i found my thrills...

on friday i took the kids berry picking at a couple of our secret locations and brought back many blackberries and many wild blueberries. sunday was grandparents' day and so we had most of the family over for a summer bbq party, and that means pie! i love making pie, and my favourite is apple. but apples are still coming (mostly) from new zealand (which is way too far for an apple to travel if you ask me) and the bc and washington ones still too expensive, so it wasn't an option. our neighbour loves blueberries, they were to attend the bbq as well, and we did just pick a whole bushel-full of them! i also made some cupcakes, but they were a disaster but i'll probably blog about those anyway. maybe.
i'd already recently made a blueberry pie so i thought i'd give another recipe a try. i chose to make martha's 4th of july blueberry pie. yes, i know it's not the 4th of july which is why i made a simple lattice top and not stars. i'm thinking i'll make some crazy top for my next pie, which will be apple most likely, close to thanksgiving which is only about 5 weeks away.
the kids helped me make this one, and i'm killing myself for not taking any pictures of them in their aprons all covered in flour!
* next time i'll add less lemon juice as it was too tart. but really, i may not make this one again because the retro pie recipe is much better and uses less berries- you could make 2 1/2 pies with the amount of berries in this one!!! 4th of july blueberry pie
martha stewart's baking handbook
all purpose flour, for dusting
your favourite pie crust for a double 9" shell- chilled in the fridge (i really should blog mine for you, lol)
8 cups fresh blueberries, picked over (about 4 pints)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp unsalted butter, but into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp heavy cream
roll out one disk of dough to a 12 inch round, fit into a 9" glass pie plate, pressing it into the edges. chill pie shell until firm, about 30 mins.
place blueberries in a large bowl; with your hands, crush about 1/2 cup of the berries, letting them fall into the bowl as you work. add the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; stir to combine. spoon mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding berries slightly in the centre. dot with butter. remove the remainder dough from the refrigerator and roll out and either cut shapes or strips to make the top.
in a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream. brush the entire surface of rim and lattice with egg wash, being careful not to let it pool. freeze or refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, with the rack int he lower third.
place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. bake until the crust begins to turn golden, about 20minutes. reduce oven temperature to 350F. continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through, until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling and have thickened, 40-50 minutes more. transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely. the pie is best eaten the day it is bake, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

pretty as a peach

on our camping trip, we kept an eye out for roadside fruit stands. i mean, we were so close to the okanagan there was bound to be at least one fruit stand... and there was, but it was closed. damn! i really wanted some peaches, apricots, and cherries. the first thing when we got back, after all the laundry was done, i went online to our organics delivery, spud, and ordered me some okanagan peaches. i dug out my trusty retro pies and martha's baking handbook and had a quick flip through each, wondering which recipe tickled my fancy. martha wanted me to make a peach, apricot and cherry pie. doh! retro pies recipe was simple- and tasty. i do plan to make this again and next time i will add a spent vanilla bean to the mashed peaches while it's cooking. o, and next time i won't forget to put in my pie weights before it goes in the oven! lol!meriwether county glazed peach pie
retro pies by linda everett

6 cups firm ripe peaches, pared and sliced
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup orange juice
9-inch pie crust (use your favourite recipe)

preheat oven to 375 degrees F and bake pie crust for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
in a medium bowl, mash enough peaches to make 1 cup. set aside remaining sliced peaches. in a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. stir in orange juice and mashed peaches. cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. continue boiling for 1 minute longer. spread half of this glaze over the sides and bottom of the baked crust. fill with peach slices and pour remaining glaze over all. chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours. serve with whipped cream. serves 8.

*cough* blueberry pie *cough*

the first year we lived in the house i made a beautiful fresh bing cherry pie. it was so tasty, and i wanted to share it with our neighbours. s was so excited to have a home baked pie (his wife doesn't bake pies...yet) he dove right in.
and then spit it out.
aparently he didn't like cherries. blueberry pie is his favourite i soon found out, and yesterday i finally got around to making one with some of the wild berries we picked last fall. all throughout dinner he kept coughing "blueberry pie *cough*!"
this time the pie ended up in his tummy and not back on the plate.

alaskan wild berry pie
adapted from retro pies by linda everett

2 cups blueberries, huckleberries or similar fruit; washed and sorted

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp nutmeg

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup blueberries (or whatever you're using), washed and sorted

pastry for double, 9-inch pie crust

1 tbsp all purpose flour

preheat oven to 425 degrees.

in a medium bowl, combine the 2 cups berries with sugar, lemon juice, and nutmeg. toss gently avoid smashing berries. stir in flour. turn into a saucepan and cook on low just until mixtures bubbles. remove from heat. cool. sprinkle the single tablespoon of flour over the bottom of the crust and cover with the cup of raw berries. pour cooked filling over raw berries and top with crust; cutting a few steam vents. place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10minutes. reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking until crusty is lightly browned and filling is bubbly. serves 6-8

happy birthday, gramma!

