Long time no see, but still cooking

So a few months ago I discovered this blog strictly about food from Texas. One might think to themselves, "What good food could be specific to Texas?" But there is plenty, and being a native of Texas myself I've slowly realized how much I miss this food now that I have moved away. A while ago this blog posted a recipe for dewberry cobbler. Dewberries grow wild in southern Texas. I decided I would try it out only altering it slightly and using strawberries and blackberries (which are similar to dewberries) instead of dewberries. It is delicious and a great thing to do with your berries that might be getting a little too ripe.

Thanks Home sick Texan for your great recipe!

Here's how I made mine

Dewberry Cobbler

Crust ingredients:

1 stick of butter (the original calls for 1/2 a stick but because I used regular milk, I added more butter)

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup of milk (the original calls for butter milk)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling ingredients

2 cups dewberries or blackberries (original calls for 4 cups fruit but I only had 2)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put berries in a pie plate or other bake wear preferably round. Sprinkle with sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and lemon juice. The original recipe says to let this mixture macerate for 20 minutes but I didn't bother.

To make the crust, melt the butter on low in a pan, and then add the other ingredients. The dough will come out moist and pliable.

Spread dough out over berries

Bake 40 minutes or until light brown and bubbling.

Serves six

Lemon Bar Delights

Tomorrow is my last day volunteering with a group of little kids. I wanted to give something special to the other ladies I work with (the kids are already getting cookies).  So, I wanted to bring something that requires a little more of a refined taste. I love lemon bars and I hope they do too!

Crust 

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup cold butter

Butter pan

Mix the flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add butter in pieces. The mixture should look course and have large pieces of butter left in it.

Put crust in pan. Pat down until it is firmly compacted. Press up the sides a bit. The crust should be about 1/4 inch thick

Freeze for 30 minutes

Put in oven for 20 minutes at 350 rotating once 

Topping

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs lightly beaten

3 tablespoons flour

1 lime, and 2 large lemons freshly squeezed

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix sugar, eggs, flour, juice, milk, and salt

Remove pan from oven and pour topping onto crust

Bake for 20 minutes

Cut into bars and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar

And serve!

Winter Shortbread Cookie Sticks

Winter weather brings out the baker in me... so today lets have some shortbread cookies. 

Shortbread is classic and a great recipe to master. Its so simple yet absolutely scrumptious and very versatile. You can dip them in chocolate, decorate them with icing, or just have them plain.

My recipe is for simple plain shortbread that will go great with coffee or tea. So whip some up and invite someone over to share them with.

Shortbread cookies

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

(In a separate bowl combine salt and flour and set aside)

-In mixer bowl, cream butter (1min)

-Add sugar until smooth (2min)

-Add vanilla

-Slowly add flour mixture, stirring gently

-Flatten dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 min

-Roll out dough onto floured surface. Thickness should be between 1/2 -1/4 inch

-Cut into desired shape

-Place cookies in freezer for 10 minutes to firm them up again

-Sprinkle cookies with sugar

-Line baking sheet with parchment paper

-Bake for 10 minutes @ 350

-Let cool on a wire wrack