Cheese Blintzes with Berry Sauce

I thought it would be simple to put together a nice blintz recipe to put up in time for New Year's Day brunch.  But then again, somehow I forgot that I am a compulsive food nut!  I started with my original recipe which called for 3 eggs, 1 cup of skim milk, 1 cup of flour and a few other ingredients (we'll get to the filling in a minute).  These wrappers were good, but they weren't quite as sturdy as I would have liked them and the batter was just a tad heavy which made swirling the pan a little harder than necessary.  I had seen some recipes on the Internet that varied a bit, and so I proceded to make them again, and again, and again until I can barely stand the thought of blintzes (at least in the near future).  I tried adding more milk, using water instead of milk, adding melted butter, etc.  The ones made with water were flat tasting and didn't brown up enough.  The ones mades with less egg and more flour were tough and dry and stuck to the pan.  Finally I thought I would try adding a little more egg, and voila - I had the wrapper I was after.  As for the filling, you might see recipes that call for pot cheese, farmer's cheese, cottage cheese or ricotta.  Personally, I have never seen pot cheese in the store, and I knew that the farmer's cheese that we get here was totally wrong - it is a brick of cheese with a dense texture- not at all the right texture or taste (we don't get Friendship farmer's cheese, which I understand might be perfect).  Ricotta didn't work for me either because it contains vinegar, and the taste is all wrong.  After researching pot cheese and farmer's cheese I learned that traditionally, these are fresh milk cheeses that aren't readily available because they spoil fast, but that they are basically cottage cheese that has been drained so that the texture is drier and firmer (and that's what I had always used in the past).  I made my filling with a low fat cottage cheese, and also a full-fat cottage cheese, but the difference wasn't great, so I opted to stay with the lower fat cheese.  Don't forget that once you press out the liquid, the denser cheese is also denser in calories and most other nutritional elements.  Besides the type of cheese, there were instructions for processing the cheese, whipping the cheese, hand-beating the cheese or stirring it.  For my Light Jewish Holiday Dessert cookbook, I had made some lowfat blintzes, in which I had processed the filling.  I remembered that I didn't quite like the texture this made, but it hadn't made much difference for that book, because there was also an apple filling inside of the blintz.  But with just cheese,  I wanted this filling to be perfect.  I tried the processing method again, and also used the beater on another batch. Both of those methods created a cheese that was too thin. I decided to stir everything together by hand, pressing the cheese against the side of the bowl to make it a little smoother (I don't think for blintzes that you want a totally smooth filling).  I also used the filling at room temperature and one batch with refrigerated cheese and the difference was vast.  The ones with the room temperature  cheese were runny and grainy, while the chilled filling hung together nicely and remained creamy.  Even with the colder cheese, the filling wasn't as firm as I would have liked it.  I did some more experimenting adding more egg  and then egg and flour to the filling, and here again, the results were spectacular.  The filling with more egg and a little flour held on to its shape even after the blintzes were fried and warmed in the oven.  I'm sure that those of you who eat blintzes have a mental idea of what is perfect for you.  Now that you know the effects of these ingredients, techniques and temperatures you'll be able to tweak the recipe to create your own perfect version. By the way, the berry sauce was also an adventure (recipe follows). 
Happy New Year!

Makes 10 Blintzes

Blintz Batter
2 large pasteurized eggs
1/2 cup milk (skim to whole, your choice)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling

Cheese Filling
2 pounds cottage cheese (brand matters - use one that tastes sweet and delicious to you!)
2 ounces light cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large pasteurized egg, whisked (instructions for regular eggs follow)

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for frying

Berry Topping
3 cups blackberries
3 cups raspberries
2 cups blueberries
1/3 -2/3 cup sugar, to taste
dash cinnamon, optional
1 teaspoon cornstarch,  optional

For the very best results, you'll want to make the filling far enough in advance so that it will be cold when you fill and fry the blintzes.   You can also make the wrappers a few days ahead, if you like.  If you want  the berries softer and sweeter, make them in advance, too.  At the very least, you want to make the berry topping at least 1-2 hours ahead of serving, especially if using blackberries, which have very firm center cores.

For the blintz batter, place the eggs,  milk, salt , and sugar  in a food processor bowl.  Process until well blended.  Add the flour, all at once.  Process for 5 seconds to blend the ingredients.  Scrape down the bowl and pulse for 3 more seconds to blend well.  Transfer the batter to a storage container.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.

