Blueberry Peach Crisp

Alright, by now I'm sure you guys have had about enough of me waxing poetic about summer produce, but guys! It's just so good!!!! When I'm not eating fruit straight out of my hand, one of my favorite things to do is to bake up a fruit crisp. They're quick to put together, make the house smell amazing, and are also just ultra tasty.

Since I had quite a lot of blueberries on hand from my blueberry picking trip with my mama, I decided to make a blueberry crisp! I also had a few peaches on hand that needed to be eaten, so I threw those in too.

The result is a sweet, tart, and gooey fruit filling, with a deliciously crisp and buttery topping. Yum!

Blueberry Peach Crisp:

Ingredients:

For Filling:
- 3 ripe peaches, pitted and roughly chopped
- 5 cups blueberries
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- Juice of one lemon
- Pinch of salt

For Topping:
- 3/4 cup flour (I used Manini's gluten free)
- 3/4 cup rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, melted (you could use vegan butter instead to make the recipe vegan)

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F and grab a 9"x13" pan. If you don't have that size, close enough will do!

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling.

3. Use a slotted spoon (or your hands, which is what I would have done if I weren't taking pictures!) to gently mix the ingredients until well combined.

4. Pour the filling into your pan, and spread it out evenly.

5. In another large mixing bowl (or the same one!), combine all the topping ingredients except for the butter, and stir to combine.

6. Pour the butter over the top of the topping mixture and mix it with a fork until it forms nice crumbles!

7. Crumble the topping over the filling, being sure to distribute it evenly, and then put your crisp in the oven!

8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden and, well, crisp.

Once it's cooled enough to not burn your mouth, serve it up, either on its own, or with vanilla ice cream!

I hope you guys get a chance to bake up a fruit crisp soon! It's the perfect summer comfort food, and just delicious as can be.

Til next time!

-Becca

P.S. Don't forget to enter to my giveaway for a gorgeous terrarium necklace from Woodii!

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Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes

Hi guys!

Today I'll be sharing a recipe for Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes. Holy moly, are they ever tasty! A few weeks ago I shared a recipe for PB&J Cupcakes, which were a trial run for a potential recipe for my friends' wedding that's happening in a couple of weeks. They've requested that I make their cake (I'm beyond flattered), and have asked that it be gluten free and vegan so everyone can partake! Well, at the get-go it was a bit of a daunting task, but now that I'm settling into it, I gotta say, delicious gluten free and vegan cake is easy!

Honestly, these Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes are so good that I felt like I was eating gluten filled, dairy filled cake. My family (who were told to pull no punches!) agreed, too, and my coworkers positively devoured them!

Man, really. They're good. These Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes are comprised of tart lemon cake with blackberry lemon filling and are topped with sweet, tangy lemon buttercream and fresh blackberries. Here's how to make them!

Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes: Gluten free and vegan, makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For cake:
- 1 package Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix (If you're raising your eyebrows at the mention of cake mix, just trust me. This one is awesome and ya know what? Gluten free flour is hard to get right sometimes!)
- 3 flax "eggs." To make a flax "egg" mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 3 tbsp warm water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, stirring a few times, and then use away!
- 1/2 c vegetable oil
- 1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon

For filling:
- 1/2 cup fresh blackberries
- 1/2 cup lemon curd or lemon filling (check to be sure it's gluten free and vegan if you need it to be!).

For Buttercream:
- 1/2 c vegan butter at room temperature. (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
- 3 c powdered sugar
- 1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon

Garnish:
- Fresh blackberries, enough for 1 per cupcake!

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F and line your cupcake pan(s) with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl combine the cake mix with your flax "eggs." Beat on medium speed until well combined.

3. Add the oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat on medium speed for 1 minute, scraping down the sides part way through.

4. Fill your cupcake pans with batter. You'll want to fill them to about 1/2" down from the edge of the liner.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and then tops are evvvver so slightly golden. Then, remove from the oven and let cool.

5. To make the filling, begin by muddling the blackberries in a small bowl. I don't have a muddler, so I just smash 'em with a fork! Smash!!!

