blueberries – The At Home Cook

Watermelon Rum Punch

With summer in full effect, our backyard bbq’s aren’t complete without a refreshing cocktail!!

Loaded with fresh fruit, this cocktail is light, sweet and citrusy. It’s honestly perfect to sip on during the 100 plus degree weather we’ve been having lately!

I made these last week for a bbq at my sister and brother in law’s new home! Lucky for me, my SIL busted out her camera and snapped a few shots while I was throwing this together!

Shout out to Jennifer Runyon Photography!

Click HERE to see some of her work.

I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients

- 10 cups of watermelon cubed
- 2 cups white rum
- 1 cup cranberry juice
- Juice of 4-5 limes
- Blueberries for garnish
- Ice

Instructions:

Cube the watermelon and pulse in a blender. Take the purée and run through a strainer over a pitcher. Use a meddler or a spoon to push down the purée through the strainer to get the juices to flow down through the strainer.

Stir in the rum, cranberry juice, fresh lime juice, and blueberries. Blueberries act as a decoration so fruit to flow in each cup you serve. Serve over ice and enjoy.

Boozy Berry Trifle

I hope everyone has a very happy 4th of July tomorrow!!

I took to Instagram to ask my friends whether I should post a drink recipe or a dessert recipe inspired by this holiday! I really thought for a moment there, I’d be posting about a drink recipe, but the dessert option ended up winning the poll!

I couldn’t help myself from including a touch of alcohol in this post given that tomorrow is a fun holiday that I love enjoying by the pool with a nice drink!! However, it can be completely optional and you do not have to include the rum that is added- especially if kids will be enjoying this dessert!

I basically just let the berries soak in rum for about an hour so they pack a little punch with each bite!

My trifle includes a fresh sponge cake with only four ingredients, so so so easy! Layered with whip cream and tasty boozy berries. Very simple. Great summer dessert. It feels so light and airy when you’re eating it… it feels guilt free— even though it’s not, lol.

The strawberries I got from HEB yesterday were so incredibly sweet! I kept popping them in my mouth as I was going along baking this dessert. My baby boy GM kept reaching for the blueberries, (the ones not soaked in rum of course) those are his fav!

If you attempt to make the homemade sponge cake instead of using pre packaged, please read special instructions below so your cake comes out perfectly!

I hope you enjoy this post and thank you for taking the time to read!

Ingredients:

For the sponge cake

- 6 eggs at room temp
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the whip cream

- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  Or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp orange zest

For the berries

- 2 cup strawberries
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Rum to soak the berries in
- 1-2 tbs sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the strawberries and blueberries and add into a large bowl with sugar. Pour enough rum into the bowl until all the berries are submerged in the alcohol. Let the berries soak for about an hour or until you are ready to construct the cake.

*Line The bottoms of two 9 inch baking pans with parchment paper. Do not grease the pans with butter.

*In a mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the sugar while mixing. Let the mixer continue to mix the eggs and sugar until the mixture is creamy and thick- about ten minutes * do not skip this. Next, run the flour and baking powder through a sifter.

*Take the mixture out of attachment and fold the flour into the eggs with a spatula. Do not mix. Fold all of the flour in using the spatula slowly incorporating the flour into the batter. Continue until you no longer see the flour floating around.

Be sure to scrape your spatula to the bottom of the bowl because the flour will sink down there.

Evenly pour the batter into the two baking dishes and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the top is light golden brown.

*Once out of the oven, immediately take a thin knife and scrape around the edges of the cake to separate from the cake pan. Remove the cakes from the pans onto cooking racks and take off the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely.

Take a chilled large bowl and beat the whipping cream and powdered sugar until thick and creamy. Add in the orange zest and mix for another minute or two.

Remove the berries from the rum and onto plate with paper towel. Lightly sprinkle the berries with additional sugar.

To construct the trifle, begin ripping parts of the sponge cake to fill the bottom of the dish. Next arrange berries on top as desired, then add a layer of whip cream. Continue layering two more times so that in total you should have three layers of ripped sponge cake and berries.

Serve and enjoy!

Summer Fruit Tart

Y’all! I’m so excited to write this post!! I made this deliciously addicting dessert for father’s day last week, but was waiting to post till my amazing sister-in-law sent me the amazing photos that she took of it! Thank you to Jennifer Runyon Photography for capturing these amazing shots. I can just stare at them all day! Also, it just amazes me at how these shots just make this whole dessert look so appetizing!

