Homemade Blackberry Syrup a superb extra touch

Just a little extra touch, this Blackberry Syrup, that made our pancakes extra super. Yes, best prepared with fresh blackberries, which the produce aisle of the grocery store certainly can provide. But this time of the year, we’ll simply wait on fresh berries until our blackberry vines have their winter’s nap and ideally bear abundant fruit as they did at the start of this summer. For now, frozen blackberries, thawed, make a good substitute.

Truthfully, I never imagined myself being able to stir up my own homemade Blackberry Syrup, but Southern Living helped me out with a terrific recipe in its “Food Gift of the Month” feature. It recommended bottling this up in a glass swing-top bottle as a hostess gift or party favor.

The blender-processed blackberry puree is run through a wire-mesh strainer so that the pulp and seeds are removed. (A few stray seeds actually escaped and made their way into mine, but the syrup didn’t suffer any for it—made it like a version of warmed blackberry preserves.) A delight on pancakes or waffles, although the magazine also says to serve it on biscuits, fruit salad, or cobbler.

Blackberry Syrup

3 cups fresh blackberries (can sub 1 16-ounce package frozen blackberries, thawed)

1 1/4 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Process blackberries in a blender until smooth. Stop to scrape down sides as needed. Press blackberry puree through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a medium sauce pan. Use back of a spoon to squeeze out juice (about 1 1/2 cups). Discard pulp and seeds. Add sugar and remaining ingredients to blackberry juice in pan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally. Boil, stirring occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly (about 30 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes about 2 cups. (Source: Southern Living, July 2012)

Breakfast treats filled with raspberries and topped with fun sprinkles—pure delight

Poor little bush looked rather pathetic as we loaded it into our Walmart cart. It was just a stick protruding from a pasteboard container with a little dirt surrounding it. Would someone really pay good money for such a paltry item? And the good money was half off of its original $5 cost. Nothing wrong with ’em, we were assured. Leaves just got blown off in the March winds. We’d done well with Walmart rescue plants before. We planted this little raspberry vine among some fellow fruit vines in the backyard garden and hoped for the best.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t wait for the rescue job to take hold. Raspberries were on my mind, as was a recent recipe in “Celebrating a Healthy Harvest” for raspberry breakfast muffins. I was drawn to the fact that you sprinkle on top some decorating sugar just as you might if you were decorating sugar cookies. The fresh raspberries (from the grocery produce section) stirred in made these little breakfast treats pure delight. Hubby wanted to consume the whole basketful, but I stored some Sugared Berry Muffins away in a sealed container and put them in the freezer to pop out for Easter-morning breakfast next week.

Time will tell whether our pathetic little stick of a raspberry bush will bud out and catch up with its big brother and sister berry bushes out there. When it does, we’ll be ready for it with a great recipe to show off this delicious red fruit.

Sugared Berry Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg, lightly beaten (or egg substitute)

1 1/4 cups skim milk

4 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons decorating sugar (or sugar substitute)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 medium muffin cups with cooking spray. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in egg, milk, butter, and vanilla just until blended. Gently fold in raspberries. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle decorating sugar crystals or sugar substitute, such as Splenda, over the top of each muffin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin emerges clean. Remove muffins from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 servings.