Cinnamon Spiced Nuts and Berry Salad

First order of business is, I'm so sorry I've been a slacker posting anything the last few weeks.  If you could see the behind the scenes you would be AMAZED at what I've accomplished!  I have officially taken my blog over to my own personal domain.  clawsonlive.com is up and running.  All I have to do is figure out a new template, and redirect traffic, and 10,000 other things and it will be official:) So hopefully one of these next few posts you will see the new and improved Clawson Live site, and life will be back to normal. It's going to be a good day around here:)

I did make a very tasty and delicious salad the other night for my family though.  I've written about the Everything Salad lots of times, and talked about the homemade candied nut, but this version is by far my absolute favorite.  My sister in law Katie told me about it a few weeks ago.  It's fantastic!  There's also something completely wonderful about FRESH berries this time of year.  And when the price isn't too outrageous the salad is even THAT much more wonderful!  I love a good hearty meal, but I love that hearty meal when it's balanced out with a fresh yummy salad.  And you know if you have the Spring Mix in the fridge at all times, you can eat this salad with it's many reincarnations every night of the week and not get sick of it.  A good friend told me years ago, that all you need for a good salad is a fruit, a nut, and a cheese.  You can mix all three of those up, and go from there.  Apples, berries, pears, dried cranberries or blueberries, or even fresh citrus fruits this time of year are all perfect salad additions.  Pecans are my favorite nuts in salads, but we used pistachios, and almonds both in a different salad just this week around the Clawson home.  As for cheeses, Blue Cheese is my most favorite, but shredded Asiago or Parmesan are fantastic, as well as shredded Swiss or crumbled Feta.  You get the picture.  Just use what you have and create interesting combinations.  

The star of this particular salad though is the Cinnamon Spiced Nuts.  You know that smell you enjoy every time you walk into the mall at Christmas time?  The hot fresh Cinnamon Almonds?  That's what you are going to recreate and put into your salad.  Heaven on wheels!  When your 13 year old, most picky eating child, can't stop snitching these nuts as they're cooling, you know you have a winner!  I've made these nuts lots of different ways.  All take about 5-10 minutes of your UNDIVIDED attention.  Don't get distracted while you make the nuts, or they will burn on you, and you will have to clean up the worst pan on the planet.  The key to these nuts is getting your sugar to melt, and caramelize without burning.  Once you figure it out though, you will make them all the time.  I actually make a big batch quite frequently and store them in a Ziplock bag in the freezer.  Pull them out the next salad you make and they will be perfect.


Cinnamon Spiced Nuts and Berry Salad

Dressing

1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 c. oil

Mix together and pour over salad.  You can add variations to this dressing.  Add some raspberry jam, or use lime juice, lemon juice or orange juice for some of the vinegar.  Improvise.

Salad

Spring salad mix (I buy the big container at Sam's.  It will feed a crowd!)
raspberries
blueberries
sliced strawberries
Blue cheese crumbled
Cinnamon Spiced Nuts

Add all ingredients to your liking.  Depending on the amount of people to serve you can vary amounts. 1lb. of Spring Mix will usually serve 20-25 people.  Sometimes I just fill a small bowl with just enough lettuce to feed my little family.  Just note that once this salad is dressed it must be consumed.  IT DOES NOT KEEP, and it's always sad to see something this wonderful go to waste:) So you can always add a little more lettuce, but you can have leftovers:(


Sugar Spice Pecans

1/3 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. whole or chopped pecans

In a dry fry pan place the sugar, cinnamon and nuts and put over a medium high heat.  Be diligent and stay right by these babies until they're done.  I've burned a few nuts in my day, and even the kitty won't eat them:(
Don't stir until you start to see the sugar melting around the edges of the pan.  Gently stir the nuts so they don't burn.  Keep stirring until all the sugar melts and turns golden brown.  This part goes fast.  It takes a while for the sugar to start to melt, but once it does watch it.  Poor the nut onto a WELL GREASED pan or plate.  Immediately sprinkle with a shot of salt.  Let cool and then break up and add to the best salad. 

