Blackberries and rose geranium crumble

When the blackberries are starting to ripen on our generous bush in the garden I know that summer is starting to come to a close, crumble is wonderful pudding at all times of year and is liked by most visitors whether served hot or cold. It can be infinitely varied depending on the fruit used under the crumbly crunchy topping. In this recipe we combine juicy blackberries with the fragrant rose geranium to give a slightly perfumed compote.

The combination came about as I wondered what recipes I could use my beautifully fragrant scented geranium leaf plants in, after all I had attar of roses, orange fizz, pink capitatum (lime scented) and Lady of Plymouth (rose mint scented) to try. 

I obtained my scented leaf geraniums from Otter Farm, home to Mark Diacono one time gardener at River Cottage and now Climate Change farmer, Otter Farm has a fantastic range of seeds and plants for sale for the more adventurous smallholder.

Since recently converting to gluten free I thought I'd have a go at making a gluten free crumble mixture, this recipe is great served with yogurt, cream or custard. The mixture will also store well in the fridge in a sealed container so you can whip a quick dessert in a flash, just combining with what ever fruit you have to hand.

What you need to make the scented compote

• Blackberries 
• A few rose scented geranium leaves
• A drop of water
• 1/2 weight of fruit in sugar (caster)

To make the compote

• In a pan add the blackberries, sugar, geranium leaves and a drop of water, bring to a gentle simmer until the blackberries are softened then allow to cool. Leave the leaves in the pan with the fruit compote until cold so the flavours have time to infuse.
• Once cold remove leaves and spoon into ramekins

To make the crumble, you will need

• 200g Gluten free flour 
• 100g Softened butter
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 50g  Gluten free Oats (if tolerated)

In a stand mixture mix all crumble ingredients until you have a crumbly mixture

• Now top the ramekins with the crumble mixture 

• Place in the oven at 180c on a baking tray and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden and the juices are rising from the berries.

• Serve hot or cold with or without cream or custard

Lucky for us most of the ingredients can be sourced from the garden and every year we have  ample quantities of lovely berries so for me this is pretty frugal dish using what we have at hand. For that reason I am linking up to No Waste Challenge, hosted this month by I'd much rather bake than and created by Elizabeths Kitchen and also to Shop Local also created by Elizabeths Kitchen.

And Credit crunch munch crreated by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food for all , hosted this month by Elizabeths Kitchen.

This post is also being linked to The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up with Lavender and Lovage and Farmersgirl Kitchen

                                                   

Tumbleberry and yogurt iced lollies

Need to cool down, these gorgeous summertime treats are a doddle to whip up and are much better for you than the icy treats you buy from the shop. Made with fresh berries, some sugar and a little yogurt they have just the right amount of fruity tang to creaminess ratio to deliver a very satisfying ice lolly.

For many months I have been searching for the perfect iced lolly mold, ideally my perfect one would be metal where you can use wooden sticks, just like the one I remember from the 1970's from the little corner shop that made vimto lollies in summer. So far I have managed to buy a plastic one where the plastic handles snapped one by one and then a supposedly metal one which turned out to be plastic with a steel finish (and yes I did complain to the manufacturer - who frankly wasn't very forthcoming). So the search continues......

To make tumbleberry and yogurt lollies you need

• 500ml mixed berries (can be frozen and defrosted)
• 200-250g sugar (varies depending on mix of fruit you use)
• 75ml of yogurt (I used a Greek yogurt)
• Icing sugar
• Ice lolly mold and sticks

To make the mixture

• Start by making a over sweetened compote, using the berries, the sugar and just a drop of water to get the juices going in the pan. Once the berries are softened and the sugar dissolved, switch off the heat. 
• Cool a little and then sieve to remove pips and seeds and any tough skins.
• Cool and then taste for sweetness, what you are trying to achieve is just a bit too sweet before freezing. If you need to add more sugar then use icing sugar as this dissolves without heating.
• Once you are happy with the level of sweetness, mix in the yogurt.
• Pour into molds and insert lolly sticks
• Freeze for at least 12 hours

Ta dah Tumble berry and yogurt iced lollies, on a hot sunny day you will be popular.

