Fresh Blackberry Pie

This time of year, there's just not much better than a Fresh Blackberry Pie loaded with ripe, sweet, plump blackberries. I look forward to it every year. And for reasons that have mostly to do navigating what always seems to be a busy summer and a short blackberry season more years than not I don't make it.
But this year - the stars aligned and there's fresh blackberry pie! Hurray!!! Now the only problem is that one pie will probably not be enough... Oh well, it's super easy to make and I got extra berries. :) So what's the beauty of this pie? 

1) The only thing you bake is the crust. 2) The berries aren't baked so they don't have that cloying gummy sweet aspect most blackberry pies do. 3)Those luscious berries are held together with a nice light sweet binding that comes together with the berries and the crispness of the sweet crust for a heady taste of summer on your fork. 

Feeling inspired? Here's the recipe, it'll be done and chilling in less than 45 minutes:

Sweet Pie Crust:

Makes one 9 inch crust  

1 cup  flour 1/2 cup  margarine 1/4 cup  powdered sugar 1/4 cup  walnuts, chopped

 

Mix crust and pat into a pie pan. Do not turn over edges of pan. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes, then cool. Fresh Berry Pie:

1 Sweet Pie Crust 3 Tbs  cornstarch 1 cup  sugar 1 cup  water 2 Tbs  corn syrup, light 3 Tbs  black cherry jello, regular (not sugarfree) 4 cups  blackberries, fresh

Cook until thick cornstarch, sugar, water. Add cornsyrup and jello. Cool to luke warm. Place berries on bottom of pie plate on crust. Pour 1/2 of jello mixture over. Place remainder of berries in the pie pan. Pour remainder of jello mixture over the top of berries. Refridgerate 4 hours or overnight.  You can substitute strawberries and strawberry jello or whatever berry/fruit you'd like by pairing it with the appropriate jello flavor.

Great Grandma Dena's Apple Crisp

I love apples. There I said it. :) I love them plain and raw, and I especially love them in desserts. Perhaps the easiest and most reliable apple dessert I have is an Apple Crisp from my Great Grandma Dena. It's the perfect balance of butter, sugar, and cinnamon to top any bunch of apples - anytime, especially in the fall but when you find yourself on a hot August night with a bunch of apples that haven't lived up to your eating-raw expectations and absolutely no chocolate in the house - it's the perfect solution.

Here's the recipe in case you find yourself in the same pickle.





Great Grandma Dena's Apple Crisp

4-6 cups  apples, sliced 1 Tbs  lemon juice 1/4 cup  white flour 1/4 cup  wheat flour 1 cup  rolled oats 1/2 cup  brown sugar 1 tbsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp 1/3 cup  salt butter, melted

Place apples in a greased 13x9 shallow pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes until nicely browned.

Servings: 6

Daring Baker's Challenge: March 2010 Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris. You can find your copy of these recipes on the Daring Kitchen website.

I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this challenge. I'm not a big fan of marmalade, nor orange desserts. And the individual servings looked tedious and troublesome. Therefore, I put it off until quite late in the month.

I do have to admit though, the marmalade is the best marmalade I've ever had -- and would chose to have it on toast. (In fact, it's pretty impressive on homemade brioche!).

I ended up making the Orange Tian in a tart pan, and assembled it right side up, rather than upside down and flipped as the instructions call for. It seemed appropriate since the base was a Pate Sablee. The completed dessert also surpassed my expectations and was surprisingly good.

Would I make it again? Not sure, but I wouldn't be opposed to it -- that's for sure. And that marmalade might just make a regular appearance in our household.

Carmel Walnut Banana Torte

A couple of weeks ago (on 2/7), we got a new Kitchen Aid mixer. Woo Hoo! Thank you to Allyson's Kitchen in Ashland. They had an awesome Professional series in the Azur color the kitchen is accented with. It was time to upgrade to a more powerful mixer and I've looked for the right one for some time, it was pure happenstance we found it. To top it off, we were lucky enough to sell our other Kitchen Aid easily and quickly thanks to Craigslist, so it was a very inexpensive upgrade.

One unexpected bonus of the new Kitchen Aid was the recipe book that came with it, and the unexpectedly delicious Banana Carmel Walnute Torte (recipe below). With the slightly disconcerting realization that my cake pans apparently didn't make the move (or at least can't be located after), enough pans of about the same size were cobbled together to make the utterly delicious three layer cake. It's super easy and about the best dessert that ever happened.

Thanks to Kitchen Aid, the new Azur mixer, and the wonderful recipe! This one will definately be made again...soon!

Carmel Walnut Banana Torte Recipe

Topping

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

 Cake

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup softened margarine or butter
• 1 cup ripe banana, mashed
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup low-fat milk or whole milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbs margarine or butter
• 2 medium thinly sliced bananas

 Whipped Topping 

• 1/2 cup cream, whipped (sweetening optional)

TOPPING:

1. Place brown sugar, margarine, and cream in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat just until margarine melts, stirring constantly.
2. Pour over bottoms of three 8" or 9" round baking pans, & sprinkle with walnuts.

