Blueberry Cherry Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh cherries
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne, maybe more
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Combine everything in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the blueberries have burst and the sauce has thickened. Blend it all using a stick blender. Put it on things. Eat those things.

Thoughts: Pretty legit.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Berry Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients

• 8oz blueberries (or something like that)
  
• 6.5oz blackberries (or something like that)
  
• 3/4c whole milk yogurt
  
• 1/4c sugar
  
• 2tbsp lemon juice
  
• 1/2tsp vanilla extract
  

Start by adding the berries to a pan and simmering with the lemon juice until they're really soft and cooked down. Then add the sugar and vanilla and dissolve those. Let the mixture cool in the fridge. When cool, mix with the yogurt and prepare in ice-cream maker. Transfer to another container and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Thoughts: The flavor was good, but not quite as strong as we had been expecting. Possibly we should have used more berries and cooked them down longer to get a stronger berry flavor. Similarly, the yogurt had relatively low fat content compared with most ice-creams, and it freezes REALLY solid. How do you fix it? I hear alcohol is the answer: a few tbsp of liquor prevents the frozen yogurt from freezing really well. This will require some testing. Perhaps if we selected the correct liquor, it could serve to strengthen the berry flavor. Kirsch or something? I don't know yet. This is a work in progress.

Disaster Index: 4/10

Update: I unfroze it, added a little dark rum, and refroze it in the ice cream maker. Got a little bit better, though I'm now thinking something a little more fruity might have been wise. Well, next time.

Fresh Lime Custard Berry Tart

This was a little complicated.

Ingredients

• Crust
  
  
  • 1 stick butter
    
  • 2tbsp neutral oil
    
  • 1.75c flour
    
  • 0.25c sugar
    
  • generous pinch of salt
    
  • 1 egg yolk
    
  • 2-3tbsp milk
    
• Filling
  
  
  • 1/3c sugar
    
  • 2tbsp corn starch
    
  • 1c milk
    
  • 2tbsp butter
    
  • zest of one lime
    
  • juice of half a lime
  • 3 egg yolks
  • berries - I used about 2/3 a pint of blueberries, 6oz of blackberries, and about 8 strawberries
    
• Glaze
  
  
  • Juice of two limes
    
  • 2tbsp jam - I used guava
    
  • Honey to taste
    
  • 2tsp corn starch
    

First the dough. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Then chop the butter up into small pieces and cut it into the flour. Next time I'm using the cuisinart like I usually do for making a pastry dough. Whatever. Then add the milk and combine, being careful not to overwork the dough or heat it too much with your hands. When it JUST sticks together (it will have the consistency of wet sand), wrap it in plastic wrap and form into a disk. Stick it in the fridge for 4 hours to chill.



When that's done, take it out and, on a well floured surface, roll it out. Fit it into a springform pan or tart pan, if you have one (I didn't). I lined my springform with a little waxed paper. Make sure the dough goes up the side a little bit. I had to actually press it into the pan with a well-floured drinking glass. It works. Anyway, put some more waxed paper or parchment paper in the middle and weight down with dry peas (classic) or the change from your change jar (my way), being careful that it doesn't actually touch the dough. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, remove currency, and bake for another 15 minutes. This is called "blind baking". I'm just saying.



Now the filling. Set the crust aside to cool. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, lime zest, and corn starch, whisking thoroughly. In a sauce pan, bring the milk to a simmer. When it's simmering, take it off the heat and (TEMPERING FIRST), whisk into the egg/sugar mixture. Tempering means you add just a LITTLE, stir it together, add a little more, whisk thoroughly, and then add the rest. This is so it doesn't scramble the eggs.



Now return the mixture to the sauce pan and set over low heat, whisking constantly. In about a minute, the mixture will seize up (it's really sudden) probably because of the corn starch. Ok. Take it off the heat and stir a little more, then add the butter and stir until it's melted. Now pour it into the cooled crust. Dot with the berries. Actually mine had ridiculous piles of berries. Anyway, try to arrange them radially. It looks nicer. People will appreciate that.



FINALLY, the glaze. Juice those limes you used - mine were the driest limes I've ever used, so I needed two of them, but you could conceivably use one. Mix in the jam and whisk thoroughly. Then add honey until the sweetness is well balanced. Add the corn starch and whisk together, then pour it into a sauce pan and cook over low heat until it thickens. Take it off the heat and spoon it liberally over the tart. Cover the tart and fridge it until completely cooled - at least four hours, though I just made mine like two days ahead of time, so that's possibly a better option.



Thoughts: difficult to make alone. Especially in the B-more heat and humidity. I've NEVER had that much difficulty with pastry dough. It was ridiculous. I think that if I had a tart pan, that would have simplified things a LITTLE, though also the pastry dough recipe is not my usual pastry dough recipe OR method, so next time I'll try my usual and see how that works out. There were confounding factors here, is what I guess I'm saying. Berries were super cheap at Giant Foods this week, so that is the origin of that. By the time I got to the glaze, I had no sauce pans left so I actually microwaved it for 30 seconds at time (stirring in between) until it thickened. It got a little weird - corn starch does that - but it thickened well and the whole thing was pretty amazing.