                                                    

Laterly we are linking up to Bloggers scream for Ice Cream over on Kavey eats who's theme is Fruity ice lollies, this is perfect.

Simple seasonal blackberry cake

A simple cake that uses this autumnal berry an easy bake which would be great served at tea or as a dessert dish when accompanied with cream or custard.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup quality vegetable margarine
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs large free range
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 cup blackberries
• Icing sugar to sprinkle

Method

• Preheat oven to 180c
• Grease and base line a 8" loose bottomed tin
• Cream the margarine,sugar,and vanilla together until lightened and fluffy
• Add the eggs and flour and mix until a smooth dough
• Spoon into tin and smooth to cover the tin,  top with the blackberries
• Bake for 45 mins until cooked through
• Cool in tin

I am entering this in Simple and in Season hosted this month by Feeding Boys and a Firefighter and the lovely Fabulicious Food

Thanks to the fabulous Synergy Monochrome for the wonderful photography.

 

We are linking up to The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up with Lavender and Lovage and Farmersgirl Kitchen.

Autumnal blackberry and lavender cobbler

The weather is definitely turning cooler plus our ever reliable blackberry plant "Loch Ness" in the garden has once again produced a bumper crop of blackberries, so this recipe was created. I love the subtle flavour lavender adds to blackberries a spicy edge and no hint of old ladies handbag. Cobblers for those not in the know are very popular over the pond in America and are a topping for a sweet dessert made out of a soft scone mixture.

This dish fragrances the house whilst it baking creating that loving fug of a homely dessert, cobblers are never the most beautiful dessert but they more than make up for it in flavour stakes, this is a great combination. Perfect served hot with custard or cream, or cold on its own or with yoghurt or creme fraiche. Why not join in the baking fun by plundering your local hedgerows !

Ingredients

• Approx 1lb ( 500g) Blackberries
• 1/2 tsp dried lavender flowers (make sure its an edible variety)
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour

Mix all this is one large bowl and then place in your baking dish.

• 6 oz self raising flour
• 3 oz butter - soft
• 125ml plain yoghurt
• 3oz caster sugar

Mix all this together (preferably in a mixer or food processor) until you a smooth soft sticky mixture, place dollops of this on top of your blackberries , alternatively add a little more flour and use as scone dough and cut cute shapes using a biscuit cutter.

Bake for approx 40 minutes until the cobbler is well risen and golden and blackberry cooked.

I am using this post as my contribution to Simple and in Season this month hosted by Feedingboys

and also for Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage

This post is also being linked up to the Great British Blackberry Recipe Round up created by Lavender and Lovage and Farmers Girl Kitchen.

                                                     

CCC No 7 - Get Fruity - Blackberry, lavender rose and white chocolate cake

Our latest Clandestine Cake club was held at the newly opened Da Vinci Italian Wine Bar and restuarant in Leyland and the theme was "Get Fruity".

This was my first meeting as an organiser and given that I had  a friends wedding the day before the meet, I had to get organised and make sure I baked ahead. The base sponge was baked a couple of days before and stored in a cool place. My bake for the Get Fruity theme uses homegrown blackberries from the garden and as I wanted a cake that was understated and highlighted the subtle flavours of summer, I choose a Blackberry and White chocolate cake. This cake features, rose and lavendar as flavourings in the compote and ganache, to give a twist to the ordinary.

Once again our membership excelled themselves and really embraced the theme of the event. Strawberry, raspberry, lemon, orange, blackberries, apples and cherries were just some of the fruits featured in the bakes. We ere also lucky that Crossmoor Honey brought along a selection of honey's for our members and guests to sample and purchase ( this was on request of the membership)

The meeting was busy and we welcomed new bakers and new guests. Discussions included our cake for Preston Cake City and the forthcoming Leyland Festival Bake off ! We even had a quick chat by the organiser to drum up a few more entries for the Leyland Cake competition from our membership.

