Blueberry Poppyseed Coconut Crunch Muffins

Whenever I come across a recipe that claims to be the "best" anything, it immediately makes me want to try it. I was craving muffins this morning, so after rummaging through my freezer and finding a bag of frozen blueberries, I decided to try out this recipe for the "Best Blueberry Streusel Muffins" from Barbrabakes.com. I changed the recipe up by adding poppyseed and coconut. I am in love! I don't know why coconut and blueberry don't come together more often! The juicy blueberries are perfectly complemented by the sweet crunchy coconut. The streusel and poppyseed add even more crunch and texture. You should really make these for breakfast. Soon.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Poppyseed Coconut Crunch Muffins

adapted from barbarabakes.com

Yield: 12 muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons poppyseed

3/4 cup coconut

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil, or line with paper muffin liners. Prepare streusel topping (recipe below) and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and milk.

Add flour, coconut, poppyseed, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined.

Stir in blueberries.

Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle muffins with streusel topping.

Bake at 350º for 20 to 25 min, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

When muffins are done, cool for a few minutes in the muffin pan before removing to cool on a wire rack.

Streusel Topping:

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons coconut

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, coconut and flour. Add oil and mix together until incorporated and you have a sandy texture.

Now get your coffee, sit back, relax, and bliss out on blueberry muffins!

Have a joyous New Year!

Raspberry Filled Buttermilk Scones

This recipe is just perfect for brunch. The scone is familiar and comforting and the fruity filling makes for a lovely little surprise in the middle. You can use almost any jam or filling you have on hand, and the recipe can be doubled for larger crowds. The recipe originally calls for a food processor, which I don't have, so I included food-processor free directions as well. Just be sure not to over mix the scone dough as the texture can quickly go from light and tender to tough and dry when mixed with too much vigor. But if you keep your mixing and kneading to a minimum, in very little time you will have a steaming batch of buttery, flaky, fruit filled scones. Impressive and delicious!

Jam Filled Scones

Adapted from Country Living

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

16 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 cup jam (raspberry was my choice)

3 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place the flours, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and zest and pulse until the dough is just combined.****

For people who don't have a food processor, place flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Using two knifes or a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal (no bigger than pea size clumps of butter). Add buttermilk and zest and mix until just combined (use a wooden spoon or your hands).

Shape the scones: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place an 18-inch sheet of parchment paper on a work surface and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Transfer the dough to the paper and, with floured hands, gently press the dough into a 12- by 12-inch square; the dough should be about 3/4 inch thick.

Cut out two 6-inch circles, reshape the remaining dough into a 3/4-inch-thick square, and cut out one more 6-inch circle. Gather the remaining scraps and form into one final 6-inch circle. (basically you will end up with four equally sized circles).

Place 1/4 cup of jam on two of the circles. Top each with the remaining dough rounds and pinch the sides shut.

Using a knife, score the top of each scone with a large cross marking 4 quadrants. Sprinkle the tops with sugar. Transfer scones to the prepared pan and bake until golden -- 30 to 35 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Split or cut on the scores. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yum!

Have a lovely weekend! Linking up

Linking up at Tater Tots and Jello, Something Swanky, Tasty Tuesdays, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Under the Table and Dreaming By Stephanie Lynn

Easy No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

Update for you all... I have started crafting.... again. When I first moved into my apartment I would craft ALL the time, I love taking something that starts out plain and ordinary and making it into something extraordinary. The only problem is, I started to run out of room for all my projects. I mean how many hurricane vases can fit in a one bedroom? (I have five) However, I really miss it. I miss the feeling of accomplishment you get after finishing a particularly tricky project, I miss the satisfaction that comes from knowing how much money you saved by making over a thrift store find instead of buying something at pottery barn (or Anthropologie, I LOVE Anthropologie!) So, the other day I had an epiphany.. why not craft stuff that I can either give as gifts or rotate in and out of my apartment decor with the different seasons?! All that being said, I may share some of my crafts on here. Don't get me wrong cooking and baking will definitely still be my main focus (nothing can take their place), I just might add a few crafty projects every once in a while.

And speaking of cooking and baking, I have a NO BAKE recipe to share with you all today. It's different from the usual no-bake cookie recipe in that it does not use chocolate OR peanut butter. I know, crazy, right?! I had some dried blueberries that my lovely mother had picked up for me on a recent grocery trip, so I decided to try and make a cookie using these. I found a basic recipe on Cooks.com and changed it up to make it healthier and use the ingredients I had on hand. They turned out pretty well. Really tasty, but if you don't chill them long enough they will fall apart. Make them the night before, chill them over night and you should be good to go. The oats add texture and are the basis for the cookie. I added in oat bran to up the fiber content and stirred in extra coconut in place of nuts. While you could use raisins in these cookies, I highly recommend trying them with blueberries, they give a great fruity flavor that adds to the whole cookie experience :)

No Bake Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies

Adapted from cooks.com

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 1/3 cup flaked coconut

3/4 cup oat bran

3/4 cup dried blueberries (or raisins)

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk (I used rice milk, if you haven't tried it, you should, it's AMAZING)

1 stick butter, cut into pieces

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together first five ingredients.

Cook sugar, milk and butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Add the vanilla.

Pour over all other ingredients and stir until well mixed. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper to cool.

Happy Monday!

Linking up to Tasty Tuesdays!