Sweet Bee Berry Crepes

I have a new way to love crepes.  There's always the question of what to put on your crepe.  Nutella, Biscoff Spread, sweetened cream mixture with berries, bananas and strawberries, Nutella and bananas. Oh my word I could go on and on and on!  There are so many good ways to eat a crepe, but I think I've found a new favorite!!  We have the cutest little place in town called The Crepery.   Emma and I love it!  You can get a sweet or savory crepe there any time of the day.  I always get a more substantial savory lunch-ish type crepe every time I go, but Emma tried the Sweet Bee last time.  I actually made fun of her, but I have since eaten my words.  The Sweet Bee is so plain Jane, but I should have known there is NOTHING plain about Jane!  My sweet baby Jane is anything but plain. Same with the Sweet Bee.  A golden crepe lathered in butter and honey and folded.  Eaten as is.  It's heaven!!  I would never have tried something so ordinary, but let me just tell you that ordinary is sublime.  Honey is liquid gold, and it tastes so wonderful folded in a hot crepe.  I may have topped it off with a few fresh blackberries from the garden, and a dollop of whipped cream.  My new favorite crepe.  We'll be having them for brekky for the rest of my days:)

Clawson Family Favorite Crepes

I double this recipe for my family of 6 and we are usually left still wanting a few.

Crepes
1 c. flour
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/4 t. salt
2 T. melted butter
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Cheese Filling
1 16 oz carton cottage cheese blended smooth with a wand blender
1/2 - 1c. powdered sugar (to your liking. We like it a bit on the sweet side)
a pinch of salt

Warm Berry Sauce
2 c. frozen berries of choice. We used Huckleberries that we had picked, but raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any kind work fantastic
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water

Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 3 minutes. Serve warm on crepes or waffles.

To make the crepes just spread a few tablespoons of the cheese mixture down the middle of a crepe. Roll it up and top with warm berries. We eat tons of these when we make them. Like 10-12 a person sometimes.
Sweet Bee Berry Crepe

Honey
Warm Berry Sauce
Butter
Whipped Cream

On the inside of the crepe spread a little butter, and drizzle the honey.  Top with warm berries and a little whipped cream!  Heaven!!

Blueberry Almond Focaccia

I ripped a recipe out of a Bon Appetite a few months ago as inspiration for this recipe.  Does anyone else ever do this?  I learned once that when you're reading a magazine you should just rip out the pages you want to save instead of saving the whole magazine.  Do you know how many times I've had to control my ripping tendency in a dentist or doctors office.  How about the Landrover dealership!  That would be totally tacky there:)  I have a 3 ring binder BURSTING at the seams with magazine pages, handwritten scraps of paper, and dripped on recipes from my mom.  It barely fits into the drawer it's in.  If my house ever caught fire this binder would be one of my treasures I would rescue.  (After Jane of course!) The original recipe I "ripped" was a Cherry Almond Focaccia Bread made with a master sweet dough.  It got me thinking.  We love Onion and Cheese Focacia at our house.  Why wouldn't we love a sweet version.  It's not dessert type sweet, but the perfect sweetness to serve along side a lovely summer salad.  Maybe an Everything Salad with blue cheese, and fresh blueberries, and pears.  Yummy perfection!

Something about berries when they're cooked.  They just turn into deliciousness!  We loved watching the blueberries as they burst in the oven.  If you love blueberry pancakes, then this focaccia is definitely for you!  I didn't use the original Sweet Dough that the magazine suggested.  To time consuming for me.  I just used my favorite breadstick recipe.  It worked perfectly!  It's one of those recipes I don't even have to think about.  I have it memorized, and can whip up a batch in no time at all.  Technically you can top the focaccia with anything you'd like.  Cheese and onions, garlic and rosemary, pears and blue cheese, olives and salt.  Whatever you want!