To make the filling, you'll need to drain and press the moisture out of the cheese.  I've tried cheesecloth, the traditional method, but find it messy and inefficient.  I find that the easiest way to do this is in a knee-high stocking.  Cut off the top 3 inches of the stocking, and then put it in a tall glass with the top of the stocking cuffed over the top of the glass so that it will stay in place when you fill it with the cheese. 

 Hold the stocking over the sink with one hand, squeeze all of the filling towards the tip of the stocking. 

Continue to squeeze the cheese until the stuff coming out looks very thick or like curds are coming out.

The best way to get the cheese back out of the stocking is to put the stocking back into the glass, fold the top over the glass (as in the beginning), and then holding onto the stocking on the outside of the glass, turn the glass upside down over the bowl.  Shake the glass crisply and the cheese should start coming out of the stocking. Once it starts coming out, you can squeeze the stocking to help it along. 

You have now made pot cheese or farmer's cheese!  Add the cream cheese and press it against the sides of the bowl with a wooden spoon.  Once it is smoothly against the bowl, start mixing the cottage cheese and cream cheese together by mashing it against the side of the bowl.  The object is to mix the two together and to smooth out the cottage cheese a little - you are not aiming at a smooth filling - just one that is smooth enough to be pleasing on the tongue!  Stir in the remaining filling ingredients until well blended.  Transfer to a covered storage container, and refrigerate until cold or up to 1 day ahead.

Before starting the blintz wrappers (crepes),  have a piece of parchment paper near the stove onto which you will flip the crepes.  Remove the blintz batter from the refrigerator and stir it.  Heat a small nonstick pan over medium to high heat (depending on your stove and pan), until a droplet of water rolls around in the pan ( you can also use a carbon steel crepe pan, but you'll need to lightly butter it).  Ladle about 3 tablespoons of batter (a scant 1/4 cup) directly into the center of the pan.  Immediately pick up the pan and swirl the pan around and around so that the batter widens out  to fill the whole pan with batter.  By the time you do this, the crepe will almost be finished cooking.  Set it back down on the burner to finish cooking any spots that still look shiny.  As soon as the entire surface is dull, the crepe is done. 

To get the crepe out of the pan,  start the edge with a fork and then just turn the pan upside down over the parchment.  Once the edge is raised you'll be able to grab it and pull, and the whole crepe should come down onto the parchment paper.  You want this side of the crepe to be nicely browned, but not too brown or burned.  Adjust the burner accordingly.  On my heavy-duty gas range with an All-Clad pan, I start off medium-high and then need to turn it down to medium-low, but each stove will be different.

For my taste, the crepe on the left hand is too light, while the one on the right is just a bit too dark.  You can stack the crepes one on top of the other, and fill them as soon as they are all done, or cover them with wrap and refrigerator for several days before using.

Make the berry topping, sometime before you start filling the blintzes, either within 2 hours or ahead. 

In a small pot, combine 1 cup washed blackberries and 1 cup of washed blueberries**.  Place the remaining washed berries in a bowl.  Add 1 tablespoon sugar to the berries in the pot and 1/4 cup sugar to the berries in the bowl.  Let both sets stand for 10 minutes.  Mash the berries in the pot with a potato masher or fork. 
Place the cornstarch in a small bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons water.  Bring the berries to a boil, reduce the heat and let the mixture cook for 4 minutes.  Stir in the cornstarch mixture, bring it back to a simmer and let the mixture cook for 1 minute or until it goes from being cloudy to being clear. Let the cooked berries cool for 1 minute, and then strain them over the berries in the bowl.

Toss the berries with the cooked mixture until everything is well coated.  Set aside at room temperature for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally, or transfer to a covered storage container and refrigerate until ready to serve (we like the berries at room temperature but you can eat them at any temperature you like).

 When ready to assemble the blintzes, preheat the oven to 200 degrees if you've used pasteurized eggs and to 300 degrees if you've used regular eggs in the filling.  Take the wrappers and cheese out of the refrigerator.  Set one wrapper on a piece of parchment or work surface with the browned side up.  Place about 2-1/2 tablespoons of the filling  on the crepe, just downward of the center in a mound that is about 1-inch x 3-inches. 