i know, it looks like some strange alien rock. what is it? it's my mom's birthday cake! my mom loves ice cream so i decided to make her something that i've been dying to try out for years... a watermelon bombe! i first saw it in a martha stewart magasine many years ago, and then on her "living" show. a few months ago i finally got the ice cream attachment for my KA mixer, and now watermelons are finally not too expensive at the grocers. i couldn't find pistachio ice cream anywhere so i added some green gel paste food colouring some plain ole vanilla. one whole 2 litre container will do both the green and white parts of the bombe. the watermelon sorbet is to die for! i added peppermint schnapps instead of the white creme de minthe because that's what i had. i tried to make her vanilla ice cream as well, but it just wasn't good enough for this concoction- dorie's vanilla ice cream is much, much better. i think the only thing that i would definitely change is the vanilla sponge cake (although when i made it it was really hot even at 10pm and made a mistake with the division of the sugar- i didn't divide it so it was a little too sweet- oops!). probably a pound-type cake would be much better. i also wouldn't put plastic wrap in the bowl first, a good run under warm water would have gotten the bombe out of the mould just fine. i think a nice smooth finish would be much better than alien rock! lol

if you're interested in making this, all the instructions and recipes can be found here at martha's site.
happy birthday, gramma!

showing off again

my garden is bursting with flavour this year! first strawberries, and now raspberries! they're not supposed to be ripe for another few weeks i thought, but some were just too ready to resist. i got about 1/2 pint of those little gems and there's more still on the vines. now for the money shots:


i'll post about the cookies another time, needless to say they were enjoyed.

showing off

it's been way too hot to bake here- bad for my boredom, good for my strawberries! late last year i was given one strawberry plant and it spread and grew and spread some more...so from that one plant in only one year i picked about a pint of fresh super sweet strawberries from my own garden! woot!
here's a shot from ella's dress rehearsal. the ballet was called "sleepover spoiled". it's hard to see, but that's our girl getting her hair pulled and throwing the popcorn up in the air. it was too funny- during the show she made her startled face, giggled a bit, and went back to the face. like we didn't notice! cheekythis is my boy. kaliedascope and magnifying glass at the same time.

i'll get to more baking once it's cooled down a bit.

mama's li'l baby

it's that time of year again... strawberry season! yumm! there's nothing better than strawberries on, well, on just about anything. i don't know anyone that doesn't like these tasty little ground berries. today i bought 2 extra pints of beautiful organic red berries. we already had one at home and i was thinking, "strawberry shortcake". so that's what i made. so simple and so easy. i have a recipe that i've had since the days of no printer, so i don't remember the source. i think it's from allrecipies.com, but don't quote me on that!strawberry shortcake

3 pints fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter (or shortening)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup whole milk
2 cups whipping cream

wash and slice the strawberries and toss with the 1/2 cup of sugar. preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. butter an 8" cake pan, add a parchment circle and butter again. dust with flour.

in a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 2 tbsp of sugar. cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles small peas. make a well in the centre and add the egg and milk. stir until just combined.

spread the batter into your prepared cake pan. bake 15-20 minutes or until golden. let cool partially on a wire rack. slice it while the shortbread is still warm, making 2 layers. place half the strawberries on the bottom layer, top with whipped cream, replace top half and cover with remaining berries and whipped cream.

hip to be square

i don't know what's gotten into me as of late... i mean, i love to bake, but this week is getting crazy. cookies. db challenge completed (check back on the 28th!). ice cream. and now lemon squares. i had some lemons left over in the fridge that needed to be used up so as i was moving my books around i found one of my martha stewart kids magasines. on the cover: lucious lemon squares. mmm sounds good. i rushed to get it completed for when the kids where home from school, and the procrastinator in me left it to the last possible second- i pulled them out of the oven and we left to get ella from school.

i only had 3 lemons and it was definetly enough juice, i'm just feeling like i should have added the zest from one of those lovely organic lemons to give the squares that extra kick it needed. still very good.
lemon squares

martha stewart kids magasine 2004

Makes about two dozen 2-inch squares
FOR THE CRUST
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon salt
FOR THE FILLING
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, (about 4 lemons)
1/4 teaspoon salt



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish; line dish with waxed paper.
Make crust: An adult should grate butter on a cheese grater with large holes. In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Add butter; stir with a wooden spoon until combined and mixture looks crumbly.
Transfer mixture to baking dish; press evenly onto bottom with your hands. Chill crust in freezer 15 minutes. Bake until slightly golden, 16 to 18 minutes.
Meanwhile, make filling: In a large (1 quart) liquid measuring cup, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and milk.
An adult should remove crust from the oven and pour filling mixture over hot crust. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake until filling is set and edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes. An adult should remove dish from the oven. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Grip paper; lift out dessert, and set on cutting board. With a sieve, dust with confectioners' sugar. Cut into squares.

fruit fly

every year derek's dad travels to palm springs californa where his arthritis can have a little break from the wet wintry weather here in vancouver. every year he brings back the biggest grapefruits you have ever seen. now, i'm not the biggest grapefruit fan. seth, our little fruit fly, is. i was looking for something to bake with the grapefruits and came across this recipe from martha stewart's baking handbook. the recipe was, as usual, really easy to follow, and the cookies turned out okay. like i said i'm not big on grapefruit, but i think these would be just fantastic as orange and clove. i also rolled the first batch too thin even though i rolled it to 1/8"- i think they should be a little bit thicker, and you probably don't need to make a full batch of the filling- i had lots left over, and i put lots in the sandwitches.

after i got the first few sammiches put together, seth came up to grab a couple- one for himself and one for daddy- and i heard him say, "these are my favourite cookies ever!"

awe, thanks chubbers!

Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.
Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.
Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Grapefruit Cream Filling
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.

pavlova

my sister said in a comment on another post that she was thinking of making pavlova. last saturday i bought blackberries and a big jug of whipping cream to make just that. muaHaaahaHa! i beat her to it, not intentionally...

pavlova is named so after the famed russian dancer, anna pavlova- light and sweet, crispy on the outside and soft and chewy in the centre. aparently there is much controversy over this dessert as to it's origins- australia and new zealand both vying for ownership (much like anzac cookies aparnetly).

pavlova (serves 4)

2 egg whites, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup superfine sugar (if unavailable, put granulated sugar in your blender and wrrrr!)

blackberries, washed and resting in the fridge overnight with sugar

whipping cream

preheat your oven to 200F and line a cookie sheet with parchment (to make perfect pavlovas, trace out 4 circles with pencil on the parchment and flip over).

fit your mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla on medium to soft peaks. add the superfine sugar 2 tablespoons at a time until you have stiff glossy peaks.

put the meringue in a piping bag fitted with a coupler, but no tip, and pipe the meringue onto the parchment starting in the centre of your circle and swirl to your marked size. pipe a second layer just on the outside of the mound making a bowl. another option is you can just plop 4 equal amounts onto the parchment and with an offset spatula make the bowls.

bake for 40-50 minutes, depending on how thick your bowls are. let cool completely on cookie sheet on a wired rack.

put the cooled pavlova on serving plate, dollop with whipped cream, layer on some blackberries and top with more whipped cream. oh, so good!

strawberry cake test

ella has been asking for a strawberry cake for quite some time now. for some reason i haven't been able to find a real strawberry cake recipe. the ones i have found are either shortcake or "take your white cake mix and add a box of strawberry flavoured jell-o". it was some time ago when i swore i wouldn't make another boxed cake, nor am i the biggest fan of gelatin. i found after having to add oil, milk and eggs to their dry ingredients it was almost like making my own cake... except with the added chemicals. MMMmmm. i always have flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt and butter on hand so why not just make cakes from scratch? i have found a great chocolate cake recipe, a butter cake, and vanilla sponge cake that i use pretty much all the time... but still no strawberry. so i kinda made one up. i've made up my apple pie recipe and many savoury dishes, but never a cake which is probably why it took so long to try.

strawberrry cake with white chocolate butter-creamcheese icing

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 350degrees F. grease and flour three 9" cake pans. in a saucepan bring water and sugar to a boil, add strawberries and cook for 5 minutes or until strawberries are very soft. let cool for 5 minutes and then blend and strain the mixture- you should have 2 cups (add water if not); set aside. sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as necessary and stir in vanilla. add the flour mixture alternately wiht the strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.

bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. cool completely before frosting.

white chocolate butter-creamcheese icing

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) philly cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
In a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, gently melt the white chocolate. Allow to cool for 2 minutes. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the melted white chocolate. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, and vanilla, beat at low speed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy.

i made a little marzipan strawberry to sit ontop.

it's a pretty dense cake, i'm not sure if it's "the one" yet, although the icing is pretty good- sweet and tangy, but i'd like more of a white chocolate taste. i may leave it out next time... or not. i love white chocolate. my next test i think i'll take the vanilla sponge cake and fold in some strawberry puree.

sunday morning

typically on sunday mornings i make pancakes, waffles, or french toast. in the summer we buy pints and pints of strawberries, slice 'em up and cover the pancakes with them, drizzle real maple syrup over them and enjoy. in the fall and winter, when the strawberries are only from california and not as good as local, i cut up apples and cook them on the stove- like apple pie without the pie.

waffles with apples

1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted

whisk all dry ingredients together, add wet ingredients and whisk together. some clumps are okay. follow the directions for your waffle iron and don't add too much otherwise it'll ooze out the sides.

if you're making pancakes with this recipe, you may decide to add up to 1/4 cup more milk for a thinner pancake.

4 medium sized apples, i prefer gala or pink ladies as they don't go all smushy. granny smiths are good, too
lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of each cloves and nutmeg
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter

peel, core and slice apples into either cubes or slices, squeeze lemon juice over the apples. place all the ingredients into a pan and cook until desired tenderness of the apples, about 5-8 minutes. spoon over waffles and drizzle with warm, real maple syrup. whipping cream is also good with this. and don't forget the coffee!