Berry berry good

Summer is definitely here in the Pacific Northwet, and it’s glorious. My blueberries are ripe, and I’m still trying to finish last year’s berries from the freezer. I’ve made cobbler from frozen berries a couple times in the last week for home and away, but the perfectly ripe berries in the garden called for a different treatment.

I saw a recipe for Blueberry Cream Pie in a Gingersnap Crust on savorysaltysweet.com, and I knew it would be the perfect way to enjoy our berries. Doesn’t it look grand? I tried it out on friends last week, and now I’m tweaking it for tonight. Better gingersnaps for the crust. (Trader Joe’s. No, I’m not making my own gingersnaps; it’s summer and this is supposed to be easy!) Whole milk instead of our usual household skim milk to make the pastry cream a little richer.

ETA: The TJ’s Triple Ginger Snaps and the whole milk made a huge difference. Perfection!

ETA: TJ’s now has Triple Ginger Thins, and those pulverize much more easily! One box is 9 oz, which is exactly right for the recipe.

Raspberries are also ripe right now, and my friend Wendy was begging for people to come over and pick. I came home with 2 pints of berries, and decided they should be sorbet.

I don’t have an ice cream maker, but freezing it in a pyrex dish worked fine. It’s intensely raspberry, and tastes like summer!

Raspberry Sorbet, no ice cream maker
(makes 8 servings, or you can cut this recipe in half for four. I had lots of berries)

– 2 pints raspberries (about 12 ounces) rinsed and drained, or thawed from frozen
– 1 cup water
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 2 tablespoons honey
– 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

1. Place water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool. (I did this the night before.)

2. Puree the raspberries, lemon juice, and honey in a food processor.

3. Combine the cooled syrup with the raspberry puree. Run the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. (Yes, you really want to.)

4. Place sorbet in a shallow dish in the freezer, stirring by hand every 30 minutes until sorbet is frozen (about 2 hours). You can also do this with an ice cream maker, but I don’t have one. When sorbet is frozen, move it to a covered container to store.

This was fabulous all by itself, but I think it would be outstanding as a mini-scoop of sorbet dropped into a flute of prosecco, and garnished with some blueberries. Can’t you just see it?

ETA: Next round I’m adding a tablespoon of vodka to lower the freezing point; this will help it keep from freezing too solidly. If you’re going to eat it right away, it doesn’t matter, but if you want to store it for a day or two, the vodka will help.

In knitting news, my Raspberry Vodka Lemonade sweater is out of time out, and I’m cruising down the first sleeve. I’ve gone back to dpns, and am much happier. I didn’t like the waving ends of the two circulars! Good thing there’s knitter’s choice…