June's Other's Star The Blueberry

 JUne is known for its' strawberry harvests. Yet it's the blueberry that 's the real star. These little jewels are perfect in a variety of different dishes. Try them in a salad or in a dessert. They're good in savory and sweet dishes.

Blueberries are just plain good for you. They have the highest antioxidant levels of any fruit, and are good for protecting againsy certan cancers, eye problems and even urinary track infections. They also help in stopping heart disease , improve metabolism and strengthen brain functions involved in memory. As with most berries they can be used in both dinner and dessert recipes. A nice summery salad treat is a dressing made with them,balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Honey and lemon juice are added to give it sweetness and smoothness while cracked peppercorns offer heat. You could also make this with apple cider vinegar too.Keep in mind these versatile little berries can also be part of a meat sauce  too.It's combining them with balsamic vinegar brown sugar and lemon juice and reducing them to almost a  thick syrup. Its then dipping barbecued steak or chicken in it or pouring it over the meat.If you're a little more ambitious you can try your hand at blueberry ketchup. This is cooking two cups of them with ginger and shallots first , then adding red wine vinegar,  brown sugar and salt. It;s boils until it forms a thick, jammy mix. Try it for a different spin on French fries and burgers.

Of course blueberries are the perfect ingredients for any sweet treat. Many love them in scratch pancakes and waffles. Any of these are perfect for breakfast but also for a brunch.  A different spin is combining the berries with butter and confectioners sugar for topping those breakfast classics. A scoop of it is also good on French toast too. or on  blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins are a great way of using them. Nothing beats one loaded with berries and slathered with butter. More ambitious home bakers will bake them into pies, They're also good in tarts as well for a more elegant dessert.If you want something easy then think of a blueberry crisp. These are cooked berries topped off with a buttery streusel topping created with sugar ,butter, flour and oats for that crunchy topping.You could also make a cobbler topping which is lumps of dough baked on top of the berries. Cakes and cupcakes can also benefit from a blueberry boost. Try blueberry cupcakes with  blueberry buttercream for a summer birthday party. Ice cream lovers will love home made blueberry ice cream for a fun hot weather treat.

Thi s is blueberry season. Use these bright blue jewels in a variety of savory and sweet dishes. Enjoy their flavor and benefits.

Pie Variations

 It's pie season and many home bakers will turn to the traditional for their Thanksgiving desserts. Yet it's the same boring kinds, apple  pumpkin and the occasional pecan. What can be done to make them more exciting? Vary the recipes

Apple pie almost cries out to be something different.You could start out with the crust, adding a teaspoon of cinnamon or cinnamon and nutmeg combined. Another idea is sprinkling brown sugar on the crimped edges for a crunchy and sweeter pie. A really decadent idea is using cinnamon bun dough for the crust. This also includes using the icing too. To balance out this sugariness, use tart Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples.Caramel and the fruit go perfectly together. Salted caramel works well because of the underlying current of savoriness in it. Do you go with a store bought sauce or make it yourself? A homemade caramel sauce is nothing more than granulated sugar , butter and heavy cream cooked together. It produces a nice  thin sauce that you can use  later on cakes and even pancakes and waffles.A chewier version would be adding nuts, namely walnuts. These can be whole or halved. They can also go on top as part of a streusel topping. Streusel is an easy make, combining dark and white sugar with flour and various spices like cinnamon and ginger. Butter is added for more flavor and to bind the other ingredients. It's then scattered op top of the pie and baked with it.