Disaster Index: 1/10

Banana Lavender Spoom

it is a noun.


Ingredients

• 2 egg whites
  
• 1/3c sugar plus a little to taste
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 2 ripe bananas
  
• about 1tsp lavender buds (pick them up at Penzy's)
  
• about 1/3c water
  
• handful of blueberries (optional)
  

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add about half the sugar and the lavender buds and blueberries if you're using them and cook for a few minutes. Put the whole concoction in a blender with the bananas and blend until smooth. Put in the fridge to cool. In another pot, bring water to a simmer. In a heat-proof bowl, add the egg whites, the rest of the sugar, and the salt. Over the water (as a double boiler), whisk the egg whites until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are hot to the touch - about 2 minutes - and then take off the heat completely and whisk until you have stiff peaks. Now take the fruit puree out of the fridge and fold the eggs and puree together. Pour the stuff into an ice-cream maker. When it's done in there, put it in the freezer for at least an hour.  

Thoughts: Actually quite easy to make and harder to mess up than you'd think when you're cooking egg whites over simmering water without scrambling them. The texture was great and the flavor combination is actually really good. The one bad thing was totally my fault - I added a little too much salt. So it's a little weird tasting. But I would make this again. It's like ice cream but actually quite healthy for you. And the texture is very light and fluffy.  

Disaster Index: 6 for flavor, 1 for technique.

Blueberry-cranberry bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups white flour
• 2 sticks of butter, chilled
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• juice from one lemon (and zest, if you have it. We didn't)
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
  
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium bowl, mix the cup of sugar, the flour, and the baking powder together. Mix in the salt (and lemon zest, if you have it). Cut the butter into small chunks. Little by little, add the chunks to the dry ingredients and squish them with your fingers (this technique also used to make Scottish scones ) so that the butter gradually incorporates into the flour mixture. This may take a while. Do it until all the butter is mixed in and the mixture has the texture of wet sand.
Dough should be pretty crumbly. There's a LOT of butter in here.
Take half of the mixture and spread it on the bottom of your glass pan (we used 9"x 13"). Tamp it down as well as you can.
In another bowl, stir the cornstarch, lemon juice, and sugar together. Gently add the blueberries and the cranberries (I usually chop the cranberries in half because it makes them more manageable to eat. But you can probably put them in whole if you'd like). Stir to combine.
Spoon the fruit mixture over the crust in the pan.
Sprinkle the other half of the dough over the top, crumble fashion.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Eat.

Thoughts: Delicious. And VERY buttery. Next time I would probably use 1.5 sticks of butter and see how it goes. I don't think it really needed 2 whole sticks. The original recipe called for just blueberries, but I thought the cranberries were a nice addition - they lend a little tiny bit of tang that is quite refreshing. I would store them in the fridge, but I would also take them out and let them warm up a little before eating them (maybe 10-15 minutes?), because the flavors really come out when the bars are a little warmer. Dan says "good ratio of berries to crust" and "fantastic flavor." Plus they were super easy to make. I like that the same dough is used for the crust and the topping. This is not always the case.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Fruit Cobbler

An interesting, lazy, twist on classic cobbler.

Ingredients

• 16 ounces of frozen berries, thawed (NOTE: WE DID NOT THAW FIRST)
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar (NOTE: WE USED GRANULATED)
• 2 cups pancake mix
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
  
• Butter for baking dish.
  

Preheat oven to 375.
Butter an 8 or 10 inch baking dish - either is fine.
Add the berries and 1.5 tbsp of the sugar to the dish and toss.
In a large bowl, combine the pancake mix, milk, and eggs until no lumps remain.
Pour the batter over the berries.
Bake until the crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes (NOTE: WE BAKED IT FOR MUCH LONGER).
Remove from oven.
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar. Eat.

Thoughts: This was pretty easy to make, and it would have been easier if we had actually thawed the berries like they asked. But I was like "oh whatever, they'll melt in the oven." Yes. They certainly did. And they made the inside all soggy so we had to bake and rebake the thing like, 3 times. So we ended up cooking it for like, an hour total. It was ridiculous. But that was our own fault. As a consequence, the texture was probably not what it should have been. It looked like white cake with berries underneath. I don't know. I didn't really like it, but both Dan and Erin thought it was good. Once you get yourself a piece and sort of mix everything around, it's good I guess. Dan thought it was too acidic. But he doens't like things like raspberries and strawberries and blackberries for just that reason. So I don't know. You can substitute any sort of fruit filling in this cobbler.

Disaster Index:4.5/10 tolerable.

