blueberry banana doughnuts.

I got a doughnut pan for Christmas and I have been dying to use it. 2 months later, I finally got around to using it. 

We had a very ripe banana just begging to be baked and tons of frozen blueberries packed away in the freezer from this summer. Therefore, this was the perfect recipe to inaugurate this doughnut pan. (Did I use that word correctly? Hmph, probably not- oh well!)

If you go to the original doughnut recipe, I made several changes. I used different flour, sugar, and yogurt. I also made a delicious blueberry glaze which I highly reccommend. If you don't have enough blueberries or you prefer a more traditional glaze, you can't go wrong with vanilla glaze! Just go to whole and heavenly oven to find it. I hope you enjoy this health(ier) doughnut recipe as much as we did!

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blueberry banana doughnuts {with blueberry glaze}

Ingredients

• Doughnut recipe from whole and heavenly oven
• 2 cups flour (I used all purpose)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup stevia, 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used strawberry greek yogurt)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (I used 1% milk+lemon juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 
• 
  
• Glaze recipe from blahnik baker
• ½ cup blueberries
• 1-1½ cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a doughnut pan. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, mix mashed banana, eggs, yogurt, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth. 
3. Gently fold dry mixture into liquid mixture until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries.
4. Fill greased doughnut pan 3/4 full of batter. Bake donuts at 350F 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool doughnuts in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
5. In a small bowl, mash blueberries (or stick them in a food processor). Add powdered sugar to blueberries until smooth. You want the glaze fairly thick so add powdered sugar as needed.
6. Once doughnuts are cooled, transfer to wax paper (for easier clean-up). Dip them into the glaze or spoon glaze over doughnuts. 
7. We left doughnuts out for 2 days then transfered them to freezer. Pop in the microwave as desired  and enjoy!

grandma's blueberry muffins.

These are my favorite muffins in the world. As you can see from the name, they are my Grandma's recipe which makes them even more special to bake. Not to mention, they taste amazing- I hope you think so too!

I am totally on a blueberry kick right now and just had to make these blueberry muffins. I have been baking these muffins with my mom and sister since I can remember. Whenever we got ready to bake something, my mom would ask my sister or me to get the recipe card. My mom has a million and one recipe cards so sometimes the recipe card we needed was hard to find.  The recipe card for this one, however, was always the easiest to find- it was the one that was smudged and spilled on because we used it all. the. time. As much as we made them, I never got tired of them.

These muffins are sweet, moist, soft, and just plain perfect. Many people like spitting them in half, and putting butter on it. Not me, though- I like them just as is. :)

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grandma's blueberry muffin recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup blueberries
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Grease or line 24 muffin tins with paper liners. 
3. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in butter until crumb mixture forms.  I used a pastry knife, but a food processor works even better. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture. Set aside.
4. Put eggs, milk, and vanilla into the crumb mixture in large bowl. Beat until smooth, then gently fold in blueberries. Fill your 24 muffin tins 3/4 full.
5. Place reserved crumb mixture into a small bowl, then dribble in melted butter. Toss with a fork to make crumbs. Sprinkle on top of each muffin cup.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until crumb topping is golden brown.

glazed blueberry cake bars.

My new favorite blueberry dessert. Moist, soft, sweet, and oh-so-delicious. These I simply cannot get over. I literally have to restrain myself from the pan. I am sending them to work with Grant tomorrow because if I don't, I'll eat the whole pan!

This recipe couldn't be easier- mix up the dough and pour all except 1.5 cups into a lined pan (I used a 9"x13" one). Bake for 15 minutes. Now create your filling: blueberries and sugar. Mash, mash, mash. Take the pan out and pour your blueberry filling over baked dough. Spoonful by spoonful, pour your reserved dough over the blueberry filling. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool for about 10 minutes. During this time, make your glaze: powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. After 10 minutes, you can drizzle all that yummy glaze over your cake. And you're done! Enjoy the delicious masterpiece you just created :)

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glazed blueberry cake bars
from the domestic geek blog 

• Cake Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour

Blueberry Filling Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries
• 3 Tablespoons sugar 
• 
  
