Showing posts with label berries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berries. Show all posts
Blackberry Upside Down Cake
Yes, another upside down cake! I'm on a roll. I got the blackberries from a vacant lot next door to where I used to live up in North Surrey. They're a bit seedy and they are not the greatest tasting blackberries ever despite how beautiful they were on the bush, but they just need a little extra help with some sugar and they're fine. I made this cake two nights ago, once again using Betty Crackpot's Dinette Cake recipe.
Blueberry Crumble with Coconut Pecan Topping
Out with the old and in with the new! That's what I'm trying to do with my fridge freezer these days. I plan on making some more big batch stuff shortly, and it's also about to become summer fruit season, so I decided to stop hoarding frozen fruits and start using them so I can fill the freezer with fresher stuff. I had 7 cups of blueberries from last summer bagged up, and I took 6 of them out to make a crumble yesterday.
I never use a recipe when making a crumble. I eyeball everything and add what I feel would work. So that's why, apart from the 6 cups of blueberries, there aren't any measurements. Actually, I did measure the butter because, with the price of that particular ingredient, I am hoarding it a bit.
Blueberry Crumble with Coconut Pecan Topping
6 cups of blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
some white sugar (not too much; the blueberries were sweet enough themselves)
cornstarch, so it coats the blueberries lightly
for the topping:
oatmeal
coconut
brown sugar
two handfuls chopped pecans
cinnamon
2/3 cups butter
You'll need a 9x13 pan for this, and I'd bake it on a baking sheet in case the filling boils over. Bake at 375F until the fruit is all bubbly and the top is nicely golden brown.
It was pretty delicious, I must say! All it needed was some ice cream, which I didn't have on hand.
Now, I have a whole whack of pumpkin to use up!
I never use a recipe when making a crumble. I eyeball everything and add what I feel would work. So that's why, apart from the 6 cups of blueberries, there aren't any measurements. Actually, I did measure the butter because, with the price of that particular ingredient, I am hoarding it a bit.
Blueberry Crumble with Coconut Pecan Topping6 cups of blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
some white sugar (not too much; the blueberries were sweet enough themselves)
cornstarch, so it coats the blueberries lightly
for the topping:
oatmeal
coconut
brown sugar
two handfuls chopped pecans
cinnamon
2/3 cups butter
You'll need a 9x13 pan for this, and I'd bake it on a baking sheet in case the filling boils over. Bake at 375F until the fruit is all bubbly and the top is nicely golden brown.
It was pretty delicious, I must say! All it needed was some ice cream, which I didn't have on hand.
Now, I have a whole whack of pumpkin to use up!
Easter Dinner's Dessert: Clafouti
Clafouti is a dessert that has intrigued me for a while, especially after I cut a recipe for it out of Thrifty Foods' (man, how I miss that store!) magazine God knows how long ago. I actually have two recipes for this baked custardy dessert, the other being in my copy of Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook. I have avoided making clafouti because it requires a lot of eggs, and I have previously been stingy with my eggs since they are not cheap. But, times change, and so has my budget; I decided to make clafouti for Easter dinner's dessert.
Though my budget has changed, I wasn't willing to part with 6 egg yolks, which is what the recipe in Le Cordon Bleu calls for. Instead, I opted for the recipe from Thrifty's since it requires 6 whole eggs. I hate having a whole whack of egg whites, or yolks for that matter, kicking around, so I tend to avoid recipes that call for only parts of eggs rather than the whole egg.
The write-up in Le Cordon Bleu book did tell me, however, that clafouti is a dessert from the Limousin region of France, and that it is traditionally made with seasonal cherries, or plums or pears (how "traditional" this dessert is I don't know; it certainly didn't make our curriculum at the French-focused culinary school I attended). The Thrifty's recipe is for a pear version, utilizing canned pears. How pedestrian! I have so many berries in my freezer that I thought this would be an excellent time to use some. I made a Blueberry Clafouti!
The original recipe is here.