CAKE: 

1. Place sugar and margarine in mixer bowl and cream for about 2 minutes.
2. Add banana and vanilla, mix thoroughly.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing about 15 seconds between each addition on low speed.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.
5. Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix for about 30 seconds on low speed.
6. Add buttermilk and remaining flour mixture. Gradually increase spead to high and beat about 30-45 seconds.
7. Spread batter evenly over nut mixture in pans.
8. BAKE: 350°F for 25 - 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Cool in pans about 3 minutes. Remove from pans by inverting on to wire racks. (This is very important, if you don't let them cool long enough, the topping runs off the cake, too cool, and it stays in the pan).

 FILLING: 

1. Combine sugar, flour and salt in medium saucepan.
2. Gradually stir in milk.
3. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.
4. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.
5. Stir 4 to 5 tablespoons of hot mixture into beaten egg, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing between each addition.
6. Pour egg mixture into saucepan with remaining hot mixture. Cook until mixture is thick & bubbly, stirring constantly.
7. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and margarine. Cool slightly.
8. Refrigerate 1 hour or more until cake is cool and ready to assemble.

 ASSEMBLE TORTE: 

1. (Save nicest looking layer for the top). Place one cake layer, nut side up on serving plate.
2. Spread with half of filling. Arrange about half of banana slices over filling.
3. Top with second layer, nut side up. Spread with remaining filling and banana slices.
4. Top with remaining cake layer, nut side up.
5. Top with whipped cream just before serving.
6. Store in refrigerator.

 Recipe Source: KitchenAid Stand Mixer Book

Harvest Pear Crisp and Vanilla Ice Cream

We had some more of those amazing pears from Harry and David. They're Comice Pears and much too large to fit into the gift boxes  -- such a shame! Turns out that the brand name of Royal Riviera Pears from Harry and David are in fact just "perfect" Comice Pears. So now you too know the secret, when you see Comice Pears, buy them - they're amazing. The key I learned some time ago about pears is that they need to sit out at room temperature about a week before they are ready to eat. You'll know they're ripe when the top of the pear, near the stem, feels like the meaty part of web of your hand between your thumb and index finger. When they feel about the same, the pears are perfect for eating.

In search of something to do with the 5 monster pears that were perfectly ripe on our countertop, I came across a recipe from Sandie at Inn Cuisine for a Harvest Pear Crisp. Her recipe is as follows:

Harvest Pear Crisp

Fruit Mixture

4 Anjou or Bartlett pears, cored and cut lengthwise in 1/2 inch slices (peeled or not peeled, your preference) 1 Tbs lemon juice (to prevent pear slices from browning)

1 Tbs cornstarch

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Crisp Mixture

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbs chilled butter, cut into small pats

1/2 cup oats (quick cooking or old fashioned, your preference)

1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F for baking.
2. Combine sliced pears in lemon juice. In small bowl, thoroughly combine cornstarch, cinnamon, and granulated sugar. Add to pear slices, mix together, place in a greased 8×8 inch baking dish, and set aside.
3. In a food processor, mix flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon, whirring until combined. Add butter; pulse in 6 times. Add oats and chopped nuts; pulse 2 more times. Sprinkle this mixture over pear slices already in baking dish.
4. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for approximately 40-43 minutes, or until done.

Servings: 4

Since I had 5 huge pears, I doubled the recipe and put it into at 13x9 pan. Those pears were so juicey that I'm confident that cornstarch was a necessary component -- I just hope it was enough! As promised the smell of cinnamon and pears baking permeated the whole house and made our mouths water.

And the taste...cinnamon, pear goodness that simply must be served with vanilla ice cream, so I found a quick No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream recipe, surpised myself by actually having all the ingredients on hand and whipped up a batch to go with it. The recipe is as follows:

No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

12 ounces evaporated milk

2 Tbs sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups whole milk

1. Whisk all ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher or large bowl until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes. 
2. Pour milk mixture into freezer container of a 1-quart electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. (Instructions and times will vary.) 
3. Remove container with ice cream from ice-cream maker, and place in freezer 15 minutes. Transfer to an airtight container; freeze until firm, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

The results -- cinnamon, pear, oat crisps, and vanilla ice cream melting all through it -- perfection!

Pear Galette

 Today, I attempted a Pear Galette with some amazing pears I found at H&D. The recipe I used was from my new favorite cookbook, The Vineyard Kitchen, by Maria Helm Sinskey.

She's got an Apple Galette recipe in the cookbook, and I substitued pears. That's the only alteration I made to the recipe -- except I don't think I successfully stacked the pears the way she suggested.

The crust came out beautifully, unfortunately it didn't transfer well to the plate as the pears were a lot juicier than I suspect the apples would have been and the bottom fell out. But the upside is that I can tell you it tastes fantastic and what it lacks in looks, it will more than make up for in flavor.

I'm looking forward to the French Baking class Mike got me for Christmas -- maybe there I'll learn how to lay out the fruit correctly.

All in all, I'd count this in the column of yet another successful recipe from Maria!