Blueberry Granola Loaf Cake

Hi there. I’m excited to share some news with you! I’ve been making granola on repeat all through the pandemic. It tastes really good so I had an idea a few months back to package and sell it (locally, at least for now). I set up a page here on Pixels + Crumbs with more info on Good Day Granola. I’m looking to be a vendor at some of Portland farmer’s markets over the next few months and I’ll be updating that page as things progress. I was at a Maker’s market last weekend and I managed to sell quite a few bags of granola. I had a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed the whole process from recipe development, branding and packaging to being a vendor. It was also great to be around people. I’m fully vaccinated at this point and it feels so liberating! I know it’s not 100% guarantee but it gives me peace of mind. Once I can bake in a commercial kitchen I’ll be able to sell online and I’ll be sure to let you know.

So moving on to this Blueberry Granola Loaf Cake. It’s similar to the Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake I made way back in the beginning of this blog. Here I used sour cream because I accidentally bought too much and had to use it. But you could use yogurt if that’s what you prefer. And the topping is granola! It works great on top of the cake and makes it a little more breakfasty.

One more thing, my cake took 1 hour and 20 minutes to thoroughly bake! Not sure why it took that long, it may have been the loaf pan I used, it’s cast-iron and really not the best for baking cakes like this, but I think it looks cute for the photos, lol, so I would recommend testing the center of the cake 50-60 minutes and take it from there. It might need to go longer. Enjoy!

Blueberry Granola Loaf Cake 

• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 cup sour cream

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup canola oil

• 1 cup blueberries

• 1 cup granola

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease loaf pan, line the bottom and longer sides with parchment paper and grease the paper with butter.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl whisk the yogurt, sugar eggs, lemon zest and vanilla until well combined. 

Mix the flour mixture into the liquid mixture.

Fold in the oil with a rubber spatula until thoroughly mixed then fold in the blueberries.

Pour the batter in the the pan, top with granola and bake for 1 hour, checking at the 50 minute mark until toothpick comes out clean in center.

Remove from oven to baking rack and cool for about 10 minutes leaving it in the pan, remove cake from pan with the parchment handles and let cool another 10 minutes or so until just warm.

Homemade Greek Yogurt

I’ve been wanting to get this Homemade Greek Yogurt up on the blog for a while now as I’ve been making it on repeat for the past few months, along with this granola and focaccia, all three are so good, and so much better than store bought. They’re all made with basic ingredients that you would have on hand. This yogurt is very easy to make with an Instant Pot, it just takes time. Your hands-on time is maybe 30 minutes total, but beginning to end it takes about 12 hours.

As for milk, I’ve been buying organic whole milk. I get organic because it lasts much longer in the refrigerator. The days of running out to the store for a half-gallon of milk are over for now, so I always try to have an extra tucked in the back of the refrigerator. 

The first time you make this you’ll have to keep an eye on the cool down part until you know how fast your yogurt is cooling. I use an ice bath and it takes 15 minutes. If you don’t use an ice bath it can take an hour or longer to cool down, and you will have to keep checking the temperature over and over again. So for me it’s easier to do an ice bath and set a timer and be done with it.

I generally start this in the evening so that it can incubate overnight. It’s nice to wake up in the morning and have something done! I do that with the Focaccia as well, I let it rise overnight and bake it in the morning.

The only thing that makes “Greek yogurt” different from regular yogurt is that it’s strained (notes in recipe). It’s richer and creamier. It takes a little more time, but it’s worth it. 

Homemade Greek Yogurt

• 1/2 gallon of whole milk (8 cups)

• 2 tablespoons yogurt 

Essential Equipment

• Instant Pot

• Thermometer

• Cheesecloth

• Whisk

Boil

Pour the milk into the Instant Pot, cover the pot (the float valve position won’t matter) and set to yogurt, then press adjust (boil should appear in the digital display), it will take about 20-25 minutes to finish. When it’s done remove the pot and turn off the Instant pot. 

Cool down

You want to cool it down to 115°F. An ice bath helps speed up the process, without an ice bath it may take an hour or so, but what I do is put the instant pot in a 9x13 glass pyrex baking pan, load it up with ice, and it cools down in about 15 minutes. You’re aiming for a temp between 110°-115°.

Once it reaches that temp remove it from the ice bath immediately and place it on a towel, drying the bottom of the pot. 

Skim

Skim off the top skin and discard it.

Add Yogurt

Whisk in 2 tablespoons yogurt into the milk so it’s well combined.

9 hour incubation

Place the pot back into the Instant Pot, place your cover on and set to Yogurt. This defaults to 8 hours, I’ve found better results after 9 hours but it can be done in as little as 8 hours. Use the + button to increase the time (you can even go longer if you want, up to 12 hours).

Ready to strain

When the timer goes off, remove the pot. At this point you can refrigerate it and eat it as regular yogurt. But I highly recommend taking the next step and straining it, The texture is so much better!

Set out a large bowl or pot with a strainer over it (set it so there is space between the bottoms and it can strain properly), then put a large piece of cheese cloth over the strainer. Scoop out the yogurt into the cheesecloth. Fold the ends of the cheesecloth over the yogurt to cover. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or two. The longer you strain the thicker the yogurt will be. I really like the texture after an hour or a bit longer. I’ve let it strain for two hours and it was almost too thick, but you might like it that way! I would experiment with different strain times to see what you like best. Once it’s strained scoop out the yogurt into a container, whisk it until smooth and refrigerate, it will last a good 2+ weeks in the refrigerator. You can discard the whey (the liquid strained out) or you can keep in the refrigerator and use this to make more yogurt. I haven’t tried that but I read that it works just as well.