I made two substitutions: the first was obviously the berries; the second was a few drops of orange oil instead of the orange liqueur. I also used a whole vanilla bean, one of many that came in Jodi's wonderful Christmas parcel (also, this parcel is where the orange oil came from). I baked the dessert in a 9" deep dish pie pan.
The result: iffy!
I added the berries halfway through the baking because I didn't want them to all sink to the bottom. Unfortunately, the berries were still cold when I added them to the half-baked clafouti, and this ended up changing the temperature of the centre of the dessert drastically, necessitating a longer baking time. As a result, the sides of the clafouti were very overbaked, and the centre wasn't very custardy at all.
Kinda looks like a large Yorkshire Pudding with berries in it. I was not overly impressed with it, though there were no leftovers and everyone else thought it was fine.
I would try this again, only using the learning I gained with this experience: room temperature fruit added at the beginning of the baking. Oh well. We live and learn.
Though my budget has changed, I wasn't willing to part with 6 egg yolks, which is what the recipe in Le Cordon Bleu calls for. Instead, I opted for the recipe from Thrifty's since it requires 6 whole eggs. I hate having a whole whack of egg whites, or yolks for that matter, kicking around, so I tend to avoid recipes that call for only parts of eggs rather than the whole egg.
The write-up in Le Cordon Bleu book did tell me, however, that clafouti is a dessert from the Limousin region of France, and that it is traditionally made with seasonal cherries, or plums or pears (how "traditional" this dessert is I don't know; it certainly didn't make our curriculum at the French-focused culinary school I attended). The Thrifty's recipe is for a pear version, utilizing canned pears. How pedestrian! I have so many berries in my freezer that I thought this would be an excellent time to use some. I made a Blueberry Clafouti!
The original recipe is here.
I made two substitutions: the first was obviously the berries; the second was a few drops of orange oil instead of the orange liqueur. I also used a whole vanilla bean, one of many that came in Jodi's wonderful Christmas parcel (also, this parcel is where the orange oil came from). I baked the dessert in a 9" deep dish pie pan.
The result: iffy!
I added the berries halfway through the baking because I didn't want them to all sink to the bottom. Unfortunately, the berries were still cold when I added them to the half-baked clafouti, and this ended up changing the temperature of the centre of the dessert drastically, necessitating a longer baking time. As a result, the sides of the clafouti were very overbaked, and the centre wasn't very custardy at all.
Kinda looks like a large Yorkshire Pudding with berries in it. I was not overly impressed with it, though there were no leftovers and everyone else thought it was fine.I would try this again, only using the learning I gained with this experience: room temperature fruit added at the beginning of the baking. Oh well. We live and learn.
Family Dinner
Sometimes it's just so nice to have someone cook a meal for you! Last weekend, me, my dad, my brother, and my SIL got together for a family dinner - something we hadn't done in a while because of everyone's hectic schedules.
Dad provided the steaks, and my brother, Jem, marinated them in Worcestershire Sauce, balsamic vinegar, and some steak spice. Then he threw them on the BBQ.
We had some company, the neighbour's toy chihuahua, Lilly. She is half the size of Juno and very cuddly!
We had some company, the neighbour's toy chihuahua, Lilly. She is half the size of Juno and very cuddly!
As the steaks cooked, my SIL made stuffed potato skins, using bacon bits, green onion, tomatoes, and cheese.
We also had a salad with dinner - and it was one excellent meal! Everything was wonderful!
We also had a salad with dinner - and it was one excellent meal! Everything was wonderful!
And for dessert, there was a leftover blueberry dessert made by Shan's aunt - light and a perfect ending to a great meal!
Huckleberry Slump
The name is catchy, isn't it? When I first came across the Sour Cherry Slump recipe in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, I knew I just had to make it for the name alone. Alas, two pints of sour cherries are just not doable on my food budget, so I let this recipe go - until I went huckleberry picking this summer! This, in addition to the huckleberry pork loin, was one of my first ideas for using the berries in a unique way.
