Cherry Berry Bars

If you ever find yourself with a mess of berries and cherries that need be consumed quickly, this recipe is your new best friend.

After buying more berries than my family could eat, I decided to cook them in a saucepan to make a compote to serve with yogurt or ice cream. When my oldest son started asking for a cherry pie, I improvised.

These dessert bars were delicious, with a dough that reminds me of shortbread. My kids put them in their school lunches and ate them for after school snacks. They disappeared from my kitchen in just a few days.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Cherry Berry Bars
Inspired by this recipe from the Kitchn

7 to 8 cups of berries (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries) and cherries, hulled or pitted, and halved
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon water
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon course sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place berries, cherries and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until berries break down and release their juices, stirring frequently to avoid burning and lowering the flame if needed.

In a small bowl, mix corn starch with water until dissolved. Stir into berries. Continue to cook until berries thicken. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Set aside to cool.

Insert the blade attachment on your food processor. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and pulse to combine. Add egg yolks, almond extract and butter. Pulse in short intervals until dough comes together (about 1 minute). The dough will be crumbly and soft.

Transfer about 2/3 of the dough to the baking pan. Use your fingers to press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread the cherry mixture evenly over the dough.

Scoop tablespoons of the remaining dough into your hand and flatten them into an oval shape, then place on top of berry mixture. Repeat until you use all of the dough, evenly spacing the dough ovals on top of the fruit. The berries will not be completely covered.

Brush the dough pieces with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the coarse sugar.

Bake until the dough is light brown and the fruit is bubbling, about 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Easy Summer Recipe Round-Up

Cooking has been rough lately. I just haven't been feeling creative. Do you ever feel that way or is it just me? In order to inspire myself (yep, this is a totally selfish post), I'm going through the HDHH archives to find my favorite summer meals. 

Now let's get cooking!

Erin

Tomato + Goat Cheese Sandwich. The kids and I usually hit up the Bellevue Farmer's Market on Thursdays, and I get a Pineapple Tomato or two. They are yellow and super sweet. This sandwich will be perfect to change things up from my usual Tomato + Mozzarella situation. 

Summer Salad with Berry Vinaigrette. I'd better make this one before berry season ends! Berry time is fleeting, people. Sigh.

Corn, Tomato, and Edamame Salad. I threw this salad together last weekend, and it was just lovely. A change of pace from your usual side dish. 

Healthier Fried Rice. Because it's bathing suit season, and I still want to have an extra large bowl of ice cream after dinner.

Sausage and Mint Stuffed Tomatoes. Do you notice the tomato theme here? Can I come up with a way to eat them every day of the week?

Smokey, Coffee-Rubbed London Broil. Andrea cooks her London Broil in the oven, and I usually do, too. But since the husband loves to grill, think I could get him to cook this one for me on the ol' Weber? 

How to Microwave Corn on the Cob. This means fewer dishes. Yes, please!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread. I love a good quick bread. It makes waking up so much easier when you know you've got a loaf waiting for you. I think I have some baking in my future.

Summer Salad with Berry Vinaigrette

Here in the great Northwest, school doesn't start until September. It was the same when I was growing up in Buffalo. So I've been flabbergasted by all the back-to-school pictures plastered on my Facebook feed this week.

In my crazy brain it goes something like this, "These kids look so cute with their fresh haircuts and backpacks! Wait...backpacks. What? How are these children going back to school already?! It's mid-August! I'm not ready for school supplies! Or leaves falling! Or cold weather! It's practically Christmas. Oh, geez. And where's my snow brush. I should put that in the car..."

See the slippery slope to snow? Yeah. Not cool.

So I'm here to remind all of us that it's still summer. Hear that? IT'S STILL SUMMER! Eat the corn! And the ice cream cones! And the berries! Allllll the berries. We'll start with this glorious Summer Salad with Berry Vinaigrette. And we'd better make it quickly, before the snow gets here.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Summer Salad with Berry Vinaigrette
Dressing adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

For the Dressing*:
1 cup raspberries
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the Salad:
8 ounces mixed greens
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup toasted pecans
3 ounces crumbled goat cheese

Using your food processor or blender, blend together all the dressing ingredients except for the poppy seeds. Once the dressing is smooth, stir in poppy seeds. Refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Place greens in a large bowl and top with berries, pecans, and goat cheese. Drizzle with some of the dressing just before serving. You can serve extra dressing on the side.

*This recipe makes about 2 cups of dressing, which is probably more than you need for this amount of salad. But the dressing is so delicious you'll want to drizzle it on everything for the next few days! Just use what you need and keep the leftovers in the fridge.

Berry Smoothie

It's the end of January. It's cold. It gets dark early. It's really cold.

I could sure use a little taste of summer.

Berry Smoothie
Serves: 1

10 frozen strawberries
15 blackberries
6 ounces Greek yogurt (I used honey flavored yogurt.)
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon honey, or more/less to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Let 'er rip until everything is combined. If you're having trouble blending the smoothie, try adding a bit more liquid.