Raspberry Pistachio Oat Scones

I haven’t made scones in a long long time. There are a couple recipes here in the archives but I haven’t made them like this before. Last week I saw Teresa posted this recipe on Instagram and it sounded really good. Plus I still have raspberries in the freezer from last summer’s harvest! I had to rinse and defrost them so they basically mushed into the batter, but not a big deal as they really tasted great. Two things I like about this recipe. 1. there is no added sugar other than maple syrup, and 2. I really like the texture of the oats in the scones. This recipe was also different in that you have sort of a shaggy loose dough, so you form it in a circle on your baking sheet, then pre-cut the slices (but not separating them), bake, then slice them apart afterward. The recipe was super easy and like I said I think it tastes great, these are not the dried out scones of yesteryear. You know what I mean? Like the ones Larry David prefers? Have you been watching the most recent Curb Your Enthusiasm? I’m trying to find a link to the scone scene, but all I can find is this part where he wants to open a spite store next door to Mocha Joe’s after being banned from there, and he thinks he knows what is the BEST scone to serve at his new spite cafe. Anyway it’s pretty funny because his scones are dry as the Sahara and nobody likes them. I promise these are not dry scones. Also, there’s an optional glaze I’ve included below in the recipe, I didn’t use it and kinda like this barely-sweet scone. However if you’re wanting something sweeter be sure to top them with the glaze. Enjoy!

Raspberry Pistachio Oat Scones

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 cup oats

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 4 tablespoons butter, softened almost melted

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 cup whole milk greek yogurt

• 1 cup raspberries

• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

In a large bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, egg, and whole milk yogurt.

Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Gently fold in raspberries and pistachios. They will get a bit smushed. (mine did a lot!)

Place batter on top and round it into a disk shape. Batter will be sticky. Cut into 6-8 pieces (depending on the size of scone you want, I did 6) so when they come out of the oven you can run the knife through again to fully separate. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the sheet half-way through to ensure even cooking. When done, they should be slightly firm. Finish cutting and enjoy! (They can keep on the counter, covered, for one day, but I recommend refrigerating any more than that because of the fresh fruit)

Glaze (optional)

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 4-5 tablespoons milk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth and drizzle over cooled scones.

Adapted from @aloveafare

The 7-Minute Egg

When it comes to boiling eggs, minutes really matter. I only recently discovered this. My whole life I’ve been starting them in cold water, bring to a boil, cook for an unknown amount of time, which resulted in a hard-boiled egg that was sometimes ok. But then I was watching Salt Fat Acid Heat recently and Samin mentioned the 7-minute egg, and it looked really good, not as runny as soft boiled but not hard boiled either. You start the eggs in boiling water. This makes an enormous difference. Not only the quality of the yolk, but the texture of the white, it’s fully cooked and kinda velvety, not rubbery which I thought all boiled eggs were just like that. And after 7 minutes you put them in an ice bath for a few minutes. Since I’ve been using this method the shell comes off the egg perfectly, no more moon craters of the past. The cooking times range from 6-12 minutes, with 12 minutes being hard boiled, everyone finds their favorite somewhere in-between, but I’m sold on 7-minutes. And, I made another video! If you like you can follow my Youtube channel here and Vimeo here. 

Sous Vide Egg Bites

“Oh no! Not another kitchen gadget!” That was my response when Jeff suggested we get a Sous Vide. But the more I read about it the more I wanted it. The Egg Bites were fun and easy to make, but where the Sous Vide really excels is for cooking chicken breasts. Because of the precise temperature control the meat will cook remarkably consistent. And it’s also good for cooking steak followed by a quick sear. When I was researching what to make with the Sous Vide I came across this recipe for Egg Bites, apparently made popular by Starbucks. This recipe is for 6 servings, so you can make ahead, refrigerate and reheat them. It looks a bit like a science-lab, and with food sealed you can’t smell anything cooking so it tends to not feel like cooking at all. But the results are impressive and it’s been a good addition to our kitchen. One note on the jars, you want to make sure they are loosely secured so a little air can release (or they will explode!), when you tighten the lid, loosen it then tighten lightly with two fingers. If the jars float and will not stay on the bottom you will have to fix the lids, once they are sealed properly you will see some air bubbles rising and they will stay on the bottom of your container. The final result is a perfectly creamy cooked egg dish, similar to baked eggs, but not one part of it is overcooked. 

Oh and I just came across this article about Sous Vide which is pretty silly about men trying to impress women with their mad cooking skills, more interesting comments on David Lebovitz Facebook post here, it’s not for everyone or for every type of cooking, but it really is amazing for certain things like meat. And Egg Bites too!

Sous Vide Egg Bites

• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 2 strips of bacon cooked, chopped
• 1/4 cup Oven-dried tomatoes
• Fresh basil (or any herb you like)
• 6 four-ounce mason jars

Preheat water to 172°F

Butter mason jars and set aside. In a blender mix eggs and cream until combined. Use any variation of ingredients you like, I made three using cheese, oven dried tomatoes, basil, and three with Gruyere and bacon.

Place bacon, herbs, cheese in bottom of jars, pour egg mixture in each jar, top with a bit more cheese, loosely secure lids on jars, submerge in water (if the jars float the lids are on too tight, adjust and they should remain on bottom of container releasing air bubbles), cook for 90 minutes, remove from jars and serve or place in refrigerator for up to 1 week. 

Adapted from Anova