Dr. McClain's Defense

Last week a classmate and friend of Nate defended his thesis.  I don't think I need to say this but defending is a huge deal; the culmination of all your hard work and sacrifice and hopefully an end to some of the most terrible times of your adult life (lets hope).  So, in honor of our friend and his success I offered to bake some treats for people to nosh on during his talk.  When I think of Dave one word comes to mind...Bourbon (and running too but you can't really work that into baking, at least at my skill level).  So I hunted down recipes and came up with a recipe for Cream Cheese-Bourbon-Pecan Pound Cake from Southern Living. 

I have to say this was one delicious pound cake!!  The cream cheese adds a rich and moist texture to the pound cake that is balanced by the earthiness of toasted pecans and bourbon.  People say you can replace the bourbon with milk--why would you ever do this??  If anything, I think the 1/4 cup the recipe calls for makes the taste of bourbon almost undetectable, I ended up adding ~1/2 cup.  I also iced the top, just your basic powdered sugar icing, for a nice decorative finish. 

To counteract the richness of the pound cake and because I always worry about running out of food or not having something to suit everyone's taste I also made Blueberry Crumb Bars compliments of Smitten Kitchen (my absolute favorite food blog).

This recipe combines 2 things I love when baking- ease and tastiness.  It took all of about 10 minutes to assemble are the results were amazing, the perfect mix of sweet, tart blueberries, and the buttery crumb base and topping...heaven in a pan!  I will definitely be making these again. 

                                             
                                                 Congrats Dave!


Cream Cheese-Bourbon-Pecan Pound Cake
Adapted from Southern Living

1 1/2  cups  butter, softened
1  (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3  cups  sugar
6  large eggs
3  cups  all-purpose flour
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/4  cup  bourbon (I used 1/2 cup)
1 1/2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
1 1/2  cups  chopped pecans, toasted

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yellow yolk disappears.
Sift together flour and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with bourbon, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 12-cup tube pan.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 35 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Top with icing.
Powdered Sugar Icing  

1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Milk

In a mixing bowl, stir together powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk to make of drizzling consistency, about 1 1/2 tablespoon. Drizzle over top of a 10-inch tube cake.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely before cutting into squares.