Triple Berry Pie

My colleague at the office loves pie so I set out to bake a perfect summer pie to take in for her birthday celebration. I had some blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on hand and they made the sweet summer triple berry pie. 

I first made a traditional pate brisee crust using the food processor.

Then I made the berry mixture and savoured the amazing jammy mixture that would fill the pie. 

Top crust went on and I used a spoon to make a simple patter around the edge of the pie. 

Triple Berry Pie

Ingredients:

Pate Brisee crust (split in two for a double crust pie)

7 C. fresh or frozen berries

1 C. granulated sugar

1T. lemon juice

4 T. cornstarch

2 T. butter

1 egg white beaten with a fork

Directions:

Add the berries, sugar and lemon juice to a large saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until they are warm and juicy, about 5-10 minutes. Spoon out about 1/2 C. of the juice from the pan into a bowl and mix in the cornstarch. Continue simmering the pot of berries and add in the cornstarch mixture slowly. Gently stir the mixture until thickened, about 2-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. 

Remove from heat and pour the mixture into an unbaked pie shell. Top with the second crust, finish the edge and prick the top for steam to escape.

Brush a thin layer of the beaten egg white on top of the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. (check 1/2 way through and add foil to keep the crust from burning.

Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream!

Meringues to Eton Mess

My inspiration to make meringues again was two-fold. First, my mum was visiting and was dreaming of Eton Mess, which she had last enjoyed on a trip back to England.  The second reason, is that I was recalling this idyllic food stand we visited in Covent Garden in London last summer and the dreamy piles of perfectly pink meringues. So, on a recent visit from mum, we decided that our dessert one evening would be Eton Mess.  

We made the incredibly easy meringue and spooned it onto the Silpats creating the fun little peak.

They bake at a very low temperature and we let them cool and dry. 

The last time I made meringues, we created little fruit bowl nests. This time, we broke up the pretty peaked meringues and made lovely Eton Mess parfaits.

Recipe for Meringues

Ingredients:

4 XL egg whites

1/4 t. cream of tartar

Pinch of kosher salt

1 C. granulated sugar or caster sugar, divided

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. In an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on high speed until frothy. Add 2/3 C. of the sugar and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/3 C. sugar into the meringue. Pipe or spoon onto the baking sheets.

Bake for two (2) hours or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and leave the meringues in the oven for four (4) hours or overnight. 

For Eton Mess, mix with chopped berries (strawberries are traditional, but blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are great) and fresh cream made from heavy whipping cream whipped with a bit of powdered sugar and vanilla 

Blackberry and Goat Cheese Bars

I love seeing all the fresh berries at the market each weekend and have enjoyed baking with blackberries lately, including the peach and blackberry tart I recently made. I could just sit and eat a whole bowl of berries or, better yet, cover them in custard and eat them.

These bars consisted of a shortbread crust, a layer of blackberry jam, and then the fresh berries drenched in a custard made with cream cheese and goat cheese.  I think they're supposed to be for dessert, but they were breakfast for my team meeting one morning. They weren't complaining.

Blackberries are so pretty. Last year, I made little meringue shells for them.

And, then the downpouring of custard.  And, not just any custard, but custard with goat cheese, fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest.

They're so good together.

The finished product...for dessert or breakfast.

Recipe for Blackberry and Goat Cheese Bars

Adapted from a recipe by Scott Peacock in BHG

Ingredients

 

1C. unsalted butter (2 sticks) cut into 1-inch chunks

1/4 C. packed light brown sugar 

1/2 t. salt

2 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

Softened butter (for brushing sides of foil)

1 C. blackberry jam or preserves

1 pint (2 cups) fresh blackberries

1/2 - 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

4 oz. goat cheese

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 T. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 T. finely shredded lemon zest