So, this tart is hands-down, my new favorite dessert!! This is almost like a no-bake dessert, I say almost because the crust bakes for like ten minutes lol. However, the filling is a no bake, which makes this so easy- and it is so so good. I served this to my guests for our fathers day bbq and I watched everyone enjoy eating it! It became a new favorite for many of my family members.

The crust is pretty much a dessert on it’s own! It’s a short bread cookie crust, with toasted pecans added in. I recommend NOT skipping out on toasting the pecans, it truly makes all the difference. When you take a bite of that crunch in the crust, the pecans just sing when you get that toasted aroma in every bite. The filling is creamy and well balanced with the fresh fruit on top. I recommend this as a great make ahead dessert, the crust and filling specifically, and I would wait till before serving to add the fruit. The longer the custard sits in the fridge, the more it sets and slices better. It sat for almost a day in mine, and it pretty much sliced like a clean cheesecake!

The fruits can be assembled in any way you please, and you can honestly add just about any fruit to the top that you want!

Thank you for reading- I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter plus 2 
  tbs cold
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbs milk
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup toasted chopped 
  pecans

For the filling

- 1 package cream cheese
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 3 to 4 tbs apricot preserve
- fresh lime juice of 1/2 a lime
- zest of one lime
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

For the glaze

- 6 ounces fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbs cornstarch 

Fruit:

- 3/4 cup strawberries
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1 kiwi

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toast pecans for about 10 minutes. 5 minutes into baking time, give the pecans a stir. Remove and let cool. With a pastry cutter, cut down cold butter into flour and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Cut butter down to pea sized pieces. Toss in the toasted pecans and form into a dough. Place dough into tart pan and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

For the filling, in a chilled glass bowl, add in the whipping cream and beat with a mixer until almost a whipped cream consistency. Add in the room temp cream cheese, sour cream and sugar. The texture should thicken up to almost a frosting consistency. Add the apricot reserve one tbs at a time, tasting as you go until you have achieved the taste to your liking. Add in zest and juice of the lime and vanilla. Mix well and then pour into your tart pan. Smoothen the mixture out and let chill for about 8 hours or over night.

Before serving, cut the desired fruit for topping and assemble over the tart. In a medium sauce pan, bring the fresh orange juice to a light boil, add in sugar until it dissolves plus the tbs of cornstarch. Set aside. Arrange the fruit over your tart, and with a cooking brush, lightly coat the glaze over the fresh fruit. Let stand for a couple minutes before serving!

Blueberry Oatmeal Bake

A recipe for my fellow oatmeal lovers out there! I really enjoy eating oatmeal for breakfast, but I REALLY REALLY love baked oatmeal. It’s warm and delicious & not too sweet (until I covered it with maple syrup) it was sugar- free syrup though, so I don’t feel too bad.

This bake is somewhere between breakfast and dessert, although it could be eaten for both… or throughout the day. I’ve seriously eaten oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t feel bad after eating it!

Also, Oatmeal is super amazing for increasing milk supply for nursing mamas. So this past year, I really upped my oatmeal intake for that reason, but it wasn’t hard to do at all because I love it.

My son and I also love eating blueberries! I try incorporating them into our food as often as I can. The blueberries I got from HEB this week were so sweet and delicious. They are also packed with antioxidants, which is such a bonus!!

The toasted maple almonds on top of the bake provide a nice crunchy texture. You really have it all In this recipe. Warm soft oatmeal, sweet pops of berries and crunchy almonds on top. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups oats 
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds 
- 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup divided 
- 1 tsp baking powder 
- 1 tsp cinnamon 
- 1/4 tsp salt 
- 1 egg 
- 2 tsp vanilla 
- 1 and 1/2 cup milk 
- 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 
  2 tbs maple syrup divided

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and liberally butter the inside of an 8x8x2 baking dish.

In a saucepan over low to medium heat, begin toasting the almonds, stirring often. Once they have been toasted for a minute or two, sprinkle in 1/4 cup of brown sugar and immediately move off of the heat. Stir the sugar into the almonds, the almonds should be warm enough that the sugar slowly melts and begins to adhere to them. Add in 2 tbs of maple syrup to the almonds, stir to incorporate, then set aside.

In a medium bowl, add your dry ingredients (oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar)

In a large bowl add the wet ingredients (milk, egg, vanilla and 1/4 cup of maple syrup) quickly stir to beat the egg into the milk. Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries into the mixture. Carefully pour the mixture into your buttered pan and sprinkle the toasted almonds over it. Stick into the oven anywhere between 30- 60 minutes. Until milk has thoroughly evaporated. Let the dish sit for 20-40 minutes so that the oats can be cut into squares for serving.

Thank you for reading!