According to the book, a "slump" is "essentially a twice-removed cousin of the cobbler family, consisting of cooked fruit filling topped with a biscuit crust that's cooked entirely on the stovetop" (page 44). The slump refers to how the biscuit topping "slumps" over the filling as it cooks.
The recipe for the original sour cherry version can be found online here.
Huckleberry Slump (adapted by me from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito)
According to the book, a "slump" is "essentially a twice-removed cousin of the cobbler family, consisting of cooked fruit filling topped with a biscuit crust that's cooked entirely on the stovetop" (page 44). The slump refers to how the biscuit topping "slumps" over the filling as it cooks.
The recipe for the original sour cherry version can be found online here.
Huckleberry Slump (adapted by me from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito)
For the biscuit topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Raw sugar for topping (optional)
- 3 cups huckleberries
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- juice of half a lemon (use some zest if you have it, too; I didn't)
Make the biscuit topping
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir in the melted butter and mix until combined. Add 1/4 cup of the sour cream and stir. Add a few heaping tablespoons of the remaining sour cream, stirring between each addition, until the dough feels wet. You may end up using slightly less than the 1/2 cup of the sour cream. Set aside while you prepare the huckleberries.Make the huckleberries
In a well-seasoned 8-inch or 8-1/2-inch cast-iron skillet, gently combine the berries, sugar, and lemon juice. (I used my nifty cast iron KitchenAid dutch oven and it worked great.)
Cover the skillet with a lid or a piece of tight-fitting foil and bring the mixture to a rapid boil over medium heat. 
When the mixture reaches a boil, remove the skillet from the heat and scoop heaping tablespoons of the biscuit topping over the berries, covering as much surface area as possible. If using, sprinkle the top with raw sugar. 
Cover the skillet tightly and return it to low heat. Cook for about 15 minutes. Do not remove the lid. After 15 minutes, check the topping for doneness; it should be dry to the touch. (The topping will not brown the way it would in an oven.) 
Serve the slump hot from the pan.
Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake for a Crowd
On Monday at work, I got to make dessert again for the residents. I knew I would be doing this the week before, when I made the strawberry-rhubarb crumble (which was a HIT with the residents, BTW!) and I came across a 2.5kg bag of frozen strawberries languishing in the freezer. I told the cook I'd think about it for a week and come up with some way to use the berries on Monday. I turned over various ideas in my mind, but eventually came up with something simple and within budgetary requirements: chocolate strawberry shortcakes.
I made the biscuit recipe before, here, and knew it to be a reliable, good recipe, as are most that come from Canadian Living. I needed 29 desserts, not of huge size, and so I doubled the recipe and got what I needed from it.
A word about cocoa powder: not all cocoa powders are created equally! Since the organization I work for is non-profit, there is a strict ingredients budget to work around, so the priority is not high quality cocoa powder. The cocoa I used in this particular dessert was the Wally World el cheapo brand, and it has a greyish hue. Hence the biscuits are not terribly chocolatey-looking or -tasting. But they were OK for this crowd.
For the filling, I used the entire bag of strawberries, thawing them out first and slicing them in half. In a large pot, I mixed the berries, their juices, some lemon juice, nutmeg, and about 2 cups sugar. I brought the whole thing to a boil and simmered for a little while...
...When the berries had cooked down a bit, I skimmed out some of the juices and made a slurry with a few TBSP of cornstarch. After the filling had thickened, I took it off the stove to cool.
The final result - fabulous!
The staff, including bosses, were really happy, so I hope the residents are, too. I tried this one and it was really, really good.
