7 Blackberry Recipes + Sources of Inspiration

While I always have plenty of ideas about food, I often go through periods of time in which I'm relatively uninspired about other areas of my life.  It's related to the seasons, but it's not just that--it's partly my unique ups and downs, which affect my perception of everyday life in ways I'm not always aware of.  I didn't even realize I had been in a bit of a funk this past winter until I started to come out of it at the beginning of May, and I think it all started with some really good blackberries.  (Have you had any blackberries yet this season?  Maybe it's just me, and I admit that I may be biased because blackberries are my favorite fruit, but I think this year's have been the best I've ever had.)

Luckily, I usually find that once I'm sufficiently inspired by any single thing, inspiration starts popping up everywhere.  Ever since I entered an inspirational period of sorts this month, it's felt like whoever or whatever is in charge of inspiration is yelling at me to be constantly inspired with a huge marquee made of flashing lights.

Blackberry Smash

Blackberries are my favorite fruit, and they are so delicious this time of year.  In addition to eating blackberries & dark chocolate for breakfast, I've been using them to make this amazing mocktail/cocktail, the blackberry smash.  I was going to call it a blackberry fauxjito, but blackberry smash is just so much more fun to say.  In addition to being fun to say, it's really fun to make and drink.

When I have a party, I like to offer one special, seasonally-inspired cocktail that I can make for my friends all night long.  I'm not a very proficient bartender, so I don't want to offer a bunch of different things, but I've found that having one unique drink makes a gathering way more glamorous and fun.  At Thanksgiving this past year, I had ten people over, and was prepared with several different kinds of wine and beer, as well as the ingredients for cranberry margaritas.  The margaritas were such a hit that I don't think we opened a single bottle of wine--no one could say no to a creative libation based on fall's quintessential berry.

Chocolate for Breakfast: Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72%

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and also my favorite.  Today I'm sharing how to make Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72% chocolate part of a complete breakfast.  Don't tell me chocolate for breakfast is strange--I promise that if you love chocolate at night, you'll love it even more in the morning.

Do you remember those cereal ads that used to run in the nineties during kids' shows--the ones that always said the cereal being advertised was "part of this complete breakfast?"  I never considered cereal a meal, even as a kid, and I always wondered: what ELSE is part of this complete breakfast?

Blackberry, Almond, and Rocket Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

Did you know that arugula is called rocket in the UK?  Arugula is a pretty fun word, but rocket is even better.  This salad has rocket in it, along with all the other delicious things listed in the title.  After making blackberry cupcakes for this month's Get Your Chef On challenge, I wanted to do something else fabulous with the rest of my juicy blackberries.  I dreamed up this salad, and thought about it all day during class.

I was happy to find that it was even better than I had imagined!  The spicy arugula, sweet blackberries, creamy mozzarella, and toasty almonds are the perfect combination.  This is my new favorite summer salad.  Ben loved it, too!  When I served it he said it looked fancy (secret--any salad with blackberries looks fancy!), and then he asked for seconds.  Usually he's a one plate of salad kind of guy.

So, here's what I would recommend.  Go buy a lot of blackberries, make these cupcakes, then make this salad.  A light dinner with a decadent dessert is the perfect thing to have on a summer evening.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 cup sliced almonds
3 cups arugula
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sea salt
1 heaping cup blackberries
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, roughly cubed

Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often to make sure they don't burn, until golden brown (less than five minutes).  Set aside to cool.

Toss the arugula with the oil, vinegar, and salt and adjust seasonings to taste.

To serve, line plate with arugula.  Top with blackberries, fresh mozzarella, and toasted almonds.  Enjoy!

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Spring Salad with Citrusy Shallot Vinaigrette








Jerk Chicken with Avocado and Papaya Salad








Wheat Berry Salad with Pine Nuts, Raisins, and Pickled Red Onions

Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes

Blackberries are one of my favorite fruits.  They are juicier than raspberries, and seem more elegant, perhaps because of their sleek purple-black color.  So, I was really excited to discover that blackberries were this month's ingredient for the Get Your Chef On challenge hosted by White Lights on Wednesday and Four Marrs and One Venus.

I knew I wanted to make a delicious blackberry dessert.  At first I was thinking about blackberry galettes, but I just made galettes recently, and I realized it had been TOO LONG since I'd made cupcakes.  Initially I was planning to make chocolate blackberry cupcakes, but I was over at my mom's, and she really wanted vanilla.  Since she was nice enough to let me heat up her kitchen on a hot day, I had to agree.  Since the blackberries I've been getting are so sweet and juicy, I decided lemons would be a nice counterpoint.

This cake is adapted from a lemon bundt cake recipe in Cook's Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking, which is an awesome book with recipes that were rigorously tested to make the most of the scientific principles at work in the kitchen.  The blackberry frosting is my own creation.

There was almost a disaster when I was decorating these cupcakes.  I thought glaze with frosting on top would be delicious (and I was right), but I didn't realize the frosting would try to slide right off the glaze.  Disaster was averted when I cut little cone-shaped holes into the top of the cupcakes to hold all the buttery frosting.  Phew, that was a close one.