Back to my cake, a relative easy bake due to the time restrictions I had.

Ingredients

150g Quality baking margarine

200g white chocolate

200ml skimmed milk

250g self raising flour - sifted

1 tsp baking powder

250g caster sugar

3 large eggs (free range please)

1tsp vanilla paste

300g blackberries, I used homegrown frozen from last season, defrosted

1 tbsp lemon juice

150g granulated sugar

1 tbsp of dried lavender flowers ( in a muslin bag )

200g white chocolate 

200ml double cream

2tsp rosewater

You will also need 2 greased and based lined sandwich tins, approx 20cm across, I use 1 cal oil spray to grease my tins , it makes a doddle.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c, slightly less if you have a fan oven 160c, watch the cake for over colouring as the white chocolate can make it brown quickly.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water and add your vanilla paste and milk to it once melted.Leave to cool.

Mix the flour, margarine, sugar and eggs together, then add the chocolate mixture, mix until you have a smooth mixture and then pour into the two tins.

Bake for approx 30 - 35 mins until cooked through when tested with a skewer, leave to cool in the tin, then remove from tin, remove the baking paper and allow to cool fully on a wire tray.

Make your compote by cooking the blackberries, granulated sugar until the berries are softened and the juices running, I made this the day before and infused the lavendar into the compote using a small muslin bag and left it in the fridge overnight. Drain the excess moisture from the compote before using.

To make the ganache I brought the cream and rosewater to the boil before pouring over the broken up chocolate and stirring until melted. This was then allowed to cool in the fridge and whisked to thicken.

To assemble place your base cake on your serving plate and fill with a little of the ganache and the drained blackberry compote, then place the top layer cake on top. Spread with the remaining ganache, decorate to your taste.

I used 

• Dried lavender flowers (I got mine from Steenbergs)
• Rose flower and petals from the garden

I also had a go at an Audioboo too for the event

listen to ‘clandestine cake :-) ’ on Audioboo

Blackberry Crumble cheesecake

Currently we have loads of blackberries ready in the garden, we grow the thornless variety "loch ness" and its great, very reliable. We had friends from Spain visiting so I made this for dessert for our "tea". It was enjoyed by all, left overs went to work the next day and disappeared very quickly.

Ingredients

• 250g digestive biscuits
• 125g butter melted plus a little more to grease the cake tin
• 175g caster sugar
• 300g full fat soft cheese
• 2 eggs separated
• 250ml double cream
• 100g blackberries , halved
• vanilla paste
• Topping
• 100g plain flour
• 50g butter cold
• 50g demerara sugar
• 100g blackberries halved

You will need a deep springform cake tin

Method

Firstly pre heat the oven to 160c. Crush your digestive biscuits to a fine crum, I use a food processor and then add the melted butter, I use the microwave, pulse to mix and the form the base in your cake tin, press it down firmly. Now grease the rest of the tin with the reserved butter. Chill whilst you make the filling.

Whisk half of the caster sugar with the soft cheese, then add the vanilla paste and the egg yolk. Once well mixed add the double cream.

Now whisk the egg whites until at the stiff peak stage, now add your rest of your sugar in 2 stage, whisks well, until shiny and well peaked.. Now mix the meringue mixture to the cheese mixture, don't worry too much about loosing air in the mixture

Now spoon a layer of the cheese mixture on to your base and top with some blackberries, add more cheese mixture and more blackberries until you run out of mixture. Now place this in the oven to bake for approx 20 mins whilst you make the crumble topping.

To make the topping, rub the butter into the flour, once it resembles crumbs add the sugar and the blackberries. After the 20 mins have passed carefully top the cheesecake with the topping and bake for another 40 mins , don't be alarmed if it rises then sinks this is normal. Once golden on top remove to cool fully before springing the cake tin. Keep refrigerated.

Delicious !!!!!