Wonderful Wednesday Recipe: Springtime Berries ‘N’ Cream Roll-Ups

If I’m not mistaken, this recipe hails from amongst my mother’s collection, though I’ve tweaked it a little over the years. The original suggested that the roll-ups be baked sans berries inside (and to instead top the baked roll-ups with all of the berries), but I much prefer to include most of the berries in the rolls-ups before I slide them in the oven.

This dish works equally well as a sweet – but certainly not cloyingly so – dessert or as a decant breakfast or brunch entrée. While I like to eat it piping hot, you can allow the roll-ups to come to room temperature before serving them, though I feel that they are their finest while still piping warm, the juices from the berries leeching into the soft, lightly toasted white bread.


{Strawberries, such as the ones featured in this old school fruit crate label, make a particularly nice inclusion in this tasty, cream cheese filled recipe, but you can use any variety of berry you fancy. Beautiful vintage illustration for Ozark brand strawberries via Meaghan Courtney’s Flickr stream.}


If you’re fortunate enough to have your own garden, harvest whatever fresh, gorgeous new springtime berries you have on hand. Failing that, I encourage you to seek out ripe, small, luscious organic berries from your local farmer’s market or produce shop. Just about any berry (strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries, blackberries, huckleberries, etc) works well here, so let your imagination run wild.


Springtime Berries ‘N’ Cream Roll-Ups

Ingredients

•4 ounces cream cheese, softened (reduced fat cream cheese can be used)

•1/2 cup white sugar, divided in half

•1 egg yolk

•10 slices white bread, crusts removed

•1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

•3 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

•1/2 whipping (heavy) cream, whipped (add sugar and/or vanilla to taste)

•1 1/2 cup (plus a few extra, set aside) fresh springtime berries, such as a mix of strawberries and raspberries, or blackberries and red currants


Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C/gas mark 4).

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese together with 1/4 cup of white sugar, add in the egg yolk and beat until smooth.

Lay out the ten slices of white bread on a flat surface and spread approximately 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on each slice. Next evenly divide the 1 1/2 cups of berries between the slices of bread and top each piece with an equal quantity. Proceed by rolling each slice of bread up as though it were a jelly-roll, starting with the longer edge. Place the rolled up slices of bread, seemed side down, into a lightly greased 10 inch x 15 inch glass (or ceramic) baking dish, in a single layer.

Lightly brush the top of each bread roll-up with melted butter (or margarine). In a small mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon and remaining sugar and spread evenly (with a spoon or using your fingers) over the buttered tops of the bread roll-ups. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly toasted and gently golden hued.

While the roll-ups are baking (and filling the kitchen with the most inviting, sweet berry scent), whip the cream until light and fluffy, adding sugar (I prefer powdered sugar any time I sweeten whipped cream) and a little pure vanilla extra, if desired. Once prepared set aside in the fridge until needed.

Once the berry roll-ups are done, remove from the oven, allow them to sit in their baking dish for a couple of minutes (to cool off ever-so-slightly) and then transfer to individual serving dishes. Serve one or two roll-ups per person, with a dollop of whipped cream and a few of the reserved berries scattered on top or around the plate.

Eat at once, while the berry roll-ups are still warm and the whipped cream is cold, the two temperatures mingling beautifully together in your mouth.

Makes 5 to 10 servings, depending on if you serve one or two roll-ups per person.

Bon appétit!

Wonderful Wednesday Recipe: Eunice’s English Lemon Curd

Last Wednesday’s introduction of a weekly recipe post was met with great enthusiasm, and I must extend a very big thank you to everyone who left comments on my Welsh Rarebit recipe (like some of you, I always thought the word “rarebit” sounded like “rabbit” as a child, luckily this dish is 100% bunny-free though, I assure you! :D). I can scarcely begin to tell you how elated I am to be sharing some of my favourite recipes with you all, and how much I’m looking forward to celebrating the art and fun that is cooking together.


Eunice’s English Lemon Curd
For a period of my childhood I was fortunate enough to live in a delightfully old house (built in 1909, to be exact), on a small, sleepy street that teamed with elderly neighbours. Some of them had lived in their respective houses for decades upon decades, but Eunice was not one of them. I really can’t recall how long she’d lived in the tiny creamy beige hued house directly across the street from us, but I don’t think it had been more than a couple of decades.

An English immigrant, she and her husband had come to Canada somewhat later in life and eventually settled on the very same street where I lived for a spell. Enchanted with all things British as a child and charmed by Eunice’s kind, spunky attitude, we quickly became friends.