These cupcakes take a little bit of time, but you should make them because they are so summery and so delicious--creamy, buttery, fruity, and tart at the same time.  If you buy a lot of blackberries, which you should, hang on to some--I have another delicious, but much healthier, blackberry recipe coming up soon. 

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes; cake and glaze adapted from Cook's Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking):

For the cake:

1 lemon
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, at room temperature
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool (60 degrees)
1 cup sugar

For the glaze:

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:

1 heaping cup fresh blackberries, plus 12 blackberries for decorating
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla, divided
1 teaspoon lemon zest
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a 12-cup muffin tin (or use papers--I didn't because I knew the glaze was going to drip down the sides).

Zest the lemon and squeeze one tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of juice (save the rest of the lemon for the glaze).  Put half the zest in a small bowl with the juice, reserving the rest of the zest for the frosting.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  In another medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until very fluffy and light (take a full 3 minutes to do this).  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, mixing to fully combine between the additions.

With the mixer still on low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the buttermilk mixture and scraping down the bowl as needed.  Give the batter one more stir by hand to make sure it's mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, being careful not to fill them over 3/4 of the way full--without cupcake papers, it's hard to remove a cupcakes that's baked over the edges of the cup.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, or until the cupcakes are light golden around the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for five minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack, using a small sharp knife to loosen the cakes if necessary.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the glaze.  Combine all the ingredients and whisk until smooth.

While the cupcakes are still warm, pierce the top once or twice with a fork and pour the glaze over.

To make the frosting, heat the blackberries, water, granulated sugar, half a teaspoon of vanilla, and the remaining lemon zest in a saucepan over medium heat.  Simmer, using a spoon to help break up the blackberries, until the berries are turned to mush and the liquid around them is syrupy, 15-20 minutes.  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, using the back of the spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  Discard the seedy pulp and set the blackberry syrup aside to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.  Add the blackberry syrup, powdered sugar, salt, and the remaining half teaspoon of vanilla.  Mix until smooth.  If the frosting seems too liquid, put it in the refrigerator for half an hour or so to set up.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, use a paring knife to cut a small cone-shaped piece of cake out of the top of each one (see a picture in this post).  You're doing this because you don't want the frosting to just slide right off the glaze!  Use a spoon or a frosting bag to fill the cavity with frosting, letting it spill over a little.  Place a blackberry, stem end down, in the cavity with the frosting.  Enjoy!

I kept these cupcakes in the refrigerator because it's been so hot and I didn't want the frosting to melt.  They still tasted great on the third day, and there were none left after that.  They will also keep up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.  The cakes texture becomes denser over time (like a pound cake), but it's still delicious.

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Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Triple Berry Almond Clafoutis

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Triple Berry Almond Clafoutis

Berries and almonds go together well (see evidence here, here, and here).  So when I saw a clafoutis recipe that called for almond extract, I figured it would be even better with actual almonds, too.  And while I haven't tried this recipe without almonds, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Wait!  Did I forget to tell you what a clafoutis is?  When Ben woke up this morning and I told him what I was making, he made some really good joke about doing Krav Maga in footie pajamas.  I think he thought I said krav footie?  Anyway, a clafoutis is a French cake that's basically pancake batter poured over fruit (traditionally cherries) and baked.  I guess it's a dessert, but I made it for breakfast.  With lots of eggs and fruit and just a little flour, sugar, and butter, I think it's totally healthy enough to be the first thing you eat in the morning.

Oh, and it's delicious!  It's almost like a custard, bursting with berries, and with a sweet almond crunch on top.  Bonus--it's really easy to make.  Without much trouble at all you can impress all your friends with your sweet culinary skills and knowledge of obscure dessert vocabulary in French.  Win-win-win (there was a third winning point in there somewhere, right?).

Ingredients (makes 8 servings; adapted from Bon Appetit and King Arthur):

3 cups mixed berries (I used frozen blueberries and fresh raspberries & blackberries)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar, divided
1/2 vanilla bean
4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Powdered sugar and whipped cream*, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly butter a 9 inch round cake pan and put the berries in it.  If your cake pan is 2 inches deep, that's perfect.  If it's 1 1/2 inches deep like mine, put it on a baking sheet just in case.  I didn't have any overflow but it was close!  This thing puffs up a lot.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.  Place the 1/2 cup of sugar in a medium bowl, and scrape in the vanilla bean seeds.  Use your fingers to rub them together to evenly distribute the vanilla--this will make sure you don't end up with a few huge chunks of vanilla bean seeds.  Add the eggs, salt, almond extract, milk, and butter and whisk to combine.  Add the flour gradually, whisking until most of the lumps are gone.  Pour the batter over the fruit.  Top with the sliced almonds and then the two teaspoons of sugar.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the custard is set and the top is golden brown.  Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then run a sharp knife around the edge to loosen the clafoutis.  Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature, with powdered sugar and whipped cream if desired.

Refrigerate any leftovers you don't plan to eat within a few hours.  While clafoutis will keep in the fridge for two or three days, it's best on the day it's made.

*My new favorite way to whip cream is in a mason jar!  Put about 2/3 cup of heavy cream, a tablespoon of powdered sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla in a jar.  Screw the lid on tightly and shake til it's ready (3-5 minutes).