It always takes me a while to get back into the routine of "blogging" after we have been traveling. I know I haven't been very regular with my posts. Bear with me. I will get back to my new normal of three posts a week. I couldn't have picked a better recipe to share with you as I attempt this.
I almost always take something sweet to share with the volunteers at the thrift shop where I volunteer. Last week I didn't get anything made because we didn't get back from my hometown until Monday evening and I was tired after the long drive. It was almost like everyone knew and no one asked me what goodie I had brought for them. (I do hate to when I don't bring something and have to tell them so when they ask me what I brought.)
Well, yesterday I did bring this Coconut Blueberry Cake and so when Tanya asked me if I brought anything, I didn't have to disappoint her. I couldn't believe how many people told me how good the cake was. I laughed when Laura, who also works one of the registers, told me she cut a piece in half and then ended up taking the other half after she ate the first one. I admit, my husband Wayne and I ate our piece Monday night after I had made it and enjoyed it very much. Then I covered it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Tuesday morning when I took it out of the refrigerator it looked very moist. I didn't eat another piece, but I suspect that it was better and more moist the next day.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
COCONUT BLUEBERRY CAKE
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (If berries are frozen, do not thaw them before adding to batter.)
1 cup flaked coconut
LEMON SAUCE:
1/2 cup sugar
4-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (I used the dried lemon peel)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.
Beat the eggs, milk, and oil in a smaller bowl.
(Measure the milk and oil together in a glass 2 cup measure. I didn't, but you could add the eggs to the measuring cup and beat together and have one less bowl to clean up.)
Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture just until moistened using a wooden spoon.
Fold in the blueberries.
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle with the coconut.
Bake for 22 - 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted near the center of the cake. (I did bake mine the full 24 minutes.)
Cool in pan on wire rack.
(After cake has cooled) in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon peel.
Gradually add water and
stir until blended.
Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook and continue to stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Remove from the heat; stir in butter and lemon juice.
Cut cake into squares (24) and
then drizzle with the lemon sauce. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. (or if you are serving the next day.)
Spring is finally here! This is seemed like the longest winter ever! The weather is crazy everywhere though. Now the midwest is dealing with floods due to all the snow we have received. It is really hard watching the news and seeing the flooded cities, farms, etc. While we personally are not having any issues with the floods, nearby Parkville, MO is dealing with flooding from the Missouri River.
I've been away from my blog for a week because my uncle J. D. died last week and we went back to my hometown to celebrate his life. His service was twenty years after my mother, his older sister, died. He would have been 95 years old in April. They weren't able to bury him because Bayou Bartholomew was flooding into the cemetery. The family plot is next to the banks of the bayou and unfortunately this isn't the first time the family graves have been under water. More recent coffins have been buried in vaults, but the older ones weren't.
I have a few pounds I wish to lose that I gained over our cold winter, so when I felt the need to make something sweet to have in the house to eat, I chose this recipe for peanut butter cookies that used a yellow cake mix. Whenever I want to control/limit the sugar for something for us and uses a yellow or chocolate cake mix, I will substitute a sugar-free cake mix for the recipe. The peanut butter I use is a natural one so doesn't have sugar added to it. That way, I don't feel quite so guilty eating them. It won't change any if you decide to use a regular yellow cake mix.
I loved the taste of the cookies. They don't taste completely like your traditional peanut butter cookie, but I think you will still like them. They are lighter tasting and a little more cake-like.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (SUGAR-FREE)
1 yellow cake mix, sugar-free
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir/beat with electric mixer
until well combined.
Using a cookie scoop, form a ball in your hands and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press twice in a crisscross pattern with a fork as usual for peanut butter cookies.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet a few minutes
before removing to finish cooling on wire rack.
Here is a picture of my Uncle J. D. He will be missed by many!
I decided I would make this Cherry Coffee Cake even though Mrs Paul Graber didn't say what size pan to use. The recipe is another fabulous one in the Jamesport Kuntry Favorites cookbook I have. It sounded just right for the Mexican Train gathering at Friend Fran's house last Thursday. (I always make dessert for Fran whenever she hosts our gatherings because she doesn't cook that much anymore and I do enjoy baking.)
As I said Mrs. Graber didn't indicate what size pan to use. I was looking for a dessert baked in a smaller pan than a 9 x 13 - inch because I didn't want to have leftovers. I was thinking since she only used one can of cherry pie filling, it might work in a smaller pan. (* See below) - I used a dish about 7 x 11 - inches. As it baked, I kept watching it in the oven because I was afraid it was going to run over. Fortunately it didn't but I did have to bake it 40 minutes. It was fine, but I would recommend using a larger pan than that. You could use a 9 x 13 - inch pan and the cake would be thinner but you also would not have a complete cover of cherries from the can of pie filling. I like a "cherry in each bite". That's why I used the smaller dish. Next time I will use my casserole dish that says it is 2 quarts. I think it is about 8 x 12 - inches.
I cut the dessert in 9 large squares. I expected to hear, "I just want a small piece", but I didn't. AND no one complained that I had given them too big of a piece. What I did hear was how good it was! Since I used sugar in the "cake" part and did not use a "No-Sugar-Added" Cherry Pie Filling, I decided to use stevia for the sugar in the topping. It was fine and I saved some sugar calories.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
CHERRY COFFEE CAKE
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 egg and milk to make 1 cup
1 can cherry pie filling
Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar (I used stevia)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a rectangular dish approximately 8 x 12 inches. (* See above.) Set aside.
Mix together the flour, sugar, and baking powder with a whisk.
