Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

I'm always on the look out for great blueberry recipes. Blueberries aren't my favorite berry, but they are great fun to pick out in the woods!  Here's a great, if a little labor intensive, recipe for a desert-like blueberry bread.  Lemon-Blueberry Cake may be a more apt title!

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt "Cake" Loaf
adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen blog


1 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp four, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt *we used vanilla, non-fat Greek yogurt*
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries *we used over 2 cups and it wasn't overwhelming*


Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon Glaze: (Yes, it is different from the lemon syrup for this recipe. Are you getting the Cake vibe yet?)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x5 loaf pan and dust with flour (be sure to shake it around to distribute evenly and then tap out any leftovers in the pan).

Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and oil with a wire whisk. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until well blended.

In separate bowl, carefully mix blueberries with 1 Tbsp flour (we used more flour as we used more berries). Very carefully, to avoid breaking the skin on the berries, fold coated berries into the cake- I mean loaf- batter.

Pour all batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 50-55 minutes. The ole toothpick coming out clean is the way to be sure the loaf is done. The cooked loaf should rest in the pan for 10 minutes before moving to it's syrup and glazing station (a wire rack on top of a baking sheet with edges to catch the drippings).

Prepare the syrup and glaze by juicing the 2 lemons used for zest. For the syrup, take 1/3 cup of the juice, add sugar, and heat in saucepan over medium heat for 3 minutes after the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.  Poke holes in the top and sides of the cooked, cooling loaf. Brush the loaf with syrup repeatedly, letting it soak in after each application. I think I did this 5 times. Let the loaf cool completely (or else the glaze just runs right off!)

Prepare the glaze by mixing powdered sugar and 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice until the glaze is stiff but pourable-- the thicker the better, though. Pour the glaze over the loaf, encouraging puddles on the top of the loaf and juicy drips down the sides.  The original recipe calls for this to happen once...but I wasn't about the let the leftover glaze go down the sink.

 It's *almost* too sweet for breakfast!  Very lemony and very sweet-- the blueberries and cake/loaf seemed almost an afterthought. That said, it was delicious and would be a pretty pick for any morning potlucks or as a dessert on a summer night. I think it might even go well with ice cream...

How we do frosting in my family

I feel lucky to have shared Christmas celebrations with a variety of wonderful family and friends-- wonderful company, quirky traditions, and always delicious food.  It seems like every family has a specific style of sugar cookie frosting...and I haven't found any that I enjoy as much as the glaze-frosting I grew up with!

It's not exactly Christmas time; we were in a July heat wave with an 110 degree heat index when I whipped these up.  I found the perfect cookie cutters for a summer weekend at the cabin and couldn't resist.

Ingredients:
Powdered sugar
Half and Half
Vanilla
Food coloring
Sprinkles/cookie decorations

I opted for cookie decorating at my parents house: central air AND a big, sunny kitchen. Perfect! (I'll post another picture soon with our cute, galley kitchen that accommodates 1 1/2 people at a time.)

Instructions:
In a medium mixing bowl, pour a mountain of powdered sugar. Slowly add half and half, starting very conservatively in adding less liquid than you need.  I've always been amazed at how little liquid it takes to cut through powdered sugar!

 Stir in the half and half completely.

 Too runny?  Add more powdered sugar.  Too thick? Add (a little) more half and half.

 You'll want the glaze-frosting to flow off the spoon, not glob off in chunks, but at the same time it needs to be thick enough to leave the spoon well coated.  If the frosting is too thin, it will run right off your cookies.

 Once you've got the consistency down, add a drop or two of vanilla and stir well. (Warning: vanilla will slightly color your white frosting-- if you want the pure-white color, don't bother with the frosting flavoring.)

 Next, pour your white frosting into separate bowls, one for each color you want to frost with. Keep in mind you may want to keep some in your mixing bowl so that you can frost with white frosting.

 Drop 2-3 drops of food coloring in each of your separate bowls...

 ...Mix well, and you're ready to go!  (When I was growing up, we always had popsicle sticks around the house. Frosting with popsicle sticks works very well in that the sticks are light enough the frosting holds them in the bowls, where as with heavy table knives...well, let's just say it gets messy.)

 Turns boring sugar cookies into...colorful, delicious treats!

 Loons and bears...forgot to get pictures of the moose shape, too.  Thanks to my husband for the surprise extra birthday gift of summer time shapes cookie cutters!