Blueberry Lemon Muffin Cakes

I love it when I try a simple recipe in a new format and it works! 

I had made this Blueberry Lemon Loaf a few times before, but this time I wanted to bake some large muffins instead of a loaf. 

And I wanted to use up the fresh blueberries I had - too early in the season so they weren't very sweet. I hoped they would taste better in a recipe than they did on their own. 

The only change I made in this easy loaf recipe was to cut the baking time almost in half. 

The muffins turned out very tasty -- a moist cake-like texture rather than the denser crumb you usually get in muffins, and the berries tasted just sweet enough. 

So here it is.

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Blueberry Lemon Muffin Cakes

Makes 6 large muffins or 1 9X5 loaf.

Mix 1/3 cup melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 Tblsp lemon juice and 2 eggs. 

Combine 1 ½ cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt. 

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with 1/2 to 3/4 cup milk.

(Optional: you could also add ½ cup chopped nuts and 2 tsp lemon zest) 

Fill greased large muffin cups fairly full. You can sprinkle the filled muffin cups with sanding sugar or brown sugar before baking, or use a glaze on the baked muffins, below.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes (or bake in a greased loaf pan for 60 minutes.)

Optional glaze: mix ¼ cup icing sugar and 2 tblsp lemon juice. Drizzle over muffins or loaf.

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Absolutely Excellent Sour Cream Banana Bread

I seem to spend my life trying out new Banana Bread recipes -- here's the one I tried yesterday that I will definitely keep. 

I was searching for a recipe that would use up some of the sour cream I had and luckily I found this one -- a simple list of ingredients that came together easily, and cooked up beautifully -- the loaf cooked all the way through, not drying out on the edges while leaving a gooey soft spot in the middle, as my loaf cakes are wont to do. This time I also used a length of parchment paper to line the pan so I could lift the loaf out easily.

Here is the recipe:

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Absolutely Excellent Sour Cream Banana Bread 

In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup white sugar with 1/2 cup oil. 

I let this mixture sit for a few minutes while I got the rest of the ingredients prepped. 

Add add 2 eggs, 1 cup mashed banana, ½ cup sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla and mix until smooth 

Add 1½ cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt, and stir just until mixed. 

Line a greased loaf pan with greased parchment paper and pour the banana bread mixture into the pan.

Sprinkle sanding sugar or brown sugar onto the top. 

Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. 

Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack. 

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Credits: I found this recipe for Sour Cream Banana Bread on Mel's Kitchen Cafe. She credits Leigh Anne Wilkes' "Best Banana Bread" recipe. 

Changes: I didn't substitute or add anything when I baked this recipe yesterday, because I wanted to see how the basic recipe would turn out. But the ladies mentioned these possibilities and next time I'll try some of these ideas: 

Variations: Leigh Anne says it is possible to use melted butter instead of oil, and Greek Yoghurt for the sour cream. Mel says its OK to substitute buttermilk for the sour cream, and says you can use up to 50% whole wheat flour. To reduce the oil and sugar, she uses applesauce for up to half of the oil, and she decreases the sugar to ¾ cup (especially if using very ripe bananas). She often doubles the recipe to make two loaves (which is what I did yesterday, too) because it freezes great. 

Additions: The ladies say you can add a cup of chopped walnuts, or a cup chocolate chips plus a tsp of cinnamon with the flour. 

Update - a note about pans: I used my two 8 X 4 pyrex loaf pans for my double batch, though the recipe called for a 9 X 5 pan. The smaller pans worked fine.

FYI, I also sometimes cook my loaf-pan recipes in my 8 X 8 cake pan so I can serve them as a cake dessert with fruit, ice cream or whipped cream (reduce the cooking time a little).