Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish ~ By Caroline



 
I've recently been making this delicious recipe for breakfast the last couple weekends!  They are so good and everyone LOVES them!! :-)  It takes some planning ahead, and some extra time and effort to make the dough, but it's DEFINITELY worth it!  If you love Danishes, then these will be right up your alley. ;-)

 

This recipe makes two braids: enough for a medium size family and/or company. I doubled the recipe for my family and it was the perfect amount!

 

So without further ado...Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water, 105F-115F degrees
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 standard package)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, at room temperature*
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 and 1/2 cups (315g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 14 Tablespoons (210g) unsalted butter, cold

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk

Cream Cheese Filling 

• 8oz (224g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds (optional) 

Blueberry Sauce

• 1 c. Frozen or fresh blueberries
• 2 TB. Sugar
• 1 Tb Corn Starch
• 1 TB. Lemon juice
• 2 TB Water 

Vanilla Glaze 

• 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon (15ml) heavy cream (or milk)

Directions for the Dough:

1. Whisk the yeast and warm water together in a large bowl. Allow to sit for 3 minutes until foamy. Add milk, egg, granulated sugar, and salt. Once these wet ingredients are mixed together, set the bowl aside and make your butter/flour mixture.
2. Cut butter into 1/4 inch slices and add to a food processor or blender. Top with flour. Pulse the mixture 10-12 times, until butter is fairly crumbled.
3. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Very gently fold the two mixtures together. Do not be angry with the dough! You want to be very, very, very gentle when you are folding the two together. Fold *just until* the dry ingredients are moistened. The butter must remain in pieces, which creates a flaky pastry. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough up tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. After 4-12 hours, take the dough out of the refrigerator to begin the "rolling and folding" process. Flour a work surface. The dough will be sticky, so make sure you have flour nearby as you roll and fold. Using the palm of your hands, gently flatten the dough into a small square.  From there, roll out into a 15 inch long rectangle using your rolling pin. You may have to continue to lightly flour the counter as you are rolling. Fold the dough together as if it were a business letter. And roll it out into a 15 inch long rectangle again. Then, fold again into a business letter. You'll repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times.
5. Fold the dough up tightly, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
6. After at least 30 minutes, take the dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half. Wrap 1 half up and keep chilled as you work with the first half. Roll out your dough to make a 12x6 inch rectangle. I rolled this dough out onto a floured work surface, but I suggest you roll it out onto a lined baking sheet. (Lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.) It is tough to transfer the braided dough from the counter to the baking sheet, unless you are very careful!
7. Cut off two corners of the dough and then two small triangles at the other end.
8. Cut slanting strips (3/4 inch - 1 inch each) along both sides. I used a very sharp knife, but a pastry wheel or pizza cutter will work just fine. I find this video VERY helpful. 

Directions for Filling, Baking, and Icing

1. Make the cream cheese filling: in a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and egg yolk together on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. 
2. Meanwhile add all the blueberry sauce ingredients together in a saucepan, and cook until thick and bubbly. Blueberry sauce should be very thick.
3. Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese filling down the length of the center of the strip. Spread 1/2 of the blueberry sauce on top of that by dropping small spoonful's over the cream cheese filling. 
4. Fold the strips one by one over each other until you reach the bottom, then fold the bottom end up to "seal" the filling in and allow the braid to rest for 15-20 minutes as you preheat your oven. Repeat with the second half of the dough and the rest of the filling.
5. Preheat oven to 400F. Beat the egg wash ingredients together. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. There will be enough egg wash for both braids. The egg wash gives your pastry that beautiful sheen.
6. Bake each braid for 15-16 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure to rotate the pan at least two times to ensure the braid is browning evenly.
7. Meanwhile, wisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth.
8. Remove the braids from the oven. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Drizzle with glaze, slice, and enjoy!

 

For more information as well as step by step pictures, I would highly recommend you visit the source of this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/16/blueberries-n-cream-danish-braid/

Strawberry Cream Crepes

This very rich and sweet breakfast recipe has been a long-time family favorite.  A big giant batch is normally cooked in the Bowes house on special occasions such as birthdays, holidays, and sometimes even for visiting friends and family.  It could easily double as dessert, too!

Batter:

1 1/2 C milk

3 eggs

2TB melted butter

1/2 tsp. lemon extract

1 1/4 C flour

2 TB sugar

1/8 tsp. salt 

Combine dry and wet ingredients separately and then mix them together.  Pour about a 2/3 c of batter onto a heated, greased, frying pan and cook until the top is "dry."  (Set your burner on a medium-high setting.)  Layer crepes between wax paper or fill and serve immediately because they will all stick together!

 

Filling:

1 C. whipping cream, whipped (fold into the following ingredients)

 8oz softened cream cheese

2 C. powdered sugar

1 tps. vanilla

Topping:

Berry sauce of any sort!  I like to mix about 3c fresh raspberries and blueberries with 1/4 c sugar, bring to a boil for 5 minutes.  Ready to serve!

You can also add a dollop of whipped cream to the top, if you feel like over-indulging :-)

Blueberry Bars - By Valerie

 In honor of Father's Day, and our wonderful Daddy who LOVES blueberries,

we decided to post one of our favorite blueberry recipes!

We make these bars often, because they are so delicious, easy and fairly nutritious!  :-)

The original recipe calls for a can of blueberry pie filling,

but we like to make the filling from scratch with frozen Mossyrock blueberries!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Recipe Ingredients: (We one and half this recipe so that we can make a 13 X 9 size pan)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 (21-ounce) can blueberry pie filling (See recipe below for our homemade recipe.)