Blueberry Almond Focaccia

1 T. yeast (I use SAF instant)
1 1/2 c. warm water
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3-4 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
1- 1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 c. slivered almonds
1 c. sugar in the raw or brown sugar


Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix and knead the sugar, salt and flour until it pulls clean from the bowl. Add more flour if needed. Let dough knead for 2-4 minutes. I plunk dough out on the counter and form into a ball and then place back in the bowl that I have greased. Cover with a towel and let sit for 10 minutes. I spray the counter with Pam and drop the dough onto it. I gently pat the dough into a large silver cookie sheet.  I believe it's about 12x18 give or take:)  Melt the butter and brush onto the bread sticks. Top with fresh blueberries, slivered almonds, and then sprinkle some coarse sugar or sugar in the raw on top.  It you don't have sugar in the raw, brown sugar will do. Or do something else like Italian Seasoning, and cheese. Use your imagination. Let rise until puffy.  Right before I place the foccacia in the oven I press my fingers into the dough to create some dimples.  You don't have to do this.  It just gives it the foccacia look.  Bake in a 375' F. oven for about 20 mins. Serve

Liege Waffles

Can I just say, we made homemade ice cream for this Sunday dinner and it was delish!

I have never had a waffle on the streets of New York, or at a cute little vendor in Belgium, but my fabulous neighbor got me intrigued with these lovely little delights this summer.  Every June my neighbor takes a group of local high schoolers on a Fashion Trip to New York.  She teaches Fashion Merchandising  for the local applied technology college.  The trip is a whirlwind of hitting Broadway shows, shopping, going to different fashion houses, and all the other wonderful things of New York.  On her last trip I asked if she would Instagram some of their adventures so I could see all the fun they were having. Of course the particular Instagram that caught my eye was of the waffle she had for breakfast one day.  It was a picture of this waffle in a paper tray, loaded with ice cream, tons of fresh raspberries, a drizzle of honey, and a dollop of cream.  She posted that it was the best thing she had ever eaten in her life!  Immediately I had to have one of these waffles.  Preferably with the berries, ice cream and honey.  As I was searching recipes my kids informed me there's a great waffle joint in SLC,  Bruges Waffles and Frites, that they frequent every time they visit their favorite bike shop.  I'm just the mom.  I know nothing I've decided of my kids whereabouts! Next visit to the big city will take me to this place, but since I'm not headed that direction for a bit I made my own.

I actually purchased the pearl sugar that the waffle calls for. We have a local specialty store that carries it.  Or you can use sugar cubes all busted up.  Go to town with your rolling pin and bash out all your frustrations.  The pearl sugar is about the size of rock salt, and they melt in the waffle iron into a gooey wonderfulness.  The waffle batter isn't a batter at all.  More of a bread dough.  A Brioche dough actually. (Brioche (/ˈbrioʊʃ/ or /ˈbriɒʃ/; French: [bʁi.ɔʃ]) is a pastry akin to a highly enriched bread of French origin, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs") Lots of eggs and butter in addition to the regular bread ingredients.  I made the waffles on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and by Sunday evening we had waffles for dinner!  The waffle itself was really sweet due to the large amount of pearl sugar.  But with the addition of ice cream and honey as the toppings or dinges as the Belgium's call them, the waffle was dessert.  The next time I make the waffles I'm only going to add 1/2 c. of the pearl sugar.  I think that will be just right. You can top the waffle with all sorts of treats.  Nutella or better yet, Biscoff Spread.  Bananas and berries, or you can just have syrup if you want.  

So my call to action for this post is this:  If you've ever had a Liege Waffle on the streets of anywhere, try this recipe and let me know how it compares.  Was it close?  Not even?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  And trust me, the next time I'm in a big city I WILL have a waffle!!  

Liege Waffles

recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (1 scant T. yeast)

 1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar

 3/4 cup lukewarm milk

 3 eggs

 1 cup melted butter

 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 3 cups flour

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1 1/2 cups pearl sugar (such as Lars' Own®)

(I would only add 1/2 c. and if you don't have pearl sugar use raw sugar or bust up some sugar cubes.  It will totally work.)

Directions

Sprinkle the yeast and white sugar over warm milk in a small bowl. The milk should be no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Let stand for 15 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.

Whisk the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract into the yeast mixture until evenly blended; set aside. Stir together the flour and salt in a separate large bowl, and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well, then stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place (80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C)) until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Gently mix in the pearl sugar.

Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Place a baseball-size ball of dough on the preheated waffle iron. Cook waffles until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow waffles to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Berry Napoleon

This was Jed's last dessert.  (Sorry!  Elder Clawson.) The last thing I would fix him for the next 2 years!  He'll be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He's headed to Albania, and Kosovo, and Macedonia, and Montenegro!  I didn't even know where those countries were 5 months ago.  And I swear there was a war there just a few years ago.  1999 isn't just a few, but it seems like yesterday.  And do you remember the bad guys on the movie Taken?  Yup!  They were from Albania.  My outlook on these countries has changed lately.  Jed is going to LOVE serving there! (Shameless plug to check out his mission blog!  It's on the right hand side.  Just right over there:)

 A Napoleon is so stinking easy to make, and it always impresses the folks you serve it to.  You can make it all fancy, by making a homemade pudding if you'd like.  I just used Jello Cook and Serve Vanilla pudding.  I may have substituted a little cream in for the milk, but who cares.  My son just left for Albania for 2 years!  He deserves a little something special:)

I followed the recipe off the back of the Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Dough.  Turned out perfect, and it took no time at all.  You could use any type of berry, or fresh peaches in a month or two, and even frozen berries would work.  In about a month I'm expecting my blackberry patch to EXPLODE with berries, and this Napoleon will take on a blackberry variety.  Enjoy making this.  I know we licked up every last crumb.

Berry Napoleon

recipe courtesy of Pepperidge Farms 

All-purpose flour

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)

1 pkg. (about 3 1/2 ounces) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream, whipped or 2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tsp. milk

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen sliced strawberries

Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.

Sprinkle the work surface with the flour. Unfold the pastry sheet onto the floured surface. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 strips along the fold marks. (I actually cut the dough into 9 squares.  A little more personal.)  Place the pastry strips onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.  Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Split the pastries into 2 layers, making 6 layers in all.

Prepare the pudding mix according to the package directions with 1 cup milk in a large bowl. Fold in the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes. To make icing, stir the confectioners’ sugar and 2 teaspoons milk in a small bowl.

Spread the icing on 2 top pastry layers. Spread 3/4 cup pudding mixture on 4 pastry layers. Top each with about 1/3 cup strawberries. Stack 1 strawberry-topped layer onto a second one to make 2 stacks. Top each stack with an iced pastry layer. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.

Helper: For easier slicing, refrigerate the Napoleons for a least 1 hour and use a wet serrated knife.

Serving Suggestion: The pastries may be drizzled with 1 square (1 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate, melted, before serving.

Recipe Note: Parchment paper keeps the pastry from sticking to the baking sheet and also makes for easier cleanup. If you don't have parchment paper, you can spray the baking sheet with cooking spray instead. However, cooking spray may cause the bottoms of the pastries to brown more quickly, so begin checking for doneness 5 minutes early.

Stuffed Orange French Toast

Here's a little secret.  My husband is a baker, we own a bakery, but....................the best French Toast on the planet is made with a cheap loaf of French Bread from your local grocer.  I'm talking the loaf that is hot at the check stand at about 4pm and costs a buck.  It's perfect for French Toast.  My mom used to make it for us as kids, and the trick is to fry the slices in a bit of oil or butter.  Extremely low calorie, and low fat I know, but Father's Day is around the corner and it's a good excuse to be a little extreme:)

To up the ante a little I stuffed our toasts with Almond Honey Cream Cheese.  Another low calorie suggestion.  The egg batter had the zest of an orange, and it was yummy!  James loved it.   He ate 4 slices and it wasn't Father's Day when he did.  Of course I served it with Buttermilk Syrup, and tons of fresh berries.  Whipped cream would crown the meal, but I found a little Greek Yogurt was delish as well.  So make Father's Day wonderful.  Eat this for breakfast, or brunch or you could call it dessert.  Just enjoy every mouthful to the fullest!

Stuffed Orange French Toast

1 loaf French Bread cut into at least 1 inch slices

8 oz. of your favorite flavored cream cheese (can you imagine it with that new chocolaty kind!)

I cut a pocket or slit into each slice of bread and slathered some cream cheese inside.  

