Now That's More Like It

Enough of this healthy stuff.  Time to get back to the baked goods.

Ok, so this isn’t exactly terrible in the Things that Are/Aren’t Good For You department.  Full of good summer berries, and there’s not a ton of sugar.  But there is a stick of butter in there, so it won’t win any low-fat awards.  I made this for breakfast, by the way.

This was partly an experiment to see how well it would hold up over 24 hours, since I was looking for something to add to my catering repertoire.  I decided to sprinkle the crust with a bit of vanilla sugar before topping it with berries, and this seemed to do a great job as a barrier between the juiciness of the berries and the crust.  And of course you can go crazy with your fillings here.  I opted for blackberries and strawberries because I have a sea of blackberry brambles pushing on my back fence, and it’s a constant battle to keep them from overtaking the yard.  So this was my reward for having to wade through thorns and hack down runners on a too-warm day.  If I had been more ambitious, I would have topped it with some lemon curd, but instead I finished up a container of vanilla bean ice cream.

Ok, so you need to forget the ice cream if you’re going for a more healthy alternative.

And maybe dispense with the additional sprinkling of sugar.

And then there’s that stick of butter…

Mixed Berry Crostata

For the crust:

1 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp salt
2 Tbs + 1 tsp sugar (I used vanilla sugar, but plain will do)
1 stick butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
¼ cup ice water

Berry mixture:

3 cups of mixed berries, rinsed, dried and cut into smaller pieces, if necessary

1 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbs vanilla sugar (again, regular sugar is just fine)
1 Tbs flour

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and 1 tsp sugar.  Add the butter cubes and cut in with a pastry blender until the largest butter pieces are about pea sized.  Stir in ice water just until dough begins to come together.  Dump mixture onto floured surface (will still be crumbly) and knead lightly just until it comes together.  Roll into a circle about a foot in diameter.  Transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with the 2 Tbs of sugar.

In same mixing bowl, combine the berries, zest, sugar and 1 Tbs flour.  Mound this mixture in the center of the dough, leaving 3 – 4” all around.  Brush the exposed edges of the pie dough with a little water.  Bring the dough up, partially covering the berry mixture and ‘pleating’ it where it comes together.  Press slightly to get a good seal.

Place in oven and bake 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden, and the berry mixture is bubbly.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Lots of Bang for the Buck

No, I haven’t fallen off the planet, so the 3 of you that read this can stop worrying!  :-)  I had back-to-back catering jobs (very challenging in my little kitchen) and a baby shower cake to put together.

Here ‘tis…

Can’t say I was terribly thrilled with the cake itself. Very moist and tasty, but not so sturdy given the drive I had to make in a hot car. But it survived. I did have fun making all of the little animals, though.

In addition to the cake, I brought along this fruit tureen, which I totally hijacked from Martha’s site. It was so popular the first time around that I actually added it as a fruit option for one of my catered breakfasts. Very healthy, and it goes together quickly, which is always an added plus!

It holds up to heat a lot better than cream cheese frosting, let me tell you.

Mixed Berry Tureen

2 cups clear juice (I used white cranberry)
½ cup sugar
2 packets plain gelatin
About 3 cups of fruit*

In a small saucepan, combine ¼ cup of the juice and the sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to cook and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. In a small bowl, combine another ¼ cup of the juice with the gelatin. Stir until mixture is thoroughly combined.

Add the gelatin mixture to the juice in the pan. Stir until gelatin dissolves. Stir in the remaining 1 ½ cups juice.

In a loaf pan, layer the different fruits, leaving the cut sides of the strawberries (if using) facing up. Slowly pour the juice mixture over the fruit. Press fruit down slightly.

Chill for at least 3 hours. To unmold, run a knife around the edges of the loaf pan and then dip the outside of the pan in hot water for about 5 seconds. Invert onto a plate.

*My first time making this, I used about a cup of blackberries, a little less than half a cup of raspberries, and then made up the difference in strawberries slice in half. The second round I substituted chopped nectarine for the raspberries.