Blueberry Goodies

We still have fresh blueberries available at a local farm and it seems a waste not to take advantage of them while they are fresh and in season so I did a little blueberry baking recently. This is the Classic Blueberry Crumb Cake from Martha Stewart. I've been making this one for years and still love it - particularly a little warm from the oven with a dollop of French Vanilla ice cream, but it's great plain with a cup of tea or coffee too.

If you make it just be certain to adjust the pan size to 9" x 13" - it is a huge recipe and if you use the   9" x 9" as suggested in the recipe you will have a cake that is either raw in the middle or poured out over the sides into your oven, or both. At first I thought it was just me but if you read the comments that accompany the recipe you'll see a common refrain. Not sure why they haven't updated it online. I also make the crumble first and put it in the fridge while I mix the cake so that it's ready to go when the batter is poured into the pan.

And then yesterday I had the two lovely young gals that come to the Christmas Cookie Bakeoff every year, Meghan and Emily, in for lunch so I decided that we deserved a treat and made Raspberry Sour Cream Tart. It's a recipe that I got from Martin, via Jane, and I think it might have come from the Bon Appetit magazine originally. It is dead easy and SOOO good.

The job of placing the berries went to the girls (gotta keep them in practice for the bakeoff!) so they thought it would be fun to get creative and mix a blueberries in with the raspberries. They toyed with several design options, including a smiley face, but ended up staying with classic concentric rings. Meghan applied the finishing touches before we put it back into the fridge to set.


Raspberry Sour Cream Tart
Crust:
1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c unsalted butter, melted
Mix together and press firmly into the bottom and sides of a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom (I used a springform pan). Bake until firm to the touch, approximately 8 minutes. Cool.

Filling & Topping:
6 oz (170 g) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c sour cream
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pint raspberries
1/4 c seedless raspberry jam
Beat cream cheese & sugar in a medium bowl til smooth. Beat in sour cream, lemon juice & vanilla. Spread over cooled crust. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours. Arrange berries over filling. Whisk jam in a small bowl to loose consistency (I put it in the microwave for 15 - 20 seconds as well). Drizzle over berries. Serve immediately or chill up to 3 hours.

I say again - delish!...M