Tuesday, August 01, 2006

So freakin' good!



Whole Wheat Blueberry Kuchen
Have Your Cake And Eat It, Too Copyright 1993

butter-flavor no stick cooking spray I used non-flavored canola spray oil
1 large egg
½ cup skim milk I used 'Better 'n Skim'
3 tablespoons canola or safflower oil I used canola
½ cup nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt I used lowfat, Banilla flavor and added a few drops of vanilla extract
1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
1 cup unsifted whole wheat pastry flour
3 tablespoons toasted whole wheat germ
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries, picked over, rinsed, and gently dried on paper towels, or frozen (unthawed) whole unsweetened berries I used fresh

Topping:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts (optional) I omitted these

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees F. Coat the baking pan (8x8 or 9x9) with cooking spray. (I used an 8x8 pan.)
2. In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, oil and yogurt. Whisk to blend. Set a strainer on top of the bowl and add all the dry ingredients. With a spoon, stir and sift them onto the liquid mixture. Stir just to blend; do not overbeat. Stir in the berries. Turn the batter into the prepared pan.
3. To prepare the topping, stir the sugar, cinnamon, and nuts together. Sprinkle on top of the batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (40 to 45 with frozen fruit), or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve warm, or slice the squares crosswise in half and toast before serving. I stored this in the fridge since we're having a heat wave. I think slicing and toasting it would be difficult while this is fresh.

Makes 9 servings. Per serving (with nuts): 248 cal, 7 g pro, 7 g fat, 42 g carbs, 303 mg sodium, 24 mg cholesterol
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This was just one of those recipes that really impressed me. I was reminded of something but I'm not sure what. Blueberry pie? Maybe a great blueberry muffin out of my past? All I know is that I found this to be heavenly. It was so moist and tender and the blueberries were bursting with flavor. I could have eaten the entire pan of these in one day, if it wasn't for those pesky calorie thingies. I'm definitely going to make this again and experiment with other fruits. It would probably be quite good without any fruit.

I didn't want to make another cake or muffin with the rest of my blueberries, but I just couldn't come up with a better idea. I'm not too excited about blueberries in savory recipes and I need my sweets to be practical - they have to be able to sit around for a few days or be frozen. I need something I can take to work. I didn't want anything too decadent. So I kept coming back to breads and muffins. This recipe was perfect - I had everything I needed to make it. I had some Stonyfield Banilla yogurt that I needed to use up - the banana flavor in that wasn't enough to show up in the final product (that probably wouldn't be bad though). Just in case, I added a couple of drops of vanilla extract to the recipe. I wouldn't suggest substituting regular whole wheat flour for the whole wheat pastry flour since I think you would lose some of the tenderness of this cake by doing so.

Sorry the photo isn't that great but I had already tasted it and I didn't have the patience to get a good shot before diving into it again.

So, another blueberry submission for Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays. Blueberries are such a nutritional powerhouse, you can't use too many of them.

Question of the Day: Are you as dumbfounded as I am that it's August already? Are you enjoying your summer?

4 comments:

Heather said...

I honestly, cannot believe it is August either. However, I think that July lasted rather long so I don't know what that means.

Anonymous said...

Time always goes too fast when you get to be my age, so this summer did seem to go fast. It was enjoyable in that my daughter and granddaughters have been here. The down side has been the move looming over us (no deadline, so my packing has been sporatic).

Jan

Unknown said...

I am HATING that it is August. That means I start back to school in exactly 1 WEEK! This is too soon for me. BUT it means I only have 10 more months in the classroom, then I get to start really learning how to be a doctor...working with patients! I did enjoy my summer, as I worked in a pediatric clinic. It was great!

Chez Megane said...

I found your blog via Sweetnicks roundup and I'm so glad I did! This blueberry kuchen looks great! I've been craving something just like this! Thanks! And, yeah, I can't believe it's August already.