My raspberry bushes, all 3 of them, are loaded with berries this summer. Today I picked 4 cups of berries! Who would think it was possible for such a little corner of my yard to produce so much fruit. Popped in your mouth, still warm from the sun, a raspberry is like a taste explosion. My daughter put in a request for a Fruit Crisp for dessert so we could really enjoy these fresh berries. I still had some fresh blueberries from the sparse pickings that I have been able to find in the wild this year and with the addition of the fresh peaches from the farmer’s market we had the makings for an amazing taste sensation.
Banana Blueberry Muffins
The heat of summer means a lot of things in our part of the woods and the tastiest thing is wild blueberries! The heat also means that food ripens faster and doesn’t last as long so therefore those bananas sitting on the counter end up over-ripe and perfect for baking. Lucky for me blueberries and bananas go well together. Making muffins requires that you only have to have the oven on for a short time in order to bake up a batch and the result is so worth it. I am so glad we installed air-conditioning a few years ago so I can still bake during the heat waves.
Blueberry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze
It is blueberry season here in Northern Ontario and that means all kinds of blueberry desserts and breakfasts. This Blueberry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze is one of my all-time favourite blueberry recipes. This is also one of my most requested desserts at anytime of the year. I have had friends even request one to give it as a Christmas gift!
Strawberry Oatmeal Squares
Strawberry season here in Northern Ontario doesn’t last long – only about 2 to 3 weeks so we pick as many as we can and of course eat as many as we can. Strawberry sauce, strawberry lemonade, strawberry milkshakes and Strawberry Oatmeal Squares. Strawberry Oatmeal Squares are a yummy way to use these beautiful berries. At first glance this looks like a delicious dessert, but I think this is a wonderful healthy breakfast (without the ice cream that is). Large flake oatmeal and berries- how much better could your breakfast be?
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
The combination of saucy tart rhubarb and fluffy cake makes this wonderful Rhubarb Upside Down Cake. Mind you anything with rhubarb in it is wonderful in my books. This cake is the perfect recipe to make for a special dinner as it looks quite impressive even though the process of making it is quite simple. The rhubarb cooks at the bottom of the pan into a delicious sticky sauce which when you flip the cake out onto a serving plate makes a very pretty topping.
Rhubarb Loaf
It is finally spring and that means all things rhubarb coming your way. Rhubarb is one of my favourite flavours to use in baking and it is best used fresh not frozen. This recipe for Rhubarb Loaf is one that I posted last spring but I have lightened it up and reduced the sweetness so that this loaf is now a perfect breakfast. Rhubarb is technically a vegetable so eating it for breakfast is definitely a good thing. Those little red gems of tartness add amazing taste but definitely need a little sugar to make the flavour zing.
Cookie Decorating Friday Night
What would you expect 6 – 24 year old girls to be doing on a Friday night? Decorating Sugar Cookies probably wasn’t the first thing that popped into your mind. But here we are with my daughter Elizabeth and 5 of her girl friends enjoying their Friday night decorating cookies, drinking wine and eating nachos and dip. I think I learned a lot tonight from the wide variety of subjects they covered- amazing group of young ladies!
Raspberry Coffee Cake
This Raspberry Coffee Cake is like one gigantic raspberry muffin that you can cut into any size you like. Depending on the time of day or your appetite you get to choose how big the piece will be. This recipe is one of those special ones that you get up in the middle of the night and eat a piece leaning over the kitchen sink to catch the crumbs so no one is the wiser in the morning. This Raspberry Coffee Cake is a little lighter than a previously posted coffee cake with raspberries in it. With no streusel topping, just a little sprinkling of brown sugar it is definitely easy to eat on the go. The batter is very thick but results in a light and airy cake- it is amazing what chemistry does.
Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
These Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting are tasty, moist and perfect for any celebration. Every baking repertoire needs to have a good vanilla cupcake recipe in it because not everyone (including me) loves chocolate. A vanilla cupcake is the perfect base for any type of frosting. I made these for my niece’s baby shower and as she knows it is a girl I went with the pink theme. To make the frosting pink I used the sauce from my Roasted Strawberries. It made the frosting delicious and just the right shade of pink. If you don’t have any Roasted Strawberries handy a tablespoon of strawberry jam will do the trick or just mash up some fresh strawberries with a little sugar. It doesn’t take much to give that pretty pink hue and great flavour.