Most instructions call for folding over the bottom edge first and then the sides, but I think they are easier to make if the sides are folded in first, and then the bottom.  If done this way the crepe will stick to itself and you won't be fighting with it trying to get the sides to stay in.

Fold the bottom part over the filling and then continue to roll the blint up into a cylinder.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to a large frying pan (I use cast iron), and heat until the pan is hot and the butter has started to brown.  Add half of the blintzes to the frying pan  and cook for a few minutes on each side until they are brown on both sides.

Drain the blintzes on paper towels and then put them on a pan and set in the warm oven.  Repeat with the remaining blintzes.  If you have used pasteurized eggs in the filling, they won't need more than 5 minutes in the oven to warm them up.  You don't want the filling too hot or the blintzes will be hard to eat.  If you have used regular eggs, you want the filling to reach 160 degrees.  This should take 10-15 minutes in the oven.  Let them cool down before you eat them, or the filling will be unpleasantly hot.

Serve the warm blintzes with a bowl of sour cream and the berries.

**You can use any mix of berries that you like, but don't mash raspberries unless you are fond of the seeds.  Even if you strain them, lots of the raspbery seeds will get into the sauce (to strain raspberries you need a fine mesh strainer, a food mill or a chinois).  If you are using only blackberries, you can skip the heating process. Just mash 1/3 of the berries, add back into the  remaining sugared berries and let them macerate for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Enjoy the berry sauce on pancakes, waffles, blintzes, cottage cheese or ice cream.

Blackberry Shortcake

Earlier this week I made strawberry shortcake, using genoise for the base instead of a biscuit.  I've never been that crazy about biscuits, and you can't really make them ahead.  I usually use poundcake as the base, but I thought it might be nice to have something lighter.  While the strawberries were delicious, the cake was too light, and didn't have enough texture once the dessert was assembled.  So I was going to make strawberry shortcake again this weekend, until I came across the most beautiful local blackberries at my local Earthfare store.  Some of them were as large as my thumb, and sweet sweet sweet...

Instead of going back to the genoise, I decided to try biscuits again.  I think I'm always trying to lower the fat in them, and that's probably why they aren't at the top of my list for dessert.  This time around, I decided to go for it.  I tried two recipes: 1 with buttermilk and the other with half & half, and I used 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter - that's not the most butter I've ever seen in a biscuit recipe, but it is up near the top.  I like my biscuits sweet, too, so I chose the higher end for the sugar ingredient.  Both the buttermilk and the cream biscuits came out great.  They were toothly enough to stand up to the juicy fruit topping, and they had a delicious crunchy exterior. Yay for butter!

Shortbread biscuits are just about one of the easiest pastries you'll ever make.  There's very little prep, very little worktime, and very quick cleanup.  When paired with simple sugared fruit, it comes together in way less than 1 hour. I prefer  blackberries to be quite well macerated so that they aren't as tough in the middle and so that the sweetness permiates the berry.  If you like them like this too, and you want to serve the shortbreads within 1 hour of making them, you might want to start the berries first, otherwise you can start the berries while the shortbreads are cooling.  If serving them for company, you might want to make and refrigerate the dough, and then shape and bake them just before sitting down to dinner.  More details follow.

Serves 4-5
Shortbread Biscuits
2 cups (260 grams) bleached all-purpose flour, fluffed scooped and levelled into measuring cups
3- 4 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
1 tablespoon baking powder if using cream, (2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder +1/2 ts.baking soda, if using buttermilk)
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup buttermilk or half & half (have 1 TB extra just in case)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blackberry Topping
5 cups blackberries
2/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. with a rack in the middle of the oven.  Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder (and baking soda if you are using it) and salt in a medium-not too deep bowl.  Sift, or stir it well to distribute the ingredients. 

You need to get the butter "cut" into the flour mixture.  You can do this with 2 knives, with a pastry blender, in a processor, or my favorite method, by rubbing the bar of butter against the coarse holes of a box grater.
(I hope you have one - the only reason I do, is that I have a friend who has given me several graters.  Thanks, Ann!)

For this method:

Unwrap the stick of butter so that the bar is exposed, except for the last 2 tablespoons of the stick. Rub the stick of butter against the grater until you are right down to the covered part.

 You now have 6 tablespoons of grated butter that you want to gently toss into the flour mixture.

