So I’m finally back on the mainland, and ready for an extremely exciting weekend. Not only is it Valentine’s Day, which means lots of sweets and baking (or in this case, not) but it is also the opening weekend of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics!

I’m actually more excited than I thought I would be, seeing as how it’s all happening right in our backyard! Hopefully I’ll be able to get downtown and see everything that’s going on!

This valentine’s day there wasn’t much time to bake after I got back home for our reading break, so I thought I would whip up a few things that didn’t take any baking at all!

I hope you all have a sweet valentine’s day =)

Chocolate Covered Strawberries:

• 1-2 pkg Strawberries
• 1 cup Melting Chocolate (dark or milk)
• 1/2 cup White Melting Chocolate
• 1/2 cup medium shredded coconut (optional)

Directions:

1. Place dark chocolate into a double broiler, and simmer on low. Allow the chocolate to melt completely and transfer to a glass bowl. Allow to cool slightly. ( I always place a glass mixing bowl over the pot, and then transfer the bowl to a hot plate)
2. Do the same with the white chocolate. Then pour the white chocolate into a piping bag, and snip off a tiny bit. You can also reserve some white chocolate to dip the strawberries into as well.
3. Was the strawberries and dry them completely. You’ll want them slightly cool, to help cool the chocolate faster. Dip them one by one into the melted chocolate and place onto a tray, lined in parchment paper or saran wrap. Once you’ve finished all of them place the tray into the fridge to harden the chocolate. I placed them into the fridge one by one onto the tray so they would cool faster and harden while I made the others.
4. You can if you like also dip them/roll them/or sprinkle them with coconut after you have dipped them into the chocolate.
5. Once they have set, using the white chocolate piping bag, drizzle the white chocolate over the dark and place back into the fridge.
6. Once they have set completely, you can package them up and give them to someone special! Not without trying a couple yourself of course.

You can keep the little container that the strawberries come in as well, they make a cute little box to deliver your sweets in!

Have a very sweet valentines!

xo Alicia

Alright, so now you get to see what all those delicious blackberries were baked into!! Well, here they are. Incredibly good Blackberry Crumb Bars. Oh-so good blackberries combined with lemon juice and lemon zest sandwiched between two shortbread like layers = Yum. These are just sweet and tart enough without being overly sugary. And super versatile. You could easily substitute in blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, or even peaches! They are even better once refrigerated and cut easily into take-along bars.

It was really easy to make basically four ingredients: berries, flour, sugar and lemon. Perfect for all those end of summer left over berries, or even for the fall. You can definitely freeze all your berries from the summer and use them in the fall to make the dessert. Just note that they will probably be a bit watery once you thaw them. Maybe cut back on the amount of lemon juice, or add a bit more cornstarch.

If you’ve got some berries at home and some flour, I suggest you get baking! I’m going to visit my friend today – who didn’t help pick the berries by the way, but will get to taste the finished product! Lucky friend ; )

Sorry it took a few days … but I went to the island again this weekend – and jumped off a bridge! Yes, I’m crazy. I went bungy jumping in Nanaimo yesterday – and it was scary! But so much fun too! I said I wanted to do lots of exciting new things in my 21st year, and so far since June I’ve gotten a tattoo, gone to Vegas (Just last week! and no, I’m not a millionaire) and now bungy jumping. I think it’s a pretty good list so far! There’s also a few to-dos on my baking list, I better get on that!

Blackberry Crumb Bars
As seen on Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 4-5 cups fresh berries of your choice
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the berries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

These tasted even better once refrigerated, but feel free to dig in while their still warm! Maybe with a scoop of ice cream!

Enjoy!

& Here’s me jumping off a bridge!

My friend and I were walking down by beach the other day and came across a ton of blackberry bushes. Of course, we began eating as many as we could get our hands on – which is quite hard considering all the sharp barbs! He said we should have gone home to get a bucket to collect them in, so I could bake something with them – of course. We didn’t, but I had gotten the idea that I wanted to go back down, with a bucket this time, to pick some and bake with them. Needless to say someone was happy with the idea of me picking blackberries and baking with them. So a few days later I decided to go down, with Lainey, and pick a whole bunch. Usually you see people with old ice cream buckets collecting them, which is a good idea, except we don’t eat buckets of ice cream and don’t have any around. So, a big Tupperware had to do.

Lainey and I set out early in the morning down to the dyke on the beach to pick some blackberries.

It was nice and sunny – at 8 am. And the berries are just waiting to get picked!

I think Lainey was more excited for her walk along the dyke than the berries.

Beautiful British Columbia – Along the Coast and the tide is out

All the juicy berries are in the back – out of reach!

But I managed to get my hands on some!

Lainey investigates the berries. Yup, their good.

Stay tuned for what these delicious berries get baked into!