Baking’s Best

by Kari H.

Bounteous Berries

Hip, hip, hooray for BERRY SEASON!  Summer is a time for light, fresh, fruity desserts…and there are sooo many good ones.  I have only made a handful and I still couldn’t narrow them down for this post (thanks to Julia and Ashley for editorial help on that front.)  I don’t know how you’ll choose among them either, but luckily berries are fresh, cheap and bountiful this time of year so go ahead, make them all!

Blueberry Pot Pie

This fabulous ode-to-summer can be made in individual ramekins or in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Take it to a pot luck.  Serve it with ice cream.  Have it warm or cool.  And the best part about it, besides the fabulous 4-cups-of-blueberry-ish-ness, is that the crust is EASY (and yummy.)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup whipping cream, divided
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
2 T fresh lemon juice
Dash of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T sugar

1. Spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour through salt in a food processor; pulse until combined. Add butter, pulse 6 times or until resembles coarse meal. With processor on, add 3 T cream through processor chute, processing just until combined (do not form ball.) Press mixture gently into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap, and cover. Chill at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 400.

3. Combine blueberries through salt in a small bowl; toss gently. Divide evenly among ramekins or pour into deep pie/casserole dish.

4. Unwrap chilled dough, divide into 6 even portions if using ramekins. Pat each ball into a rough disk that will fit over top. Top berries with dough, inside top rim of ramekin.

5. Brush top with remaining 1 T cream. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over crusts.

6. Place ramekins or dish on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and fruit is bubbling (drool, drool.) Serve warm or room temperature.  (Recipe from Cottage Living, April 2005)

Strawberry-Buttermilk Sherbet

This is my newest berry recipe discovery – we made just a few weeks ago after going strawberry picking at Homestead Farm.  Holy mackerel, absolutely better than any strawberry ice cream I’ve ever had.  With plenty of fresh strawberries, and just a hint of yogurt-y tang from the buttermilk, this treat is refreshing in the extreme.  If you’ve got an ice cream machine, make it NOW.  If you don’t, go get one.  It’s worth it for this recipe, plus you’ll need one for my ice cream post in August!

2 cups fresh strawberries*
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Garnish: fresh mint sprigs (so sad I didn’t have any)

1. Process strawberries in a food processor or blender 30 seconds or until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Pour strawberry puree through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing with back of a spoon. Discard solids. Add buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla to puree; stir until well blended. Cover and chill 1 hour.

2. Pour strawberry mixture into freezer container of a 1 1/2-qt. electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. (Instructions and times may vary.) Garnish, if desired.

*1 (16-oz.) package frozen strawberries, thawed, may be substituted.  Recipe from Southern Living, MAY 2008

Wild Berry Bread

Saving the best for last?  Well, it’s hard to say any of these are the best.  However, this is my all-time favorite go-to berry recipe.  It’s a farmer’s market dream because you can use any berries in any proportion as long as the total comes to 2 cups.  This is probably one of my most-requested recipes as well, and every single person who tries it loves it.  It is fabulous!  (And like so many of the best recipes, the original source has been lost.  I got it from my friend Corey R. in New York, who got it from her grandmother, who had been making it so long she couldn’t remember where she got it.)

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons soft butter, in ½-inch pieces
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange peel
½ cup orange juice
½ cup raspberries*
½ cup blackberries*
1 cup blueberries*
(*You can do any combination of berries as long as you have 2 cups total)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
3. Add the soft butter in with your fingertips until it is like flakes of coarse meal.
4. Add the egg, juice, peel and berries; combine but do not over mix.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until done.

BONUS - Blackberry-Lemon Pudding Cake

Instead of a kitchen gadget this time, I am throwing in another recipe because, seriously, there are too many good ones!  Blackberries come into season in July, but some have been on sale already in grocery stores.  This cake is a seriously sophisticated treat.  It’s not too much work to make, as long as you don’t mind whipping a few egg whites; all the hard work is done by chemistry in the oven.  The result is a bright berry-lemon custard on the bottom and a delicious spongey lemon cake on top.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it…

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups blackberries (or blueberries or raspberries)
Cooking spray
3/4 teaspoon powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl; add buttermilk, lemon rind, lemon juice butter and egg yolks, stirring with a whisk until mixture is smooth.

3. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into buttermilk mixture. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Fold in blackberries.

4. Pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Place in a large baking pan filled with water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Makes about 5 servings (Recipe from Cooking Light, June 2001)

Advertisement