Huckleberry Pikelets
As you might have read, I have an abundance of huckleberries kicking around my freezer and I'm looking for new and interesting things to do with them. I came across a post by Bellini Valli of More Than Burnt Toast, a fellow BC foodblogger, featuring blueberry pikelets, and my interest was piqued. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I went down and made them immediately.For an explanation on pikelets, you can read Bellini Valli's information about this treat here. I also found an interesting article on pikelets here, baking up Bellini's assertion that there are a lot of contradictions around these things. The Hub UK site has a recipe for pikelets that uses yeast, and this seems far more crumpet-like to me than the recipe I used. I grew up in a pretty British household, but had never heard of pikelets before; I must ask my dad if he remembers them.
These are, essentially, a thick pancake. They were wonderful! Not terribly exciting or exotic, as the name might suggest, but they were certainly yummy. Thanks Bellini Valli!
Full Flickr set here.
Rhubarb-Strawberry Crumble - Commercial Style
Because we were missing muffin ingredients at work the other day, I got to make dessert for the residents instead of baking for the hospital. While I was looking for blueberries for blueberry muffins - only to find we were out, and I had the batter all ready to go...that'll teach me to make sure I have all my ingredients before starting a recipe - I came across huge amounts of frozen rhubarb & strawberries at the very bottom of the freezer. These were left over from when we made the Fruit Full muffins, which we're no longer doing because they weren't selling well. Since the cook didn't have a dessert planned for the evening's dinner yet, I offered to make a crumble. Off I went!
There are about 36 people to cook for at this place, but the portions tend to be smaller because they're all seniors. I didn't measure anything in this recipe except for the sugar and I suspect I used about 12 - 14 cups of frozen rhubarb and strawberries.
Into the fruit I put cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, the sugar, and a whole bunch of cornstarch. Like I said, I didn't measure.
I made the crumble in a large roasting pan...
I think I made way too much crumble. In the crumble mixture, I put oats, flour, brown sugar, the same spices as in the fruit, and about 1.5 cups of butter. It made a lot. I hope the seniors like their crumble!
As a safeguard, I baked the crumble on a baking sheet, which is always a good idea in case your filling bubbles over and you get a mess on the bottom of your oven. As the filling bubbled up, I stuck a spoon in and tasted some of the boiling juice and it was...really good. The cook was happy, I was happy, I hope the seniors are happy. It was my only taste as my shift ended before the crumble came out of the oven, but I'm confident it'll go over well. I'll find out next time I go in!
There are about 36 people to cook for at this place, but the portions tend to be smaller because they're all seniors. I didn't measure anything in this recipe except for the sugar and I suspect I used about 12 - 14 cups of frozen rhubarb and strawberries.
Into the fruit I put cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, the sugar, and a whole bunch of cornstarch. Like I said, I didn't measure.
I made the crumble in a large roasting pan...
I think I made way too much crumble. In the crumble mixture, I put oats, flour, brown sugar, the same spices as in the fruit, and about 1.5 cups of butter. It made a lot. I hope the seniors like their crumble!
As a safeguard, I baked the crumble on a baking sheet, which is always a good idea in case your filling bubbles over and you get a mess on the bottom of your oven. As the filling bubbled up, I stuck a spoon in and tasted some of the boiling juice and it was...really good. The cook was happy, I was happy, I hope the seniors are happy. It was my only taste as my shift ended before the crumble came out of the oven, but I'm confident it'll go over well. I'll find out next time I go in!
Pork Tenderloin, Starring....Huckleberries!
So this is my first kick at the can using my lovely huckleberry bounty, locally picked by yours truly. I wanted to do something different; muffins are so pedestrian! I whipped this pork tenderloin idea up on my own...divine inspiration out in the berry patch or something... My dad donated the tenderloins, of which there were two, and initially four were supposed to partake in the meal, but then plans fell apart, as they do once in a while. So, I knew there would be a ton of leftovers, I just didn't yet know if that was a good thing or not. Here's how it went.For the rub:
1/3 cup brown sugar
ginger, cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, salt & pepper - all to taste (I didn't measure)
For the filling:
1 package (140g) unripened goat's cheese (i.e. not feta), softened
a whole bunch of huckleberries
4 cups of spinach
3 cloves garlic
1tsp or so of the rub mixture
I was going to just put the spinach in raw, but decided against it. In fact, I wasn't going to put any spinach in at all, but I had so much left over from a salad I made that I decided what the hell. When my SIL does pork loin, she usually puts spinach in the stuffing and it's always awesome. Anyhoo, I sauteed the spinach because I wanted to cook the water out of it first. It was worth it to spend the extra few minutes to do this, I think. I sauteed the spinach in olive oil and the garlic.
After the spinach was wilted, I added it to the goat's cheese & huckleberries. What I got was not particularly appetizing...But this was an experiment after all, right?
Yeah, great colour, eh? At this point I was thinking, Hmmm...was this a good idea? But I soldiered on, and stuffed the tenderloins, after making a cut along the length in order to flatten them out and create a pocket for the filling.
After that came the rub...I realized too late I should have rubbed first and filled second, but we live and learn, don't we?Then, truss truss baby. You can see my blue silicone trussing thingies in this picture. Very cool gadget.
Then into a 375F oven, covered with foil for about half an hour, then off with the foil and continue baking until an internal temperature of 180F was reached. And voila...
While my meat rested (it took about an hour to cook, and I set my fancy-wancy thermometer with probe 180F so it would beep when the temp was reached) I made a sauce, using, what else? Well, yes, huckleberries, but also POM! The last of my POM (I have one coupon left). This was the one with blueberry juice in it as well.Pomegranate Huckleberry Sauce
juices from the roasted pork loin
about 1/2 cup POM juice
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
a whole bunch of huckleberries
I dissolved the cornstarch in the POM as the drippings, brown sugar, and ginger came to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the drippings boiled, I added the huckleberries and the POM. I simmered for a few minutes... And forgot to take a pic of the sauce. Sorry. It looked like...blueberry syrup. Use your imagination.
Slicing the tenderloin proved difficult - it was very delicate and the filling so soft that it squished out the sides. This is what I got:
Yeah...presentation-wise, I don't think this is a winner.
The overall verdict, however: a hit! I loved it right away. Everything went really well together, from the rub on down. The sauce was great. The spinach, however, I could have lived without. It didn't really add any flavour and made the presentation less than stellar. I'd leave it out next time. Additionally, I would use feta cheese the next time, for a couple of reasons. A) I think the flavour contrast between saltiness of the feta and tart-sweet of the berries would be killer. B) It's a firmer cheese and would probably slice & present better than this goat's cheese.
My dad took a bit more convincing. He's not used to having sweet things mixed with his otherwise savoury dishes, and I get that. It's not everyone's cup of tea. He did, however, have seconds, and by the end of the meal, he was converted! He has half of the second loin we didn't even touch for leftovers, as do I. (I served this meal, by the way, with a barley & bean salad that will be the subject of an upcoming Magazine Monday post.)Definitely a successful experiment! With a bit of tweaking, I might just make this my signature dish! And - I still have a ton of huckleberries frozen for future kitchen experiments!
Enjoy!
Huckleberry Time!
On Saturday, I got to go out into the bush and pick huckleberries. You can read more about that here.I got 10 cups of huckleberries! So, now what? Well, yesterday morning I made huckleberry pancakes, using Nigella's homemade pancake mix. The pancakes were totally excellent and I still think this recipe makes the best pancakes I've ever had.
So, now what do I do with all these other remaining huckleberries? Yeah, there's muffins and pies...But I want to do something different.Hucklberries are quite tart in comparison to blueberries. I'm thinking goat's cheese; I'm thinking pork loin; I'm thinking spinach!
Any ideas? Let me know!
Full Flickr set from the berry-picking spree is here.
