Blackberry & Pear Tart

Sometimes all you want to do is throw together a quick, delicious dessert, and that is exactly what our Blackberry & Pear Tart is. We made this three-ingredient tart the week of Thanksgiving and it was perfect to get into the holiday mood.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Pillsbury puff pastry sheets (or other puff pastry, this is just what we used)
• 10 oz jar of Sunset Valley Organic Blackberry Spread
• 4 pears, thinly sliced (we used a mix of red and green pears)

*Optional: 1 egg for washing the sides of the puff pastry

Directions:

1. On a parchment-lined baking sheet unfold puff pastry sheets. Set aside. 

2. In a bowl place sliced pears and carefully fold in blackberry spread, until pears are coated evenly.

3. Carefully pour pear and blackberry mixture onto the puff pastry sheets, and arrange to your liking. 

4. Optional: Wash sides of pastry sheets with egg for a golden brown effect. 

5. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

6. Let cool 10 minutes & serve. 

Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Previously seen in our January 2017 newsletter, it's finally making it's way to the blog! Better late than never? This week we transition from Summer to Fall officially, but we can't say bye to fresh blueberries just quite yet! 

"A deliciously moist, lightly sweet "coffee" cake bursting with juicy ripe blueberries."

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• Zest from 1 lemon
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (divided)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups fresh, ripe blueberries
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar for sprinkling

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Remove two tablespoons of the flour and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup of sugar. Beat for several minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla just until incorporated.
6. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat on low until incorporated. Add ⅓ of the buttermilk and blend until smooth. Repeat adding ⅓ of the flour then ⅓ of the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
7. Toss the blueberries with the reserved 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold the blueberries and any extra flour into the batter using a rubber spatula. Take care not to rupture the blueberries.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and bake in a 325 preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Blueberry Peach Scones

This is a short little post on some delicious scones we just had to share! This summer is so weird for where we live. Usually blueberries are in season from late June to mid July, then peaches come in to season with blackberries in August. Not this year though, all three are over lapping which is so exciting! We got to use fresh blueberries, and fresh peaches in these scones. We usually used dried blueberries, and dried fruit, so it's a bit of treat to use fresh fruit.  Work has been so busy with harvest that this is really the first time we've had a chance to bake in what feels like forever.


What You'll Need:

• 2 cups all-purpose Certified Organic flour, plus more for hands and work surface
• 6 TBSP  Certified Organic Sugar
• 2 1/2 TSPCertified Organic Baking Powder
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 1/2 C Certified Organic unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 C Certified Organic heavy cream
• 1 Large Certified Organic Egg
• 1 TSP Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Certified Organic Fresh Blueberries
• 3/4 Cup Fresh Peaches, chopped

What You'll Do: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, or spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Grate the frozen butter (a food processor is perfect for this). Mix in the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk cream, egg, and vanilla together. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and stir the two together with a spatula until everything looks like it's been moistened. Slowly, and carefully add in blueberries and peaches. At this point the dough will be very wet, and a bit sticky, you'll want to work the dough into a ball.
4. Transfer the dough ball onto a floured surface, press into a flat disk and cut into four quarters. Then cut each of those in half so you have a total of 8 equal wedges. Because the dough is overloaded with fruit it's ok if the dough doesn't want to stay as a wedge. When baked they will just be a bit more on the round side.
5. Place wedges onto prepared baking sheet, at least two inches apart from each other. Place in over, bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack.

Make A Head Tip: These scones are awesome to enjoy in the mornings all week long. They be kept at room temperature for 2-5 days. They also are awesome to freeze, and will keep for up to 3 months. Just thaw them out and heat up to your liking!

Aronia Berry Oatmeal Cookies

Aronia berries are a fun ingredient to experiment with. Our Aronia berries are unique in that they are so packed full of nutrients that the brix (sugar content) is actually a lot higher than average and this makes the tannens in the berry not so much at the forfront of the taste. Instead a sweetness starts to come through.

Typically this is a good indication of nutrition in our foods accross the board; nutrition=more flavor.

Then when you bake, or heat the aronia berries their astrengent weakens even more. So we've been baking, like A LOT! So we've developed two yummy recipes for Aronia berry oatmeal cookies. Today we will be sharing our conventional recipe, and keep an eye out for our gluten free aronia berry cookies coming next week.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 TSP Baking Soda
• 1/4 TSP Salt
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened to room temp
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 TSP Vanilla Extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups Old-Fashioned Oats
• 1 C Dried Aronia Berries

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
3. Slowly mix in the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined, then mix in the oats and raisins until fully combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 
4. Cover the cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside. 
6. Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and scoop out 2 tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough and dropped onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure to leave a little room between each ball of cookie dough as they will spread a little while they bake. 
7. Bake in separate batches at 350 F. for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown and the top is set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Notes: 

-Prep time includes 30 minutes of chilling time 

-Cookies may be stored on the counter in an airtight container for up to 5 days.