Conni's Cooking Corner
By Conni Attwell
Let's celebrate summer by having some Very Berry recipes to try. Enjoy!
Mixed-Berry Cream Tart
Pile on the berries! Love every delicious forkful of crunchy granola crust, creamy filling and tart berries. .
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup boiling water
1 box (4-serving size) strawberry-flavoured gelatin
3 pouches Nature Valley* Crunchy Fruit Granola Bars
1 pkg cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
Thawed whipped topping, if desired
In a small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries with pastry blender or fork. Reserve remaining 1 cup of strawberries. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over gelatin; stir about 2 minutes or until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir crushed strawberries into gelatin. Refrigerate 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, leaving granola bars in pouches, crush granola bars with rolling pin. Sprinkle crushed granola in bottom of 9-inch ungreased glass pie plate, pushing crumbs up side of plate to make crust.
In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and almond extract with electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Drop by the spoonful over crushed granola; gently spread to cover bottom of crust.
Gently fold blueberries, raspberries and the remaining 1 cup strawberries into the gelatin mixture. Spoon over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until firm. Serve topped with whipped topping.
Berry-Pear Crisp Pie
An irresistible pie, made fast with a prepared crust and finished with a crunchy oat and walnut topping.
1 box Pie Crusts
Filling
3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
Topping
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired
Vanilla ice cream, if desired
Heat oven to 425ºF. Unroll crust. Place in 9-inch glass pie plate; flute edges. In large bowl, gently toss filling ingredients. Spoon filling into pastry-lined pie plate. In large bowl, beat topping ingredients with electric mixer on medium-low speed until crumbly. Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Line baking sheet with foil. Place pie plates on foil-lined baking sheet. Cover pie with foil; bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375ºF; bake 45 to 50 minutes longer or until bubbly. Remove foil from pie; bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until topping is golden brown. Cool completely on cooling rack.
Blueberry-Peach Cobbler with Walnut Biscuits
A delicious and unusual cobbler
Fruit Mixture
8 medium fresh peaches peeled, each cut into 6 wedges (Note: Two bags frozen sliced peaches, thawed, can be used in place of the fresh peaches, if you like).
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Dash salt
Biscuit Topping
1 cup Bisquick* mix
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp milk, if desired
1 tbsp coarse sugar
Heat oven to 400ºF. In medium bowl, stir together fruit mixture ingredients; let stand 10 minutes to allow sugar to pull juices from peaches. Transfer to ungreased 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bake uncovered about 10 minutes or until fruit is bubbling. Remove from oven; stir. Bake 10 to 12 minutes longer or until bubbly around edges (fruit must be hot in middle so biscuit topping bakes completely). Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir all biscuit topping ingredients except 2 teaspoons milk and coarse sugar until firm dough forms. Drop dough by 6 spoonful's onto warm fruit mixture. Brush dough with 2 teaspoons milk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until biscuits are deep golden brown and bottom of center biscuit is no longer doughy. Cool 10 minutes on cooling rack. Serve warm.