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 t. pure vanilla

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with a 24-inch-long sheet of aluminum foil, leaving extra foil extending over ends (use these later to lift bars from pan); set aside. In a large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until it just begins to blend and soften slightly, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and salt, beat on low speed until incorporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute. With mixer off, add the 2 cups flour. Beat on low speed until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium, mix until ingredients form an even, cohesive dough.
Break dough into small chunks and distribute in prepared pan; with your fingers press dough into an even layer. Bake 20 minutes or until dough has begun to puff and is just set. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes.
Lightly brush exposed sides of foil with softened butter to keep filling from sticking. Spread jam evenly over crust.
Sprinkle evenly with blackberries.
With a lemon zester, remove peel from lemon, making sure to avoid bitter white pith.
In a large bowl beat cream cheese and goat cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Mix in granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon flour until blended. With mixer running, add egg, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Pour custard batter evenly over berries. Tilt pan back and forth to distribute evenly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until barely set. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool, about 1 hour; cover and transfer to refrigerator. Chill 2 hours. Top will crack slightly as it cools.
Use foil to lift the bars from pan. With a knife or metal spatula, support the sides of the bars while you gently peel the foil downward and away from sides of the bars.
Cut into long bars, peel foil from bottom, and transfer to cutting boars using side of a long knife or spatula. Cut into 24 squares

Peach and Blackberry Custard Tart

We have enjoyed all the fresh peaches at the farmers market the last few weekends and they are always giving out samples (which Audrey loves).  I've gotten several just to eat and decided to bake something with them this past week.  I have also been buying lots of blueberries and blackberries and thought the flavor and color contrast would be nice.

This tart was adapted from a recipe published recently in Martha Stewart Living for Peach-Custard Pie.  I chose to make it a more dainty tart and add the blackberries and I quite like my variation. The instructions for peeling the peaches was amazing and I thought the "naked" peaches were so pretty.  You scored them, boiled them for a minute and then placed them in an ice water bath before peeling.

What's not to like about custard?

I started putting the blackberries just in the center and ended up placing them around the entire tart so everyone would have a bit of blackberries. 

Add a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream and it's complete!

Meringue Nests with Blackberries and Cream

Aren't these blackberries gorgeous?  They were on sale at the market and while I used some of them in the apple-blackberry crisp I made last weekend, I still had some to use.  My mum came to visit again and I thought I'd try something special for dessert one evening.  We made crispy, airy, sweet meringue nests with these luscious blackberries and fresh whipped cream.  I guess this is sort of a version of a pavlova, but mini ones. I think pavlovas are typically one large meringue cake with cream and fruit. These are individual little nests made of meringue.  I guess I just like the idea of a nest anyway...it makes everything sound cozy.

The meringue is very easy to make.  I've made it before, but this was my first attempt at nests. I whipped the egg whites, sugar and some vanilla and got this thick glossy meringue.

I spooned these heaping mounds of meringue on the Silpat.  The original recipe called for eight nests and I didn't seem to have room, so I had five pretty large nests.

Then, I took the back of a spoon to hollow out the center (with still leaving a layer in the nest) and smoothed the edges a bit. 

Here they are ready to bake. I know many people pipe them onto the baking sheet, but I sort liked the homemade swirled look to mine.

After two hours of baking at just over 200 degrees, they were all ready and peeled right off the Silpat.  I washed the berries and let them dry so that they wouldn't make wet pools in the meringue nests when I put them together.

Our evening treat was ready with a bunch of berries nestled in the meringue and topped with a big dollop of whipped cream.  It's a very simple dessert that would be easy to prep ahead of time and use with all kinds of fruits.  The flavors were uncomplicated, yet fresh and sophisticated.

Recipe for Meringue Nests

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
175 g/6 oz caster (superfine) sugar
A few drops of vanilla essence (extract)

Lay a Silpat or piece of parchment on a baking (cookie) sheet. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add 1 tbsp of the sugar and the vanilla and whisk again until stiff and glossy. Gradually whisk in half the remaining sugar, then fold in the remainder with a metal spoon. Spoon five to eight round heaps of the mixture a little apart on the baking sheet and hollow out slightly in the centers to form nests. Rough up the mixture slightly round the tops. Bake in a preheated oven at 225°F for 2-3 hours or until crisp but still white. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Carefully lift off the paper and store in an airtight container.

Wash the fruit to fill them in advance and dry in a bowl with paper towel.

For the whipped cream, use 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with a tablespoon of caster sugar and whip on high until thick and creamy.