Bars & Squares, Berries

Blackerries Part II – Blackberry Crumb Bars

August 31, 2009

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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!

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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!

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Tarts

A Tale of Two Tarts

August 17, 2009

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Today is monday. And, I’m already tired! I went over to the island again on Saturday just for the night, as my friend who lives there had no power! And, since I had nothing better to do, I (being the excellent friend I am) decided to go over to the island so we could go see a movie, and she wouldn’t be alone in the dark! And of course, we saw Julie&Julia! What a good movie!! I loved it. It’s a movie, based on a book, based on a blog, based on another book. Got it? Good. So the movie’s based on Julia Child, who inspired Julie Powell to cook her way through Julia’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blog about it, and then the blog turned into a novel, which is now a movie! And it’s hilarious, not only is it about cooking and baking but the story is quite cute. I suggest all bloggers and cooks and bakers go see it! We were laughing so hard I almost cried! You’ll know when you see it. And now I have a huge craving to make beef bourguignon. Again, you’ll see.

Then last night we went to the Kings of Leon Concert in Vancouver! It was really really good. So I got home late, and went to work. And work tomorrow…. and then… I’m off to Vegas!! So excited. I turned 21 in June so I can finally go to Fabulous Las Vegas! I’m really excited and I’ll try and find some of the sweet cupcake shops i’ve heard so much about. For now, Tarts.

Last October I purchased about 1000 tart shells from Costco. And only now have I used them all up. Yup, 10 months. Needless to say I’ve made so many types of tarts and mini-quiches I’m happy to see them go. Although It did come in handy having so many at my disposal whenever I needed them. They come in useful when you need to whip up a quick dessert, or have pie filling left over. Or, when your mom tells you she wants something “sweet” after dinner. My dad would always tell my mom when she went grocery shopping to buy “something sweet.” I think I got my sweet tooth from him. In fact, I think all of my teeth are sweet tooths. It usually meant my mom would pick up some ice cream, or brownies or a cake if it were on sale. Yup, I definitely got it from my dad. Thanks dad.

So over the last couple weeks I’ve used the last of the tart shells up. I used the leftover filling in the Tarte Au Citron to make mini lemon tarts, and made quick mini-apple pie tarts after dinner one night, and the other day when my mom asked for something sweet, I whipped up some mini-chocolate cream pie’s.

So here’s a few recipes you can make if you’ve got as many tart shells as I have. Have fun!

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Mini Apple Pie Tarts A La Mode – Recipe by Bakeaholic

Recipe for 12 mini tarts.

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 Apples, Cored and Diced into small pieces
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. Corn Syrup
  • 1 tsp Lemon Juice
  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Brown Sugar

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350.

  1. Place tart shells on a baking sheet.
  2. Mix together in a large bowl the apples, corn-syrup and lime juice.
  3. Sprinkle with Cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg and brown sugar.
  4. Spoon into tart shells til just full. Bake for about 15 minutes, until tart shells are lightly browned and the filling looks carmalized.
  5. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

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Little Lemon Tarts

Made with the filling from my Tarte Au Citron recipe.

Prepare filling as directed, and fill tart shell’s 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until center looks sugary and set. Allow to cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Serve with whipped cream.

Enjoy =)

Uncategorized

Ice Cream & Fish

August 11, 2009

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And my 51st blog entry!! It’s taken a while to get here, but I’ve made it halfway to 100 posts! Since I don’t post everyday it’s taken 10 months to get this far haha. But there’s more to come =)

So this post is about a few random things I’ve done over the past week. Ice Cream & Fish. Yes that’s right. Not together I should add. This last week I went to Victoria, on Vancouver Island to visit some friends and go up to Port Alberni to a friends cabin to do some fishing!! I had never really been before so I was looking forward to it. A couple days before we left my friend Justine and I ventured to Wal-Mart for a random shopping spree. We found a 20$ ice cream maker that we just had to buy! And now that I’m home I really want to go out and buy one myself!! (although I probably shouldn’t.. haha.)

So I don’t have a recipe for this post, well unless you own an ice cream maker and you wanted to make Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, like we did. Man, was it good!

Here are a few pics of the ice cream, my first catch!! A 21 pounder! And, cooking in a little floating cabin without electricity, a fridge, or warm water. However, we did eat pretty good! We caught a sockeye for dinner, some crab, fresh oysters and I even brought along my crepe pan for breakfast!

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Our $20 Ice cream maker!

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The finished product! So good!!

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Home Sweet Home – Floating Cabin In Barkley Sound on Julia Strait

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First time fishing! First catch! I could barely hold him up!

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Yes – I brought a crepe pan to the cabin! It was worth it!

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Fresh Oysters!

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Barbecuing the oysters!

It was so much fun going to the cabin! Now back to work!…and more baking =)