Cooking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Mix all ingredients and cut in butter.  Reserve 2 cups of crumb mixture for topping.
3. Press the remaining mixture into an ungreased 9-inch baking dish. Bake crust for 5 minutes; remove and add blueberry pie filling into the pan. Top with the reserved crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is crisp. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Makes 16 bars.
Source:  CooksRecipes.com

Blueberry filling Recipe (We times this by 8 for a 13 X 9 pan ;-)

1 cup blueberries
2 Tb. sugar
1 tsp. corn starch
1 Tb. lemon juice
2 Tb. water

Put all ingredients in a medium pot.  Bring to a simmer and cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until blueberries are soft and syrupy. 

Stuffed French Toast ~ by Victoria

Our family has enjoyed a similar recipe (Overnight Stuffed French Toast) for years. We recently found this new recipe on a sweet family's blog that made it for the mom for Mother's Day! This recipe suggests adding fresh fruit to the filling, and they are grilled in the morning instead of soaked overnight and then baked in the morning. Everything else is just about the same. So, we tried making the new version today.  Though we enjoyed the addition of the fresh fruit in the filling, we couldn't decide if there was much of a difference in the way it tasted otherwise. Except that Daddy did say he LOVED the strong cinnamon taste in this new recipe! The overnight version is definitely a lot easier to just stick in the oven in the morning! Although, we weren't sure if we added fresh fruit in the overnight recipe if it would get soggy with soaking overnight and then getting baked? And most often, we enjoy making a fresh fruit topping to use instead of maple syrup.

 

In any case, either version is absolutely delicious! We decided to add both recipes since we couldn't decide which one we liked better. (Maybe the Overnight Stuffed French Toast does has an extra advantage with being more convenient in the morning.  ;-) 

 

(For our large family, we used three French loaves, and quadrupled the filling! ;-)

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 3 Tablespoons Any Flavor Fruit Spread (you can also use jelly, jam, and/or fresh fruit)
• ½ packages Cream Cheese (4 oz), at room temperature
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• ½ cups Skim Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

Preparation Instructions

Heat skillet or electric griddle to 325 to 350 degrees.

Cut french bread into 2-3 inch wide slices. Then, with a paring knife, go back and cut halfway into each slice, in the center, creating a ‘pocket’ that your fruit mixture can be stuffed into.

In a bowl, place the room temperature cream cheese and three tablespoons of fruit spread of your choice. Combine well. (Once these two things were combined, we also added our fruit here.) 

In a separate bowl, break 2 eggs; add cinnamon and milk and combine well.
Now, take fruit mixture and stuff into the ‘pockets’ of your french bread slices. Place on a baking sheet.

When done stuffing each piece of bread, completely coat each piece in egg mixture. Make sure all sides are covered. Do all pieces before starting to fry.

Put 2 tbsp of butter into a hot skillet and melt completely. Add all of the bread to the skillet and cook roughly about 3-6 minutes on each side, until it reaches a nice golden brown. You want to make sure the cream cheese mixture heats through.

When done cooking, serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Source:  http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2010/05/a-tasty-recipe-stuffed-french-toast/


OVERNIGHT STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

2 3-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons orange marmalade or apricot preserves (we use whatever jam we have on hand ;-)
1 teaspoon finely chopped crystallized ginger (hmmm . . . sounds nice, but we don't have this on hand, therefore don't use ;-)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (We would now add lots of cinnamon too, to satisfy Daddy's liking!)
1/4 cup chopped almonds (we omit these, too, as we aren't big nut fans ;-)
6 1 1/2 inch slices French bread
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Generously grease a 3-quart rectangular baking dish; set aside.  In a small bowl beat together cream cheese, marmalade, ginger, and nutmeg.  Stir in the almonds.   Cut a pocket in the top crust of each bread slice.  Divide cream cheese mixture evenly among pockets.  Place bread slices in prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl beat together the eggs, milk, and vanilla;  slowly pour the egg mixture over bread slices, covering all the tops.  Cover and chill overnight.

Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven 30 to 35 minutes or until golden. 

Source:  12th Edition New Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, 2002.

Beau's Blueberry Bundt Cake

We usually like to make things from scratch as much as possible,

but sometimes when we need to make a quick and easy dessert, 

this recipe comes in handy!  And our Daddy LOVES blueberries,

so this makes a perfect dessert for our family to enjoy and share with others. 

(The blueberries make it somewhat healthy, right?)

 

 

1 box yellow cake mix

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup corn oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1  1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (NOT ENOUGH in our opinion!  We add 3 cups!)

 

Glaze: 

 

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

(We just use 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 TB. milk and 1/2 tsp. vanilla, but usually double or triple this amount!)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, stir cake mix and sugar.  Add eggs, cream cheese, corn oil and vanilla; beat on low until blended, then beat on medium speed 4 minutes.  Stir in blueberries by hand.  (We coat in flour first, in hopes of them not sinking to bottom.)  Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch bundt pan.  Bake 45-55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from oven; cool in pan 10 minutes.  Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

 

Mix all glaze ingredients; drizzle over cooled cake.

 

Makes 16 servings. 

 

Source:  The Joy of Blueberries, by Theresa Millang, 2003





To Die For Blueberry Muffins ~ by Valerie

Disclaimer:

These are truly delicious, prize-winning muffins!

It has been our family's favorite muffin recipe for a while now!

Daddy and our pastor especially love them as they love blueberries,

and we are blessed to live in a land flowing with this sweet little fruit.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure I would go so far as to agree that they are worth dying for!

So, no need to take their title literally! : -)  



 

For Brielle's birthday party, we substituted raspberries for the blueberries,

and some folks thought they were even more delicious that way!

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 egg

1/3 cup milk 1 cup fresh blueberries (we use frozen, and roll in flour) 1/2 cup white sugar 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup butter, cubed 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2.	Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3.	To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Source:  Allrecipes.com