Make a well in the center of this flour/butter mixture, and pour in the buttermilk or cream and the vanilla. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula push the flour from the outside of the bowl towards the center, gently combining the liquid and dry ingredients until you have a rough mass.

To finish, use your hands to gently push the dough together.  Add a tiny bit of reserved liquid if you can't get the dough to completely pick up all of the flour.  The dough will be very rough looking, but all of the flour should stick to it.  Use a tiny bit of flour to prevent sticking on your work board, and turn the dough onto it.

Press the dough down gently to create a square or rectangular shape.  The size will depend on how you want your finished biscuit.  I like to pat the dough to about 3/4-inch thick.  You could make it thinner if you plan to slice the biscuits in half and then layer fruit and cream between and on top of the biscuit. 

Cut the dough into squares or rounds, whichever you prefer.  The rounds can be 3 to 3-1/2-inches in diameter.  If you want to use the tops, I would go with the smaller size.  You should be able to get 5 -6 biscuits out of the dough, depending on how thick you make them.

Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes, until they are golden brown, and a tester stuck into the middle of a biscuit comes out with no crumbs attached.

Slide the biscuits onto a cooling rack and let cool at least 1 hour before eating. 


If you want to make them ahead, make the dough, up until the cutting instruction ( Use buttermilk for the make-ahead dough).  At this point, wrap the dough square in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.  Cut the biscuits as desired, and bake for 12-17 minutes until they are nicely browned and test done.

Serving

I prefer to serve only the bottoms of the biscuits because otherwise it seems like too much cake to fruit, it's harder to eat and the top biscuit doesn't get to soak up the juice the way the bottom one does.  You could slice the biscuits in half, and make double the portions, but it's hard to get them even, and then the biscuit seems skimpy. So,  I usually slice off the top 1/4-inch  of the biscuit, and just serve the bottoms, as in the opening photo.  If you prefer to serve top and bottom , here's what they look like .

Blackberry Topping

5 cups blackberries

2/3 cup sugar

Combine 2 cups of blackberries and 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl, and set aside for 5 minutes.  Mash the berries with fork or potato masher.  This will release the juice and give you the sauce you need.  Stir in the remaining blackberries and the remaining sugar, to taste.  Let the berries macerate until  they are the texture and sweetness that you like ( I prefer overnight, but no less than 1 hour).

Serve over biscuits or ice cream.

For shortcakes,  plan on 1 cup of berries per person

Whipped Cream

1/2 pint  heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon vanilla, or to taste

My daughter recently made whipped cream using farm-fresh cream, and she was surprised that the cream whipped up so fast, that she actually had little bits of butter forming in the cream ( not delicious in a dessert).  This is probably because the cream had a higher fat content than the stuff we normally find in the supermarket, or it's even possible that it wasn't pasteurized.  Ultra-pasteurized cream, the product we often buy, whips up slower and is airier than regular or non-pasteurized cream.  The extra butterfat in farm-fresh or "European"-style cream also makes for a denser whipped cream.  It can be quite delicious if it isn't overbeaten.  So take care when you start beating your whipped cream and don't walk away unless you know that your cream is ultra-pasteurized and will take a little longer to whip.

Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl.  Beat on high until the cream thickens, and stands in peaks.  If there is any doubt, finish the cream with a hand-held whisk.  You'll get a much better feel for whether the whipped cream is done, or if it needs a few more whisks.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  Whipped cream will "water-out"  after a few hours.  If making it ahead, you can place it in a filter-lined basket, or you can just skim the whipped cream from the top, leaving the watery residue behind. Or you can use a product called Whip-it, which will prevent the whipped cream from getting watery. Buy it in the  supermarket on the baking aisle, and follow the package directions for use.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart

In case you've been wondering what that tart is that adorns the cover of my new CD-rom, here it is. 
This is one of the simplest tarts you can make. It’s got a press-in crust, perfect for those short on time or skittish about rolling dough, and a cream cheese filling that can be whipped up in a flash. Arranging the berries can be time consuming, but the tart is equally impressive if the berries are simply piled on. It tastes great with raspberries, too.

SERVES 8-10

Press-in Sablé Crust
1-1/4 cups (163 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg yolk, cold
1 teaspoon cold water

1 egg white, whisked

Cream Cheese Cream Filling
4 ounces neufchatel cheese (lite cream cheese), room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, divided
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup heavy cream

Strawberry Topping
1 pound strawberries, washed and hulled
1/2 cup strained strawberry jam or jelly
1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin mixed with 2 teaspoons water, optional

For the crust:
Prepare the tart pan (with removable bottom) by rubbing a piece of slightly softened butter on the bottom and around the rim of the pan.

