Bourbon Peach Cobbler

Peachy-Keen
I know that apple pie is the undisputed champion of 4th of July, but if you have walked through any produce department lately you may have noticed that peaches and nectarines are doing everything they can to get your attention. What is it about that fragrance that makes me stop in my tracks and throw a half dozen in a bag?

Truth is I am a bit mad for peaches and nectarines right now. It is the peak of their season and they are just so good. I think I have used them in every meal this week. Grilled and diced into a salsa to put on the pork chops I grilled them with or sliced up in a cool crisp salad with some Point Reyes blue cheese and some spiced nuts. Or just sliced and eaten by themselves. Then there are the smoothies and baked goods….

I love apple pie but I am having a hard time getting excited about it for the 4th. Instead, my mind is filled with visions of gooey cobbler mixing with cool vanilla bean ice cream and it’s making my mouth water. Even better? This recipe also includes a splash of Bourbon…

Bourbon Peach Cobbler
Adapted from Tyler Florence and the Food Network
Yields 6 to 8 servings Read more…

Giant Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie Monster
If you ask my husband what he wants for Father’s Day, he will tell you without hesitation that he neither needs nor wants anything. He has said, however, that he would be okay with a clean and organized house. I wish I could say that is an easy request….

The love of my life is not a person that needs stuff (unless you count musical instruments). In fact, his preference is for the least amount of stuff he can get away with. Because of this, it is hard to recognize his awesomeness as a father in the usual ways. That is why birthdays and Father’s Day are usually celebrated with some sort of special food item.

There are many treats that our #1 Dad thinks are the best thing ever. The first would be ice cream. Whether it is a bowl of his favorite Tin Roof Sundae or an ice cream sandwich, anyone who thinks they might be able to keep a stash on hand for craving emergencies would be very, very wrong. You’d be lucky if either lasts the night. There is one other tasty treat that trumps even the most decadent ice cream and that treat would be cookies.

One of the first things I learned about my husband when we met was of his love of cookies. In fact, cookie was the first word he spoke as a child. To say that he has never met a cookie he didn’t like would be a massive understatement. But, his hands down, absolute favorite is classic peanut butter cookie dipped in melted chocolate.

While I love peanut butter cookies they are a variety I don’t make very often. Mainly because most of the cookies I make are for school functions and peanuts are generally a bad idea at school. So, to celebrate and thank the best father to my kids that I could ever have thought of, I will be making these to go with the milk in his World’s Greatest Dad mug.

Giant Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Yields about 2 dozen giant cookies Read more…

On the Fly Blackberry Pie

Pie on the Fly
Last Saturday, my sister and I grabbed our buckets and boxes and set out for Brentwood to pick fruit. We picked a lot of fruit. Peaches, pluots, cherries, and blackberries. I personally harvested almost 9 pounds of blackberries. And, I felt the fruits of that labor for an embarrassing two days after. I gathered that much because I had a jam plan for the blackberries and I wanted to make sure I had enough for a double batch.

Turns out I had more than enough to make the jam as well as a fresh blackberry pie.

My grandmother had a huge blackberry bramble in her garden and we used to pick blackberries every year to make in to jam. But, she also had a killer recipe for blackberry pie. And, I have no clue what that recipe was. Maybe she just eyeballed the sugar and cornstarch and threw it and the fruit together in a pie crust. But, for the life of me, I can’t find a copy of her pie recipe, or for that matter her jam recipe, anywhere.

So, while my jars were processing, I went on a hunt for a blackberry pie recipe. You think it would be easy—but you would be wrong. Most of the pies that have blackberries in them also have other fruits and I wanted a straight up blackberry pie. I never found one that was quite right. So, I eventually just combined a bunch of different recipes into one and went with it.

Turns out my Blackberry Pie on the Fly was darn tasty. In fact, the scent of the pie and our impatience prompted us to cut into it before it had finished cooling—which was a mistake. The blackberry goodness inside did not stay inside and oozed out of the crust into the pie plate. Note to self, the pie must be allowed to cool completely. The visual did not affect the flavor though and all traces of pie were gone by morning…

On The Fly Blackberry Pie
Yields 10 servings Read more…

Homemade Trail Mix

Best Laid Plans
This weekend, Memorial Weekend, is the unofficial start to the summer season. With the kids almost out of school, the beginning of the Road Trip season is also upon us.

In fact, our family was supposed to embark on our first summer road trip this weekend—through the desert to Las Vegas. That’s 10+ hours of family fun and harmony… Due to circumstances beyond our control, the trip has been scratched. This may be a blessing in disguise. But, never fear! We are still going to load up the truck and head out on the road. And, it will be a more manageable 3-hour drive to spend time outdoors in Northern California.

All kidding aside, road trips can be a lot of fun. And, no matter your destination, anytime you stick people in a confined space for more than an hour or two, someone’s going to be touching someone else, or crossing over an imaginary line, or the dog is going to try to get in someone else’s lap. And, things are going to get tense. Having drinks and snacks at the ready can go a long way to preventing a migraine.

I am a big fan of nut mixes and trail mixes. I have a huge canister at home for when I just need a handful of something to get me through until dinner. I make it myself and the ingredients change depending on my mood.

My trail mix always contains multiple varieties of nuts. But, the other ingredients change each time. Sometimes I’m feeling tropical and add macadamia nuts with some dried mango, bananas and coconut chips. If I have a sweet tooth there are chocolate chunks in it. And then there is the kitchen sink mix that has a little bit of everything (usually comprised of reminders of things from past baking projects).

Any of these options is great for road trips because you can make a lot of it for sharing with everyone. And, it’s definitely portable. Beware the chocolate ones, though…It’s best to keep them in the cooler with your drink supply. They don’t do so well in the hot car when you have to stop for the 50th time because someone has to go to the bathroom…again!

This trail mix recipe is a suggestion. There is no real recipe for something like this—just your imagination and your taste buds.

Trail Mix Recipe
Yields 5 cups Read more…