baking

pear blueberry puffie

1 package puff pastry (in prerolled sheets, 2 per pack)

3 or 4 juicy bartlett pears, unpeeled and sliced

1 cup blueberries

2 T melted butter

3-4 T brown sugar

2 T yoghurt or full-fat cream, or half and half

1 t. pure vanilla

this recipe only uses one of the puff pastry sheets, put the other one back in freezer or make two puffies...and double the other ingredients.

lay the puff pastry flat on the counter, on top of its original parchment paper covering. loosen it from the parchment and dust the paper with a bit of flour or icing sugar.  pile the pears and blueberries down the center of the sheet, lengthwise.  with a sharp knife make a series of parallel cuts into the pastry at a 30 degree angle. you start from the centre (near the fruit filling) and go to the outer edge. so starting on the right, make the cuts from the filling, drawing the knife downwards to your right.  do the opposite on the left hand side.

for the filling, mix all the rest of the ingredients together, and with a spoon drizzle them along the fruit. reserve a teaspoon or two.

now fold the cut strips of pastry one at a time, alternating from right to left to form a kind of braid.  you don't actually braid the dough, its more like overlapping it.  ( i hope this doesn't seem too complicated.  it's simpler than it sounds.) i then tuck in both of the endies, or if it looks like its just too much dough, you can cut a bit off and make a tiny puffie for someone special! brush the reserved butter, cream mix on top of the pastry and bake at 350 for about 35-45 minutes.  peek at 35 to see how it looks.

recipe as pdf

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3/4 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oatmeal

1 (or 1 1/2 cups flour)

2 cups fresh or frozen yukon crans

cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla , mix some more.  add salt oatmeal, and flour starting with 1 cup.  i always bake a test cookie at this stage.  if it comes out thinner than you want, add a bit more flour.  add the berries last, and keep them frozen until the last minute other wise you end up with pink dough....which technically is not a bad thing, but crushing the berries up too much makes the dough kind of wet. 

roll into balls and bake at 350 about 11-13 minutes.

recipe as pdf

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after a hard day of picking in the mountains...

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1 cup mashed very ripe banana

3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 if you prefer)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream or yoghurt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

mix these ingredients together well with a fork or wooden spoon then add all at once...

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cranberries

mix the dry stuff and berries in quickly and gently.  do not over mix.  sometimes i still see a bit of flour that looks unmixed, don't worry too much unless its a big clump.  little ones will likely disappear.  over mixing makes the loaf very tough! bake at 350 for 35 minutes and then lower the temperature to 300 for another 10-20 minutes.  it should be brown on top, and not jiggle in the middle.  use a cake tester, toothpick etc, to check the center.  the dough should not stick to the tester when its done! let it cool for a few minutes in the pan before you loosen the edges and remove it.

recipe as pdf

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and here it is...

(in)famous dog musher gerry boyle sampling the loaf (11:15am)

half a loaf disappears pretty fast...

any basic pie crust  recipe will do...here is nellie's (my mom)

1 cup shortening

2 1/2 cups flour

1 egg

1 T vinegar

about 1/2 cup cold water

1/2 teaspoon salt

mix shortening into flour with hands or pastry tool.  mix other ingredients in a cup, and pour into flour mix.  gently stir everything together with  a fork, and shape dough into 3 or 4 balls.  flatten and roll out as thin as you like.  i prefer very thin dough, and this recipe is so easy to handle as it has more liquid than other crusts.  i use a sharp paring knife to cut circles of dough and i fit them into muffin tins.

for the filling:

fresh or frozen cranberries or raspberries (about 2 cups or more)

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t. pure vanilla

mix everything together.

put about a tablespoon or two of berries into the uncooked shells, and pour 1 tablespoon or two of buttery filling on top.  it may not seem like much, but if you put too much in, they will bubble over and be very hard to remove from the tin. bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and edges are nice and brown.

recipe as pdf

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