Raspberry Cream Sandwiches

I will admit my favorite way to eat raspberries are plain. I also love adding raspberries to my cereal. I add a little cereal and a lot of milk so I end up eating mostly raspberries with milk. What is your favorite way to eat raspberries? I know my daughters prefer plain.

 Since we normally eat the raspberries before I can make any recipes, I went raspberry picking twice this year. We probably will go again but it will be for some golden raspberries. Have you ever seen a golden raspberry? I saw this recipe at the beginning of the year and I bookmarked it. The cookie is a nice sugar cookie in which my daughter preferred with no filling. My husband saw me scrapping the vanilla bean and asked me what was I doing. I held out the vanilla bean and asked him to smell. He hesitated so my son did. My son looked up at his dad and said it is vanilla. My husband confirmed it was vanilla. I think my son spends a lot of time in the kitchen with me. Now, how do I get my husband in their more often is the question?

 Raspberry Cream Sandwiches
1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
1 1/3 cups fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar, for the filling
7 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
4. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
5. Add the egg, vanilla, and scraped vanilla seeds into the sugar butter. Mix until smooth.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar butter mixture.
7. Scoop 1 inch mounds of dough onto the baking sheet spacing the dough 2 inches apart. 
8. Bake the cookies for 4 minutes and then rotate.
9. Bake the cookies for another 4 to 5 minutes or until the cookies are golden.
10. Allow the cookies to cool on wire racks.
11. In a food processor, puree the raspberries and the sugar to make the filling.
12. Pour the raspberries through a fine sieve to extract the juice and remove the seeds.
13. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler over simmering water.
14. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and whisk in the cream in a slow, steady stream.
15. Add the raspberry mixture to the chocolate. Whisk slowly until pale about 3 minutes. 
16. Refrigerate the raspberry chocolate mixture for about 30 minutes.
17. To assemble the cookies by spreading 1 Tbsp of the raspberry chocolate mixture on the bottom of one cookie. 
18. Add another cookie to sandwich the filling in the middle.
19. Cookies can be refrigerated between layers of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

Did you already know...
-Different types of raspberries include red, golden, purple, and black.
-It is believed raspberries originated from Southeast Asia.
-Raspberries have a hollow core. Blackberries are not hollow in the center.

Raspberry Phyllo Tarts

Since I really didn't think you had enough berries recipes already, I will (just for you) post a few raspberry recipes. Oh, your welcome. You don't have to thank me. My children have been thanking me lately. They must be my children since they aren't complaining yet.

If you couldn't tell by now, I love berries. So, I was looking up raspberry recipe in Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008 cookbook and noticed a raspberry Phyllo tart recipe. It looked easy. It looked quick and I totally changed it besides a few ingredients. All of my tarts were gone within the hour. So, here is my inspired recipe from Cooking Light.

Raspberry Phyllo Tart Recipe
1 (2.1 oz.) package of mini phyllo shells
4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 cup raspberries
Crushed almonds and additional raspberries for garnish


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place shells on a baking sheet.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, honey, and almond extract.
4. Stir in 1/4 cup of the chopped almonds and the 1/4 cup raspberries. Mix until well combined.
5. Spoon in about 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture into the Phyllo shells.
6. Bake the shells for about 5 minutes and rotate pan.
7. Bake the shells for another 5 minutes or until the cream cheese mixture is firm.
8. Remove the shells from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
9. Top the shells with crushed almonds and raspberries if desired.

 Recipe created by Jen of Sweet Morris.

 Did you already know...
-Another name for phyllo is filo or fillo. 
-The largest producer of phyllo products is Athens Foods.
-Phyllo dough has been produced since the Ottoman Empire but Athens foods have been producing it for over 50 years.

Chock Full of Nuts Cookies

I love nuts in my cookies. So, I was very glad this recipe was not previously picked the members of The Project Pastry Queen. If you take a cookie and add four different types of nuts to it, this is the cookie you would have. Any other type of nuts can easily be substituted to your taste but why mess with perfection. Please check out the other members to see if they substituted different nuts in their cookies.

The hardest thing about making this recipe was keeping my children away from the toasted macadamia nuts. Alright, I will admit I did sample a couple of them but it was only for quality purposes. I did half the amount of the almond extract but added the omitted extract to the vanilla extract. 