Magazine Monday #40: Sour Cherry Loaf
I often bemoan the fact that, living as I do in the middle of nowhere, I have less access to exotic ingredients than a lot of people living in larger centres do. Case in point: sour cherries. We get black cherries in season from the Okanagan, which is great. Sometimes, if you want to pay the ridiculous prices, you can even get them out of season. We get marashino cherries in syrup. But I have never seen a single sour cherry in these parts until last week, when I happened upon a jar while cruising the aisles of Save-on Foods in Nelson. I wasn't even looking for them; I was just wandering by the foreign foods section, and out they popped. I didn't even think about it; I just put them in my basket, noting the $4.99 price tag (they are a product of Bulgaria, I later read on the label. I'm surprised they weren't more). I got them home and proceeded to agonize over what to do with them.
Last week I also received my June issue of Gourmet, and in it was a recipe for Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. The old wheels began turning in my brain (it happens from time to time) and I decided to make a Sour Cherry Buttermilk Cake instead. The wheels continuted to turn, and I went on to decide that a Sour Cherry Buttermilk Loaf would be even better. (The reasoning behind this is purely psychological; I would be far more amenable to having a loaf kicking around the house as opposed to a cake. If this seems purely irrational to you, join the club.)So, on the hottest day of the year yet, I fired up the oven (as much as you can fire up a 30 year old electric oven) and baked. The recipe I used is here. In addition to replacing the raspberries with sour cherries and making this into a loaf instead of a cake, I also took the opportunity to try out some of my Billington's sugar crystals that were part of a box of treasures Jodi sent me in March.
The result was both ugly and wonderful. The ugly part was that the loaf looked terrible: flat and overly browned. It looked quite like a brick, actually.
Not quite what I was expecting. I was also not expecting this:
The cherries sunk right from the top of the loaf directly to the bottom. Weird.
The wonderful part was that this cake tasted awesome. Next time, I'll at least follow the instructions and bake it in a cake pan (though the recipe specifies a 9" round, I think the recipe is too small for this size pan; I've had this problem with some other recipes from Gourmet and/or Bon Appetit. The cake pan is too big for the amount of batter you get, so I use an 8").
Cranberry Orange Muffins for a Crowd
The muffin of the month for April at work is Cranberry Orange. These turn out great and are probably my favourite muffin so far. Be aware that they have a different method than the usual muffin directions, and when I make these I get about 2 1/2 dozen commercial-sized muffins.
Cranberry Orange Muffins
10 cups flour
5 cups sugar
7 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
3 3/4 cups orange juice
7 tbsp orange extract
5 cups cranberries (fresh, not dried)
5 eggs
1. Combine dry ingredients well in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the shortening, like you would do if making pastry, until the mixture is mealy.
3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, orange juice, and orange extract. Add to the flour mixture with the cranberries until well combined.
4. Scoop and bake @ 350F until done.
Cranberry Orange Muffins10 cups flour
5 cups sugar
7 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
3 3/4 cups orange juice
7 tbsp orange extract
5 cups cranberries (fresh, not dried)
5 eggs
1. Combine dry ingredients well in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the shortening, like you would do if making pastry, until the mixture is mealy.
3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, orange juice, and orange extract. Add to the flour mixture with the cranberries until well combined.
4. Scoop and bake @ 350F until done.
Lemon & Dried Blueberry Hot Cross Buns
I couldn't be bothered making Easter cookies, even though I have to donate some baking to the SPCA bake sale on Saturday, but luckily I came across a new food blog, Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, that had the perfect solution: Hot Cross Buns.I'm ho-hum on Hot Cross Buns. My mom loves them, but I'm not a fan of the dried fruit that goes into them. Natashya had a great recipe up for Magazine Mondays that caught my eye and really appealed to me, Lemon Currant Hot Cross Buns. Except I'm not huge on currants.
Enter the dried blueberry, which I happened upon by accident recently at my local overpriced grocery store. I thought this recipe would be the perfect opportunity to try them out. Man, 1 1/2 cups cost me nearly $6.00! I nearly choked at the cashier. But I decided to buy them anyways, and when I got them home and tasted them, I found I liked them better than fresh blueberries. I substituted them for the currants in the Hot Cross Bun recipe and it worked out brilliantly.