6. Then, add the lemon curd or lemon filling, mix to combine, and set aside.

7. Once your cupcakes have cooled, use a knife to cut a little cone of cake out of the middle of each cupcake to make room for your filling! Just be sure to not cut through to the bottom, or else a pile of blackberry filling goo will await you when you take your cupcake out of its wrapper. Trouble.

8. Then, using a small spoon, fill your cupcakes with the blackberry filling. You are also more than welcome to use a piping bag for this, just be sure to use a tip that's large enough to avoid it getting clogged by the blackberry seeds.

9. Next up, it's buttercream time! Begin by beating the vegan butter on medium speed until smooth.
10. Then, add the lemon zest and part of the powdered sugar and beat at medium speed, adding more powdered sugar as it's incorporated, and until it's all been added.

10. Add the lemon juice, and beat on medium speed until well combined and super smooth!

11. Load your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a number 22 star tip, and pipe the lemon buttercream onto your cupcakes. You can also totally spread it on with a knife if you don't have a piping bag handy (Hey, I've been there! Let's be real. I was always there until about a month ago).

12. Finish off your cupcakes by placing a fresh blackberry on top of each one, then stand back and admire your handy work!

Aren't they just the dreamiest little things? I just need to run it by my friends, but I think these are going to be the wedding cupcakes! They're delicious as they are pretty, and have such bright fresh flavors that I think they'll be perfect for a summer day!

I hope you get a chance to try these out!

Til next time!

-Becca

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Raspberry Brownies

Hi guys! As you may have read in my post from Sunday, I went raspberry picking on Friday and brought home like, five pounds of raspberries. Off the bat that doesn't actually sound like that much, but it's a lot. Like two giant tupperware containers a lot.

So when I started thinking up ways to use them (ya know, other than just shoving them straight into my mouth), the first thing that came to mind was chocolate. Chocolate and raspberries are a match made in heaven. I mean really, can you think of a better combination?

Since I had a lot of raspberries to get through, I wanted to make a quick and easy chocolate recipe so I decided on these Raspberry Brownies. They're a little cakey and a little fudgey, with a rich chocolatey flavor that's balanced by the tart, fruity raspberries.

Here's how to make them!

Raspberry Brownies: Serves 9-16 depending on how big or small you cut the brownies. Mine were cut to serve 9, obviously.

Ingredients:

• 8 tbsp butter cut into 1/2" cubes
• 4 oz 70% dark chocolate. I used Theo Chocolate Pure 70%, which is one my favorites, and goes really well with raspberries. For a really good chocolate flavor, it only makes sense to use really good chocolate!
• 1 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 c flour. Since it's such a small amount you can use any kind you like. I used a gluten free blend from King Arthur Flour since I had it in the cupboard!
• 1 c fresh raspberries

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F and grease an 8x8" non-stick baking pan. Don't use a glass pan since the oven temperature is pretty high.

2. Break your chocolate into pieces about the size of your cubes of butter and combine in a heat proof mixing bowl.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter combination in the microwave. I know, I know, I should really use a double boiler. I know. For some reason I have some weird aversion to double boilers, so I use the microwave. But! I use the microwave very carefully. I melt my chocolate in the microwave in 10-15 second bursts, stirring thoroughly between each one. You should probably use a double boiler, but if you really don't want to, just be careful. Burnt chocolate is gross.

4. In a second large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and the eggs, and whisk vigorously until well combined.

5. Add your vanilla extract and salt to the mixture and whisk until well combined.

6. Next up, add your flour to the mixture and whisk until (no surprise here) well combined.

7. Next up is the best and prettiest part of the cooking process! Pour your chocolate and butter mixture into the egg mixture and stir it up with a rubber or silicone spatula.

8. Once the chocolate and egg mixture are well combined, pour your brownie batter into your greased 8x8" pan and smooth it out with your spatula.

9. Ok, this is the part where you go from having standard awesome brownies to having extra awesome raspberry brownies. Drop your raspberries down into the batter, being sure to distribute them evenly.

10. Once your raspberries are on there, put your brownies in the oven and let them bake for 25 minutes.

11. A couple of minutes before your raspberry brownies are done baking, fill your sink with about 1" of cold cold water. Ice water is even better, but somebody I know always forgets to make ice cubes...

12. After 25 minutes, remove your raspberry brownies from the oven, place the pan in the ice water, being careful not to splash any water on top of the brownies, and let them sit until cool. This will prevent the brownies from overcooking so you still get some nice fudgey action.

