Blueberry Bread

My daughters are now in the second week of school...and I'm really loving this new book from Laura Fuentes called The Best Homemade Kids' Lunches on the Planet! It has really given me a lot of new ideas on what to make for their packed lunches. 

On the first day of school, I tried one of the sandwich recipes in the book called Kid's Philly Steak Sandwich. I tweaked it a bit by adding caramelized onions and bell peppers. The result was amazing, and both Clarise and Cherlin loved it!

During the past week, I have tried five other recipes from the book, and I must say that they are all good! Love Laura's easy and healthy ideas! The book has over 200 recipes which are not just for lunch, but for snack and for breakfast as well!

This Blueberry Bread recipe that I'm sharing with you today was from the said book. It's a little different from the blueberry bread recipes I've tried before because of the use of coconut oil as substitute for butter, and yogurt as substitute for milk. I followed the exact recipe except for the amount of blueberries. Instead of the suggested 1½ cups, I just used 1 cup which I think is just the perfect amount. The result was wonderful! It's soft, moist, yummy...and healthier compared to the usual blueberry bread!

Koffiebroodjes (Dutch Coffee Rolls)

It's the 15th of the month, and it's time for this year's first Baking Partners Challenge. Unlike the challenges during the previous year, we only have two recipe choices for this month, both of which are Dutch recipes suggested and tried by Kaveri of Palakad Chamyal. Between the Dutch Apple Tart and Coffee Rolls, I chose to make the latter, the recipe of which was adapted from The Dutch Table. 

Koffiebroodjes or Coffee Rolls are sweet raisin and pudding field pastries that the Dutch love to eat during coffee break. These coffee rolls are covered with a  sweet glaze which can either be made of powdered sugar or apricot jam. I didn't have apricot jam so I used strawberry jam instead. I also didn't have sour cream as called for in the recipe, so I substituted it with cream cheese which I guess made the rolls even yummier! For a more colorful appeal, I used craisins (dried cranberries) instead of raisins. I tell yah, these Koffiebroodjes turned out really good!

I was able to make 30 pcs. from the given amount of ingredients...and guess what, they're all gone by now, considering that I just made them last Monday! Either these are really delicious or my family of 4 are just big eaters! You judge! ;)

Glazed Lemon Bars

The other weekend, we went to a party...and the hubs fell in love with the Glazed Lemon Bars our friend, Christy made. Ryan is a big fan of anything lemon flavored so it wasn't a surprise when he asked me to get the recipe so I can make it for him at home. 

Well, Christy was kind enough to share the recipe which she got from Sweet Anna's. I tried it last Thursday, and that made not just Ryan, but also my eldest daughter (who just like her dad loves lemon flavored goodies) really happy! 

Since we've already tried these lemon bars at the party and I already knew that everything is just perfect for Ryan and Clarise's taste buds, I didn't change a thing in the recipe. The only thing I did differently was to make the batter using a stand mixer instead of doing it manually, and that resulted in a more compact and less airy texture. I also baked it longer (40 mins) because Ryan wants his lemon bars to have brown edges.

These Glazed Lemon Bars are not only delicious...they are also very simple and quick to make. You should try it!