Remove the excess butter by running your finger up the flutes.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse, to mix the ingredients together. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch cubes and add to the processor. Pulse on and off, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water. Add to the processor and process for 10 - 20 seconds, until the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a ball. To fit the dough into the pan, start with gumball-sized lumps of dough. Squeeze the dough between your fingers until it is about 1/16-inch thick. Place in the pan.

Repeat with the remaining dough, piecing everything together to make a solid crust (you should have a golf ball-size lump of dough left over). To trim the edges, run a rolling pin over the top of the pan.

Press the edges up slightly to thin them out and to make the edges a little higher than the pan. If the bottom crust is very bumpy, you can flatten it by tamping with the bottom of a glass.  Prick the bottom of the dough, about 12 times, with a fork.

Freeze the tart for 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Press greased aluminum foil snugly on top of the dough. Fill the foil with pie weights or beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and beans and bake 8-12 minutes more until lightly browned. Immediately, brush the egg white over the crust. The heat of the tart will set the egg and make it more moisture resistant. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling:
Place the cream cheese in a mixer bowl. Beat on medium speed until creamy. Sift in 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. In another bowl, place the cream and the remaining 2 tablespoons powdered sugar. Beat on high until the cream forms stiff peaks. Stir about 3/4 cup whipped cream into the cheese mixture, and then fold in the balance of the whipped cream. Spoon the filling into the pie shell.

For the topping:
The strawberries will look prettiest if the tart is served within 3 hours of cutting them, but if this is not possible, they’ll still be fine up to 8 hours after assembling. For a simple presentation, the berries can be brushed with the jam or jelly and put on the cake whole, or sliced and put onto of the tart haphazardly.

This is from Amazing Dairy-free Desserts, but you can see how pretty a haphazard tart can look.




For a more showy presentation, slice the strawberries, tip to stem, into 1/8-inch slices. Brush them with melted jam, or if the tart will stand for more than a few hours, mix the gelatin and water together in a small bowl. Let it stand a few minutes to absorb the water and then microwave until liquidy and hot, about 15 seconds. Place the strawberry jam in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Spoon in the gelatin mixture. Cook, while stirring, until the mixture is smooth and clear. Brush over the strawberries.









Arrange the strawberry slices on the top of the cake in concentric, overlapping circles. Start at the outside of the tart using the largest slices. Try and put the second row between two adjacent berries.

Complete all the rows, and for the center, you can use a whole strawberry, a sixth of a berry with very thin slices of strawberry wrapped around it, or just a few slices sticking up.

Remove the outer rim, just before serving.  Serve the tart within 3 hours for optimal looks or up to 8 hours later. It will look quite sad the second day, but will be fine for leftovers. Do not freeze.

Apple Cherry Turnovers

Turnovers are a really nice pastry to take to a party . They’re elegant and pretty and just the right size, when made as 3-1/2-inch pickups. Although not difficult to make, they require a little advance planning, as the filling needs to be cooked ahead. Turnovers only bake for about 20 minutes, and this isn’t enough time to cook most fruits. In addition, when fruit cooks, it gives off liquid – sometimes quite a lot of liquid, and this would make the turnover soggy. The last reason for cooking the filling ahead is that cooked filling adheres to itself and stays in a cohesive mass, making it much easier to work with.

If you read my blog on Apple Pie (http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/best-apple-pie.html) you know that I cooked up all different kinds of apples to see how much liquid each gave off. For the apple pie, I wanted something that would have a nice bit of juice that would spill out a bit when the pie was cut. But for turnovers, you want just the opposite. Apples that exude tons of juice, tend to be a bit dry on their own, and since you can’t use the juice in the turnovers, you actually want to use the less juicy apples in the turnover filling.

