How good does this fruit salsa look?? I’ve seen various versions of this delicious summer treat all over the place, and I have no idea why it took me this long to put my own spin on it.

I made this salsa for a family get together a week ago and served it with cinnamon sugar pita chips – and everyone LOVED it! I got repeated requests for the recipe, and my salsa bowl came home completely empty. Thankfully I had set a little aside back at home for Mike and I to enjoy. 🙂

I’m guessing you can use whatever fruits you want for this dish, but I used lots of strawberries, kiwi, mango, and apples. The strawberries were nice and fresh and were the perfect level of sweetness, and the chopped apples added a nice crunch. I stirred in lots of homemade strawberry jam at the end to bind it all together, and the end result was so good. Also, be sure to not leave out the lemon zest at the end – it gives the salsa a nice fresh taste.

I hope you like this one; it’s going to be a summer staple at our house. 🙂

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When it comes to flavor combinations, strawberries and cream just might be one of my absolute favorites. So naturally, when I saw these strawberry and cream dessert bars on pinterest, I knew I had to make them as soon as possible. I ended up using Father’s Day as my excuse, and it came as no surprise that everyone completely loved them. These rich and creamy dessert bars have a sugar cookie crust, a cream cheese and white chocolate center, and a sweet strawberry topping. They really do taste like strawberries and cream! I’ve made similar desserts in the past (strawberry pizza and mini fruit pizzas come to mind), but these strawberries and cream dessert bars stand out from the rest. I’m pretty sure it’s the white chocolate filling that takes them over the top. I hope you give these dessert bars a try this summer – they make the perfect potluck dessert!

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 Are you tired of blueberry recipes yet? No promises, but I *think* this is the last one for awhile. Unless I decide to make something new. 🙂  But this vanilla bluebery butter is a great recipe to end on. I re-discovered fruit butter last year at American Spoon in Petoskey, Michigan. I bought a jar of their strawberry butter and proceeded to be amazed at how delicious it was. I’ve had apple butter before, but that didn’t prepare me for just how good fruit butter could be. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to try and make my own.

I followed a recipe I found online for blueberry butter but added in a vanilla bean because I think blueberry and vanilla is a wonderful flavor combination. The end result was so good. It was smooth and thick, with an almost creamy consistency. The consistency, in my opinion, is what makes this so much better than traditional jam. I can’t wait to try this with other fruits. I’m already planning peach butter once peaches are in season around here!

Vanilla Blueberry Butter

Ingredients:

1 lb blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 vanilla bean

Directions:

In a medium sized sauce pan, toss the blueberries with the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend the blueberries until very smooth. Be careful of hot blueberry splatters!

Add the sugar and cinnamon to the blueberries. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, adding them to the blueberry mixture. Add the empty vanilla bean as well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is thick, about 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove the vanilla bean and transfer the blueberry butter to jam jars or other containers and let cool completely.

Will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in the freezer.

adapted from Andrea's Recipes

Another blueberry recipe for you! I have the same problem every season. As soon as a certain season hits, like blueberry season, I go crazy trying all kinds of fun new recipes. And then I am always pressed for time trying to get all the new recipes posted before the season ends and you don’t want to make them any more! Hopefully you still have plenty of blueberries left, because I’ve still got recipes to share. 🙂

This blueberry bread is definitely one you’ll want to make time for during blueberry season. It basically tastes like a blueberry muffin in bread form. The recipe produces a dense, moist bread that is filled to the brim with fresh bursting blueberries. It doesn’t taste overly sweet, which means you won’t feel too guilty eating this for breakfast. It’s a fairly simple quickbread, and the perfect vehicle for fresh in-season blueberries to shine! Enjoy 🙂

Blueberry Buttermilk Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, well-shaken
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 inch loaf pan and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg until well-combined and light colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogoenous, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2-3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the buttermilk in 2 additions, whisking just to combine, then whisk in the vanilla.

Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evently distributed. Be careful not to overmix.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.

adapted from Baking Illustrated

I couldn’t let the 4th of July come and go without posting  some sort of patriotic treat.  I’m cutting it a little close on this one, but hopefully if you’re still looking for a fun dessert for the 4th, you’ll have time to make this one. I love traditional fruit pizza (who doesn’t??), but these mini versions are just so cute!  Basically, these mini fruit pizzas are just simple sugar cookies covered in a cream cheese “sauce” with various types of chopped fruit as a topping. I covered mine with blueberries and strawberries to give them a red, white and blue theme, but you could use any fruit that you want.  They taste amazing and are sure to be a hit with adults and kids alike. Plus, if you’re having a picnic or cook-out, these would be so fun to set out as a “make your own” station. Stack the cookies up on a plate, set out a bowl of the cream cheese topping, and set out various bowls of chopped fruit. Then people can build their own with the fruit that they like, and it keeps the cookies from getting soggy as they sit.  No matter how you serve these, they are sure to taste great. 🙂

*If you’re looking for other dessert ideas, try one of these! 🙂 Patriotic Brownie Skewers :: Strawberry Pretzel Dessert :: Red Velvet Brownies

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cups Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Topping:

• 1 pkg.(8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• assorted fresh fruit, for topping

Directions:

For the cookies:

1. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, yolks and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add flour to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Do not overmix. Transfer the dough to saran wrap and wrap well. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. When you are ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness, cut out cookies, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are set and just starting to brown around the edges.

For the topping:

1. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended.
2. Spread over cookies and top with fresh fruit.

from my favorite Sugar Cookie> recipe and Kraft Foods

It’s time for another strawberry post! If you’ve followed along on Facebook, Mike went strawberry picking and picked about 10 pounds of strawberries. Then I went strawberry picking and picked 10 more pounds! We were overwhelmed by strawberries (in a good way!) and I needed to come up with some fun ways to incorporate them into recipes. First up was the strawberry cake I posted about earlier this week. Then came this strawberry lemonade.

I have to say, lemonade is a lot of work to make, but the end result sure is worth it. I’m pretty sure this is the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted! (Although, it does have a rival in the peach lemonade I made last year – that stuff was amazing as well).  I got the recipe from Food Network Magazine, and they claim that this is exactly what Red Robin’s famous freckled lemonade tastes like! I haven’t had their freckled lemonade before, but I can tell you that this version is delicious. I don’t think I’ll be making this weekly, or anything like that (my arm was tired from juicing all those lemons!), but for a picnic or cookout, or for a start of summer treat, this recipe is perfect.

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sugar
2 cups chopped hulled strawberries
2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 10 large lemons)
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Make the lemon syrup: Bring the lemon zest, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Let cool to room temperature.

Make the strawberry syrup: Toss the strawberries and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl and let sit at room temperature until the sugar dissolves, about 45 minutes. Strain the strawberry mixture, reserving the strawberry syrup and strawberries separately.

Make the lemonade: Combine the lemon juice, lemon syrup, salt and 2 cups cold water in a pitcher. For each drink, put about 1 Tbsp strawberry syrup in a tall glass. Fill with ice, then top with the lemonade and some of the reserved strawberries.
*Note: After making 2 glasses this way and taking pictures, I just dumped the rest of the strawberry syrup into the lemonade pitcher, added a little extra cold water (to taste) and refrigerated it. It tasted great for days!

Food Network Magazine, May 2012

Strawberry season is officially upon us up here in Michigan. Apparently it is both an early and a short season, which means I need to pack all of my strawberry baking plans into a short period of time. In case you’re wondering, that means you should expect some very strawberry heavy blog posts in the coming weeks. 🙂

Actually, it’s thanks to you guys that I have so many strawberry recipes to post. When Mike came home from strawberry picking with 10 pounds of berries, I sent out a plea on Facebook asking what to do with them. And you came to the rescue! (And yes, Mike went strawberry picking in my place because I had forgotten I signed up for a local road race!).

As soon as I saw this recipe for a strawberry summer cake in the list of suggestions, I knew it would be first on my list. I made it that very night and it is delicious! If you remember the peach cake I posted last Fall, this strawberry version is very similar. The cake is nice and tender, and the fresh strawberries keep it nice and moist. Actually, the cake is baked for so long that the strawberries almost start to taste roasted, and they seem to take on more of the consistency of strawberry jam. As someone who usually can’t stand the sogginess that strawberries bring to baked goods, I thought this cake was absolutely perfect. I hope you’ll try it and let me know if you agree!

