Blackberry Pie

An open letter to Pie:

I think I need to apologize to you. For years I’ve been acting under the notion that I hate any and all kinds of baked fruit. Because of it, I’ve turned away from you, ignored you, shunned you. I’ve passed you over in favor of things like cake and cupcakes, lured in by their swirls of sweet sugary frosting.

In my constant search for recipes, you were always the last on the list, if you even made it to the list at all. Cookies were always my top choice. Macarons even beat you out. I’d cite my abhorrence to squishy fruit and my fear of pie crust as reasons for my avoidance. The few feeble attempts I made at conquering you over the years were of the cream and custard variety, with graham cracker or store bought crust, and did very little to sway me from my firm prejudice against you.

That is until I made handpies. With real pie crust. From that moment on, I was hooked. Enrobed in flaky, buttery dough, my hatred of baked fruit began to wane. You broke down my defenses and made me realize how wrong I had been this whole time. And I’ve been so, so very wrong. This Blackberry Pie proves it.

The filling is almost jam-like sweet and I can’t get enough of the crust. I’ve eaten piece after piece, unwilling to share with anyone else. I can’t believe I went this long without you, Pie. With just a few simple ingredients, you turn into something incredible. You’ve certainly changed my mind, and for that I’m grateful. And I’m truly sorry I ever doubted you.

Signed,
A new pie lover

PS- I'm on my way today to the Ohio State Fair, where I find out whether my 7 entries this year won any ribbons! *Crossing fingers*

Blackberry Crumble Bars

The sunshine outside right now is deceiving. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but there’s still a bit of a chill in the air. I shouldn’t complain because it’s beautiful for early April. But after a few weeks of way above average temperatures that felt more like May than March, I want the almost 80s back! I want to grill out for dinner. I want to sit outside on my brand new patio furniture. I want to ride my new bike. I want to frolic in the sunshine in a tank top and a skirt! But I guess I’ll have to settle for staring at the emerging green outside my back door from the couch and eating some summer berries to trick myself into thinking it’s almost warm.

Is there anything better than juicy, ripe berries? I’m a terrible eater when it comes to fresh produce (I hate nearly every vegetable on earth), but I can pack away fruit like it’s my job. It’s the main reason I love summer. Because I certainly can’t stand the heat.

The grocery store has been having sales on summer fruit for the past couple weeks now. While I held off on the cheap, but not-so-great looking strawberries, I couldn’t resist the perfect blackberries. They just called to me, and at $1 a carton, I couldn’t stop myself.

I also couldn’t stop myself from eating these bars. I didn’t even share! Warm from the oven or room temperature with a bit of whipped cream, they were hard to say no to. Sweet and tart with just a tiny hint of cinnamon spice, these helped convince me that I’m officially over my aversion to baked fruit. I’m ready to try these bars again when the big hauls of summer fruit come rolling in. I think they’d be amazing with a mix of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

Oh Summer, please hurry!

Mixed Berry Roulade

Mixed Berry Roulade
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and Classic Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals
Makes one 17-inch roll cake

