Extra Schmaltz!

I was invited to a dinner party with rather short notice, and asked to make dessert, which isn't really my specialty. Luckily, I got this ginormous, very British cookbook "1000 Classic Recipes" for $2 at a book sale. Being British, probably half the recipes are for cakes, pies or tarts, and flipping through I found this recipe which was ludicrously easy and required very few ingredients. It's low fat (for the gallbladderless among us), it could probably be made with gluten free flour, it takes maybe half an hour to make from start to finish, and it's really tasty - a nice, light summer dessert. The one caveat is that it's best to serve fairly soon after making, otherwise it gets a bit mushy from the berry juice. Also, it doesn't make a huge amount - I'm not sure how amenable it would be to doubling, though it sufficed for six people for a light dessert.  It's best served with vanilla ice cream. 2 c. worth of berries (I used raspberries, stra...

These could be made with any berry, or even rhubarb. They yield a tender, moist muffin with medium sweetness and a tender crumb. I used raspberries and blackberries for the ones in the picture. Instead of lemon and vanilla you could go with a cinnamon spice approach instead, and add a streusel topping. 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar 3/4 c. buttermilk + 1/4 c. heavy cream OR 1 c. sour cream 2 eggs 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. Meyer lemon zest 1 tsp. vanilla 1 1/2 c. flour 1/2 c. granulated sugar 3/4 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2-2 c. berries or rhubarb cut into 1/4" pieces Preheat oven to 375. Place 12 paper liners into a muffin tray. Spray the top surface with non-cook spray for easy muffin removal. Cream together the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Mix together the buttermilk, cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Mix into the butter and sugar mixture until well combined. Stir together the flour, 1/2 c....

I baked this at the same time as a loaf of zucchini bread because they both used buttermilk and because if you're heating up the kitchen to bake one thing you may as well go on a baking spree. Buttermilk pie is a traditional Southern dish, basically a custard pie, and it's ideal for when the larder is bare. Since it's the height of summer I decided to add in some seasonal fruit, but this is a perfectly respectable pie without the berries. This pie is literally simple as pie, and there's no fiddly top crust to deal with. I got the basic recipe from the NPR website . Preheat oven to 350 1 unbaked pie shell 4 eggs 1 c. sugar 1/2 c. melted butter 1 1/2 c. buttermilk 1 tsp. vanilla extract lemon zest (my addition) Blend together the ingredients, but not so much that they start to foam. Pour the mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Cover the crust with foil so it doesn't burn. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife comes out clean. The pie will puff up a bit, and the surface s...