There's not much you can do with pumpkin pie. A different way of making it is in a galette This is a free form pie that baked on a cookie sheet. It makes for a lighter slice with less filling.Some home bakers add a layer of sweetened cream cheese to give it some zing.You could also make just the filling in mousse form. This is an airy version made with eggs for binding and the same spices. It's the perfect dessert without the soggy crust. Another idea that's completely fun are pumpkin pie shots. This is layering the filling over cinnamon and crushed graham crackers in shot glasses. Top with whipped cream and cinnamon. Some home bakers are combining this pie with another Thanksgiving classic - pecan. Yes, they can be combined, although pecan is better on its' own.It's layering the two fillings with the pecans being placed on top. You could easily make a traditional pecan pie however it may be too sweet. Think about adding dark chocolate to counterbalance it. Ditch the corn syrup which can be tooth achingly sweet and sub in maple syrup instead. Use four ounces of eighty-five to ninety per cent dark cacao. Bourbon pecan pie is a Southern specialty. Two tablespoons of bourbon will do it, giving the super sweet filling some strong zing.

Pies do rule for Thanksgiving. Yet the same ones , apple, pumpkin and pecan can be ho hum. Liven them uo with different variations for a unique holiday dessert.

Squash For Dessert

Now is the time for all things squash.It's can be sauteed with garlic , baked with butter, and stuffed with breadcrumbs. It can also be the basis of cakes and sauce too. Now you can have it with a cup of coffee or tea for a sweet snack or dessert.

What can you do with this curcurbita? Surprisingly you can roast it in sections and serve with ice cream or even spiced whipped cream. It's just  cutting them into sections and de-seeding them so that they resemble cantaloupe, ,baste them with melted butter or coconut oil and then sprinkle on either pumpkin pie spice blend or cinnamon .Roast in a 400 degree oven for forty-five minutes to an hour. Serve warm with spiced whipped or butter pecan ice cream (or both!)Mash it and it can become an ice cream topping - squash sundae anyone? This requires a cup of brown sugar along with orange juice and a tiny pinch of salt, cooked with the veggie and then mashed into a thick compote.Squash bites are another sweet treat.These are Middle Eastern inspired , spiked with saffron and turmeric and mixed with a dough of mashed almonds and pitted medjool dates. The butternut squash has to be zoodled or spiralized which creates fun orange stripes running through the bites. Ground cardamom seeds are also used for more flavor. It can be put in a dehydrator however if you don;t have one , try a low oven at 125 degrees F for about half hour to forty-five minutes.

Of course you can bake squash into bars and cookies. A great recipe for bars is one topped with streusel, in a kind of marriage between coffee cake and pumpkin pie , It's a cake bottom with a pumpkin pie like filling, thanks to the cinnamon, nutmeg , and ground ginger. The streusel is a yummy mix of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and pecans. A fun way to get the kids to eat relatively healthy is to make squash cookies.The butternut squash is cooked and mashed, again spiked with ginger and cinnamon. The gourd can be a star ingredient in many different kind of cakes too. A fall dinner party can end with an elegant layer cake , highlighted with only maple and filled and frosted with a brown sugar Swiss. meringue. A great snacking cake is the butternut coffee cake. It's a spiced up pecan loaded version of  the regular kind which would be fun at a  brunch or weekend picnic. Another fun version is a butternut sponge roll filled with a fluffy light cream cheese frosting. Again maple and walnut give the cake added flavor. A different birthday party treat is butternut  squash cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting.It's basically the same as the other cakes but in cupcake form with caramel sauce added.I'd use Smucker's salted caramel  to give it a savory kick.

Squash is primarily a side or a vegetarian main dish. Yet it can be made into a tasty dessert using fall flavors. Try it as an ice cream sauce, cake, cupcake or cookie, Get to know its' sweet side.

