Tag Archives: raspberry

November 26, 2010 · 8:03 am

Twelve (More) Days of Christmas Cookies: Raspberry Crumb Bars

DAY 1: Welcome to the Second Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies! This year, I have twelve new cookie recipes to share, starting with this recipe for Raspberry Crumb Bars. They are a shortbread based cookie, which makes them pretty crumbly to eat, but I love the combination of raspberries and nuts. For the raspberry filling, I used a combination of homemade Red Raspberry and Black Raspberry Jams that I canned last summer.

The original recipe, from Family Fun magazine (printed below with a few adjustments), is baked in a 9” square pan, but I doubled the recipe and baked them in a rimmed 17×12” baking pan.

Visit: First Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies for a recap of the cookies from last year.

RECIPE:

Raspberry Crumb Bars
———–(adapted from Family Fun magazine)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch square pan with butter or cooking spray. (**See Note below for using larger baking pan)

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour and salt and beat just until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be crumbly. Press about two-thirds of the dough into the greased pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.

While the shortbread cools slightly, mix the oats and nuts into the remaining one-third of the dough. The mixture will be very crumbly; it is easier to use your hands to mix the topping.

Spread the raspberry jam on the shortbread, then evenly cover the jam with the crumb topping. (TIP: for easy jam spreading, heat the jam slightly in the microwave; stir and pour over crust.)

Bake the bars for 20-25 mins, or until the topping is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes. While the shortbread is still slightly warm, cut it into 16 squares, then cut each square in half diagonally. Once the triangles cool completely (they are very fragile while warm), lift them from the pan with a metal spatula.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

**NOTE: I doubled the recipe and baked them in a 17×12” rimmed baking sheet for 8-9 minutes for the crust, and then the whole bars for about 18-20 minutes. Using this sized pan makes for slightly thinner bars than the original recipe, which I liked. Yield: about 70 triangles.

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Tagged as baking, bar cookies, christmas, Christmas cookies, Cookies, cooking, dessert, food, jam, raspberry, recipe, shortbread crust, streusel, triangles

August 7, 2010 · 7:51 am

Fruit Pizza

Summer is birthday season at our house. With one child’s birthday at the beginning of summer and then three more within four weeks of each other later in the summer , we have a lot of cake and sugar floating around our house. So I am grateful for Big J for going with a lighter dessert for his birthday yesterday. He usually goes for the more non-traditional birthday desserts. And with all of the fresh fruit available, I was really happy to make a Fruit Pizza.

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Eighteen Years! Eighteen years, in a land far, far away, my life changed forever. I can’t decide whether those 18 years have flown by, or that I’ve been a mom forever. Either way, it has been a wonderful journey. I love you J! It’s these coming years, as my babies slowly start leaving the nest that are making me nervous.

This Fruit Pizza has a shortbread crust, a thin layer of slightly sweetened cream cheese, luscious summer fruit, and a light glaze on top. The fruit I used, from the inside out: blueberries, mango, raspberries, kiwi and strawberries.

The glaze is made from any light-colored fruit juice (I used a peach-mango, which turned out great!), some sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice (to keep cut fruit from browning, especially if you are using bananas or peaches).

Pre-Glazed Fruit Pizza:

—-

RECIPE:

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup butter, softened
½ tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, kiwi, mangos, peaches, grapes, pineapple, raspberries, etc.)

Glaze:
½ cup sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch or Clear Jel
2 tsp lemon juice
1 ½ cups clear fruit juice (apple, white grape, peach-mango, lemonade, etc)

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Crust: Using a pastry blender, mix ½ cup powdered sugar, flour, salt, butter and ½ tsp vanilla. Press onto a pizza pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling: Combine cream cheese, 2 Tbs powdered sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread over cooled crust. Arrange fruit on cream cheese layer.

Glaze: Combine sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and fruit juice in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is thickened. Cool and spoon over fruit (all of the glaze may not be used). Chill. Slice into wedges to serve.

Cherry Blackberry Cobbler

I love sour cherries in the summer, especially when they are paired with a sweeter berry. We had some blackberries that were getting a little over-ripe, so adding them to this dessert made a perfect Family Night treat. And topped with cinnamon ice cream that we were given in trade for a used girl’s bike? Best trade we ever made!

This is a double batch of the recipe printed below. Small scoops of dough are dropped onto the hot fruit filling, and then sprinkled with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Twenty minutes in the oven and the topping is perfectly cooked and ready to eat!

The cobbler topping is not made of hard dry biscuits, or loose crumble. It is soft, tender, not-too-sweet, cinnamon-topped mini cakes that soak up that fruit goodness and just scream for a scoop of real vanilla (or cinnamon-thanks Jenny!) ice cream.

This is bowl-licking good stuff!

