Sweetie Pie

Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

This recipe comes from the book Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard and is a common in France. The author credits Clotilde Dusoulier of the blog Chocolate & Zucchini for this recipe which is adapted for the American kitchen.  This cake is not too sweet, wonderfully moist, and perfect for breakfast the day after you bake it.

Yogurt Cake (Gateau au Yaourt)

1 cup plain yogurt:  The recipe calls for whole milk yogurt, I used 2% greek because that's what I had in the                                     fridge.  I used one 7 oz container and called it a cup.

1 cup sugar

Large pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

2 eggs

1 2/3 cups flour  

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

zest of one orange (or lemon)

1 heaping cup of blueberries (or any other fruit you choose)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil a 10 inch round cake pan and line it with parchment paper.

Combine the yogurt, sugar, salt and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the oil slowly, whisking to combine.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each one in. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the wet ingredients and whisk to combine.  Stir in the orange zest.

Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and spread the fruit on top.  Bake in the center rack for 45 minutes, until golden brown and risen in the center.  A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let the cake cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.  This is a perfect unfussy dessert or snack for a weekday.  As you may have noticed it's very adaptable, so use whatever fruit you like, or none at all.

Almond Cranberry Muffins

The downside of using almond flour for baking muffins is that the texture is more coarse than with wheat flour.  The upside is that they are gluten free (if that's what you're into) and very high in protien.  These muffins are a nice golden brown with bright lemon flavor and tart cranberries.  They are great for breakfast or a snack; the kiddo gobbles them up with gusto.

Almond Cranberry Muffins

recipe slightly altered from Elana's Pantry (check out her blog for lots of other great recipes)

2 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1/4 cup oil

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

zest and juice of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 12 cup muffin pan.

Combine the eggs, sugar, oil, lemon zest and juice and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and stir, then fold in the cranberries.  If you are using frozen cranberries, defrost them by rinsing in hot water.  The batter will be very wet and look different from most of the muffin batters you may be used to.  Fear not.  Divide into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  A toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin should come out clean when they are done.  These muffins will not puff up and be as light and airy as others, but they will be super moist and very tasty. 

Fresh Bread

Is there anything so mouthwatering as fresh bread slathered with butter?  Or how about a tomato sandwich made with crusty, chewy bread and drizzled with olive oil?
Making bread at home can be so intimidating that many people never venture to try it.  For years I never made anything that required yeast.  If a recipe needed yeast, it was categorically rejected along with recipes where eggs had to be separated or a food processor was required.  I didn't want to be bothered with waiting for something to rise was unsure about the whole process of buying, storing and using yeast. 
Actually, it can be found in any grocery store and stored a very long time in the refrigerator.  It has also been a pleasant surprise to learn that recipes which require yeast detail how to make the product just like any other recipe.  It's really not mysterious at all. The first time I made this bread I was very disappointed to say the least.  The dough is very wet, and I used way too much flour transferring it to the oven which made an ugly mess.  I had to cut off all the crust, which was just fine with my son who never eats the crust anyway, but it bothered me because I love a good crust.  However, I tried again a few days later and had better results.  I have now made this recipe 4 times and am persuaded that it's strengths outweigh its shortcomings.  This bread recipe has two major strengths.  The first is that the dough doesn't require kneading which means it also doesn't require a heavy duty mixer or dough hook.  The second outstanding feature is that this bread has superior flavor because it utilizes a long, slow rise.  If you want top notch flavor in your bread, it needs to rise slowly so that the flavors can develop.  This bread uses a minuscule amount of yeast, but over time it raises the dough and fills the kitchen with a wonderful homey smell.  This long, slow fermentation also gives the finished bread those distinctively uneven holes and that toothsome texture and requires no effort from the baker.

The recipe was developed by Jim Lahey and can be found here.  The basic formula is to mix up the dough the day before you want to bake bread. The dough should be wet enough to stir with a sturdy spoon.  This will sit and do its mysterious fermentation overnight so that you have a fragrant dough to work with the next day.

The recipe instructs you to use a cloth for letting the dough rise, but I found parchment paper easier to work with and clean up. You can see in these three photographs the transition from a blob of dough, to a nice firm ball of dough, to a fully risen dough ready for baking.  You can tell it's ready to bake when a poke with the finger doesn't spring back.


For baking, it's important to heat the pot and lid you're using as you preheat the oven.  The purpose of the lid is to seal in the moisture from that sticky dough, creating steam inside the pot.  Professional bread bakers use steam injection ovens to get this effect because it produces exceptional crust and allows the dough to expand more fully before it dries out and hardens.  I also cut an X in the top of the last dough I made before putting the lid on and baking it which yielded a prettier loaf.  I like to eat pretty food.

This is home made bread for the people.  Super duper simple and straightforward, this recipe requires nothing more than flour, water, yeast and salt.  You'll also need to leave it unattended for long periods of time, letting the yeast do the work while you get on with your day.  If you're still a little unsure or if you just want more information, you can see a video of the whole process with the baker on Martha Stewart's website.  The video is on the left. Happy Baking!