Here is the transcript of the episode:
Welcome to The Sensitive Kitchen, where home cooks are inspired to “Cook to Enable Those You Love to Flourish.” I’m Cindy Sullivan, registered dietitian, passionate nutrition, educator, and accomplished home cook. Whether you’re changing, how you cooked for food sensitivities, allergies, intolerances, or just trying to eat healthier on a budget. You’re in the right place.
Most episodes, I will share favorite recipes as well as modification, tips and nutrition benefits. Occasionally I’ll have a guest or special episode like modifying holiday favorites. My favorite foods? They’re raspberries and homemade chocolate chip cookies. My latest cooking project was long fermented sourdough bread.
Holiday mornings are coming up. You want something make ahead but special. Here’s my suggestion: Blueberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake,
Yum. This recipe is modified very slightly from King Arthur Baking Company. I give them all the credit, including eating it for breakfast in my house. This is a breakfast cake, not a dessert cake, although it would make a lovely dessert as well.
Now cake is somewhat a loose term here. Blueberry ricotta cake is reminiscent of a ricotta base cheesecake without all the heaviness. It’s not quite as creamy as a cream cheese based cheesecake. Ricotta has a different texture than cream cheese. It’s moist, soft and worth making for holiday breakfasts.
It makes 12 generous servings and keeps well in the refrigerator, and surprisingly, for a holiday breakfast, it still has a fair amount of nutrients and good-for-you stuff in it.
Each serving has about 12 grams of protein and about 15% of your calcium needs for the day. It’s an excellent source of several B-vitamins, including 20% of the riboflavin you need in a day, and 15% of the vitamin B12 and the mineral selenium. It has almost 20% of the selenium you need in an entire day. In addition, there’s some fiber and antioxidants from the blueberries.
Then add the flours. I use half whole wheat and half regular flour, the baking powder and salt in a few batches and scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition.
This is an easy recipe to put together. I happen to use my stand mixer. If you don’t have one, don’t worry, it’s not a problem. I mix the eggs, oil and sugar together, and then I add the ricotta and then the yogurt. Add in the vanilla and mix well.
Place the batter in a greased nine by 13 pan, then plop the blueberries on top. The top should be covered with blueberries. If you’re using frozen, like I usually do, you will have blue fingers for a day or two. So if this is a problem, you may need to use gloves when placing the blueberries if they’re frozen. If they’re fresh, you won’t have a trouble at all. Placing the blueberries is the most time-consuming part of the recipe. It takes about five minutes or so.
So let me give you a couple notes about this. I make the amount that is given in the recipe on my website, FoodSensitivityKitchen.com, and it fills a nine by 13 pan. This way I use the entire container, the 15 ounce container, of ricotta cheese. But if you’re cooking for a small -just yourself or just a couple people, you can easily half this recipe and use an eight inch round cake pan. That’s what the original recipe at King Arthur Baking Company called for.
As I mentioned, I almost always use the frozen blueberries because I have them in my freezer almost all the time. You may need to increase the baking time slightly for frozen blueberries, but they work great. I think an hour is what I did my last one. And when I stuck a toothpick in it, it wasn’t quite clean. So I put it back in for a few minutes. I don’t thaw the blueberries before placing them on top. I just plop them on frozen.
Now, as with all the recipes I talk about, let’s talk about substitutions:
For those of you who avoid both dairy and egg. I’m sorry, this probably is not the best recipe for you because it is really heavy on the dairy and it is really a dairy and egg based recipe. If you’re, if you’re just avoiding one, you’ll probably be just fine. If you’re avoiding both check out another recipe. Next week, I’ve got some homemade sausages that’ll be perfect for you and you don’t have to modify them at all.
Okay. Now the recipe or the changes I’m going to give you in dairy, I have to admit that I haven’t tried because we can eat dairy in my house and we do. But if I couldn’t eat dairy and we could eat soy, which we avoid soy in my family, I would use a recipe that I linked to on my website to make a ricotta substitute out of tofu because it’s a similar consistency. And I think the results will be great. It’s just a five minute recipe. So it’s really quick and easy.
Then use a nondairy plain yogurt and depending how strong the yogurt flavor is, the yogurt tastes may come through a little bit in your finished product. King Arthur Baking Company, the source of this recipe, has a different dairy-free version on their website. So if you don’t like my dairy free version, go check out theirs.
Now eggs add structure to this recipe. In this recipe, I probably would use aquafaba as an egg substitute. Aquafaba is the liquid you drain off of a can of chickpeas and some other legumes like navy beans. It contains protein and you can whip it. You can make Royal icing. You can make meringnes. You can even make mayonnaise out of it. It’s amazing stuff. If you are egg-free, you need to be using aquafaba.
Now, remember you don’t use the beans. You have to have a different recipe to use the beans. So go check out the white bean recipe if you’re using white beans, okay? Make something else with the beans. Because you’re only interested in the liquid in this recipe. So the substitution is about three tablespoons of aquafaba to one egg.
Now both flax eggs and chia egg substitutes will probably work in this recipe, but they’re going to change the texture in this recipe. They’re going to- the chia seeds are going to give it a bumpier texture, right? And this is really pretty a smooth texture in this one. So personally, I would try aquafaba first, if you can’t use eggs, remember when you’re adding the aquafaba, it may smell as you add it, but you won’t taste it or smell it in your finished product.
Blueberry ricotta cake keeps about a week or so in the refrigerator. I don’t know exactly how long, because it doesn’t last that long in my household. I like it cold straight from the fridge. Several of my family members warm it up in the microwave and they like their’s warm.
Enjoy!
Just as a note, I have used part skim ricotta and whole milk, Greek yogurt style yogurt for the nutrient analysis. That’s on the website, but feel free to use whatever fat level you want in this recipe.
I actually use a homemade yogurt when I make this, but I add powdered milk to boost the nutrients in my homemade yogurt. It’s very similar in texture to a Greek style yogurt. You can also substitute sour cream for the yogurt, but you will decrease the protein that way.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. You have great time with family and friends. If not in person then over face time or zoom or Skype or however, you’re going to get together, that you celebrate and you have a wonderful time. And if you can’t be together, maybe you both can make blueberry breakfast cake and eat it together, but apart.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year!
If you want the recipe for this, go to FoodSensitivityKitchen.com, episode zero zero nine, and the recipe is there. And do me a favor. Leave me a review if you would, if you’re enjoying the podcast. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful day. Bye bye.
