Berry Delicious!

Once a summer we try to get up to out favorite U-Pick Berry Farm in Camino and stock up the freezer. It's quite a drive up the hill and the berries aren't all that cheap, but we do it as family and I figure we're making memories for the kids, so you can't put a price on that.

One of our families favorite ways to enjoy the berries is over vanilla ice cream or better yet, homemade vanilla ice cream. So summery and delicious! Another one of our favorites is my mom's recipe for cobbler. It has become a "signature recipe" for my side of the family. I made it the other night with some frozen berries for the grocery store, but it's always better with fresh berries. Paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it is berry perfection in a bowl.

It is so, so, so easy to make! I hope you like the recipe!

Berry Cobbler

Berries - enough to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan, 2 berries deep (this is usually about 2 bags of frozen berries from the grocery store) If you are using frozen berries, let the berries defrost in the pan before preparing the recipe.

Topping:

2 C flour

2 C sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 to 2 cubes cold butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. One at a time, mix in the eggs with a fork until the mixture is a crumbly texture, you want a "sandy" constistency. Do not over mix. Sprinkle it over the berries (layered in your 9x13 pan) and gently pat. Now take your butter and cut it into thin slices and lay over the topping. It will seem like a lot of butter, but trust me don't skimp! Now bake for about 1 hour of until the cobbler top is golden brown.

I made some the other night but wanted to leave some for my dear hubby to eat so I made some personal sized ones using my ramekins. This would be a great idea for a dinner party. Just be sure to have a good quality vanilla ice cream on hand, it is a must!

Enjoy!

Giant Cuppycake

I offered to make the cake for our friends daughter's first birthday and made the same cake that I did for my own little Miss P's Party.

Miss M was a little hesitant at first. And rightly so, after all it was as big as her head! But by the end she had devoured half of it. I think it was a hit!

I know that cupcake pans are so popular right now, but you don't really need one for this size. I used a 10x10 pan and one strawberry boxed cake mix. After it was cooled, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and froze it. I then cut in in 4 squares and stacked them on top of each other. I didn't use any filling, I figured her little body didn't need even more sugar pumping through her veins. After they were stacked I began carving them into a cupcake shape, much like they do on Ace of Cakes. When I had the shape I wanted, I started "icing" the bottom half with cool whip. For the top half, I colored more cool whip with red food coloring until I got the right shade of pink. Then I iced the top with it. Easy Peasy!