Berry Delicious

I picked up some beautiful blackberries at the local farmers market.  I love blackberries...although these were not as sweet as I like, so I decided to bake with them.  I am always running out the door in the morning with breakfast in hand and thought that some muffins would be nice to have for the morning rush this coming week.  I found a light recipe for blackberry muffins.  I used almond milk instead of fat free milk and they still turned out great.  Don't forget to spray the cupcake liners with some oil before filling with batter.  They will stick to the paper if you don't!

Whole Grain Blackberry Spice Muffins
Cooking Light, JANUARY 2006
Sweet Life
Yield 17 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon apple-pie spice
1 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries, coarsely chopped
Cooking spray
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through apple-pie spice) in a large bowl. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Gently stir in blackberries.
Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 17 paper-lined muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 16 minutes. Sprinkle muffins evenly with granulated sugar; bake 3 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks.

I still had some blackberries left and some beautiful sweet peaches that were almost too ripe so I thought a blackberry peach crumble would be very tasty.  I googled a recipe and have a lovely crumble to serve for dessert tonight. Yummy!

Peach Blackberry Crumble

Alicia's Recipes

TOPPING:
1 c. Pillsbury's BEST all-purpose or unbleached flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. margarine or butter, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten

FILLING:
1 c. sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. water
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3 fresh peaches, sliced
2 c. fresh blackberries

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Using pastry blender or fork, cut in margarine until mixture is crumbly. Stir in egg; mix well. Set aside. In small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; add water. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Stir in almond extract. In 8-inch (2-quart) square baking dish, combine peaches, cranberries and blackberries; stir in hot cornstarch mixture. Crumble topping over fruit mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream, sour cream or ice cream, if desired. Makes 9 servings

Enjoy!

ABC: Classic Fruit Tart

Berries are bursting with flavor this time of year!  All ripe and juicy just waiting for something like this classic fruit tart.  The ABCers are at it again!  We are baking from the Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge.  This choice was a good selection for this time of year...a perfect summertime dessert.  The crust is very different and difficult to work with.  Flour, powdered sugar, butter, salt and egg yolk were the components for this crust...no cold water!  I had my doubts!  I really had my doubts when I was rolling it out and trying to get it in the pan...what a mess!  But I pieced and pushed it all together and stuck it in the freezer for 30 minutes like the recipe said then put it in the oven.  The aroma!!!  Oh my, it smelled so good!  And looked beautiful when it came out of the oven.  Whew! 

 Then it was time for the pastry cream....it looked really nice when it I put it in the fridge to chill....then when I got it out to fold in the vanilla and whipped cream it had little lumps in it...hmmmm, they weren't there when I put it in the fridge...where did they come from?   So I beat the heck out of it and tried

to get it as smooth as I could and got most of the little lumps out. 

 All this work resulted in a very tasty tart.  The crust was delicious and worth all the aggrivation it caused.  The pastry cream was not too sweet and complimented the fruit very nicely.  I think the next time I will just press the dough in the pan instead of trying to roll it out...it will save time and the hassel of trying to get it in the pan in one piece. 

Please visit the ABC site and take a look at what the other bakers did with this challenge.

Enjoy!