#73 Blueberry Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of a 12 muffin tin (or use papers).
Beat egg;stir in milk, oil and blueberries. Stir in remaining ingredients all a once, just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

# 72 Double-Chocolate Rum Cake

Serves 16
Prep Time 8 Minutes
Baking Time 50 to 55 minutes
Assembly Time: 10 minutes

Cake:
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour or unsweetened cocoa for dusting the pan
1 pkg. devil's food or chocolate cake mix
1 3.9 oz (small size) pkg chocolate instant pudding mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup gold or dark rum
1/2 cup vegetable oil or applesauce
4 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup gold or dark rum

Chocolate Glaze:
2 tbls. butter
2 tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour or cocoa, shaking out excess. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

2.Place the cake mix, pudding mix, water, rum, oil, and eggs into a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute, then increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Batter will be thick and smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan, and place in center rack of oven. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

3. Prepare the raspberry sauce; place jam and rum into a small pan on low heat, stirring until jam is completely melted, about 2 minutes.

4. Poke holes in the top of cake with a skewer. Spoon (I used a basting brush) sauce over the warm cake, allowing the sauce to seep into the cake and drizzle down the sides and center.

5. Prepare the chocolate glaze: Melt butter in a pan over low heat; add cocoa and cream and stir until thickened. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Spoon glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to set and the cake to cool before slicing.

Store , covered in plastic wrap, in the fridge, for up to one week, if it lasts that long.

Recipe from "The Cake Mix Doctor" by Ann Byrn. I substituted applesauce for the oil, in a half-hearted attempt to make it semi-healthy. Oh well.

#71 Rhubarb Pie

Pastry for a 2 crust pie

1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel (optional)

4 cups cut-up rhubarb

2 tablespoons butter

Hear oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Lay one half into a pie pan. Mix sugar, flour and orange peel in a small bowl. Put half the rhubarb into the pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture. Top with the rest of the rhubarb and then the remaining sugar. Dot with the butter. Put the top crust on, cutting some vents for the steam to escape. Flute and cover the edge with foil. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, removing foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Let cool.