6 eggs

1/4 c. milk

zest of 1 orange

1 t. vanilla

Mix all these ingredients together until completely combined.  Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture just until coated.  I hate soggy bread:(  Place on a griddle and if you're feeling extra happy pour some oil on the griddle or pan and fry the French Toast.  Cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until the toast is browned.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with fresh berries, Buttermilk Syrup, and Greek Yogurt.

Berry Watermelon Spinach Salad

Last week I spent a lovely couple of hours with my grandma.  She's always been one of my favorite people.  As a kid almost every Sunday of my life, a certain gentleman would tell me how I looked just like my grandma.  Every week.  He must have really liked her.  But who doesn't?  She's that kind of gal.   To tell you the truth though,  I just didn't get it.   She was old.  I was young.  To me we looked nothing alike, but in all reality I probably did.  My grandma has always been a great cook.  She could be Paula Dean's twin sister.  They both LOVE to use butter, cream, and all sorts of goodness in their cooking.  I only remember ever eating one thing that I hated of hers.  It was a French Onion Soup she made when I was about 5.  So I can't really judge her by that.  What 5 year old likes soggy bread and onions together?  I love it now, but I just didn't appreciate it then:)  Everything else...........I love.  She has a cookbook that she wrote with one of her sisters quite a few years ago, and it is still my go to cookbook.  There is always something good in it.

Last week when I was with her, I did a little gardening while she took Jane for a little walk and then we had the best lunch ever!!  She tossed a salad and threw in a few extra things, and then we sat down to a cute little place setting to eat our lunch.  It was a beautiful salad that we each ate in a refined manner, until I was ready for seconds.  It was good!  Finally after I finished my second serving I apologized and just pulled the salad over and finished off the rest of the salad right out of the bowl.  No more lady like manners.  I was a hungry girl!  The salad was an unlikely combination I thought.  I would have never added watermelon to it, but that's what made it so stinking good!  It would be great for a shower, or just on a Sat. afternoon when you've been doing yard work all morning, and need some sustenance.  Thanks Grams for the recipe, and I had a wonderful time with you:)  Love ya!

Berry Watermelon Spinach Salad

Courtesy of my Grandma Navine!

Spinach

 Fresh Strawberries

Fresh Blueberries

Fresh Raspberries

Fresh Blackberries

(Or any combination of fresh berries you have. Just use what you have or what's on sale.)

Watermelon chunks 

(I cut up a mini seedless watermelon and used a few cups.)

Chopped Pecans or Walnuts

A Sprinkle of Parmesan or Blue Cheese

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 T. Honey or Agave

Poppy seed Dressing

(I used the Lighthouse brand.  It was low fat too, and delicious!)

Just use your judgement on proportions.  If you're feeding many use a lot, but if your feeding a few just cut back a bit.  I probably used the equivalent of one raspberry container for all my berries.  It served 4.

Dump everything in a big bowl and toss with the dressing, honey and lemon juice.  You could eat this with some grilled chicken on top for a heartier meal, or just as is.  I think it's absolutely perfect.

Red White and Blue Razzleberry Shortcake

I have had an abundance of kindness shown to me the last few weeks.  Actually it started way before Jane was even born, and it has made me exceedingly grateful for wonderful friends and family.  I am truly blessed to know sooo many stinking kind people.  I don't think I know any mean people.  Maybe just one mean lady at the temple last year that made me cry, but James says she was probably just having an off day.  I'm sure she's nice at heart.   Our little family has been fortified and fed by some great people over the last weeks, and I want to thank them all from the bottom of my mixing bowl as Jimmy would say:)  

One of my favorite treats we received, came from my fabulous neighbor.  Now remember I only have one neighbor so she can totally be fabulous.  She fixed a huge pot roast dinner with all the goodies, but dessert was my favorite.  It was a new recipe she tried, and I loved it.  James loved it as well.  It was light, and summer-y and chock full of fresh raspberries.  Maybe that's why it was so dang delish!  So when Colette made the dessert she just used a can of Grands refrigerator biscuits and brushed the tops with melted butter and a sprinkling of sugar before baking.  They were wonderful, and easy she said.  I tried a scratch biscuit and it was lovely as well, but by no means necessary.  The Grands were great too.  So try these babies out with all the fresh berries coming on.  I just picked my first gallon of strawberries out of the garden so this recipe is going to be made with strawberries very soon.  I know raspberries will be starting soon as well so enjoy.  I can eat a biscuit for dessert after dinner and again for brekky.  They're that good.  Enjoy!!

