Cheesecake Stuffed Blueberry Coffee Cake Loaf

Recently I posted (on facebook) a photo of a coffee cake I brought into work as a "thank you" to my co-workers for a great first four weeks on the job. I never got around to posting the recipe, so tonight I bring you a great coffee cake loaf, stuffed with cheesecake filling, with blueberries, a cinnamon streusel topping, and light glaze.  To make this, I took my favorite coffee cake recipe (adapted from Cooking Light), made a cheesecake filling, used frozen blueberries and topped it all with a brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. The coffee cake loaf was a huge success, so much so that the morning crew devoured it, and the staff that comes in at noon missed out! To make up for that, the next week I brought in a lemon bundt cake and didn't put it out until noon. That way, everyone had an even shot at getting a slice of gratitude!

Here's the recipe:

CHEESECAKE STUFFED BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE LOAF
Oven 375 degrees F
Standard bread loaf pan, bottom lined in parchment paper, sprayed with cooking spray

Coffee Cake Batter:

1/4 cup soft butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Cheesecake Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon extract
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, dusted with a tablespoon of flour

Cinnamon topping:

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Confectioners sugar glaze

Directions:

Make coffee cake batter: Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream and extracts. Beat well until completely blended. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well until completely incorporated.

Make cheesecake filling: Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add extracts and flour, and beat thoroughly until no (or very few) lumps remain.

In prepared pan, pour/smooth 1/2 the coffee cake batter. Sprinkle with half the blueberries. Add all of the cheesecake mixture, covering entire surface. Sprinkle the rest of the blueberries. Top with the remaining batter.

Mix together the cinnamon topping ingredients and sprinkle evenly over top of batter.

On center rack of preheated 375-degree oven, bake for 40-50 minutes OR (important) until loaf tests done when a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry OR when the loaf springs back when pressed lightly in the center. Another clue that it's about done: you can really smell the aroma of the baked loaf.

Cool on wire rack for half hour. To remove from pan, cover top of loaf with a dishtowel (to keep streusel from falling off!) and invert loaf into your hand, then turn it over onto a wire rack to complete cooling.

Drizzle confectioners sugar glaze lightly over the top (1 cup confectioners sugar mixed with water, a teaspoon at a time, until it flows in a thick stream off a fork - be careful to add only a little water at a time or it will become too thin very quickly). When it looks like Elmer's glue, it's done. You don't have to use it all - just as much as you want.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. I know you'll love the coffee cake!

Banana Chocolate Marble Bread

The first thing I am doing today is wishing my daughter Tricia a very happy birthday! She was born 31 years ago, three weeks late, and entered the world by cesarean section at 9 lbs., 3 oz., with a head of very blonde hair and the rosiest cheeks. It seems like yesterday, in some ways, and it's very hard to believe that my youngest child is in her 30s! As in 1982, spring was late to arrive that year and just after she was born, this area was hit with an early spring snowstorm that dumped a huge amount of snow, keeping visitors home. Tricia and I had a lot of time to get to know each other during those quiet days in the hospital! With a house-full of little ones at home, I was grateful for the "vacation!"

Tricia's birthday cake was baked last night and will be frosted when I get home from work today. It's a deep, dark chocolate cake and will be frosted with chocolate as well. There seems to be a genetic predisposition toward chocolate that Tricia carries in her DNA - from both sides! I am  happy to indulge this deep-seeded craving for Tricia and the rest of the family who will celebrate her day,  though nothing has been scheduled yet. We're all too busy with work schedules and hopefully, we'll find a time to come together to wish her a wonderful year ahead!

While Tricia's cake was baking, I had another project in the works. I'd been thinking all day of ways to use the abundance of bananas that Katie had left over from the weekend She had bunches and bunches of the fruit, beginning to become perfectly ripe for baking. With chocolate on my mind, I decided to bake up a loaf of banana chocolate marble bread, inspired by a recipe from Cooking Light. I took it up a healthier notch by adding fiber and protein with flax meal. The original recipe called for yogurt, but I didn't have plain yogurt in my fridge so substituted low fat sour cream and it worked beautifully.  Here's the recipe and a photo, where you can see that my changes were very successful!

Soooo good!

BANANA CHOCOLATE MARBLE BREAD
oven - 350 degrees Farenheit.  
One standard or approximate loaf pan, sprayed or greased

3 very ripe bananas
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, margarine (I used Smart Balance) or canola oil
1/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups whole white or whole wheat)
1/4 cups flax meal (if you have it, I added this to the original recipe)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted in microwave (about 1 minute, stirred)

In large mixer bowl, beat ripe bananas until completely mashed. Add sugar, butter, yogurt, and beat well. Add egg and vanilla.  Beat again.

