Lots of Baking

I am so thrilled that my freezer is full of strawberries and raspberries! My kids love frozen berries and I love smoothies, plus I love baking. Clearly.

So my parents have a little raspberry patch that is absolutely bursting right now. Every other day, we go out and pick big bowls of berries. So it only made sense to make a raspberry dessert for Sunday dinner.

I chose this gorgeous raspberry white chocolate cheesecake with homemade raspberry syrup. It was incredible! Except that it only used 2 cups of raspberries and hardly made a dent in the harvest.

On Monday morning, my mom showed up at my house with 2 dozen canning jars, including a dozen jam jars. And so I planned to make raspberry jam in proper sized jars.

This morning, though, Dana begged to make a raspberry pie. She even got out a big sheet of paper and "wrote" out a recipe for raspberry pie and then set to work getting the ingredients together. She filled a bowl with hot water, mixed in 2 cheddar bunnies, and started heading for the sugar. Adorable as it was, I couldn't allow her to proceed. I know of no pie that calls for a gallon of water.

But I did know a recipe that called for no water and four cups of raspberries. Dana did most of the mixing. She is becoming quite skilled at mixing, and didn't even mash up the berries.


Now, I must have rolled my crust a bit thin, because I had a big ball of dough left over after making this pie. So after I got it in the oven, I rolled out the leftovers and lined my mini pie plate. Then I went rummaging in the fridge and found some blueberries.

And, since I only had enough dough for a single mini-crust, I made a crumb topping.

Tonight, after dinner, I sliced the pies and passed dessert plates out. I set Dana's down on the table and she gave me a very concerned look. I was truly expecting joy, as I had spent the hottest day of the year baking this at her request. Instead, she said, "I don't know if I like this. I wanted to make it for everyone else." Which made me simultaneously annoyed and very happy. Because I myself don't really love pie, but my two blonds adore it, and it makes me happy to bake their favorite desserts. I know exactly where she's coming from, this wee one.

Anyhow, I have enough berries to make a batch of jam, hopefully tomorrow.