If there was one thing I liked almost as much as listening to Eunice’s tales of life in England during the war years, it was when she would stop by and treat our family to a jar or two of her sublimely delicious lemon curd. In fact, it was this darling elderly English woman who provided me with my very first taste of the creamy, tart, sweet, immensely addictive spread that is lemon curd.

You can imagine my delight then when one day Eunice stopped round to ask if my little brother and I would like to help her whip up a new batch. With eyes wide as the saucer she rested her mixing spoon on, I stared intensely as Eunice turned a small handful of everyday ingredients into one of the tastiest substances my young pallet had thus far enjoyed.

I’ve always treasured times when I’ve been able to learn recipe’s firsthand from other cooks and loved that I was able to come away from that day not only with a very fond memory, but also with Eunice’s recipe for lemon curd. Whether it was one she perfected herself or sourced from someone else, I really do not know.

Over time I’ve tweaked little about her version – save for occasionally replacing the lemon juice with that of another fruit such as limes (you may want to add even slightly more sugar if you go this route), mangoes, or blood oranges. The ingredients are just as Eunice stipulated, though the instructions are in my own wording.



{This beautiful old fashioned fruit crate label calls to mind the sort I like to imagine the containers of lemons Eunice brought home (when she was a young homemaker) being adorned with. Image via Vintage Holiday Crafts.}


To my mind lemon curd finds its most perfect mate with a piece just prepared toast, the refreshing, tangy coolness of the curd marrying harmoniously with the soothing warmth of the bread. This spread however, works well on a multitude of other baked goods, too, from English muffins (naturally) to scones, blueberry or poppy seed muffins to biscotti (in the case of the latter, use the curd as a dip for these crisp Italian cookies).

It can also be employed with equal success as a filling (think cakes, trifles, cupcakes, doughnuts, cheesecakes and tarts – to name but a few possible uses) or thinned out a tad and drizzled over everything from pound cake to French toast, Greek yogurt to ice cream (it marries particularly well with berry flavoured frozen desserts).

If you’ve never treated yourself to lemon curd before, I can scarcely begin to tell you what you’ve been missing. If you like custards, lemon and/or jam, there’s a very high chance you’ll fall, just as I first did as youngster, head-over-heels for lemon curd and soon yourself mixing up batches to give away to your friends and neighbours, just as Eunice used to love to do.


Ingredients

• 3 large lemons (if you can get Meyer lemons, all the better, they have such a beautiful, gentle flavour)

• 4 extra large eggs

• ¼ cup unsalted butter (allow to come to room temperature before using)

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• ½ cup lemon juice (this equates to the juice of about 3 to 5 lemons, depending on their size)

• Small pinch of fine sea salt


Directions

Notes: While it may not actually make too much of a difference, I like to have all of the fruit and fruit juice I’m going to use in this recipe at room temperature before beginning.

Start by washing and drying the lemons thoroughly, then with a citrus zester or vegetable peeler, zest (remove in strips) all of the peel (try to avoid hitting the bitter white pith that lies between the peel and the fruit’s flesh). Chop the zest very finely by hand or in a food processor. In a mixing bowl (or in the food processor) combine the lemon zest with the sugar and mix (or pulse) well.

In a separate bowl, cream the unsalted butter well with a wood spoon, then add in the lemon and sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Next introduce the eggs one by one, beating well after each inclusion. Once all four of the eggs have been added, stir in the lemon juice and salt; stir until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

To a non-reactive, heavy bottom saucepan (stainless steel is terrific here) that holds at least 2 litres (2 quarts) add the raw lemon curd mixture and cook over low (or even extra low, if your stovetop/cooker gets especially warm) heat (while a gentle simmer is all right, do not let the mixture come anywhere near a bubbling boil). I personally feel that you cannot mix lemon curd too much (the last thing you want is for pieces of cooked egg to start forming!), and recommend that you stir the mixture almost constantly until it has begun to thicken (this usually takes about 9 to 12 minutes in my experience).

To gage the consistency of the lemon curd, coat the back of a mixing spoon (give it a moment to cool down) and run your finger (or the handle of another spoon) through the mixture. If in doing so you leave a clean line with distinct “sides” flanking where the line appears, your mixture has most likely reached the right consistency.

Remove the lemon curd from the heat and pour into a medium sized stainless steel, ceramic or heat-safe glass bowl. Immediately place a layer of plastic wrap (cling film) on top of the lemon curd to prevent a film (skin) from forming as it cools.
Use warm (I dare you not to savour a spoonful straight!) or put the lemon curd into the refrigerator and store (covered) for up to one week. Lemon curd also freezes very well and stored in its frozen state for up to one year.

Makes approximately 3 cups of scrumptious, buttercup yellow lemon curd.

Bon appétit!

