Summer Blackberry Muffins

I love the summer. Not only do I love the hot weather, but there are lots of things that go along with summer that I can't get enough of, like it's luscious fruit. I've been inspired a lot lately to bake with these ripe summer treasures and there is a fantastic organic produce store on the corner that I depend on for the best fruit you can find outside of a fresh farmer's market. Summer berries are some of my most favorite, and I really love blackberries, one because they are a sturdier berry, so therefore easier to work with than say, a tender and delicate raspberry, and because they have such an amazing flavor. I wanted to make something that highlighted the blackberry and didn't overpower it, instead letting it shine on it's own. I found a beautiful looking recipe at Williams-Sonoma's website and got to work.

The recipe was extremely easy to assemble, although I added a bit more flour and sugar to the topping recipe, as I love a sugary, crumbly topping. I also lined my muffin tin with paper liners, because I feel like they are just easier to deal with in every aspect, especially since these muffins were extremely dense with fruit....without the liners, it would have been very tricky to get them out of the wells of the pan. And of course I picked the muffin with the entire center made up of blackberries to take a picture of! But these were delicious and moist and the batter let the blackberries be the star of the show. Like the recipe says, you could substitute any berry you like, but I think I'll stick to blackberry. Enjoy!

Blackberry Muffins

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Topping:

1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

For the Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh blackberries or 2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened blackberries, unthawed

To Make the Muffins:

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray, or put paper liners in muffin pan. To make the topping, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

To make the muffins, in a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blackberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 muffins.

Rustic Apple Galette

I have been wanting to make a rustic fruit galette or free form tart for a long time. Something about the baked fruit, wrapped up in a flaky, browned crust without the perfect edges of a tart pan or pie dish appeals to me alot, but for some reason or another, other desserts always got made instead. Finally, I decided to try my hand at it, armed with a 100% 'would make it again' and 4 fork rated recipe (with a photo!) from one of my most favorite websites, Epicurious.com.

The dough came together very easily and was a perfect consistancy with no additional water added. I use a mandoline or food slicer to get perfectly uniform apple slices, and highly recommend them. I have this one, which is wonderful, and I definitely believe that a good mandoline is an essential tool to have in your kitchen. I had a bit of difficulty rolling out the dough between two pieces of parchment, with it sliding around a lot, but once it rolled out a bit, it became easier. My crust had a bit more overlap than in the recipe picture, but I have always loved that look anyway, so it was perfect. As a tip, I would wait to slice your apples until you put your rolled out crust back in the fridge to chill, to minimize the chance of your apples browning. I had quite a few apple slices left, but they were a delicious snack while I was watching TV, waiting for the galette to be done. The galette was done exactly as timed in the recipe and I have to say that it was just as gorgeous as the picture! I always love that feeling of pride when the things I bake turn out beautifully....it's a great sense of accomplishment, especially when it tastes as good as it looks, which I am told, it did. That's right, I didn't even get a slice after bringing in to work, although I take that as a very big compliment!

This is a simple, homey, and delicious dessert that would be wonderful for breakfast or dessert or any time of day! Enjoy!

Apple Galette

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Galette:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water
1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1/4 cup apricot preserves
Whole milk

To Make the Galette:

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter and blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and blend just until dough begins to clump together, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Roll out dough between sheets of parchment paper to 1/8-inch-thick round, 14 inches in diameter. Remove top sheet of parchment. Using bottom sheet as aid, transfer dough on parchment to large unrimmed baking sheet. Chill 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine apple slices, 2 tablespoons sugar, and lemon peel in medium bowl; toss to blend. Spread preserves over crust, leaving 1 1/2-inch plain border. Arrange apple slices in concentric circles atop preserves, overlapping slightly. Using parchment as aid, fold plain crust border up over apples, pinching any cracks in crust. Brush crust with milk. Sprinkle crust edges and apples with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake galette 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until crust is golden, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven. Slide long thin knife between parchment and galette. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Amended Lemon Cornmeal Cookies

A few years ago, my roommate Chris gave me a beautiful little cookbook called 'Luscious Lemon Desserts' by Lori Longbotham. It is a gorgeous book, with wonderful photography and lots of amazing looking desserts. The other day, I was looking through it for recipes that I could make with things that I already had in my kitchen, when her Lemon-Black Pepper Cornmeal Cookies caught my eye. Well, truth be told, it caught my eye because I was a little taken aback at the combination, and read a bit more. She goes on to promise that you don't really pick up on the black pepper flavor, but feel a nice warmth from it instead, but if you wanted, you could substitue ground ginger instead of the pepper. I was sold.

The dough was simple to make, but be warned, it is very soft and sticky, so much so that I though I might have not added all the flour or cornmeal I was supposed to! Another problem I had was that I chilled the dough for too long and tried to cut slices right after I took the dough out of the fridge, which resulted in the dough crumbling. I would say the perfect consistency for cutting the dough is when it slightly gives to a medium firm press of your finger, with it softer around the edges than in the middle. The good thing about the dough, even if it's too firm or too soft, is that it's very forgiving, and when it thaws a bit, it's easily molded into the shape you need. My dough, when formed into the wax paper logs, was not perfectly round, due to the softness of it when first made, so after I sliced the dough, it was easy to shape any edges into a perfect circle with my fingertips. The cookies bake up perfect and crisp in the stated time and are beautiful! I would have liked to taste a bit more of the ginger, so instead of the recommended 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, I might add 1 teaspoon next time, or omit the ginger in the cookie dough and roll the slightly thawed logs in crushed crystallized ginger, to make a border of ginger surrounding the crunchy lemon cookie. Even without the modifications, they are delicious and addicting, rich and crunchy and sure to be a hit! Enjoy!

Lemon-Ginger Cornmeal Cookies

For the Cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest
2 large egg yolks

To Make the Cookies:

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, ginger, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, sugar, and zest in another medium bowl with an electric mixer, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat to combine well. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed just until blended.

Press the dough together with your hands and divide it in half. Place each half on a sheet of wax paper and form each piece into a 10-by-1 1/4-inch log. Smooth each log with dampened fingers. Chill the logs, wrapped in wax paper, for at least 3 hours, or until firm.

At least 25 minutes before baking, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter 2 large nonstick baking sheets or line with parchment or silicone liners.

Cut each log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and arrange the rounds 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.