Blueberry Poppy Seed Cake

I DID IT! Yesterday I woke up at 4:45am to get ready for my first race! I was so excited and so nervous when I woke up I couldn’t really eat, but I forced myself too. Then I quickly got ready, picked up my friend Lauren, and headed to ASU to meet up with about 30,000 other runners to run 4.2 miles in honor of Pat Tillman. Let me tell you this: IT WAS AWESOME. My official time was 49:23, that’s about an 11:46 mile – my fastest time yet! My friends Lauren and Charles ran with me too.

We tried to stay together, but eventually all got separated. When I started running by myself I started to talk to my feet (I needed something to get my mind off how bad my knees hurt). I just kept telling them “You can do this!” and “Come on feet! Take me places!” A little bit crazy? Yes. But did it help? Yes. I also liked running in an actual race because having people pass me pushed me to run faster so that I could pass someone else. I think that’s why my time was faster than it normal is. All I know is that It was the best feeling in the world to cross the finish line and feel SO ACCOMPLISHED. My knees were killing, my body was dehydrated, my feet wanted me to sit down, but for the first 10 seconds after I crossed the finished line none of that matter because I accomplished my goal! GO ME!

So to reward myself for my awesome run yesterday I decided to make this oh so delicious blueberry poppy seed cake and eat TWO pieces as soon as it was done! This recipe is originally from Joy the Baker, but I adapted it slightly. I cut out some of the oil and added some Greek yogurt. Instead of making a blueberry glaze, I added the blueberries into the actual cake and then made a lemon glaze on top. SERIOUSLY. LEMON AND BLUEBERRY ARE THE BEST FLAVOR COMBINATION EVER. It’s my favorite. It should be yours too. I also think you should get your butts in the kitchen and make this recipe as soon as you are done reading my post! Deal? Deal.

(Beware I got a little picture happy with this recipe.)

Blueberry Poppy Seed Cake
(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup canola oil
1/3 cup Greek yogurt*
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 – 2 ½ cups fresh, or frozen, blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F**. Grease and flour a ten inch bundt cake pan. Then, in a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Set Aside

In a medium bowl combine oil, Greek yogurt, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until there are no lumps in the batter.

Then fold in poppy seeds.

Then fold in blueberries.

Bake 325F for 1hr 15 mins – 1hr 25mins***. Let cool completely in bundt cake pan.

Once cooled, release cake from pan by flipping it over. Then glaze the cake with a mix of powdered sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice). THEN DEVOUR!

Notes:
*You can use plain yogurt if you like, I just prefer Greek yogurt. You could even use the original 1 1/3 cup canola oil if that is all you have
**&*** The original recipe says the cake should be baked at 325 fro 35-45 minutes. Mine took a lot longer than that. I don’t know if it was because of the Greek yogurt, the frozen blueberries, or just because I was too excited to keep the oven door shut. So your cooking time may very. Also, trying baking the cake at 350 for a less amount of time. Let me know what worked best for you!

Lemon Sunshine Cookies

Here in Phoenix the weather has been BEAUTIFUL ( with the exception of this past weekend. There was rain. Dark clouds. And a lot of wind. - I’m not the biggest fan of wind. I hate wind). The highs have been in the 70s, the sky is the PERFECT spring time blue, the clouds are extra fluffy - cotton ball like, and the grass is the prettiest color green. There's a still in the morning that let's you know it is going to be a beautiful day. I LOVE this time of year. It's the perfect time to go hiking or lay in your back yard and read a book under the shade of tree. It's the perfect time of year to roll your windows down, open up that sun roof, and blare the Beatles – singing at the top of your lungs is a must. Ahhh. I love it. I think more than anything I love the anticipation for summer. The days are getting longer, and the smell of summer is just lingering in the afternoons.


I feel like the perfect cookies to eat during this time of year are these lemon cookies I adapted from Joy the Baker's recipe for Black and White cookies. I am obsessed with lemon in baked goods. It brightens anything up and makes everything taste so delicious. These cookies help add a little bit of sunshine to my day. The batter is more like a cake batter than a cookie batter, and the result is this delicious moist thick cookie. Sounds good, right? Well it is. Then it get’s topped with this freaking awesome lemon glaze that takes the cookie from delicious to “holy moley, I can’t stop eating these things!” Yeah. They’re that good. Well that’s what I think… I guess you’ll just have to make them to make that decision for yourself! :)

Side Note: Have you seen (500) Days of Summer? Have you? Well if you haven't the second thing you should (the first obviously being bake these cookies!) is rent it! Then you MUST download the soundtrack. It will change your life. I promise you this (kind of like these cookies will). Finally, I ran 1.5 miles last night! I know it's not much, but I feel accomplished. :)

Sorry for the last minute rambling, now to the cookies!

Lemon Sunshine Cookies:
(Adapted from Joy the Baker's Black and White Cookies)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups well shaken buttermilk
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon extract (or fresh lemon juice)
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl, combine the buttermilk, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon zest; set aside.


Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure they are well incorporated into the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, mix in the dry and wet mixtures, alternating batches ; starting with the dry and ending with the dry (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry). Mix until smooth.


Using a large cookie scoop, or ¼ cup, spoon batter about two inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. After batter is scooped on to a cookie sheet, take the back of a spoon and spread out the batter; this will help the cookies to cook evenly and to make sure they aren't so puffy.


Bake until the cookies are puffed and the tops are a pale golden brown, between 15 – 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

The Glaze:
(Adapted from Joy the Baker's Black and White Cookie Recipe)

Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon warm water
1 table spoon lemon juice, heated up

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon extract, corn syrup, water, and lemon juice until smooth. Turn over cooled cookies so the bottoms are facing up. Spread the cookie with glaze, and let set. Then enjoy!