind of cheesecake.

Here is the original recipe. On the one hand, She didn't put the blueberries in the cake and I wanted to. On the other hand, she made the crust using ginger snaps...

"Benny and the Jets" by Elton John 

(Yeah, watched 27 Dresses yesterday, slow film but this scene is really funny)

Ingredients:

• Graham cracker crust
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of blueberries (more as desired)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Once combined, add blueberries. Pour into prepared crust. Place in oven for 25 minutes.

Microwave Blueberry Lemon Bars

 I know, I know, microwave lemon bars?!?

What will they think of next?

But they actually came out! (Shocking, right? I'm amazed by what you can microwave)

 I won't claim these are the best lemon bars ever (I'll leave that to these)

However, they are perfect for summer when its 90 degrees and the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven.

 And we now have 60 dollars worth of blueberries, picked from Rouster's Apple House.

I see: blueberry lemon bars, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry frozen yogurt, blueberry shakes, blueberry, blueberry, blueberry.

Yeah, it's July, and you can tell.

  

So here you have July blueberry lemon bars. I (well, my mom) found this recipe in the Costco magazine.

"Build Me Up Buttercup" preformed by the Temptations

Ingredients:

Base:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 TB confectioner's sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup butter 

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 TB lemon zest 
• 3 large effs
• 1 TB flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
•  1/3 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Grease 9 by 9 inch microwaveable pan.

To make the base: Mix the flour, confectioner's sugar and lemon zest. Melt the butter and combine with flour mixture. The mixture will be crumbly. Pat it into the greased pan. Microwave for 3 minutes at power level 8 until the base is firm (depending on the strength of iyr microwave, it may need an additional minute).

To make filling: Combine the sugar, lemon zest, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice in a medium-sized bowl. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour over base. Return pan to microwave and cook at power level 8 for 3 minutes until the filling is set but has a slight wiggle (like prepared Jell-O). Depending on the strength of your microwave, it may need another minute. Cool completely. Refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours or over night.

Red, White, and Blue Layer Cake

 This cake was so good. Every part. Even though we left it to dry out for two days before eating!

 So this is a pretty amazing (not to mention delicious!)

 "I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane" (I wish!)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup(s) cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoon(s) baking powder

3/4 teaspoon(s) salt

1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda

3/4 cup(s) butter, softened

1 1/2 cup(s) sugar

2 tablespoon(s) sugar

1 cup(s) strawberry preserves

4 eggs

3/4 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

Directions 

Bake the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly coat the pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out excess. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together and set aside. Cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy in a large bowl using a mixer set at medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Separate the batter, putting half into another bowl. Add 3/4 cup preserves. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in vanilla extract and the food coloring. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with a final addition of the dry ingredients. Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of oven until a tester inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean -- about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.  Slice both cakes in half. Alternate spreading extra preserves and frosting on cake. Frost cake.

Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Combine until fluffy.