RECIPE:

Cherry Blackberry (or Raspberry) Cobbler

Filling:
1 quart (4 cups) pitted sour cherries
———(or 2 cans sour/tart cherries + juice)
2 cups blackberries, raspberries or mixed berries
1 cup sugar (or ½C Splenda+¼ tsp stevia)
2 Tbs Clear Jel (or cornstarch)
½ Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
¼ tsp salt

Cobbler:
3/4 cup flour (or half wheat & white flour)
2 Tbs sugar (or Splenda)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 Tbs cold butter
½ cup buttermilk, kefir, or milk (use less if using regular milk)
1 egg
1/2 Tbs sugar + 1/8 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly and slightly thickened. Pour into an 8×8” pan, or 2-qt casserole dish.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter. Combine milk and egg. Make a well in center of dry ingredients. Add milk/egg mixture. Stir just until dough clings, adding more milk if necessary. Spoon into 6 mounds over hot filling.

Mix sugar and cinnamon. Lightly sprinkle over topping, discarding any extra.

Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes. Check topping with a toothpick.

Overnight Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes with Raspberry Nectarine Jam

Another jam we made last week was a seedless raspberry nectarine freezer jam (recipe from Kitchen Simplicity via Simple Bites). The flavor of the nectarines really complimented the raspberries. It did not set quite as firmly as some other jams, but that was perfect on these pancakes!

Next year I will definitely make this jam again, but I will try to make it lower sugar and as a regular canned jam, instead of a freezer jam.

I love these freezer containers from Ball! Perfect for jam.

Little A wanted pancakes with jam and sausage for his birthday breakfast on Thursday. This sweet jam was a perfect topping for these healthy, but delicious, pancakes.

I make these pancakes with kefir and whole wheat berries, blending them and then letting the mixture sit overnight. A quick blend again in the morning with an egg and some leavening, and they were ready to throw on the griddle!

They can also be made all in the same day, but the batter thickens up more if it is allowed to sit. For a slightly different flavor, try using other grains; often I will add some whole oat groats in place of part of the wheat.

RECIPES:

Raspberry Nectarine Freezer Jam
—————–(adapted from Simple Bites)

3 nectarines, pitted and chopped (do not peel)
2 cups raspberries
1 Tbs lemon juice
4 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup water
1 package powdered fruit pectin

Use a blender or food processor to puree nectarines and raspberries. Strain through a sieve to remove seeds. Add lemon juice and 2 cups sugar; let sit 10 minutes.

Stir water, pectin and 2 cups sugar together in a small saucepan. Bring to a hard boil; boil for 1 minute.

Stir into fruit mixture for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.

Spoon into freezable containers and allow to sit, sealed, at room temperature until set (up to 24 hours).

Store in the fridge for 3 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months.

Yield: about 6 half-pint containers

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

1 cup wheat berries, oat groats, rolled oats or other whole grain
1 1/4 cups kefir or buttermilk or 1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs honey or 1 pkt Stevia

Combine wheat berries (or other grains) and kefir (or buttermilk or milk) in a blender. Blend for 2-3 minutes. Let the mixture of grain and milk sit on the counter for 1 hour or overnight (refrigerate if using regular milk).

After letting the mixture sit, blend the grain/milk mixture again for about 1 minute. While blender is running, add the egg and melted butter. Add baking powder, salt, baking soda, vanilla and sweetener and blend just until combined.

Cook pancakes on a hot griddle.

Makes about 12 pancakes.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

DSC04733-3

DAY 6: These are my very favorite cookies EVER! They are light, flavorful and contain two of my all-time favorite flavors: raspberry and almond. DSC04763-3 This is the same cookie dough that I use for sugar cookies.
I just roll the dough out a little thinner for the linzer cookies.

To keep the dough from sticking to your cookie cutter, dip it in flour before each cut (tap on counter to remove any excess flour). A toothpick is a good way to get out the center piece of dough.

Save those tiny centers. They make great little sugar cookies!

Warm the jam in the microwave for 10 seconds and stir until smooth. Frost a bottom cookie with the almond frosting and top with a small dollop of seedless raspberry jam.

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Place a cut-out cookie on top and press down slightly.

Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

Cookie Dough:
3 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
About 6 ½ to 7 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Filling:
1 cup butter
1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar
2 Tbs. cream or milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ – 1 tsp. almond extract

Raspberry jam (seedless)

For cookies: Beat sugar, butter, sour cream and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add soda, salt and enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Chill for 20 minutes to 1 hour for easier handling. Roll dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut cookies with a linzer cookie cutter or use small round cookie cutter and smaller designed cookie cutter to make tops and bottoms. Bake at 375°F for 5-6 minutes; do not brown. Cool on rack.

Beat filling ingredients until smooth.

Frost bottom cookie with small amount of filling. Top with about ½ tsp raspberry jam in the middle of the cookie (heat jam in a small bowl in the microwave to make it easier to spread). Place top cookie (with cut-out design) on jam.

NOTE:This is the same cookie dough that I use for sugar cookies. I just roll the dough out a little thinner for the linzer cookies.

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS COOKIES RECAP:
DAY 1: Swedish Peppar KaKar
DAY 2: Mint Oreo Cookies
DAY 3: Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies
DAY 4: Cherry Nut Mudslides
DAY 5: Snickerdoodles

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Filed under Cookies

Tagged as almond, Christmas cookies, Cookies, linzer cookies, raspberry, sugar cookies

Tag Archives: raspberry

Twelve (More) Days of Christmas Cookies: Raspberry Crumb Bars

Cherry Blackberry Cobbler

Overnight Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes with Raspberry Nectarine Jam

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies

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