The Perfect Chocolate Babka

Babka has always been the domain  of bubbies and Jewish bakeries. That's all changing  thanks to a new generation of hip home bakers discovering it. The recipe has been somewhat tweaked but the end result is the same. Chewy buttery sweet slices that always satisfy,

Melissa  Clark wrote about it in yesterday's New York Times  A Good Appetite column along with a scrumptious recipe. Babkas are experiencing a kind of renaissance right now. The trendy Sadelle's Bakery in Manhattan's Soho offers one studded with homemade chocolate cookies while competitor Breads Bakery stuffs theirs with Nutella. Other bakeries such as Bklyn Larder fills theirs with a rich ganache and Baz Bagel turns theirs into the ultimate comfort food - babka bread pudding. The cake becomes even more decadent in the Jerusalem cookbook by Yotam Ottolonghi and Sami Tamimi.It's renamed the chocolate krantz cake and is loaded with pecans. This has spawned a variety of variations. such as one filled with chocolate and raspberry jam and another soaked in honey syrup. New York's Lower East Side Russ & Daughters, originally a fish and savory shop, uses and bakes the original recipe . Theirs, according to fourth generation owner Joshua Ross Tupper advises babka is a nice balance of not too sweet cake and rich chocolate filling,It's also one the of the few traditional babkas sold and it's shipped all over the country. Ms. Clark is the rebel baker, using a rich chocolate butter cream filling in hers.

Home bakers be warned. Babka requires time and some expertise.It is working with yeast which can be tricky and time consuming. One can take all day or even longer (!) to make due to refrigerating the dough between steps. Doing this  does make it easier to manipulate  and a longer proofing period does give it a richer, more complex taste.It is easier to freeze than other breads so home chefs can make two loaves, one for now, the other for later. It is a rich buttery dough with a recipe requiring ten tablespoons of butter. and four large eggs.. The dough is transferred to buttered bowls which add to the flavor  as it bounces in and out of the fridge/Ms Clark's frosting filling also has a stick of unsalted butter along with 3/4 of a cup of heavy cream.If this isn't enough , there is over the top cocoa streusel topping. This is more butter (but only four and a half tablespoons this time) blended with cocoa , sugar and flour, It creates giant , luscious crumbs mixed in with dark chocolate chips. Home bakers can top their babkas with brown sugar streusel on top. The same goes for the filling.any sweet goo,according to Ms. Clark is acceptable. Try, jam, dulce de leche, Nutella or hot fudge sauce.

Chocolate babka is making a big comeback. Make it to enjoy its' lush buttery chocolate flavor.It may be intense to make but a dream to eat.

A Good Peach Pie

This is the time of year for fresh baked fruit pies.The trees are ripe with all sorts of harvests and what better than to put them in a pie.One of the best is a fresh peach.This makes a flavorful and tasty dessert, especially when served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream. Melissa Clark created the recipe for a perfect one in this week's A Good Appetite in the Wednesday New York Times Dining section.Her peach pie is guaranteed seconds because she makes a slab pie instead of the traditional nine inch round one.It is much bigger than the average pie and is usually baked using a jelly roll pan.It's an excellent suggestion if you"re baking this pie for a party.Everyone can enjoy a second helping.Ms.Clark uses a baking dish for a deep dish pie.This means more peaches but you could also throw in nectarines,which she did or try berries, pears or plums.Another spin is the addition of tapioca to thicken the filling.Cornstarch can be added too instead as a thickener.Lemon juice is also used as is brown sugar subbing in for white. For extra flavoring there is the choice of vanilla extract or adding the bean. The crust is a simple one, nothing unusual there.The twist comes with the topping, a spin on classic streusel.Ms.Clark gives it zing with ground Ginger along with cinnamon.Instead of oatmeal for crunch ,she sticks with a simple crumb recipe composed of the spices, sugar and flour held together with unsalted butter.The crumble topping is a the right compliment for the smooth,surprisingly almost custardy filling.If you want more crunch or a certain nuttiness then add crushed almonds for a delicate flavor or walnuts for a more heartier one. The is good on it's own but you can also serve it with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or even creme fraiche. There probably won't be leftovers but if there are any, the pie stores well in the fridge. This is the time for delicious home baked pie.Try a tasty peach one with a streusel crumble.It's the perfect way to enjoy the summer harvest of this fruit.Have it with a scoop of ice cream.