Vintage Deal of the Day: October 27, 2009

Hi lovely dears, thank you very much for the awesome positive response to yesterday’s inaugural Deal of the Day post! I’m really happy to know that you dig this idea and am looking very forward to bringing you tons of terrific items that I've encountered in my online travels.



{Isn’t this little vintage brooch (it measures 2 ½ inches by 1 ½) wonderful? It’s classic gold tone and use of a timeless fruit make it a piece that’s bound to work with a multitude of looks in your vintage wardrobe. At just $7.50 (US), it's hard to beat the price on this cute accessory, too! Be sure to swing by etsy and visit Luncheonette Vintage is this darling cherry pin is calling your name.}


One quick point I wanted to mention is that I realize each of us defines what constitutes a good price differently. As someone who’s always tried her best to land a stellar bargain (whenever possible) and who lives on a very tight budget, you have my word that I will definitely try to feature items in this post that I view as being good deals - taking into account elements like the age, quality, brand, and condition of a given item. After all, everyone adores finding a great bargain and I hope I’ll be provide you with oodles of them!

Blueberries for vintage fans {Monday Muses, August 10th}

The title for this post is inspired by a beloved childhood book of mine called “Blueberries for Sal”, about a girl who sets off with her mother to pick wild blueberries. Though the story does not specify the exact year it was set it, the charming illustrations – and the fact that Sal and her mom are gathering berries to put up for the winter – telegraph the fact that it was written and illustrated in the late 1940s (’48, to be exact). Though it’s been many years since I last read this endearing childhood classic, I can’t help but think of it sweetly each summer during blueberry season.

Blueberries and my family are actually quite intertwined. Relatives on my mother’s side used to run own and operate a blueberry farm in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia, and each summer my mom would go to work there harvesting – much as Sal attempted to in her story – buckets of ripe, beautiful berries. Her early exposure to this healthy, delicious fruit instilled in my mom a lifelong love of all things blueberry related, and to this day she collects blueberry related items whenever she chances upon them.

Many fruits are at their finest during the summer months, and blueberries are no exception! So in the spirit of celebrating these wonderful little berries and their significance to my dear mother, I decided to make them – as well as their deep, inky hue, and items depicting blueberries – my Monday Muses this week.

While I’ve picked many fruits in my life, I’ve never had the pleasure of harvesting blueberries. Today however, I can happily say that I was able to round up a bucket full of sweet and appealing blueberry themed, modern handmade and vintage items for everyone to enjoy!

♥ ♥ ♥



{Blueberries pair up with a medley of other colourful fruits in this adorable circle skirt style apron, which would the perfect thing to wear while baking a blueberry pie! $22.00 from etsy seller Simply Aprons.}



{A lovely blueberry motif adorns this divided vintage Glasbake dish, which would be lovely to serve fruit or any number of other treats in. $14.50 (US) from etsy from Ravenna Girls Vintage.}



{Harvest in the compliments when you wear this elegant homemade vintage Lucite bead and Swarvoski crystal blueberry bracelet. $30.00 from etsy seller Willow and Me Jewelry.}



{While these gorgeous pocket sized tartlets look god enough to eat, they are in fact not food, but 100% vegetable oil, handmade soap! $0.75 (US) each from etsy seller Lolli Luscious.}



{Plastic beads in various fruit shapes make up this cute 20 inch long vintage necklace. Just the thing to add a splash of blueberry-esque beauty to any outfit. $18.00 from etsy seller Cuddle Bunny.}



{If, like me, you’re a huge fan of all things Kawaii, this handmade blueberry muffin pillow will have you and your couch craving berries as decor elements :) $35.00 from etsy seller Felt Like It.}



{Fill your home or summer porch with the tantalizing scent of blueberry cobbler thanks to this handmade, soy candle in a lovely old fashioned looking glass jar. $12.95 from etsy seller Bliss Candles.}



{Create the perfect crust for any pie from blueberry to apple, cherry to rhubarb with this wonderful vintage lattice top pie crust template cutter. $7.50 from etsy seller Vintage House.}



{How incredibly adorable is this 100% cotton handmade bib? Your little one is guaranteed to be a total cutie pie in it! $6.00 from etsy seller Rochelle’s Designs.}



{Keep your sewing (or hat) pins in order with this sweet blueberry pie pincushion, complete with scalloped edge cotton “crust”. $15.00 from etsy seller Quilting Corner.}



{Add a serving of super cuteness to your favourite fun and causal outfits with these fantastic homemade polymer clay blueberry earrings. $10.00 from etsy seller Tacky Tea Cup.}



{Sweet country charm fills this summery, blueberry and flower print dress, which while from the 1980s or 90s, has a distinct 1930s feel to it thanks to the simple, classic cut and soft colours. $40.00 from etsy seller Nice.}



{Moisturize your lips and add a regal hit of sophisticated beauty to your make-up bag with these incredibly beautiful Georgian lady bedecked tubes of blueberry muffin flavoured lip balm. $3.00 each from etsy seller Vintage Bella.}


What vintage blueberry themed post would be complete without a great recipe? For a batch of absolutely marvelous sounding blueberry streusel muffins, be sure to check out the blog Vintage Victuals for Ellie's photo filed recipe.