Red White and Blue Razzleberry Shortcake

1- 8 oz.  brick of cream cheese at room temp.

Whip until smooth

1 c. or a little more cream whipped and lightly sweetened to your liking.  Mine were barely sweet.  

a little vanilla

Combine the whipped cream and the creamed cheese together.  Fold in:

1-2 pints of fresh raspberries or any other berry of choice.  I put in a pint of raspberries and a pint of blackberries, but blueberries or strawberries would be lovely.  Mangoes would be good too with pineapple for a little tropical shortcake.

Shortcake Recipe

Courtesy of Alton Brown but I've adapted it a bit

2 1/2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2  c. sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cup half and half (or milk)

Melted butter to brush shortcakes

Sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions

Heat oven 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening. Mix in half-and-half. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Cool and cut each biscuit in half.  Fill with a heaping spoonful of the cream cheese, berry and cream mixture.  Top with the lid of the biscuit.  Eat and enjoy.  I found that the recipe made 8 perfect sized Berry Shortcakes.

Blackberry Peach Crisp

Can you smell it?  Crisps remind me of walking up the ramp at good old Lomond View Elementary on my way to lunch and smelling the apple crisp baking.  They'd serve it in a little dish with a perfect little dallop of whipped cream on top.  It was one of my favorite desserts in grade school.  Sunday I made Berry Peach Crisp.  It was tasty.  It was pretty too.   It brought back memories, and dang it smelled good.   The best thing about a crisp is you can use what ever you've got fruit wise.  Peaches, fresh or canned even.  Berries, and plums, or apples, or cherries.  I love them all.

Blackberry Peach Crisp

load of fresh peaches peeled and sliced

blackberries

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. Ultra Gel or cornstarch

Mix together until combined.  Pour into a baking dish.  Top with crisp topping.

Crisp

2 cubes butter

1 c. flour

1 c. brown sugar

2 c. oatmeal

cinnamon

Cut butter into the rest of the ingredients until resembles small peas.  Sprinkle on top of fruit.  Bake at 375' F. for 30-45 mins. or until the middle of the crisp starts to bubble.  Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Blackberries and Peaches

Love this combination.  Maybe it's the striking difference in colors, but I love making things with blackberries and peaches this time of year.  My blackberry patch is prolific.  It's making up for the lack of raspberries I guess, but it's been fabulous.  I love picking blackberries too.  They're big and fat, no thorns, and just easy.  Some of my berries have been as big as my whole thumb.  Yum!!  So it's been Coconut Pound Cake with Berries and Peaches, Berry Peach Crisp,  Granola with berries and yogurt, and tons of jam.

Enjoy the berries and peaches!

Coconut Pound Cake with Blackberry and Peaches

1 c. butter softened

3 c. sugar

6 eggs

Mix these ingredients together until light and fluffy.  Add:

3 c. flour

1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

Mix until smooth.  Add:

1 c. sour cream

1 oz. of extract (coconut, rum, almond, lemon.....you get the idea)

Mix until combined and pour into a greased and floured 12 c. Bundt pan.  Bake at 325' F. for 1 hr. and 15 mins.  When done let sit on the counter for about 10- 15 mins.  Run a knife around the edge and invert onto a cake stand or large dish.  

Glaze For the Bundt

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. water

A lot of extract of the flavor of cake your making.  Especially the rum extract.  My granny once asked me if I used real rum in the cake it was so sauced up.  What a compliment Grams!

Bring the glaze to a boil on the stove and let it bubble away for 2-3 mins.  I brush the hot sauce on a hot cake with a pastry brush.  It makes it shiny and extra flavorful.

Berries and Peaches

Lots of fresh peaches peeled and sliced.  Lots of fresh Blackberries.

1 c. sugar

Combine together until sugar has dissolved.  Serve on top of pound cake with a big dallop of fresh whipped cream!