Crepes with blueberry compote

It's too much trouble to put the accent circonflexe over the 'e'
Ingredients

Crepes

• 1.25 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 large eggs
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Blueberry compote

• 2 cups ripe blueberries (you can probably also use frozen)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
  

Mix flour and salt in large bowl.
Whisk together milk and eggs in another medium bowl.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk to combine.
Whisk in butter.
Strain mixture into a medium bowl. Scrape off the sieve if it collects too much of the butter.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 1 day). Batter should have the consistency of heavy cream.
Heat a griddle over medium heat (we did 300). You can also use an omelet pan, which would work beautifully. However, we do not have such an object. So we used just a pancake griddle. It's more difficult, and the crepes looked less than perfect in some cases, but whatever.
Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle and try to spread it out as best as you can so that it forms a circle. We actually dragged the bottom side of the measuring cup in a circular motion over the batter until we thought it was thin enough.
Flip the crepe when the top appears to be set. This will take anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on how thick the crepe is.
Loosen the edges of the crepe with a spatula, then ease the spatula underneath the crepe and flip it over. Cook on opposite side for about 45 seconds, or until lightly browned on top.
Serve immediately with warm blueberry compote (as follows):
Put blueberries and water and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until the berries burst. Cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Serve warm.

Thoughts: Badass. These were awesome. As indicated above, it would be easier if we had an omelet pan, but it still worked really well. You get the hang of it after about 2-3 crepes. Delicious.
Blueberry compote was equally delicious and hella easy to make. You can also serve the crepes with grilled bananas, which Dan likes to do.

Disaster Index:1/10

Simple Berry Cobbler

Ingredients

• Blueberries & Strawberries (see below)
  
• sugar to mix with the berries - about 2tsp per ramekin.
  
• Where X is the number of ramekins you are making:
  
  
  
  • 1/4x c flour
    
  • 1/2x tsp baking powder
    
  • 1/8x tsp baking soda
    
  • 1x tsp butter, melted
    
  • 1x tbsp milk
    
  • 1 pinch salt
    
  • 1x tsp sugar
    
  
  
• Optional cinnamon, vanilla extract in any part you really want
  

Cut up strawberries (if you're using them) and fill the ramekins with blueberries and strawberries, leaving about 1cm room on the top. Put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, until they're bubbling (a little) and hot. In the mean time, combine the topping ingredients in a bowl. You can mix it with a spoon pretty easily. Add flour or milk at the end until it reaches a medium-dry but slightly greasy dough consistency. Pinch it into separate pieces and form into discs to top the ramekins. When the ramekins come out of the oven, put the dough discs on top and return to the oven for an additional 15-20 minutes. Let them sit a few minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.

Thoughts: This recipe is simple enough that you can make it for desert without any premeditation and without much effort, but the results are delicious. I've tried putting cinnamon in with the berries themselves and with the topping, and I've put vanilla in the topping. Any way you want. You know, there's leeway with this recipe. My only suggestion is: don't put the ramekins in the oven alone - put them on a baking dish, because the berries WILL bubble over and you WILL be sad when you're cleaning burnt sugar syrup off the bottom of your oven. Still, really good.

Note: the first time I did this recipe, it turned out WONDERFULLY, but the second time it was a little iffy. The dough didn't rise and the berries didn't really congeal. Next time, consider adding a little corn starch with the berries and (added since I tried it most recently) some baking soda in the dough. Finally, let it cook a little longer the second time around.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Blueberry - Berry Cobbler

From the Best Light Recipe Cookbook.

Ingredients (filling, followed by topping)

• 6 cups berries (we used some fresh blueberries and some frozen berries)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon


• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp sugar (for later)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

For the filling: Put oven rack in middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
Toss the fruit filling ingredients together in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
Place pie plate on rimmed baking sheet and bake until fruit releases its liquid and is hot and bubbling around the edges. This should take about 20-30 minutes.
For the biscuit topping: Whisk the flour, cornmeal, 1/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, butter, and vanilla together - set aside.
In a third small bowl, mix the remaining 2 tsp sugar and the cinnamon together. Set aside.
When the filling is done cooking, stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined and no dry pockets of flour remain.
Remove the fruit filling from the oven and stir. Pinch off pieces of the biscuit topping and arrange them on top of the filling. We actually had extra biscuit topping left over, so you don't have to worry about spacing them.
Sprinkle the top of the cobbler with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Return the cobbler to the oven and cook until the biscuit topping is golden brown and the filling is again hot and bubbling. This should take about 15-20 minutes.
Eat.

Thoughts: Delightful. We made this for a 4th of July party and people pretty much snarfed it down. This is a fantastic recipe. You could probably do this with blackberries too. Or whatever berries you want.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Blueberry-Lemon Mini-Muffins

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp fine salt
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup half-and-half, mixed with 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups frozen blueberries, thawed and coated in flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Put the butter in a microwave-safe vessel and microwave until melted (30 seconds).
Whisk the milk, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla with the butter.
Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well, then stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened but still lumpy. Do not over-mix the batter, otherwise the muffins will be too dense.
Gently stir in the flour-coated blueberries. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins and sprinkle the tops generously with granulated sugar.
Put the muffins in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 375. Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating half-way through. Muffins should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean with inserted.
When done, turn the muffins out of the tins.

Thoughts: Delicious. These were really good. You can definitely taste the lemon zest. If you don't like to taste lemon zest, you can reduce it. But then again, why would you be reading the recipe for blueberry-lemon muffins if you didn't like lemon? Right-o. Not much to say here. I would eat these all the time.

Disaster Index: 1/10