Cake:
1 ¼ cups cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large whole egg, plus 2 large egg yolks and 3 large egg whites, all at room temperature
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup warm water
confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Filling:
1 pint mixed berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries)*
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Note: *I used one of those bags of frozen mixed fruit. These are usually presweetened, so I didn't actually add any sugar to the fruit. I also left out the lemon juice, since there was more than enough liquid, but in the future I might add about a tablespoon of sugar to make it a bit sweeter and just a splash of lemon juice to brighten the flavors.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 17-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust a large, clean kitchen towel with confectioner’s sugar; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Place the whole egg, egg yolks, vegetable oil, honey, ¼ cup granulated sugar, vanilla, and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until thick and pale (it should hold a ribbon-like trail on the surface when the whisk is raised), 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl; set aside.
2. With a clean bowl and whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Raise speed to medium-high; gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the egg-yolk mixture to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined. Pour batter onto prepared baking sheet; using an offset spatula, spread evenly.
3. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until the cake is golden and springs back when lightly touched in the center, about 10 minutes. Immediately invert the cake onto prepared towel; carefully lift off pan and peel off parchment paper. Starting on a long side, roll towel and cake into a log, incorporating the towel as you go. Transfer cake (still in towel), seam side down, to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
4. In a medium bowl, add fruit, slicing strawberries before adding, and toss with lemon juice and sugar. Crush with a fork.
5. With a hand mixer in another medium bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), beat mascarpone cheese with cream and confectioners’ sugar on low until well combined, about 2 minutes. Fold in the crushed fruit; set aside.
6. Unroll cake, leaving it on the kitchen towel. Using an offset spatula, spread berry mixture over top of cake, leaving a 1-inch border on both long sides. Gently roll cake again into a log (do not incorporate the towel this time). Wrap with towel; refrigerate on a baking sheet until ready to serve, for at least 1 hour or up to 1 day. Remove towel, and generously dust cake with confectioners’ sugar before serving; slice with a serrated knife.

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I tried so hard to limit myself to just cookies and cupcakes for Kelli’s family picnic. I really did. And I almost succeeded. But I’d had the idea to make the Blackberry Roulade from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook for the party in the back of my mind for months. It seemed like the perfect summer treat, when all the berries are ripe and fresh. It got cut from the list when we decided to keep the picnic low key, but the idea just wouldn’t go away. I added it back to the list at the last minute because I knew I’d get yelled at again if I brought nothing but chocolate desserts for the second year in a row. Most normal people probably wouldn’t mind having lots of chocolate (I know I wouldn’t! Bring it on!), but Kelli’s brother is an odd freak of nature who doesn’t like chocolate. (Blasphemy!) He was mad last year when he had nothing to eat, so I had to add something non-chocolate back in the mix this year.

I’ve been eyeing this recipe since I got the Baking Handbook for Christmas four years ago. However, the more I looked at it lately, the more I wanted to change it. The cake part sounded great, but I really wanted to play around with the filling. Instead of just blackberries, I settled on a mixed fruit blend, with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The mix reminded me of another dessert I made a couple years ago for the picnic—Rachael Ray’s Berry-Mi-Su: a fruity version of tiramisu. Lady fingers drizzled with berry juice, layered with rich mascarpone cream and topped with mixed berries… Mmm! It was so tasty and I’ve wanted to recreate it ever since. Martha’s cake seemed like the perfect choice to give the Berry-Mi-Su a little remix.

The cake batter was easy to put together, but I never got that thick ribbon consistency from my egg yolk mixture. It didn’t seem to matter in the long run, but it did make it slightly difficult to fold in my egg whites. Instead of mixing gently, I almost had to beat it again to get the fluffy whites to mix with the somewhat liquidy yolks. And I think I ended up with some clumps of white still scattered throughout, but oh well! Before you pour the batter onto the prepared pan, I VERY strongly suggest spraying the parchment fairly liberally with cooking spray first. I missed a bit of one corner, and my cake stuck to the paper and ripped off part of my cake! I sort of ripped my finished cake in half as well trying to get it onto the tray to take it to the party, so if you can, try refrigerating it on the platter you’re going to serve it on to avoid that slight mishap.

The filling was incredibly easy to make, but I think next time, I'll use fresh berries instead of the frozen bagged kind. It was cheaper, but there were so many beautiful fresh berries that I passed over to save money! Maybe I'll stick to just 1 or 2 kinds of berries and do it the right way from now on.

I really enjoyed the cake! I cut off the mangled end that got stuck to the parchment to save for myself, and ended up eating the whole thing (which would have amounted to about 3 slices) for breakfast the next morning! The cake had a fantastic honey flavor and the cream inside was wonderful. I wish I would have saved some of the berry juice though to drizzle over the top of the cake to let it soak in. Maybe I’ll try that next time too, because this recipe will definitely have another chance.