Peach and Raspberry Crisp

My favorite fall dessert is Ina Garten's Apple Crisp.

My new favorite summer dessert: Ina Garten's Peach and Raspberry Crisp.

After the first bite I knew it was great. Then when my next bite included a raspberry it was more like love.

Peach and Raspberry Crisp

~Barefoot Contessa

4 to 5 pounds firm, ripe peaches (10 to 12 large peaches)

zest of one orange

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups plus 2 to 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 pint raspberries

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the inside of a 10 by 15 by 2 1/2-inch oval baking dish.

Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, then place them in cold water. Peel the peaches and slice them into thick wedges and place them into a large bowl. Add the orange zest, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the raspberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. If there is a lot of liquid, add 1 more tablespoon of flour. Pour the peaches into the baking dish and gently smooth the top.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and the cold, diced butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is pea-sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the peaches and raspberries. Bake for 1 hour, until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator and reheat in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until warm.

Course II Cake

So here is my finale cake from my 2nd Course of cake classes. It's a little silly I'll admit. We HAD to use a certain pan and include lots of flowers. And place the little birds just so, which seem very old school Disney movie to me. What is that banned in the USA one??

Anyhow, the cake was originally supposed to include roses, apple blossoms, daisies, rosebuds and chrysanthemums. It looked very much like a cake someone would pick up from a bad grocery store on the way home when they forgot it was their wife's birthday. There were some other variations but I just made up my own and used pansies, daffodils, and violets. Not too bad for my first basket weave I think. I don't know though, basket weave also seems a little bit 1993 wedding to me.

Key Lime Tarts

Finally a non-chocolate dessert!

I tried these out for Amy and Owen's housewarming party. Luckily I made them the night before and found out that as the recipe originally stated, paper liners weren't the best to use since it was impossible to even peel them. So I re-made them with aluminum and it turned out better. They were still disappointing looking though. The centers sort of sunk in and they were weird looking around the edges. I tried to fancy them up with sugared Key lime slices on top.

Notes from my experience:
*I never saw any "Key lime cooler cookies" so I just used another type of key lime cookie I found in the store. Since they were round I broke them up, mixed with a two tablespoons of melted butter and pressed them down into the bottom of the liners.


It was a good summer dessert. I'm sure I'll make them again with more tweaking to the recipe.

Key Lime Tarts


24 Key Lime Cooler cookies
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice, preferably Key lime
1 teaspoon lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Fill 1 muffin tin with aluminum foil baking cups and spray cups with cooking spray. Place 1 Key Lime Cooler cookie in the bottom of the cup, flat side down.
Prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, lime juice, and zest until well mixed. Fill the cups to the top. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove tarts to cool. Garnish with tiny mint leaves or lime zest.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake

~another Paula Deen chocolate recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.

Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add eggs two at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and cocoa. Add one half of flour mixture to creamed mixture, beat well, add remaining half of flour mixture, and continue to beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Do not open the oven while baking!

*This is a decent chocolate pound cake recipe. After a day or so it was fairly dry though. Still tasty, but a glass of milk was a necessity.