Vanillicious.com – Easy Desserts

Apple Blackberry Tart

A great tart that can contain any seasonal fruit of your choice. I present a recipe combining apple and blackberries, but there are other interesting combinations that go very well together, such as nectarines and raspberries, pears and blackberries, pears and plums, apples and plums and more. Click here to read up this recipe!

Best Muffin Recipe Ever

No, this is not just a catchy headline, these muffins really turned to be the best I’ve ever baked.

The credentials for this recipe and tips go to Natalie Levin, a pastry chef. As a big fan (well, and a muffin lover, too) I decided to give this recipe a try and since I just loved these fabulous muffins, I must share!

Some muffins tips before you go and bake these little wonders:

• The following recipe will make 12 normal sized muffins and will require 5cm bottom diameter muffin paper cases.
• This can be a great basic muffin recipe, and blueberries can be replaced with almost any other berry or fruit of your choice (raspberries, apricots, nectarines etc).
• When stirring, use a wooden spoon and mix only until all ingredients blend together. Don’t over-mix, and this will give your muffins the right, dense texture.
• Bake the muffins immediately. The longer the mixture sits, it’ll contain less leavening power.
• Bake the muffins until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out with moisty crumbs, not totally clean. That will keep them soft for few more days.
• If necessary, these muffins can be freeze up to a month.

Click here to read up this recipe!

Lemon Berry Cake

Remember my berries obsession? I didn’t bake with berries for a while, and today I bought some frozen berries, which means I’m the proud owner of 1kg of frozen berries. Berries to bake with! And perhaps snack the blackcurrants while I bake, because they are such a great snack when they are frozen or semi-frozen (not when thawed, though..)

What makes this cake so special is the combined flavours of the lemon and berries. If there’s one thing I learned since I started baking (for the sake of argument, right?), it is that the flavours of berries and lemon go so well together. Even when I prepare a home made berries yogurt (with store-bought natural yogurt!), I add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice. It blend so well together and the lemon enriches and strengthens the berries flavour.

A few notes regarding the ingredients:

• I actually prefer to use limes (zest and juice) instead of lemon just because I think the cake looks more interesting with the tiny greenish hints in it. If you decide to replace the lemon, make sure you use two limes, because in baking, size (and measurements) matters!
• Frozen berries are perfectly fine for this cake. I think fresh berries should be used only when they suppose to keep their original shape and when they are not supposed to be baked. A good example is berry tarts or tartlets.
• In my opinion, the best berry-mix for this cake is raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Though once I had a mix that contained cherries as well, and I discovered they can go pretty well in this cake, too. If you prefer, you can omit the blackberries, which are (relatively) the sweetest (or less sour) berry in this mix.

Click here to read up this recipe!

There’s nothing better than beating an urge for a home-made treat, with muffins. Very easy to prepare and it has a relatively short baking time. Basically, this recipe can be used for many muffin variation, just replace the berries with almost any addition of your choice. I’ll keep posting different muffin variations from time to time and even present a healthier version as well.

If you prefer, the following batter can be baked as a cake. Just place in the right tin and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Click here to read up this recipe!

Berries Cheesecake

Sometimes it seems like my blog is all about the wonderful creations can be done with berries. Yes, I love berries almost as much as I love vanilla based desserts. I think I still have to make it up for the all the years blueberries were only in the movies, raspberry was only a kind of artificial juice and a name of a famous bunny, starring in a children’s book that used to be very famous somewhere in the Mediterranean. Other berries, by the way, simply didn’t exist. Well, were never known (not to mention grown) in that tiny Mediterranean state. We did have strawberries, though, during our very short wintertime.

I hope this explains all about my berries obsession. There’s another reason the only fruits I bake are berries – hubby. He’s very high-maintenance when it comes to baked fruits, and berries are probably the only acceptable

Today’s dessert is my favourite cake, cheesecake, of course, with an obsessed twist – the berries.

I usually just love the cookies crust. However, when baking this cake I used sweet shortcrust pastry instead, just because I ran out of cookies…  And I say, do whatever you can to have the best possible crust! Oh, and you can add a little bit of melted white chocolate to the crust mixture. Makes thins even more interesting. Can you imagine?! Click here to read up this recipe!

Summer Berries Cobbler

OK, summer’s long gone, but it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some berrylicious desserts. Today I bring you berries cobbler, a quick and easy dessert, that’s supposed to come out messy looking, because the berries and their juices mix in with the batter and make it all gooey, and if you ask me – that’s the best kind of cobbler!

Thanks, Elie, for introducing me with cobblers and the recipe.

Click here to read up this recipe!

Berry fool

Fool is a British summery dessert (though I don’t see any reason why one should not have it all year long), which is probably hundreds of years old. This amazingly elegant, simple and delicious dessert is basically made by a sweetend fruit purée, stirred and folded into whipped double cream (single cream when it’s not available, or when you want your dessert less fatty, of course).

The name fool is derived from the French word foulé, which means crushed, and refers to the crushed fruit. In the following recipe I’m using mixed berries. My favourites for the purée are blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrant, redcurrants and strawberries. Though it can be made with any berry or berries of your choice. Remember to serve in sophisticated looking glasses (ice cream or wine glasses), just to make it look even more delicious than it already is, and top with some fresh berries!

Click here to read up this recipe!

Berries Purée

To my opinion, Berries Purée can be a great addition to almost any dessert and it’s super easy to prepare. You also get to choose your favourite berries to star it. For this recipe, I think the blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrant and redcurrants blend very well together. Strawberries can be a dded as well.

In order to prepare the berries purée I use a food processor. If you don’t have one, you can use a stick blender. Otherwise, purée fruits by hand or fork (though it’ll take a little more effort and time). The following recipe will make approximately 200ml purée. I recommend to gradually add the sugar, to taste.

Click here to read up this recipe!