LEMON BLUEBERRY LOAF CAKE

I am behind in tax prep so the text will be terse today. All I have on my mind is sheer amazement at how much of our income goes towards food. And Amazon. Being a grownup is scary. I remember playing house when I was little and always wanting to be "the mom." I had a fake checkbook to pay for things in this make believe adult-land I thought was so glorious. Now I am IN adult-land and I don't understand why on earth I was so anxious to be here. Take me back to where I could write my little sister a check for $20,000 just for being my pretend daughter!

But there is loaf cake. I make a lot of these and realize there is a similar one in the recipe archives but they are popular here. Hugh likes a sweet in the morning with coffee and I like cake after dinner so we can polish one these off quite quickly. They gift beautifully too if you're taking food to a friend. It's a snack to be shared no matter how you look at it. 

LEMON BLUEBERRY LOAF CAKE // Makes one 9x4 loaf

Adapted from Food and Wine 

The original calls for 2 cups of all purpose flour which, by all means, go ahead with. This was our wheat-free version and is sort of my standard loaf cake ratio anyway. Change the fruit, maybe replace the yogurt with mashed banana and the berries for chocolate chips. It's a great base to work with.
For the oat flour, I simply blend up rolled oats. The glaze here is optional. I am happy with the loaf as is but Hugh likes it a bit sweeter so the glaze keeps everyone happy. You can mix in some melted and slightly cooled butter if you'd like it to resemble more of a frosting.

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup natural cane sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 cup plain goat yogurt (or regular)
1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup superfine brown rice flour
1 cup oat flour
2 Tbsp. flaxmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
 

// glaze //

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar

lemon zest, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350'. Grease a 9x4 loaf pan and line it with parchment. 

Wish a hand or electric mixer, combine the coconut oil and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time until well mixed. Add the vanilla, lemon zest, yogurt, lemon juice and mix. 

In another bowl, combine both flours, flaxmeal, baking powder and soda and stir to combine. Gently add the dry to the wet ingredients to mix. Fold in the blueberries and pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake on the middle rack for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes until golden or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to cool completely. 

In the meantime, whisk the lemon juice and powdered sugar together to create a glaze. 

Glaze the cooled cake. The loaf with keep covered for three days. 

---

---

BLUEBERRY-OAT BISCUIT COBBLER

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's been on a fruit bender as of late. My favorite is strawberries (the best of which have passed in my particular opinion), with cherries, peaches, nectarines and blueberries tied for second place, which means this time of year I am in fruit euphoria. Most of it is getting eaten raw, but in order to get my better half to really get into this goodness, it needs to make it's way into a baked good or dessert of sorts. I found this recipe while flipping through the recent Bon Appetit and the simplicity of it caught my eye. I reduced the sugar, added in some whole grains, and now have a wonderful cobbler that dishes up beautifully as dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but can also be excused as a breakfast treat with a dollop of yogurt on top.

BLUEBERRY OAT BISCUIT COBBLER // Serves 6

Adapted from August 2012 Bon Appetit

The magazine also suggests that this can be done in six 6 oz. ramekins which sounds perfect for having people over. I think this would work great with a mix of fruits too - maybe mix in some blackberries or peaches.

• 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp. white whole wheat flour (I imagine spelt or quinoa flour would work)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 3 Tbsp. plus 1/2 cup natural cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 Tbsp. chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2'' pieces
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 6 cups blueberries (about 2 lbs.)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon zest
• vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt for serving

Preheat oven to 375'. Whisk 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup oats, 3 Tbsp. sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, using your fingers and smush it in to make pea-size clumps. Gently mix in yogurt. Knead until biscuit-like dough forms, being careful not to overmix.

Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 3 Tbsp. flour, berries, juice and zest in a large bowl. Toss to coat. Pour into 8x8 baking dish (or ramekins). Tear biscuit topping into quarter sized pieces and scatter over berries.

Bake cobbler until juices and thick and bubbling and topping is cooked through and golden brown. 20-25 minutes for ramekins and 40-45 minutes for baking dish. Let is rest at least 45 minutes.

LEMON PANCAKES WITH YOGURT + BERRIES

There was a time when I thought pancakes only came from Bisquick boxes. Pancake creativity maxed out at throwing in some chocolate chips or blueberries into the batter on a weekend morning, but my parents were no-fuss kind of cooks. To be fair, I likely wouldn't have recognized boxed from homemade as a kid, but I've found myself fascinated by the more deliberate kind lately. I mean the variety of recipes is endless, with ratios of dry to liquid varying greatly. You can really get fussy about the art of the pancake. Should they be cakey? Thin? Custardy inside? Sweet enough to stand alone or less so, assuming they'll be covered in maple syrup? I'll chalk it up to personal preference, but the vote around here is thin and tender, and faintly sweet. I've used all sorts of grain flours, liquid sweeteners, some dairy free versions with coconut milk, and others bound with flaxmeal... and to think at one point, they only came from a yellow box.

This naturally gluten free recipe from Bea's cookbook is just lovely. They have some volume to them from the whipped egg white, which I appreciated more than I thought I would. She calls for lemon extract, and this would have made that flavor more obvious, but instead of yet another trip to the market, the fresh juice and zest lent a gentle brightness. They are tender from the yogurt and the care taken to not overcook them. You flip when you just begin to see the bubbles and no longer than a minute on the other side. I am sure maple would have worked, but the lemon was begging for creaminess and berries on a sunny spring morning. 

Happy long weekend ahead. Hope there is a slow morning with pancakes in your future. 

LEMON PANCAKES WITH YOGURT + BERRIES // Serves 4, makes about 12 small pancakes

Loosely adapted from La Tartine Gourmande by Beatrice Peltre

I didn't have all the ingredients from Bea's original recipe, but I worked with what I had, still keeping them gluten free. She uses rice flour, quinoa flour and quinoa flakes, which I image would produce a pancake that is slightly more delicate than mine. She suggests in her headnote that buttermilk, milk or yogurt can be used in the batter. I used a mix but you can use whatever you happen to have on hand. 

You don't need to have packaged oat flour. It's a quick whizz in the blender of some rolled oats and poof, you have oat flour. If you don't need or want them to be gluten free, 1 cup total of your preferred flour should work just fine. 

1/3 cup almond meal

1/3 quinoa flour

1/3 cup oat flour (ground rolled oats)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 1/2 Tbsp. natural cane sugar

2 eggs, seperated

1 cup buttermilk, yogurt or milk (I used half yogurt and half milk)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

zest of one meyer lemon 

1 Tbsp. melted coconut oil, plus more for cooking

// topping //

1 cup whole or lowfat yogurt

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. honey

blueberries

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir to mix. 

In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the buttermilk/yogurt, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, and the oil. Add this wet mixture to the dry and stir to combine. 

In a stand mixer or with hand mixers, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter. 

In a frying pan, heat a small pat of oil over medium heat. Pour a scant 1/4 cup batter in the pan and repeat with as many pancakes as you can without overcrowding. Cook until bubbles form, flip and cook another minute until golden. Repeat with remaining batter. 

Mix the yogurt with lemon juice and honey. Serve the warm pancakes with a lemon yogurt drizzle and fresh blueberries.