Double Blueberry Muffins

After you taste this blueberry muffin recipe from Gale Gand's Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, you may not want another. I'm making them just as soon as it cools down here (we're so spoiled... the mercury rarely goes above the mid-80s, even in August).

Double Blueberry Muffins

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place paper liners in a muffin tin.

Cream the butter until smooth with an electric or stand mixer. Add 1 cup of the sugar and mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt.

In a shallow bowl, mash 3/4 cup of the blueberries with a fork. Add to the batter and mix.

With the mixer running on low, add half of the flour, then half of the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Fold in the remaining 1 3/4 cups whole blueberries by hand. Scoop into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the muffins. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Allow muffins to cool in pan 30 minutes before turning out.

Frozen Lemon Cheesecake

What could be more refreshing on a hot summer night than a slice of frozen lemon cheesecake? I found this recipe in one of those little neighborhood papers a year or so ago. For the crust, you could use a graham cracker crust (see below) or the shortbread crust specified. Don't you wonder what this would taste like with orange instead of lemon and an Oreo crust, though?

Frozen Lemon Cheesecake

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
zest of 2 small lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups whipping cream
shortbread crust

Crust

21 shortbread cookies (1 1/2 inches square), finely ground
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth with an electric or stand mixer, about 4 to five minutes, scraping bowl often. Add 1 cup of sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice, continuing to beat until fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Beat whipping cream and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until stiff. Fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour cheesecake into prepared pan. Freeze at least 8 hours before serving. Garnish slices with fresh blueberries or a dollop of lemon curd, if desired.

Remembrances of My Father

Rick Bragg, writing in The Prince of Frogtown, says the author Willie Morris once told him about his father, "There is no place you can go he will not be." That's certainly true for me today... my father's birthday. Reminders of my father, Jim, are everywhere, especially in my kitchen.

My father was a gentleman and scholar, as they say, more than a cook, but I will never forget the little things he did to show he cared.

Because I didn't share his love of soft boiled eggs, he would scramble mine. Once in a while, I can come close to replicating his, cooked in butter with a touch of milk, salt and black pepper, which he always served with perfectly crispy bacon and freshly made Minute Maid orange juice. Since his long illness and passing, I have yet to taste a glass of sweet tea with lemon that even comes close to his, though.

Sometimes, it's a a couple of chocolate-covered graham crackers or bowl of hot cereal... my sisters tell me that before I was born, he would make different kinds so each of my five siblings could have their favorite. Like his mother, he had a sweet tooth... donuts, Hershey bars and ice cream were a must in our house. I still can't have a bowl of Neapolitan, Spumoni, French Vanilla or Cherry Bordeaux without thinking of him. And, I doubt I will ever meet anyone that appreciates a good peanut butter sandwich more than my father.

Years ago, when my mother made something that didn't appeal to either of us (tongue comes to mind), he took me out for a burger and fries at Jon's Drive-In (hopefully still standing in Mount Pleasant, Michigan).

Of course, my father is the reason why I've never made my daughter eat even a single thing she didn't want to. If that's spoiling, then so be it.

Thanks, Dad... you were the gem of the ocean.