Blueberries have a special place in my heart and in the my memories of childhood bedtime stories. They remind me of my mother, tie me to my family’s farming past, and remain a favourite fruit summer after summer. Do you also adore these wonderful little spheres of berry goodness?

Summertime Classics {Monday Muses, August 3rd}

It’s a little bit hard to believe that we’re already well over a month into summer, less than two more to go until it will be time to wave sayonara to the dry, electric nights and drowsy, blisteringly warm mornings of this season. When shorts fade into ribbed tights, popsicles become overshadowed by straight-from-the-oven pumpkin pies, and the majestic blooms of gardens everywhere are replaced by a kaleidoscopic array of tumbling, crunchy leaves.

While this current season of extremes is still underway, I’ve found myself thinking about the elements that make summer so iconic. Those things that are the July equivalent to snowmen in December or tulips come April, and which speak to nearly everyone on as a collective whole. Simple pleasures, distinct moods, sun-kissed hues, the desire to escape the heat and yet an equal longing for it to linger, its presence like a memory that makes you smile more often than frown.

Every day of summer is a wild inspiration, the long desired relief from winter’s wrath, the fiery affair before level-headed autumn blows into town. So many places, scents, hues, people, and emotions fly into my mind when I think of this season the way it was lived when I was a child. Wisteria and honeysuckle branches tangoing on the back porch, canning peaches in a kitchen that had to have verged on 110 degrees. Countless – and I do mean truly mean countless – hours spent swimming in sparkling lakes, yet somehow never tiring in the least. Whiffs of barbeque smoke rising up into the crisply parched August air, so incredibly enticing in nature that you were tempted to start gnawing on your own shirt. Walks taken with dusty feet at dusk, the breeze from indigo clouds pushing the strands of sun-streaked hair from your face. The notes from certain wonderful, brilliant songs like “Sitting on the dock of the bay” and “I heard it through the grapevine” cascading into our laps as we sat on rickety lawn chairs around the flickering, dying embers of the backyard fire pit.

The older I get, the more I realize how truly dear I hold summer, what it means to me and why these things matter. To honour the summers of both past and present, a host of elements are my Monday Muses this week. Each one is inherent to the season, but in no way cliché; beautiful as a crimson sunset and special as the first time you tried a snow cone.

♥ ♥ ♥


{The three S’s of summer: sun, sand, surf}


{1. The Blonde on the Beam, 2. 40s swimsuit, 3. Aquamaids, Cypress Gardens, posing after a show, 4. 1960's fashion}


{The finest fruits Mother Nature can possibly create –
and the labels they once came packaged with}


{ 1. Cherry ripe, 2. Fresh Strawberries, 3. Vintage Fruit Crate Label 22, 4. When the fox cannot reach the grapes he says they are not ripe.}


{The lure of the open road}


{1. route 66. seligman, az. 2007., 2. Del Ray Beach Columbia (the Trailer) and Cadillac Lunch 1954, 3. Hollywood! 1956, 4. Pismo Beach, California - 1950's - from a postcard.}


{Flavours that embody a season}


{1. Happy Days, 2. Summer Time Cool..., 3. 365_263 / Roasting Marshmallows, 4. pecan craquelin, vanilla bean and flourless chocolate cake ice cream sandwiches.}


{Inexplicably perfect, intensely soothing light}


{1. osoyoos lake, 2. M A R M A L A D E . S U N S E T, 3. A Studebaker sunset, 4. The hottest day of summer so far was drawing to a close....}

{To visit an individual image, please click on the corresponding link below each collage.}


In many respects summer has evolved for me, or perhaps simply adapted as I’ve aged. Gone are the endless barefoot hours spent scorching my soles on radiator-hot sand, in their place are kisses with my love in the shade. Where once two months out of the year scarcely seemed like a heartbeat’s worth of time into which to cram scores of activities, we now find a single weekend spent soaking up the sun all it takes to send a thousand stresses fleeing from our minds.

Yet no matter my age, there are so many extraordinary things about summer that remain truly timeless, each one a gift, a reason to smile, the fuel that will get me through another harrowing Canadian January, a Muse in the truest sense of the word.

What, my dear readers, are your eternal sources of summer inspiration?