Blackberries: Worth the pain

Berry Tart Baby Hat (and pattern!) found here

In the Pacific Northwest, one thing we have a lot of is blackberry vines.  11 months out of the year, one thing locals want less of is...blackberry vines.  August is the one glorious month were we love our spiky, invasive, almost-impossible-to-get-rid blackberry vines, because the blackberries are ripe and pickable.


The other day I was out in the park with my girls, and I made them come back home with me, so I could get a bucket to bring berries home in.  Granted, it's been a chilly summer around here (apologies to the rest of the country, who have been sweltering!), so they're really just starting to ripen.  Maybe one berry in a dozen was the dark, almost black, purple.  It's amazing how quickly you remember how a ripe blackberry feels.  The slightest touch and you can tell whether to pull or let go...unless you're two.  #4 kept running up, excited to drop her contribution in the bucket...but they were invariably green.

I was all set to start this lovely Blackberry Cobbler recipe I found on Betty Crocker, but it called for 2 1/2 cups of blackberries, and I had just under two cups.  No problem, just pick more!  (Yet another reason I love blackberry season.)  This time, I was better prepared.  After the nicks, scratches and itchy rash (turns out I'm allergic to blackberry thorns...who knew?) I knew to wear jeans, shoes (rather than sandals), a long sleeve sweatshirt and gloves...but here is where I got really clever. I took an old pair of leather work gloves, and cut the tip of the thumb and one finger off of each glove.  That way I was protected from thorns, but I could still grasp the berries.

Here is the recipe, with my usual slight adjustments:

Fresh Blackberry Cobbler

2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries

1 cup sugar(although I think it could have been a little less, maybe 3/4 cup)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
Cream, whipped cream or ice cream, if desired (I skipped it, it was still fantastic!)
In a medium bowl, mix berries and sugar.Let sit for 20 mins, or until fruit syrup forms.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, milk, baking soda and salt.
Gently stir in melted butter.
Spread in ungreased 8" square pan, or 9" pie pan...because that's what I had!


Spoon berry mixture over batter.; (They don't mention it on Betty's website, but don't put the berries too close to the edge!; The berries and juice make the crust sticky.)
Bake 45 to 55 minutes, or until dough rises and is golden brown.

All together now...

YUM!

I honestly wasn't sure how this would go over with the littles, but...

Bringing the Sandwich Spree to a close...with dessert!

Knit whoopie pie found here

Have you ever had a magical butter moment? It's when the recipe calls for a certain amount of stick butter, and you pull out all the little spare ends of sticks to find that the add up to EXACTLY how much you need for the recipe. I had a magical butter moment today. It was brilliant.

Today I decided to bring the sandwich spree to a close, with a dessert sandwich, so I thought I'd try my hand at a whoopie pie...of course, I can't just do a whoopie pie, I have to feel a little better about giving my kids a pile of sugar, so I went a-googling, and found a recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pie, here
.
I should preface this recipe with a disclaimer: I have never had whoopie pie before. I haven't even seen one, except in pictures online. I have no frame of reference on how big they should be, what they should taste like...so you'll have to forgive me if I've violated any whoopie pie laws.

I really liked this recipe.  Not only because it called for pumpkin, but because it started with a cake mix!  However, I did have a small quibble.  In the directions, she says to "Use a small cookie scoop drop mounds of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets...", but I don't own any cookie scoops, and I haven't the foggiest idea how big they are!  So, I made two sizes:

Heaping tablespoon

Using a 1/4 cup measurer as a scoop

 As it turns out, the heaping teaspoon was probably closer to the correct size.  It cooked in the ten minutes the recipe called for.  The larger ones took 15 minutes.

My other change was to the filling.  Her filling called for a block of cream cheese, an entire stick of butter, and 3 CUPS of powdered sugar!  Um, no.  I had just come across an article on Pinterest called "Use this, Not that", that had suggestions for baking.  I flipped through that article, and low and behold:

Use marshmallow fluff to replace butter in baked goods

 Eureka!  I replaced both the butter and sugar with the fluff, and the filling came out perfect! (For me.  I have no idea what whoopie pie filling is supposed to taste like...which I think I already mentioned...) One big tip when cooking with fluff, is coat EVERYTHING with cooking spray.  Your measuring cup, your beaters, the mixing bowl, everything!  Fluff sticks.  I learned this the hard way making fudge.  (I made fudge for Christmas a couple of years ago because I thought it would be fun.  Eating fudge is fun. Making it can be a pain in the rear!)

Since I made some changes, here is the recipe as I made it:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie with Light Filling


1 box Spice Cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter (magic butter moment!)
1 cup pumpkin (yep, plenty left over for applesauce)
1/2 cup milk

Filling:

8oz block of cream cheese (room temp)
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1 tsp
couple dashes of cinnamon
*cooking spray on everything fluff will touch!


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or spray the bejeebus out of them with cooking spray)
Beat butter and pumpkin at medium speed until smooth.
Add remaining ingredients, beat on low until combined.
Drop rounded tablespoons of dough on cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. (Or, if you want giant pies, use a 1/4 cup measuring cup, and bake 15 minutes)
(Another note, if you are using parchment paper, turn slowly. Parchment paper is slippery, and will shoot right off of the cookie sheets!)
Bake 10 minutes.
Cool completely.
Put frosting in a ziploc bag, snip a corner off, and squeeze a generous amount on one cookie, and put the other one on top.


Here is the finished product:
 

Oh, and #3 was especially excited about dessert.  So excited that when I told her that we had to wait until after dinner, she wanted dinner at 4:00pm.  Plus, she sang a song:

#3's Whoopie Pie Song (with a little help from me):

First we mix the ingredients, then we put them on the pan.
But we cannot taste them, until Mommy says we can.
Put them in the oven, bake them until it beeps.
Cool them down and frost them, and them we can eat.
That's my whoopie pie song for you.


Now, I think you saw this one coming: