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Banana Protein Muffins (Gluten-Free!)

October 16, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 12 Comments

On weekdays I leave the house before 7 am to commute to work, and while I used to favour some kind of egg-and-toast combination for breakfast, I simply don’t have the time to coordinate that kind of thing anymore before rushing out the door. Toast and jam just weren’t cutting it – I needed something with a little more nutritional oopmh to start my day. I’ve been reading Christina‘s recent nutrient–packed muffin posts with great interest, and prompted by several rapidly blackening and fruit fly-attracting bananas in my fruit bowl, I came up with these bad boys. I added (quite a lot of) whey protein powder, and used oats (blended in a food processor) and rice flour so they just so happen to be gluten-free (which was a happy coincidence, as my wheat-free Aunt was visiting when I made them). And with only 1/3 of a cup of sugar for 16 muffins, I can honestly say these are probably the healthiest baked good that has come out of my kitchen in, well, a long time….

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Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, Fruit, Other Baked Goods & Sweets, Recipes Tagged With: baking, banana muffins, breakfast, gluten-free, healthy muffins, protein-rich muffins, recipe

Plum Coffee Cake

October 13, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 18 Comments

When late summer/early fall hits and I start seeing dark purple plums showing up in the grocery store and at the farmers’ markets, all I want to do is make plum coffee cake – which, contrary to the name, doesn’t actually have any coffee in it. Instead, it contains plums (of course) and a cinnamon struesel topping, the combination of which is much more than just the sum of its parts.

My Nana had a recipe for a great plum coffee cake, but unfortunately neither my Mum nor I could find it anywhere. Luckily I found a pretty similar recipe on the internet, and it came out exactly the way I was hoping: moist, deep cake studded with jammy puddles of plum, topped with crumbly struesel and finished off with a drizzle of lemony glaze. So good as a mid-morning pick-me-up, or mid-afternoon snack, or dessert, or pre-bedtime nibble…

We had our first “fall” day a few days ago, and while I made this cake while it was still warm and sunny, it is definitely an appropriately cozy treat for cool, crisp weather. This makes a large amount of cake, but Nate and I weren’t complaining. Plus it meant I had some to take to my co-workers, who weren’t complaining either…

Plum Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Struesel

Adapted from The Kitchn. Makes a 9″ x 13″ cake. I used tiny purple Damson plums, but use any kind you want – we had an Italian prune plum tree growing in our yard when I was a kid and they made excellent coffee cake. Also, I used frozen leftover struesel from making muffins to top the cake, so the final product according to the recipe as written might look slightly different than mine.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking pan and set aside.

Depending on how big they are, pit and cut into quarters or sixths:

about 20 small, ripe plums (or equivalent – the more, the better, in my opinion!)

Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together:

3/4 cup soft, unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

One at a time, beat in:

3 eggs

Stir in:

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

In a smaller bowl, mix together:

3 cups all purpose flour (I used 2 cups all purpose and 1 cup whole spelt)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Sift the flour mixture over the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula to combine thoroughly.

Spread half the batter in the prepared pan and top it with half the plums, cut side up. Gently spread the other half of the batter on top and cover it with the remaining plums.

For the struesel topping, combine in a small bowl:

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

Mix until crumbly, then sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake. Bake in the preheated 350˚F oven for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let cool for about 15 minutes.

In a glass measuring cup, combine:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

Stir in enough milk to make a not-too-runny glaze, and drizzle it over the baked coffeecake. Serve warm or at room temperature. It will keep, covered in plastic wrap at room temperature, for a few days.

Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: autumn food, baking, brunch, cinnamon struesel topping, coffee cake, fall food, fruit, plums, recipe

Thanksgiving

October 10, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

This past Thanksgiving weekend was full of turkey and family and more turkey. We had a wonderful dinner at our house on Sunday night with Nate’s parents, my parents, and my Aunt, who is visiting from California. Our families had never met before but they got along like a house on fire. There was lots of laughter, much of it due to Nate’s Dad’s hilarious stories. I cooked the turkey, and I now I know that a fresh turkey takes a considerably longer time to cook than a previously-frozen one. I am thankful for my mother’s expertly-honed turkey-cooking skills and advice, thankful for the dinner guests who did not mind waiting an extra two hours for the turkey to be done, and thankful that somehow, the turkey was still moist and delicious (the secret is bacon!).

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Filed Under: Drinks & Condiments, Fruit, Recipes, Soups, Sides & Snacks Tagged With: family dinner, honey and spice cranberry sauce, napking folding, recipe, roast turkey, Thanksgiving, turkey stuffing, wild rice sausage and apple stuffing

Blackberry, Lemon & White Chocolate Cake

September 30, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 13 Comments

Last weekend we went to Nate’s parents’ house for lunch to mark his mum’s and (now) 4-year-old nephew’s birthdays. Of course, two birthdays call for two cakes. Gunnar, the 4-year old, got a fantastic Mr. Bean cake, and I offered to make Kathryn, Nate’s mum, a cake. She requested a lemon cake (my nemesis!) but I was stoked to try to get it right finally – third time’s a charm, right?

