Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

A couple months ago I made a coffee cake on a whim, and found out that coffee cake is apparently a weakness for Tim. He's having a super stressful month at work, so I thought I'd use some CSA blackberries I had hanging around in the fridge to make him a coffee cake to bring to a big meeting he had this morning with his coworkers.
This coffee cake was pretty easy, as coffee cakes should be, and it was also pretty good and definitely looked pretty. However, I think I should have put it on a higher shelf in the oven, because the bottom got a little too dark.

"Man-Catcher" Brownie Sundaes

I've been making these "man-catcher" brownies for several years since seeing them in the Washington Post. Despite the ridiculously goofy name, they are awesome. Super fudgy and rich. None of that cakey crap. If you want a chocolate cake, make a chocolate cake; don't make brownies.

Also, they are easy. Almost as easy as making brownies from a box, and 10 times better, so don't be intimidated.

The recipe is easily halved, which is good since it makes a massive amount. I successfully made a half recipe in a 9"x9" pan and cooked it for 30 minutes.

Made the sundaes for the Superbowl by topping a small brownie square (zapped briefly in the microwave to warm) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some blackberry coulis. Awesome.

Meringues with Berry Coulis

I wanted to give from-scratch meringue making a try after successfully making a pavlova with the pre-packaged mix. I used Ina Garten's recipe for Meringues Chantilly. They came out pretty well, but I think I still have some work to do to really perfect the right texture- these were a little too chewy!

I made a berry coulis to top off the meringues, using frozen blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, loosely based on this Emeril recipe. Tasty!

Topped also with whipped cream and fresh blueberries.

Clafouti!

"Clafouti" is fun to say: CLAFOOOOOOOTIIIII! Chuck said it like 900 times as this thing was cooking. Clafouti is kinda like a giant poofy pancake or a soufle or something... kinda reminds us of the swedish pancake thingy Martha makes in the cast iron skillet.

I think clafouti is traditionally made with cherries, but due to our glut of peaches and blackberries, we went with that. Typically I turn to David Lebovitz for his amazing ice cream recipes, but I read this Washington Post article about him, and thought his clafouti recipe sounded delicious. I would make it again- super easy! You could make it with basically whatever fruit you like...

Blackberry Galette

This recipe looked like a simple way to use up some of the blackberries I picked yesterday... and it was simple. I'm not sure I'm totally in love with the dough recipe, but I would give it another try and switch some things up.

Peaches and Blackberries!!!

Sooooo... Meghan and I took advantage of Amy's CSA's free/reduced price pick-your-own blackberries and peaches this weekend while Amy was in Cali, introducing her future husband to her family.

Her CSA farm has a really fun you-pick set-up:

a petting zoo, hayrides, and most importantly, A FREE WINE TASTING!

We're totally going back this fall.

(more farm photos coming soon)

Also, we picked a thousand pounds of superripe peaches and 6 pints of the ripest, sweetest blackberries ever. So expect some postings on peaches and blackberries in the near future.