Summer Blackberry Cobbler with Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise--Posted by Joy

Taken from Cuisine at Home

Summer Blackberry Cobbler 
with coconut-pecan topping


Toss Together:
8 C blackberries fresh or frozen (thawed slightly if frozen)
1 C sugar (to taste, in my opinion--much more sugar if using wild blackberries from my experience)
1/4 C instant tapioca
Juice of 1/2 lime
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375; toss berries with sugar, tapioca, lime juice and salt. Spoon into a 2qt baking dish.

Combine; Knead In:
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C pecans; coarsely chopped
1/2 t. baking power
1/4 t. table salt
1/2 C cold unsalted butter, cubed (1 stick)

Combine flour, coconut, sugar, pecans, b. powder and salt; with fingertips knead in butter until blended; mixture should look like coarse sand.

Blend In; Top Berries With:
1 egg

Blend egg with berries; top berries with topping in clumps. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until topping is golden and crisp and filling is thick and bubbly. Cool on rack for at least 1 hour before serving.

Serve With: 
Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise

Vanilla-Rum Creme Anglaise


Warm: 
2 C half and half
2 T. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped; pod chopped into 1' pieces

Warm in saucepan over medium heat until steaming; about 5 minutes.

Whisk Together; Temper Milk Into and Cook:
5 egg yolks
3 T. sugar
2 T. light or dark rum
1/4 t. kosher salt

Whisk yolks, sugar, rum and salt together in a bowl; when milk mixture is steaming, temper into the eggs whisking constantly. Pour the custard back into the pan and return to burner. Cook over med-low heat, stirring constantly, until custard coats the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes.

Blend and Strain; Add:
1 t. vanilla extract

Blend custard and vanilla bean pod in a blender for 1 minute. Strain into a bowl, add the extract, cover and chill.

MY NOTES: This recipe felt like a lot of work at the time, though reading it now I'm not sure why other than the tediousness of watching the anglaise carefully. I also picked my own blackberries and they were quite tart so it really needed at least double the amount of sugar the recipe called for. It was late in the season and the blackberries had large seeds in them as well so I didn't enjoy that so much. I had made a much simpler blackberry cobbler some years before that I loved. If I can ever find that recipe I'll post it as well. The Creme Anglaise was AWESOME. I made it a few times for other things--it was just as good with extract and not the hassle of the vanilla beans, but of course the bean made it very rich and pretty to look at as well. The topping was good--I would probably tweak it with a bit more sugar or...something. Not sure what. But worth playing around with if you have the motivation and time :-) 

Blueberry Cobbler - posted by Jessica

Here is a delicious way to get some antioxidants! This is a recipe from a Cooking Light (I know, surprising!) cookbook I have had for years. Saw that Sunflower had blueberries on sale, so decided to give it a try. I used white whole wheat flour and flax egg substitute with good results. I served it with some redi-whip but it would be delicious in the summer with vanilla ice cream. I only got 6 servings out of it than the 8 the recipe said it served. I only used about half of the cinnamon sugar topping which was plenty.

Ingredients:

4 c fresh blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp bk pwd
1/8 tsp nutmeg
dash of salt
1 Tb veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
3 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Oven to 350. Combine blueberries and lemon juice in lightly greased 8 inch pan. Combine flour thru salt. Combine oil thru egg and add to flour mixture just till moist. Drop by spoonfuls onto blueberries to make 8 dumplings. Combine 3 Tb sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake 35 min or until bubbly and lightly browned.  Serve with whip cream or ice cream.
Yield: 8 servings.

Nutella Fudge Brownies--Posted by Joy

Taken from savorysweetlife.com

Nutella Fudge Brownies*

Makes 12 Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Nutella spread
1 large egg
5 tablespoons all=purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 12-cup mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2.  Put the Nutella and egg in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended.  Add the flour and whisk until blended.

3.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.
4.  Bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, 11 to 12 minutes.  Set on a rack to cool completely.  Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.




 



*JOY'S NOTES: Nutella brownies?! Seriously, what could be better than that?! Only nutella brownies with whipped cream, a tall glass of milk and a friend to share them with!! Tessie came for dinner tonight and I was randomly searching for easy dessert recipes and happened across this one.  I didn't have chopped hazelnuts or mini muffin pans so I just mixed up the unbelievably easy batter, poured it into a lightly greased glass dish and baked it til they were set (probably 20 or so minutes). Totally easy recipe and totally a keeper!

Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie --posted by Jessica

This is a really yummy take on pumpkin pie; compliments of Cooking Light. I have made it for the past 2 Thanksgivings with great results. And it is pretty simple to make. It says it make 12 servings, but they are pretty small slices which is fine if having with another pie or dessert, otherwise, I would cut it into 8 to 10 slices for a more normal size. (I suppose that takes away from the whole 'cooking light' thing, but oh well! It's pumpkin so mostly healthy! :-))
Had this with the decadent peanut butter pie on Thursday! Two pies are always better than one right? :) Jess

Filling:

3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz) can unsweetened pumpkin
1 (14 oz) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 pkg refridgerated pie dough

Streusel:

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup regular oats
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
2 Tb chilled butter, cut in small pieces
2 to 3 tsp water

375 Oven. Combine first 8 ingredients with whisk.

Fit dough into 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray.

To prepare streusel, combine flour through ginger. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle with water and toss with fork just until lightly moistened.

Pour pumkin mixture into crust and sprinkle with streusel. Place pie on baking sheet and bake 50 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on wire rack.
Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

Nutrition: cal 273; Fat 9.4 g (sat 3.7g) Fiber 1.7 g

Decadent Peanut Butter Pie --Posted by Jessica

This is one of the best peanut butter pie recipes! Had it for Thanksgiving along with the traditional pumpkin pie. It is good with or without the drizzle; It makes a full pie and the hot fudge tends to run over a bit, but it is definitely 'decadent!'

Ingredients:

1 chocolate cookie pie crust
1 cup creamy p.b.
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz cool whip
1 11.75 oz jar hot fudge topping

Drizzle:
2 Tb hot fudge and 2 Tb p.b.

Beat together p.b., cream cheese and sugar. Fold in 3 cups cool whip. Spread in crust. Reserve 2 Tb hot fudge. Heat remaining hot fudge in microwave 1 minute. Stir and spread over peanut butter layer. Refridgerate pie until serving time.

Just before serving, spread remaining cool whip on top. Place 2 Tb hot fudge in small baggie, cut small hole in baggie and drizzle on pie. Do the same with the 2 Tb pb going in opposite direction of the hot fudge.

8 servings.
Enjoy!