*Note: In the pictures, the cake looks like it’s sort of falling apart. That’s because I was losing daylight and ended up cutting into the cake while it was still warm so I could take pictures of it. If you wait until the cake is completely cool before cutting it, the pieces should come out just fine. But it tastes great warm. 🙂

Strawberry Summer Cake

Yield: 1 9-inch cake

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 min

Total Time: 1 hour 30 min

This is a great summertime treat!

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate or a 9 inch deep dish pie plate (what I used). If you use a regular 9 inch pie plate, the batter is likely to overflow into your oven, so be careful!

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Place butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and mix in egg, milk, and vanilla just until incorporated.

Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in the flour mixture. Transfer batter to the buttered pie plate and arrange the strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream

Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

from Martha Stewart, as seen on Smitten Kitchen

I’m pretty sure that now that it’s May, it is officially ice cream season!  Even if it’s not, I couldn’t wait any longer to try this blueberry vanilla ice cream.  Ever since the weather started warming up, I’ve been wanting to go out for ice cream as much as possible. Thankfully Mike shares my priorities and we’ve discovered the best little ice cream place that is only a mile from our house! I could see this becoming an expensive habit over the course of the summer, so I decided to make my own. 🙂

I’ve mentioned it before, but Mike absolutely loves blueberries and anything with blueberries in it.  Blueberry and lemon is his favorite combination, but I prefer blueberry and vanilla. And since I’m the one making the ice cream, blueberry and vanilla it was. 🙂 Don’t worry though, Mike was a huge fan of this ice cream. We both were! It’s smooth and creamy, and the flavor was perfect. Actually, Mike said he’d rather eat this any day than go out for ice cream. I’m guessing I’ll be making this many more times, but I hope I still get a few ice cream dates in my future. 🙂

Blueberry Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp water
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, stir and simmer together the blueberries, water and sugar until the blueberries soften and the sugar dissolves, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

When the blueberry mixture is sufficiently chilled, use an immersion blender to puree the blueberries. In a large bowl, stir together the blueberry mixture, cream, milk and vanilla. Freeze according to the directions on your ice cream maker.

adapted from the Penzey's Spice Catalog

This is one of my favorite desserts of all time. Growing up, it was a staple at all of our family picnics. Strawberry pretzel dessert always makes me think of summertime cookouts and family gatherings. I even had this dessert at my bridal shower! This is a wonderful combination of salty and sweet – the crunchy pretzel crust, the sweet cream cheese layer, and the strawberry jell-o all come together to create a mouthwatering treat. This is a great dish for cook-outs and picnics. Plus, it’s usually classified as a jell-o salad rather than a dessert, which just means you can eat more of it. 🙂

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Ingredients:

2 cups finely crushed pretzels
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2/3 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. milk
1 cup thawed cool whip
2 cups boiling water
1 box (6 oz.) strawberry jell-o
1-1/2 cups cold water
4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the pretzel crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and the melted butter. Press onto the bottom of 13x9-inch pan and bake for 10 min. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, remaining sugar and milk until blended. Stir in the cool whip. Spread the mixture over the crust and refrigerate.

In a large bowl, add boiling water to the jell-o mix and stir 2 min, or until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until thickened. Stir the berries into gelatin, then spoon over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

from Kraft Foods

If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that I made this cake to celebrate Mike’s birthday last weekend. He absolutely loves the combinatinon of lemon and blueberry, so when I saw this cake on Sweetapolita’s site (hers looks a ton better than mine!) I knew it would make the perfect birthday cake for Mike.

Unfortunately we have quite a few people in the family who aren’t big fans of blueberries, but for everyone else, this cake was a huge success. The lemon flavor in the cake is strong without being overwhelming, and the lemon frosting was the perfect finishing touch. Mike declared it his perfect birthday cake, and I’m already wondering what other excuses I can find to make a batch of zesty lemon frosting.

Note: Does anyone know why my blueberries always sink to the bottom of my cake? What am I doing wrong?

Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

Ingredients:

Lemon Blueberry Cake:
2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs

Zesty Lemon Frosting:
1 cup soft unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon zest
5 cups icing sugar (or 6 for sweeter version)
60 ml fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
2 tablespoons water
pinch salt
1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions:

For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9″ round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir milk, sour cream, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among cake pans.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centet comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool. Frost with zesty lemon frosting.

For the Frosting:
Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy.

from Sweetapolita