• Glaze Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 teaspoons milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9x13 pan by greasing with butter and lining with parchment.
2. Beat butter until smooth, add 1 3/4 cups sugar, baking powder, and salt. Continue beating.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, once incorporated add flour. Beat well, scraping at sides of the bowl when needed until all flour has blended in.
4. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of dough, spread remaining dough evenly in prepared cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl sprinkle sugar on top blueberries. Mash blueberries to create a pie filling consistency.
6. Spread over pre-baked cake, spoon mounds of remaining filling on top of blueberry layer.
7. Bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until cake is golden brown.
8. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add all icing ingredients into a bowl and mix. Add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you have a icing consistency. 
8. Drizzle on top of the cooled bars.
9. Slice, serve, and enjoy.

Recipe Credit:

http://www.thedomesticgeekblog.com/2014/02/better-blueberry-pie-bars.html

blueberry crumb cake.

Basically... blueberry muffins in cake form. 

I know this is totally a summer recipe but I don't care...blueberries were on sale at the store and I wanted to make a blueberry dessert! This recipe was super easy to whip up and gave me time to get other things done while it was baking- bonus! The cake part turned out amazingly moist, and I added a crumb topping which made it even more buttery and delicious- another bonus! 

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ingredients:

for the cake batter:

• 1.5 cups sugar 
• 1 cup shortening (I used butter)
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• Blueberries (somewhere between 1 pint and 1 quart)

for the crumb topping (optional):

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• about 1/4 cup sugar
• about 1/2 cup flour

directions:

1. cream together sugar and shortening. 
2. mix together 4 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt
3. beat 1 egg together with 1 1/3 cups milk
4. alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture to the sugar
5. mix in blueberries
6. pour into 9x13 pan
7. after butter is melted (for crumb topping), mix it together with sugar and flour
8. crumble all over cake
9. bake for 50 min in 350 degree oven

Recipe Source:
http://www.thescribblepadblog.com/2011/07/csa-inspired-great-grandmothers.html

banana blueberry coffeecake.

Coffeecake is already a wonderful thing but coffeecake with bananas AND blueberries make it even more wonderful. This breakfast treat was moist and rich. It was a positively perfect combination of banana bread and a blueberry muffin. It'll make your mouth and belly happy. Guaranteed. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Instructions:

1. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add 3/4 cup of the flour, and beat just until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 3/4 cup of the crumb mixture.

2. To remaining butter/sugar/flour, add 1 cup flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg. Mix until combined.

3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, mashed bananas, milk and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.

4. Pour into a greased 8 or 9 inch pan and sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until both topping and cake are golden brown. 

Recipe courtesy of http://cookwithsara.blogspot.com/2009/08/banana-blueberry-coffeecake.html

lemon blueberry cheesecake cookies.

[adapted from http://hotpolkadot.com/2011/08/18/its-12am-do-you-know-where-your-cookies-are/]

I had no idea what dessert to make for our life group so I let Grant decide. He LOVES cream cheese, fruity dessert, and cheesecake so he picked these blueberry lemon cheesecake cookies.  I'm not a huge fan of fruity desserts but I even liked these.  They are cakey yet chewy yet doughy all at the same time.  You just have to try these for yourself.  If you are a cheesecake lover or even just a cream cheese lover, these cookies are for you!

INGREDIENTS-

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 cup flour
1 cup blueberries

1/2 pkg cream cheese, cut into 1 tsp cubes

INSTRUCTIONS -

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. 

3. Blend in the lemon zest, juice and eggs. Make sure to scrape off any bits of zest that stick to the mixer paddle.

                                     

4. In a separate bowl whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour then mix it into the wet ingredients. 

5. Gently fold in the blueberries so as not to burst any. 

                                     

6. Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 20 minutes to make it stiff enough to roll.

7. For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tbsp of dough into a ball then flatten it slightly into a disc shape. 

8. Place a 1 tsp cream cheese cube into the center and form the dough around it creating a ball again. 

9. Bake them for about 10 - 14 minutes until the edges brown slightly. 

10. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!