Sunday, June 17, 2012

blueberry oat "cuppins"


Is anyone sick of hearing me talk about my obsession with fresh fruit? I'd like to say I'm sorry and I promise I'll stop soon, but that probably won't happen until roughly....September. At least in terms of stopping the talk. If you're looking for an apology, you'll be waiting a very, very long time. Probably forever. For-e-ver (a la James Earl Jones).


Strawberry season is over (sad face), but blueberry season is in full swing. When we picked blueberries the first weekend they were available, we ended up with about seven pounds of berries. And that was after we had given some to my parents, some to the Boyfriend's family, and some to Katherine, who couldn't join us for the fun. After a full week, I'm proud to report that we ate every.single.last.berry. Not a one went bad. If I turn blue in the next week or so, you'll know why. Is it possible to overdose on blueberries?


In addition to the blueberries, we also managed to find a home for about six pounds of blackberries. More on that later.

Now, see what I did there in the title? Definitely made up a word there. Not quite cupcakes but also not quite muffins, I find these treats to be a nice mix of both - all the light fluffy goodness of a cupcake, but not so sweet that you can't eat one for breakfast or snack (although who are we kidding, I'd totally eat a cupcake for breakfast. Or lunch. Or...you get the point).



Blueberry oat "cuppins" (Makes 12 regular size or about 48 mini)

1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1 small ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup dry old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350*. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda, and set aside. In a larger mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), whisk up your egg until it's light and fluffy. Mix in brown sugar until fully incorporated, and then add vanilla, sour cream, and finally the butter. The batter will be really runny at this point. Slowly add in the dry ingredients (I did about 1/2 cup at a time), and mix until just incorporated. Add in the banana. You don't want to mix the flour too much or your batter won't rise well when it bakes. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the oats and blueberries. Dole out batter evenly into a lined cupcake tin. Bake 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

happy weekend!

Why go to the store, when you can pick your own fruit?

I swear, blueberries (and strawberries, and everything else really) are about a million times better straight off the plant. Take my word for it and go find the nearest farm. Seriously.


My favorite local (well if you consider a 45 minute drive local) farm is Homestead Farm, which has a great variety of fruits for picking throughout the season. This morning marked the opening of blueberry season, and we also picked up some strawberries (my absolute favorite fruit - possibly favorite food - ever, in the whole wide world). In a few weeks we'll be getting peaches and blackberries, which I'm pretty excited for! The fruit has so much more flavor than the stuff you get at the grocery store (hello, genetically modified fruit that looks perfect but tastes like flavored water), and if you pick it yourself, it's cheaper, too! Both berries ran us $2.49/lb which is a steal, if you think about the pints they're selling (about 8oz) for like $4.50 at the store. Totally winning.

Anyway. Look up your local farm and get thee to the nearest patch!




No, Homestead Farm did not pay me to write this, nor do they know about my blog. I just love them that much.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

vacation

When you spend a week doing this:


And this:

Celebrating the marriage of two fabulous people:


And you barely checked your phone other than to just text someone your location at the beach:



It's a safe bet you didn't have time to blog.

Even though you had time to bake these:


(Anything for people you love, right?)

Cupcakes made with this recipe

Frosting for 36 cupcakes (plus extra since I went light):

1 32oz bag confectioner's sugar
2 sticks butter, cold but softened, sliced
4oz cream cheese
~1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Whip together butter, cream cheese and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Carefully add milk and vanilla, watching the consistency as you go. If it thins before you've added all the milk, stop! If it's too thick still, add a little more (1 tablespoon at a time). I refrigerated the frosting (after coloring it) for a little before frosting the cupcakes (which must be cooled completely before icing) to help the frosting stay put a bit better.