Once cool, cut the brownies and serve. They are awesome on their own and obviously even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! If you can be patient, they are even tastier after sitting in the fridge overnight.

I hope you enjoy these raspberry brownies!

Til next time!

-Becca

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PB&J Cupcakes

Hi guys! Today I'm going to share a work-in-progress recipe for PB&J cupcakes. And ya know what? Even though these are a first attempt they turned out great! 

My friends are getting married this summer and asked me if I could make the cake, so I'm trying out some recipes. I'm super touched that they asked me to make it, so I obviously want it to be ultra amazing, and overall, I think this recipe might be a strong contender.

Ok, so the main objective here is delicious cake, but there are a couple of other factors to consider in figuring out a great recipe or two for this wedding.

1. It needs to be gluten free and vegan
2. It needs to hold up without refrigeration at a campground in August. Overnight. And all day.
3. There needs to be enough for 50-100 people, so I'd like to keep the ingredients good quality but inexpensive, which can be tough for gluten free and vegan baked goods!

Gluten free is easy! I do that all the time! But admittedly, I'm not extra super skilled at gluten free AND vegan. Also, when it comes to vegan butter, that shit melts at way lower temperatures than dairy butter, which is a definite concern.

So I racked my brain, thought it over, thought about delicious cake flavors, and decided to try this out. Plain yellow cake, raspberry filling, and peanut butter buttercream. My thought being that the cake and jelly will both hold up totally fine, and the peanut butter in the buttercream should help the vegan butter hold up in the heat.

Here's the recipe I used for my first attempt!

PB&J Cupcakes- Gluten Free and Vegan!- Makes about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For cake:

• 1 package Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix. I know, it's a mix, but it's awesome, inexpensive, and consistent so I say hooray for this one!
• 3 flax "eggs". To make a flax egg, simply mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 3 tbsp warm water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, stirring a few times, then use away!
• 1/2 c vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 c water at room temperature

For filling and frosting:

• Raspberry jam. I admittedly did not measure, but I ended up using about half of the jar pictured above.
• 1/2 c vegan butter, such as Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
• 1 c creamy peanut butter
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp (or more if needed) soy milk

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the flax "eggs" and cake mix together at medium speed until well combined.

3. Add the oil and the water and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides a few times so everything gets mixed together well.

4. Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners. I recommend using cute colorful ones as these cupcakes are awfully tan...

5. Fill the cupcake pans with batter. Don't overfill! You only want to batter to come up to about 1/2" down from the edge of the liner.

5. Bake at 325°F for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, then remove from the oven and let cool.

6. Load your jelly into a piping bag fitted with a number 230 decorating tip and inject your jelly into your cupcakes!

 7. In a large mixing bowl (or in a stand mixer, a tool I don't normally have at my disposal...) beat the butter until smooth, then add the peanut butter and beat until well combined and slightly fluffy.

 8. Add about half the powdered sugar, beat to combine, then add the other half and beat on medium until well combined.

9. Add soy milk, beat to combine, then scoop into a piping bag fitted with a number 22 star tip.

10. Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes! And hey, if you don't have a piping bag (I didn't until this weekend) you can just spread the frosting on with a knife.

And... voila! PB&J cupcakes complete!

When I make these again, I'll make a couple of minor changes:

1. Cook the cake a few minutes longer! When I did the toothpick test it came out super clean, but once the cupcakes cooled there was a slight amount of residual gooeyness around the edges. Don't want that, so a couple extra minutes baking should take care of it. It also may have just been that I was using someone else's oven and wasn't used to it.
2. Use more jelly! I definitely found myself wanting more. Next time I think I would cut out some of the cake to make room for more.
3. Add more soy milk to the frosting. It tasted awesome, but boy was it hard to pipe. Especially since I am not yet skilled in the ways of piping.
4. Add some chopped up peanuts for a nice sprinkle garnish.

Overall, these PB&J cupcakes turned out great and were quickly devoured by my coworkers when I brought them in to work. I think with a little bit more work I'll have an amazing recipe that anyone would love!

Til next time!

-Becca

P.S. The frosting totally held up overnight in my 90°F kitchen. Success!

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