To this mixture, add mixture of flour, flax meal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Mix fairly well until all dry particles are incorporated.

To one cup of batter, stir in melted chocolate. Spoon banana and chocolate batters alternately into prepared pan. Swirl with knife. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour, fifteen minutes or until loaf tests done (bounces back when pressed in the middle or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). Mine was done in an hour and five minutes.

Cool in pan for 1/2 hour  Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. While still a little warm, wrap in foil or plastic wrap.  This is a tip my sister-in-law Lynn shared years ago - it keeps the loaf very moist!

Enjoy sliced right from the loaf, or enjoy a toasted slice with peanut butter!

AND, here's a photo of Tricia's birthday cake - which ended up with mocha frosting.  Dark chocolate cake with mocha frosting - yum!

Happy Birthday, Tricia!!!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

A Healthy(er) Double-Chocolate Cupcake!

OK, I just had to get back to baking; after all, this is the Adirondack Baker! For those looking for a healthy(er) dessert option, here's a recipe for a double-chocolate cupcake that can provide a sweet ending or snack without undermining your efforts at eating well.

This recipe is one I adapted from Cooking Light. Their version uses all-purpose flour, butter and granulated sugar. I decided to healthify (is that a word?) this recipe to another level by using whole white flour, brown sugar, and canola oil. I chose to melt the additional dark chocolate rather than give it a fine chop, and I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon because Shannon, my nutritionist, tells me that cinnamon is a wonderful spice to add to any diet, that it's great for the bloodstream. It compliments chocolate in a very simpatico way (like my south-of-the-border reference?).

Since I'm still in carb-detox mode, I won't be enjoying these cupcakes just yet, but my family will.  This recipe makes 1 dozen cupcakes, just enough for a big family dinner or for making your co-workers very happy! One or two might make it to my freezer, for that time when I am able to handle an occasional (and healthier) treat!

HEALTHY(ER) DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE
12-cup standard muffin pan, with paper liners
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit

Ingredients:
1 cup whole white flour (I use King Arthur), MINUS two tablespoons (whole white absorbs more moisture than AP flour)
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I use Ghiradelli)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup egg substitute (I used 1 large home-grown egg, and 1 egg white)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz. dark chocolate, melted in microwave

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk (I use Battenkill low-fat milk and 1 tablespoon vinegar - let sit for a minute or two)

Directions:
In medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, mix brown sugar and canola oil very well, until there are no lumps left.  Add egg and beat well (if using real eggs, beat well after each addition).  Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate, and mix very well.  Beat this mixture at high speed for a good minute.

With mixer at lowest speed, add flour mixture alternately with milk, 1/3 each at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Then beat for one more minute.  Scrape bowl to make sure you got it all incorporated.

Fill muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 full, using all the batter for 12 cupcakes.

Bake for 18 minutes or until cupcakes test done (toothpick comes out clean, or cake bounces back when gently pressed in the center).  I always use the "press" test.

Sift a little confectioners sugar over top, or frost as desired.  OR (!) frost with a chocolate ganache, also made healthier with eliminating the cream and melting the chocolate with just a tablespoon of canola oil.

HEALTHY DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

6 oz. dark chocolate, chopped (or use dark chocolate chips - I used Hershey's)
1 tablespoon canola oil

In microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate with canola oil for 1 minute.  Remove (carefully - my bowl got hot) and stir with fork until all the chocolate has melted.  Mine took just one minute, if you need to put it back in the microwave, try another 20 seconds.

With a tablespoon, stream ganache over center of cupcake and let it spread, but not all the way to the edges.  You want some of that pretty cake to show through!

OK, now who gets them?!!!

Mocha Mudslides Milkshake Cocktails (or mocktails)

I was looking through the Cooking Light Complete Cookbook that my friend Kristin so generously gave me last year (!) to find something a little less calorie-laden to offer you today.  Looking at cookbooks when you're hungry can be dangerous (though not as dangerous as grocery shopping when you're hungry). All I've had so far today is an egg sandwich, and I'm thinking "What would I go for right now?"  It's mid-afternoon as I write this, and I'm finding myself craving a good cold beverage with a little bit of oomph.  I found this Mocha Mudslide recipe right there on page 106.  It does contain alcohol in the form of Kahlua, so if you don't want to imbibe, substitute cold coffee for the liqueur. 




Mocha Mudslides

2 cups low-fat chocolate ice cream, softened
1/2 cup 1% low-fat chocolate milk
1/4 cup Kahlua (coffee flavored liqueur) (or cold coffee for alcohol-free)
1 tablespoon grated semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate (about 1/2 ounce)
1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Stir with a wire whisk just until blended.  Serve immediately.  Makes four 1/2-cup servings or two once-cup servings.

Photo credit: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2681296990_3f7fea18a6_m.jpg