Gunnar’s Mr Bean cake (not made by me, if that wasn’t clear)

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Chocolate, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, birthday cake, blackberries, dessert, ermine frosting, lemon cake, recipe, roux-based frosting, summer, white chocolate

Neapolitan Macarons

September 8, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

Since making macarons for the first time last Christmas, I have been saving egg whites in the freezer to make them again. I promised myself before we moved (twice in 6 weeks actually, ugh!) that I would only bring those frozen egg whites to the new house if I made macarons ASAP. So I did.

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Cookies & Squares, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, chocolate, cookies, French macaron, macarons, Neapolitan macaron, recipe, strawberry, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, vanilla bean

White Chocolate Blueberry Bars

September 2, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 16 Comments

Remember the amaretti that I made accidentally? When I made them, what I actually meant to make was amaretto cookies to turn into crumbs for the base of these white chocolate blueberry bars (which I made a few weeks back but am only just getting around to posting about).

My oven was being a beast and the amaretto cookies came out sort of burnt, and there was nothing particularly spectacular about the homemade version, so next time I’ll just use store bought (I don’t say that often – maybe I just needed a different recipe?). However, regardless of the provenance of the cookies in the cookie crumb base, these bars are fantastic and perfect to make in the summer because they are no-bake (especially if you don’t do anything silly like baking your own amaretto cookies) and they feature delicious summer berries. Press a cookie crumb base into a pan, scatter over some blueberries, top them with a white chocolate ganache, and chill….

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Cookies & Squares, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: amaretto cookies, blueberries, cookie crumb base, dessert, no-bake, recipe, summer berries, summer fruit, white chocolate ganache

Cherry Blossom Pie with Sourdough Crust

August 20, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 27 Comments

When I saw that this month’s Sourdough Surprises project was pie dough, I got very excited. So excited that I actually made this pie back at the end of July because I just couldn’t contain myself. Fruit pies are one of my very favorite things to bake and I was stoked to see a recipe for a pie crust using sourdough starter. And after making and eating this pie crust, I can officially say that my favorite way to use my sourdough starter is in sweet pastries, such as pie or danishes. The starter gives such a richness and complex flavour to pastries that for some reason I don’t taste as much in other applications, and the smell of it baking in the oven is mouthwatering….

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, cherry pie, pastry, recipe, sourdough pâté brisée, sourdough pie crust, Sourdough Surprises, summer fruit

Pineapple Coconut Banana Bread

August 3, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 15 Comments

I have a banana bread weakness. Whenever I see a new and interesting recipe, especially one that has been raved about, I can’t help myself: I have to make it. I stockpile over-ripe, frozen bananas in my freezer (I think that’s a form of enabling) just so that I can bake banana bread whenever the mood strikes me, as it did the moment I read about this sugar-topped coconut version.

I had most of a can of pineapple in the fridge and thought it would be a good addition to the loaf. It was. And while the coconut and pineapple add texture and sweetness, the sugar on top adds crunch, and the dark rum adds a bit of luxury, my favorite part of this banana bread is the hint of nutmeg in the batter. Somehow it brings all the flavours together and makes them sing. I know this sounds awfully flowery for a loaf of banana bread, but MAN is it ever good!…

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Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, Fruit, Other Baked Goods & Sweets, Recipes Tagged With: baking, banana bread, demerara sugar, food, pineapple coconut banana bread, recipe, tropical flavours, turbinado sugar

Raspberry-Lemon-Poppyseed Muffin Cakes

July 12, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 5 Comments

Seeing local strawberries in the store is a sure sign that summer is here, but to me, it is the raspberries that signal its true arrival. Last summer I got nostalgic about blackberries, but really, it’s all about the raspberries. My mum used to grow reapberries in her garden and I loved eating them straight off the bush, still warm from the sun, sweet and tangy and so good, and now, they taste like summer to me. BC raspberries are finally in stores and I have been shelling out the $4 or $5 per pint to get me some summery goodness. The only problem is that they don’t keep and I needed to find something to do with them besides eating them by the handful. Enter: Raspberry-Lemon-Poppyseed Muffin Cakes….

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Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, brunch, cupcakes, food, fruit, lemon poppyseed, muffins, raspberry, recipe, summer

Strawberries & Cream Birthday Cake

July 9, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 21 Comments

A birthday definitely deserves a cake, so for my 29th birthday this weekend, I made myself one. Some people might think that it’s sad to make your own birthday cake, but quite honestly it is one of the best birthday presents I could get. Not only to I get to bake all day (which I love, obviously!), but I get to make the cake exactly the way I want it, AND I get to eat it. Totally a win-win situation for me. Because I’m a planner (at least when it comes to cakes, anyway), I’ve been thinking about my birthday cake for a while. At first I really wanted to make this Mexican hot chocolate-inspired cake, but then I came across Julia Child’s French strawberry cake, which seemed more seasonally appropriate. I also had my eye on this hazelnut cake, so I added some hazelnuts to Julia’s cake. And then I really wanted to make Swiss meringue buttercream, and this custard buttercream frosting caught my eye. So much for following one recipe as written, right? This time, anyway, it seems to have worked out and this cake was awesome!…

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, birthday cake, custard buttercream, genoise tips, hazelnut genoise, Julia Child's French strawberry cake, recipe, strawberries and cream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream

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I'm Korena: cook, baker, dirty-dishes-maker. My favourite things include flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate. Read More…

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All content © Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen, 2011 – 2021. Please contact me before duplicating any content, including pictures. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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