Fresh Blackberry Cobbler

Our favorite Mystery Box Farm had flats of blackberries that could be purchased in addition to a mystery box. ChuThis and I shared a flat of delicious berries. They were just awesome. I decided that this week's dessert had to use them because there was no way I was going to be able to get to all of them. I was going to use a cherry cobbler mix that I had because you add cherry pie mix to it so I figured it was the topping, but it had dried cherries in the mix and I didn't want to taint the blackberry flavor with another. I did my usual Google search and came up with a really wonderful recipe that used fresh blackberries.

If I was going to make this recipe again, I'd definitely cut down on the amount of water used in the recipe as it was really watery and I'd probably also cut the butter that's placed in and around the blackberries as well. The crust dough also required a bit extra buttermilk and water to make it really stick together but worked really well in the blender.


If you'd like to make your own cobbler, go here.

We also seem to have added arts and crafts to dessert night. This week, we did macaroni art. Check out some of the masterpieces.

My First Mystery Box

I figure that since I've already gotten my second Mystery Box from Mariquita Farm that I should take a moment to write about the first one. Let me just say first of all that 15 lbs or so of veggies is a lot for one person, particularly someone like me who doesn't eat a ton. But, let me also say that it was amazingly yummy produce. Check out how full my fridge was when I stuffed the Mystery Box in it.



I first looked through the contents of the mystery box and tried to determine what everything was. Luckily, each one comes with a sheet that lists the contents and I've included photos of some of the items below.

Breakfast Raddishes

Collard Greens

Tokyo White Turnips

Erbette Chard

Fennel

Also, without pictures:
-Cilantro
-Tarragon
-Spinach
-French Fingerling Potatoes
-Genovese Basil
-Little Gem Lettuce
-Chantenay Carrots
-Arugula

All in all, it was a really yummy experience. Though my fridge did do some weird things and render some of the foods inedible (like it turned the fresh genovese basil black and crispy in about 2 days). I didn't particularly do anything exciting in terms of recipes for all of this food, but I did do a great tarragon white wine butter sauce with some talapia, though I've since lost the recipe.

It was so yummy that Tara and I decided that we should share a Mystery Box the next time. More on that meal which did have great recipes later.

Chocolate Cherry Cake Squares

Cherries are a wonderful and yummy summer fruit. ChuThis and I have been talking about cherries a lot since she and our other friend T got 10 lbs. of cherries from the Mystery Box farm a couple of weeks ago. (They were AMAZING cherries btw.) Also, cherries are pretty much a sure fire way to make sure I'm on J's good side as they are his favorite.

With all of these thoughts of cherries on my mind and no recipe for dessert night as of Monday morning, I embarked on a Google search for recipes with cherries. It was this search that brought me the Chocolate Cherry Cake recipe. Given how popular Cherry M&Ms have been with my circles this summer (if you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend that you do), I have really enjoyed the flavors of chocolate and cherry together.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that after all of this discussion of fresh cherries, I did use frozen ones in this recipe. It didn't matter as it was still very good. This is a really easy recipe to make. Just remember to soak the cherries in sugar and almond flavoring before you're ready to make the cake. I did soak the cherries for about 4 hours instead of the recommended 2, but I'm not sure that it made a difference for the flavor. I also didn't do the powdered sugar on top of the cake squares as I've never been a fan of powdered sugar. But it can help the visual appeal of a less than perfect baked good.

Sadly, there are no photos this week as I was in such a hurry to get dessert on the table and it was so popular that it went quickly. I'll have to be sure to get back on the photos for next week.

Want to make your own Chocolate Cherry Cake Squares? Here you go...