Here’s a chart of apple types with how juicy they are, how soft they get and how sweet they are:
Apple Texture Juiciness Sweetness
Macintosh------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart
Rome ----------- Very soft-----Least------------Sweet/tart
Cortland--------- Medium------Least------------Sweet/tart
Empire-----------Medium------Moderate--------Sweet/tart
Golden Delicious-Medium------Most------------Sweet
Macoun----------Medium------Most-------------Sweet/tart
Granny Smith----Med-firm----Moderate--------Tart
Fuji--------------Extra Firm---Moderate--------Sweet/tart
Gala-------------Extra Firm--- Moderate--------Sweet/tart

For turnovers, I like to use mostly Cortlands, 1 Mac thrown in for extra apply flavor and applesauce note, and a Granny Smith for a bit of tartness and texture.

The pan that you use for baking the filling will make a huge difference to the filling, as well. I baked one batch in a metal baking pan and another batch in a glass pan, each covered with foil and baked at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

These were the apples baked in the metal pan. They were more like a very chunky applesauce with some of the apples (the Granny Smiths) still in chunks. I did have to mash on the apples a little to get them to come together in a mass.

These are the apples baked in glass. They were still quite firm and not cohesive. I had to bake them another 30 minutes to get them to the state shown above.

By the way, the reason that the apples baked in the metal pan are so dark, is that I didn’t put any lemon juice or Fruitfresh® in with the apples, and the picture was taken the next day. Turnover filling really isn’t seen, but if it matters to you, then you should add one of the acids to keep the apples light.

Apple Cherry Turnovers
Makes 18 or 19 3-1/2” turnovers

1 batch of sweetened pie crust dough , see http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/best-apple-pie.html

Turnover Filling
3 Cortland apples
1 Macintosh apple
1 Granny Smith apple
2/3-3/4 cup brown sugar
Pinch nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup tart dried cherries

juice from 1 lemon, or 1 tablespoon Fruitfresh mixed in 2 quarts cold water, optional

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 6 chunks

Milk or egg white wash, for brushing, optional

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Make the pie crust and wrap and refrigerate it as per the instructions with the crust.

For the filling, peel, core and dice the Cortlands and Mac into large dice, and the Granny Smith into ¼-inch dice. If you want to keep the apples from turning brown, drop them into the acidulated water and then scoop them out and pat dry. Place in an 8x12-inch baking pan (or any similar pan) and stir in the brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, using quantities to taste. Stir in the dried cherries. Scatter the butter over the top. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 30-50 minutes , until most of the apples are mushy but the Granny Smith is still in medium-firm chunks. The apples may look like they are still firm, but when pressed with a spoon, they will yield readily. Uncover, and let the mixture cool. Transfer to a storage container, and refrigerate until ready to use.

When ready to prepare the turnovers, preheat the oven to 375-degrees F., with racks in the middle and lower sections of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

To roll the dough into a rectangular shape, I like to use this tool:
Dobord -Available at: http://www.cooking.com/

The Dobord has grooves cut into the two sides that allow you to drop the bottom down to 4 different levels for 4 different thicknesses of dough. It's terrific for rolling out cookie dough and larger, rectangular or square shapes. You want the turnover dough to be thin, so set the board to the 1/16^th-inch setting. You’ll need a rolling pin long enough to sit on the edges of board, and one without ball bearings.

To make it even easier to roll, you can roll the dough inside of a jumbo ziptop bag, which has been cut open on three sides. Flour the inside of the bag, and then roll one piece of dough into a rectangle about 6-inches wide and 8-inches long ( size isn’t really important). Fold the dough like a letter, and then turn it 80-degrees and roll it again to the same size. Fold it again, and then roll it until the pin sits perfectly flat on both edges of the sides.

Cut the dough into 3-1/2-inch squares. Pick up one square and turn it so that the points are now facing you.

Place about 1 rounded tablespoon of filling just below the center line of the dough. In the one below, the filling is actually placed a little too high, which will make it harder to fold over without some of the filling oozing out the bottom – which will prevent the turnover from sealing properly. What I can do to remedy this, is to roll the top part of the turnover a little thinner and longer. Then, I’ll have a little more dough to pull over and seal the pastry.

In this next picture, the filling is not only a little high, but the dough isn’t square. In this case, I can roll the right side a little thinner and longer, to try and get it square again.

Brush the edges of the bottom part of the dough with a little water.

Fold the dough over the filling, and seal the edges by tamping down on them with the tines of a fork.

Make a few slits in the dough, and then transfer the turnover to the parchment paper. When all of the turnovers are done, you can brush them with milk or egg white wash, to add a little shine, but it’s not really necessary because they’ll be sprinkled with powdered sugar before serving.