Cut in butter as for pie dough. (Okay if small lumps of butter remain.)
I did use my mixer to do this after I thinly sliced the butter.
Break egg into measuring cup and add enough milk to make 1 cup of liquid.
Beat with a fork.
Add to dry mixture
and stir.
Spread in pan.
Using a spoon cover the batter with the cherry pie filling.
Mix topping ingredients cutting the butter in to make crumbs. I did this in three steps.
I also usually end up using my fingers.
Sprinkle over the pie filling.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until done and lightly golden brown. (* See above.) Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut in squares to serve.
The only time I won was the first "game". It was the first time I have ever been able to make my train using all of my dominoes.
The bad thing was Friend Carol didn't have a 12 to start her train and had to count up all of her dominoes.
After being on "vacation" (do you still call it a vacation after you retire?) in CA for several weeks, I have had a number of readjustments to try to make. The biggest and hardest one is the time change. CA is two hours behind us since they are in the Pacific time zone and except for eating, I generally stayed on central time zone time while we were gone. It wasn't by choice, I just found myself sleepy at 9 PST and couldn't stay awake. That was actually midnight "back home" and I don't usually stay up that late. I thought after it panned out that way that I wouldn't have much adjustment being back home. The only problem is four days after we got back, we had to move the clocks forward an hour because of daylight savings time. I have more trouble with DST in the spring when we move the clocks ahead an hour than I do in the fall when we fall back. For as long as I can remember, it has usually taken me a week to get used to the "new" time.
Another adjustment I was hoping I wouldn't have to make was the temperature change. When we planned our trip to CA, I thought since we were getting back in March, that spring would have come to MO. That wasn't the case though. At least so far we haven't had any more snow. It has really been a rough February. It has been a little rough in CA also with temperatures at least 10 degrees below average and more rainfall than average. Friends in CA were shivering with the temperatures, while we were "almost" basking in the sun. It is all relative!
I thought I had signed up to "work" at the thrift shop before we left and so Sunday afternoon I started looking to see what I could make and take to the thrift shop yesterday for the volunteers. This is the second week in the month and I can't go in on my normal Tuesday morning because of our Blankets of Hope quilting meeting at the church. The second week I will volunteer on Monday because Wednesday is "Wacky Wednesday" and clothes are 50% off and I prefer not to work that busy, sometimes crazy, day. I found a recipe, made it Sunday afternoon, set the alarm Sunday night when I went to bed to make sure I would be up in time, and then went in Monday morning and saw that I had not signed up for any times in March. The good news other than everyone raving about the dessert, is those of us who work at the registers are creatures of habit, and since Jack and I had not signed up to work, Kelly who said she usually works 2nd or 3rd shifts, signed up to work. So we had three registers covered as Jack showed up also.
I know I don't usually "blab" so long, but if you knew me personally you know it takes me forever to tell a story. I do have an exceptional dessert so I hope you have stayed with me. Monday I shared Jan's Chocolate Kahlua Cake which my husband Wayne proclaimed at the best chocolate cake he has ever eaten. Well, Monday night when he finally got around to eating the piece I saved for him, he said it was the second best chocolate cake he had ever eaten. (It doesn't have any strong coffee in it which enhances the chocolate flavor so I told him that was probably why it wasn't quite as chocolaty as Jan's cake.)
If you follow my blog, you know I often make changes/substitutions in original recipes when I actually prepare them. I would have used a sugar-free devil's food cake mix if I were making the dessert for just us. I also usually substitute dark (60%) cacao chips for semisweet ones. I did do that when I made it. I didn't have a 10 - ounce jar of maraschino cherries so I opened my 16 - ounce jar and took the cherries out weighing them to get 10 ounces. Well, would you believe it took the whole jar of cherries to weigh 10 ounces? It did! I was really surprised. As I quartered the cherries, I placed them in a measuring cup. When they measured 1 cup, I decided I would stop. I don't know if I had too many or not enough. If you have a 10 - ounce jar, I would use just it. The next time I have a 10 - ounce jar, I will cut the cherries into fourths and measure how much it makes.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
BURIED CHERRY BARS
1 jar (10 ounces) maraschino cherries (I had a larger jar and cut up cherries to measure 1 cup)
1 package devil's food cake mix (could use a sugar-free one)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used 60% cacao chips)
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
Drain cherries reserving 2 tablespoons juice. Cut cherries into quarters.
Combine cake mix, butter, egg, and almond extract in large mixing bowl,
blending well. Batter will be thick.
Stir in cherries.
Spread batter in prepared pan.
Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan.
Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts.
Stir in reserved cherry juice .
Spread chocolate mixture over cake mixture in pan.
Sprinkle with pecans.
Bake 35 minutes or until center is firm to the touch.
Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
Cut into squares to serve. Keep covered.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. 
Beat the eggs, milk, and oil in a smaller bowl.
(Measure the milk and oil together in a glass 2 cup measure. I didn't, but you could add the eggs to the measuring cup and beat together and have one less bowl to clean up.)
Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture just until moistened using a wooden spoon.
Fold in the blueberries.
Pour into prepared pan. 
Sprinkle with the coconut.
Bake for 22 - 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted near the center of the cake. (I did bake mine the full 24 minutes.)
Cool in pan on wire rack.
(After cake has cooled) in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon peel. 
Gradually add water and
stir until blended.
Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook and continue to stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Remove from the heat; stir in butter and lemon juice.
Cut cake into squares (24) and
then drizzle with the lemon sauce. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. (or if you are serving the next day.)
