Cook Out

Welcome to another chapter in food my friends. Yes, I spend most of my summer cooking, as well as writing my articles, talking about the grill as that is what summer is all about. Granted on some of these insanely hot days, hovering over a grill can be darn uncomfortable, but our grilling season is short, although I do grill a lot during the winter season as well. Summer, however, isn’t all about grilling our favorite proteins, fruits, and veggies. An awesome aspect of the summer season is all the fresh berries we have out there to gobble down.

I could sit at a table and inhale a bowl of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries all by themselves. For me, it’s like being a kid in a candy store. I love my morning cereal with a banana and smothered in berries. Although I’m not a huge fan of heating up the kitchen during the summer, there are times you must suck it up and do some baking with these fresh berries. Of course, you can always freeze those fresh picked berries for future baking, but I’m sorry, there is no time like the present while they are fresh.

Granted, most of these berry desserts don’t require baking, but for those that do, prep them, pop in the oven, and then go sit in the air-conditioned living room while it’s baking. So, no grilling today, but from many of the emails I receive from all of you, desserts seem to be a popular theme, so this article is for all of you, as well as for the rest of you dessert/fresh berry lovers out there, and hopefully this gives you some inspiration to utilize those berries.

OK, so maybe I lied a little. This isn’t all about desserts as berries also make great breakfast treats so I’m going to start there with two great options, first with raspberries and the second with

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blueberries. I’m not going to talk muffins as most everyone already has their favorite muffin recipes, so I’m going to start with a Danish and then go to a breakfast cake. As for the Danish, although the directions may sound a little confusing, it’s very simple once you have it in front of you as it utilizes frozen puff pastry dough found in any supermarket freezer and will be a jaw dropping hit with the family. This recipe makes 18 Danishes and will be prepped and cooked in barely 45 minutes.

1 package cream cheese, 8 oz, softened ½ cup confectioners’ sugar plus extra for sprinkling 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 package frozen puff pastry, 17.3 oz, thawed 18-36 fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, and the vanilla until smooth and set aside. Unfold puff pastry on flat surface and cut into 9 equal squares. Fold one corner of pastry to opposite corner so it looks like a triangle. Leaving a ¼ inch border around triangle, cut slits from bottom to ¼ inch from top of pastry, making sure slits do not touch. Unfold the triangle and turn so point is facing away from you. Take the top flap and fold it toward the 2 cuts near bottom. Take bottom flap and fold it towards top edge. Place a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture in center, then place 1-2 raspberries on top. Repeat with remaining pastry, and place on baking sheet. Bake 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool slightly, then sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. If preferred, you can feel free to use any other of your favorite berries, like blueberries or strawberries.

Finishing up with the breakfast theme, I offer you a deliciously glazed blueberry cake with a hint of lemon that gives this such a great flavor. Blueberries and lemon have always made for a tasty relationship and this one is no different. This is made in a 9x9 pan, so depending on how you cut it will dictate how many portions you get. The overall process will take barely an hour.

2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 egg, lightly beaten

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½ cup milk ¼ cup butter or margarine, softened, but not melted 1 ½ tsp grated lemon peel 2 cups fresh blueberries, frozen will also work if needed

For the topping: 1/3 cup sugar ¼ cup all-purpose fl our ¼ cup fi nely chopped walnuts ½ tsp ground cinnamon 3 tbsp cold butter or margarine

For the glaze ½ cup powdered sugar 2 tbsp of milk to get to a proper drizzling consistency

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray or grease a 9-inch square baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk together fl our, sugar, and baking powder. Cut butter into small pieces. Add egg, milk, butter, and lemon zest and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. You may need to fi nish mixing with your hands to get all the fl our incorporated. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the blueberries. Because the batter is so thick, this may take a few minutes. Spread into the greased pan. For topping, combine sugar, fl our, walnuts and cinnamon in a mini food processor or bowl. Add butter and process, or cut in if doing by hand, until mixture is crumbly. I like to do this with my fi ngers so I can tell when it’s ready by touch. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until done. For glaze, combine the powdered sugar and milk. If too thick, add a few drops of additional milk at a time until it reaches drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cake and allow to sit until sugar solidifi es. This would also make a great snack cake or dessert cake as well.

Before we get down and dirty, I have a very quick appetizer recipe that you can throw together in a little more than a heartbeat although it should be allowed to set under refrigeration. I love just about any sort of dip kind of thing, and this is a recipe meant specifi cally to dip fresh fruits and berries into. Truly simple and just as delicious. This makes about 2 cups of dip, and is awesome with any fruit, such as strawberries, apple slices, melon, grapes, pineapple, peaches, etc.

7 oz marshmallow fl uff 1 package cream cheese, 8 oz, room temp 2 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Fruits/berries of choice to dip

Spoon marshmallow fl uff into a large, microwave safe mixing bowl, microwave for 15 seconds. Add softened cream cheese and orange juice concentrate then whisk or beat with an electric hand mixer until very smooth. Chill for several hours or overnight. Serve with assorted fruit. Be sure your cream cheese is very soft before making this recipe. If your dip has little cream cheese lumps, let the dip sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes then whip again. Wicked Good!

If you know me, you know how much I love dessert bars as they are some of my favorite desserts ever. Toss in some fresh berries and I am all over them. Add a crumble topping on top of them and I fall in love. The berry theme in this dessert is blackberries, although I often use a combo of blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries, but all in all, any fresh berry works. This combines the perfect combo of sweet and tart with memories of my incredible Gram who was the true master of any berry dessert. This pan of scrumptiousness will give you 8-10 servings, takes about an hour and I strongly suggest topping it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

For the Fruit Filling 3 cups of fresh blackberries 1 tsp lemon zest 2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 1/3 cup sugar 2 tsp cornstarch

For the Crumble 2 cups fl our ¼ tsp salt ¾ tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon ½ cup sugar ¼ cup, packed, of light brown sugar 1 ½ sticks of frozen unsalted butter 2 large egg yolks 1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a glass 11x7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or grease with butter. To make the crumble, whisk fl our, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugars together in a large mixing bowl. Using a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter and gently toss it into the fl our mixture and toss until coated. Using a fork, stir in vanilla and egg yolks until egg is mostly absorbed. Add vinegar and give the mixture another stir. Use your hands to fi nish incorporating all the ingredients. Mixture should clump but remain mostly dry. If your mixture is not clumping, add another teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Set crumble aside. To make the fruit fi lling, combine blackberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch in a separate medium mixing bowl. Transfer about ½ of the crumble mixture into the bottom of baking dish. Press mixture down using a fl at measuring cup or damp hands. Pour the berry mixture over the crust. Add the remaining crumble mixture on top. Some small clumps are best. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes and until top is golden brown

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