Place the turnovers in the oven and cook them for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned, switching the sheets after 10 minutes, so that both sheets get cooked evenly.

Slide the parchment onto cooling racks, let the turnovers cool 5 minutes, and then slide them off of the parchment and onto racks to finish cooling.

Sprinkle the turnovers with powdered sugar before serving. For best taste and texture, eat the turnovers within 6 hours. Unbaked turnovers can be frozen, but they do lose lots of taste and texture.

The turnover pictured under the title is actually a 4-1/2 turnover. that I served as a stand-alone dessert to be served with a fork (and maybe some ice cream!).

Bumbleberry Cobbler

It's really hard being a dessert writer on a diet!!! Especially in the summer, when the produce beckons... and so another lowered fat recipe gets born! And when you're dieting, you sure don't want to spend hours in the kitchen working on that lowfat recipe, when you should be out jogging or playing golf - to work off the calories you are about to put into your mouth. It's back to the farmer's market to see what they have that would work well in my mixed berry (mostly) cobbler. I've loved the peaches and nectarines from Fruit Bat Produce. You can see Elaine's lovely peaches with the fruit pandowdy recipe (http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-fruit-pandowdy.html) or the Magic Cobbler recipe (http://amazingdessertrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/magic-peach-cobbler.html), but today I'm just going to buy some of her beautiful, green, mountain apples. I think they'll work nicely to provide some texture to this berry dessert.
Here you can see Elaine, from Fruit Bat Produce, with her wonderful apples, apple butter, figs and barely visible, her peaches. She's at the Meeting Street Farmer's Market near Ballantyne, Charlotte, NC.

One of the problems with cooking berries (especially acidic strawberries and raspberries) is that cornstarch doesn't work that well to thicken it. Flour can get gummy, and tapioca isn't widely used or available. To help combat this, I've added more cornstarch, but also a little hot water which will dissolve the cornstarch and get it cooking faster. The cobbler needs to come to a boil so that the cornstarch can thicken. The pectin in the apple will also help a little to thicken the cobbler. But this is a runny cobbler - no doubt about that!! Because the cobbler has so little fat in it, I've used cake flour, which will help keep it tender, and I'm also making a very soft dough, which will rise higher, make it lighter and also more tender. Although light on fat, it's still got a lot of calories, so if dieting is your aim, eat less of the sauce and have only as a special treat!

1 pound strawberries -- washed, hulled and sliced
6 ounces raspberries – washed
1 pint blueberries – washed
1 apple -- peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar

1/4 cup hot water

Cobbler Batter
1-1/2 cups (150 grams) sifted cake flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon transfat-free shortening (Crisco not butter-flavored), cold or frozen
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold

3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup (32 grams) bleached flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and leveling
1 tablespoon skim milk
1 teaspoon sugar
Preheat the oven to 425°F., with an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Have ready a decorative 2-quart casserole dish.
Combine all of the fruit, cornstarch and sugar in the casserole dish, and stir to combine. Let macerate while you make the cobbler topping. Just before placing the biscuits onto the fruit. stir in the hot water.

To make the cobbler batter, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knifes, cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Use your fingers to break up any lingering lumps.

In another bowl, mix together the buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk, while stirring with a fork and to make a mixture that looks like cottage cheese.

Place a thick sprinkling of the bleached flour on a plate. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up a ball of dough and place it on the floured plate. Sprinkle the top liberally with some of the flour.

Flour your hands, pick up a dough ball, and rock it side to side in your hands to both coat it with flour, and knock off any excess. Gently transfer it to the top of the fruit. Flatten it slightly. Continue shaping and placing the biscuits until the whole top is covered.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the cobbler from the oven and lightly brush the top of the biscuits with some of the skim milk, using just enough to moisten the tops and brush away any residual flour. Sprinkle lightly with the sugar. Return the cobbler to the oven and cook another 5-10 minutes until the biscuits are crisp and dry and the juices are bubbling up. The juices must be bubbling or the cornstarch will not thicken the berries and the filling will be too runny. Remove it from the oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Eat the cobbler while still warm. The cobbler can be made 1 day ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F. for about 15 minutes. Uncover and cook another 5-10 minutes until the filling is warm and the top is firm.
Per Serving: 319 Calories; 4g Fat (10.9% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 5mg Cholesterol; 298mg Sodium.