The dough, as it rose, smelled completely amazing, and as they baked, my roommate said she could smell them outside as she hacked away at our snowbank in the front yard. I did make the mistake of not decreasing my oven temperature for the glass pan, so my buns were a little overbaked, but the end result was marvelous. These are the best Hot Cross Buns ever!I didn't pipe on the white icing, but rather drizzled it on in a cross-like pattern, letting the icing drip where it may. I took the pan for dinner at my dad's last night and these were a huge hit.
Thanks Natashya!
Simple Cherry Dessert
The cook was away when I was at work on Monday, and the relief cooks were unavailable to fill in, which mean that the two office ladies were up. The menu: Shepherd's Pie (eeewww), biscuits, soup, salad, mixed veg, and this dessert, which I got to make since the office ladies were too busy to do themselves. I was only too happy to make this, since it gave me a bit of a break from muffin and cookie baking. I've actually made this dessert before, and it is really quick and easy.
Simple Cherry Dessert
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 can cherry pie filling
1. Cream together butter & sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add almond extract. Beat until nice and light and fluffy.
2. Sift in dry ingredients and combine.
3. Spread in a greased 9x13" pan. I was making a double recipe, and I was using a larger pan for this, but you get the idea.
4. Get out your cherry filling. In my case, it comes in a big bucket. Man, I love this stuff! I could eat it right out of the bucket with a great big spoon (alas, I did not; but I did lick the scoop when I was done).
5. Spoon the filling over the batter in big globs.
6. Bake at 350F for 45 - 50 minutes, or until the cake is done and pulling away from the sides of the pan. The finished product looks like this:
Now, I actually used blueberry filling for this, because it's what we had on hand, so using other types of filling is perfectly OK. I didn't get to eat any of this, but I'm sure it was yummy - it couldn't be anything else!
Enjoy!
Simple Cherry Dessert
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 can cherry pie filling
1. Cream together butter & sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add almond extract. Beat until nice and light and fluffy.
2. Sift in dry ingredients and combine.
3. Spread in a greased 9x13" pan. I was making a double recipe, and I was using a larger pan for this, but you get the idea.
4. Get out your cherry filling. In my case, it comes in a big bucket. Man, I love this stuff! I could eat it right out of the bucket with a great big spoon (alas, I did not; but I did lick the scoop when I was done).
5. Spoon the filling over the batter in big globs.
6. Bake at 350F for 45 - 50 minutes, or until the cake is done and pulling away from the sides of the pan. The finished product looks like this:
Now, I actually used blueberry filling for this, because it's what we had on hand, so using other types of filling is perfectly OK. I didn't get to eat any of this, but I'm sure it was yummy - it couldn't be anything else!Enjoy!
Blueberry Muffins - Commercial Style
Here is another recipe from work. March is Blueberry Muffin month, and this is the recipe we use. It's not as good as my Ultimate Blueberry Muffin recipe, but it's OK, and apparently the customers like them. This is a variation of the master/basic muffin recipe and we use wild blueberries.
Blueberry Muffins
12 cups flour
6 tbsp baking powder
3 tsp salt
12 eggs
5 cups milk
4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 cups vegetable oil
6 tsp vanilla
4 cups blueberries
The usual muffin method applies. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or so.
You can divide this by four and get an amount of batter suitable for home baking, but you might have to tinker a bit with the milk amount. I know I have to every so often when I make the large batch; I usually have to increase it.
Anyway, there you have it: Blueberry Muffins, commercial style.
Blueberry Muffins
12 cups flour
6 tbsp baking powder
3 tsp salt
12 eggs
5 cups milk
4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 cups vegetable oil
6 tsp vanilla
4 cups blueberries
The usual muffin method applies. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or so.
You can divide this by four and get an amount of batter suitable for home baking, but you might have to tinker a bit with the milk amount. I know I have to every so often when I make the large batch; I usually have to increase it.
Anyway, there you have it: Blueberry Muffins, commercial style.
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