Chock-Full-of-Nuts Cookies
3 cups pecan pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups slivered blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour 
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. On a baking sheet, arrange the nuts in a single layer and toast them for 7 to 9 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Allow the nuts to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Chop the nuts into smaller pieces.
5. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. In a large bowl, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
7. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat for 1 minute.
8. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat for about 30 seconds or until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
9. Stir in the nuts until combined.
10. Scoop the dough about the size of a gold ball onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
11. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and the cookies are golden brown around the edges with no raw looking dough in the middle. 
12. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

The 6 1/2 dozen cookies will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container or frozen well wrapped for up to 1 month. 
Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. 

Did you already know...
-Hawaii grows 90% of the macadamia nuts worldwide.
-The macadamia nut is not native to Hawaii.
-A macadamia nut tree was first planted around 1881. 
-The macadamia nut originated from Australia.

Berry Lemonade

My favorite drink is Sweet Tea. Oh, today's blog isn't about Sweet Tea but my second favorite drink: the great, the tangy, lemonade. Yea! My favorite friend asked if I still had some blueberries left. My supply is slow diminishing but don't worry I am going to freeze the rest.

Some children have their Dad build them tree houses. My oldest daughter had her Dad build her a lemonade stand. It turned out pretty good. My youngest children have already been trying to talk me into letting them put up the stand. Then I would have to share my lemonade and that is pretty hard. Now, the sweets I make I have no problem sharing but lemonade is a different problem.

Berry Lemonade
2 cups water for the sugar syrup
2 cups sugar for the sugar syrup
3 cups water
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 cups of fresh berries (I used blueberries and raspberries.)
3 cups ice cubes

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups of water with the 2 cups of sugar to make the sugar syrup.
2. Heat the water and sugar over medium heat and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Allow the sugar water to cool and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until ready to use.
4. In a large pitcher, combine 2 cups of the chilled sugar syrup, 3 cups of water, lemon juice, and lime juice.
5. In a small bowl, add 1 cup of the fresh berries and smash for about 20 seconds.
6. Add the smashed berries and the remaining 1 cup of fresh berries to the pitcher. Stir well.
7. Add the ice cubes and serve.

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather.

Did you already know....
-One lemon will produce about 2 to 3 Tbsp of juice.
-According to Guinness World Records, the largest lemon weighed  11 lbs. 9.7 oz.
-The largest lemon was grown in Israel in 2003.

Blueberry Muffins

Since I have been making everything with blueberries this week, my youngest daughter begged for blueberry muffins. She loves them! She really loves them. I don't think you realize how much she loves them. My youngest daughter asks me to bake one thing and it is always blueberry muffins. When my husband gets his coffee at a coffee chain, she wants a blueberry muffin.

 I made this recipe and my daughter ate four of them in one day. I know I posted a blueberry muffin recipe last year which was very good but not four in a day good. I have bookmarked this recipe awhile ago and I'm glad I finally made it. If you have blueberries on hand, this is the recipe to make. These muffins taste just as good the next day. I can't tell you if they taste good the following day since we didn't have any left.

Baking Illustrated's Blueberry Muffin
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/4 cups fresh wild blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a cupcake tin with the muffin liners and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined.
4. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg until well combined about 20 seconds.
5. To the egg, add the sugar and whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds. 
6. Add half of the slightly cooled melted butter to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. 
7. Add the remaining butter to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
8. Add the sour cream to the egg mixture and whisk just to combine.
9. To the flour mixture, add the blueberries and gently toss to coat the berries.
10. Fold the egg mixture to the flour mixture until the batter comes together for about 30 seconds. There may be some spots of flour remaining but it is fine and the batter should be very thick. Do not overmix.
11. Divide the batter evenly in the lined cupcake tin. 
12. Bake the muffins for 15 minutes and then rotate the pan from front to back.
13. Cook the muffins for another 10 to 15 minutes and the muffins are light golden brown. The muffins are done when checked with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out clean.
14. Remover the muffins from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.

Did you already know...
-In 1948, Bill Rosenberg opened a doughnut restaurant named Open Kettle.
-Two years later, the restaurant was renamed Dunkin Donuts.
-In 1978, Dunkin Donuts added muffins to their menu.
(It wouldn't have taken my daughter 30 years to add muffins to the menu.)