Raspberry Coffee Cake

2 c Bisquick
3 oz cream cheese (cold)
¼ cup butter (cold)
1/3 cup milk
½ cup raspberry jam
fresh or frozen raspberries

Combine the Bisquick, cream cheese, and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade. Process until combined. Add milk and pulse until dough forms. (If you don't have a food processor, combine ingredients in a bowl and cut together with two knives or with a pastry blender, then stir in milk with a fork).
Pour dough onto a large sheet of waxed paper. Knead 8-10 times, until dough comes together into a ball. Between two pieces of waxed paper, roll dough into a rough rectangle about 12" by 8". Transfer to a greased, rimmed cookie sheet. (If you have a silpat* silicone baking sheet, use that as the bottom piece of waxed paper. It makes it much easier to transfer the whole thing to the baking sheet.)
Spread jam down the center of the rectangle. Sprinkle with raspberries.
Along sides, cut into center (to jam) about every inch.
Bring cut pieces together into middle over jam and pinch together.
Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.
Drizzle with icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 t almond
milk to drizzling consistency


*These are a great non-stick baking mat. I use mine when I bake cookies, breads, etc. instead of greasing the pan. Baked goods slide right off them. You can find them at good baking supply stores: Spoons 'n Spice, William's Sonoma, Sur la Table. 

Mmmmmm.....Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls

1 box vanilla cake mix
2 T. yeast
5 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 c. hot tap water
1 stick soft butter
cinnamon/sugar

Stir together cake mix, yeast, 2 cups flour and salt in bowl of electric mixer. Add hot tap water. Mix with mixer until spongy (about 3 minutes). Add remaining 3 cups flour, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Let rise until double in size (45-60 minutes). Roll out into a big circle 1/2" thick. The dough is quite sticky, so generously flour your work surface and rolling pin. Spread butter over dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and roll into a log. Cut 1" to 1 1/2" thick. Put on cookie sheet*** and let rise until double in size. Bake in preheated 350° oven for 18-23 minutes - until light brown. Frost while hot.

Icing

1/2 stick softened butter
4 oz. softened cream cheese
3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix well.

***I made my rolls Saturday night, but baked them Sunday morning, so I stopped at this point, covered them tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated them over night. Sunday morning, I took them out of the refrigerator and let them rise until they doubled in size and then baked them.
After Z ate hers, she walked around and asked everybody else if they were going to finish theirs, and if not, could she; maybe she could just lick their forks.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1 c. butter
, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. buttermilk*
3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 mashed bananas
Chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 300. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with Pam. In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, eggs and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients. Stir in bananas and chocolate chips. Pour into bread pans. Bake at 300 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. 



*It's easy to make a buttermilk substitute if you don't have any on hand. For every cup of buttermilk needed, pour one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup, then add enough milk to make one cup. Let it sit for about 5 minutes and it will curdle.

Crepes with Caramelized Bananas

These reminded us of one of our favorite desserts, Bananas Foster.

Crepes

3 eggs
1 1/4 c. milk
3/4 c. sifted flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Add milk. Combine dry ingredients and add to eggs and milk. Cook in a greased skillet, flipping once.

Caramelized Bananas

3 T. brown sugar
3 T. butter
3 bananas, thickly sliced

In pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add the bananas and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.

Spoon bananas onto center of crepe. Roll up. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Our monkey gave these "two thumbs up".

Blueberry Crumb Cake

This was a delicious little dessert, I may just have a piece for breakfast tomorrow with a glass of cold milk!


For the blueberry filling:

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
For the crumbs:

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup melted butter

1 3/4 cups flour
For the cake:

1/3 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into small pieces.
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.
For filling, toss berries with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.
2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like dough.
3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.
4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon blueberries over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over berries; it does not have to be even.
5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from berries), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings.