One of these days I’m going to have a rhubarb plant of my own – it’s been a goal of mine for years and years. Until then, I like the stalks that can be found at Missoula’s local farmers’ markets.

Anyway, again, I don’t have the recipe right in front of me, but it’s a basic fruit pie recipe using a little flour for thickening as well as cinnamon for spicing it up. I like to use less sugar than called for because I’m a fan of the rhubarb’s tartness, plus I also like to pair the pie with ice cream!

Here are some photos of one of my favorite desserts!

This is a photo prior to baking and before I covered it with a crumb topping. Yum!

On the docket: a darling 5-year anniversary session in Wisconsin, and a steamy boudoir/just because session – oh what fun! Stay posted for the pics!

Cheers!

-Kristine

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Rustic Peach Tart

Ingredients:

7 or 8 medium peaches, sliced and pitted
Pie dough recipe
Flour
Ground ginger
Ground nutmeg
Sugar

Directions:

Slice your peaches. In a medium bowl (not including peaches at this point) add enough flour, sugar and spices to coat peaches upon tossing. (Sorry – I’ve got the amounts, but the recipe isn’t in front of me at the moment.) Generally it’s about 2/3 c. flour (I think), about 1 tsp. ginger and 1/2 or 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. You can adjust the amount of sugar depending on how sweet the peaches are.

Add the peaches to the flour mixture and toss to coat.

Place your prepared pie dough (you can use either store bought or homemade – mine was homemade) on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Put the peaches in the center of the pie dough and fold up the edges around the peaches into a sort of octagonal shape. Pie dough will not cover the top of the peaches. Brush exposed dough with water and sprinkle sugar on the dough.

Place uncooked tart in oven at 350 degrees (I’m guessing here) until tart is lightly browned and bubbly in the center. Remove and cool on a rack. Cut and serve! Delicious, fast and easy!

Yum yum! On the docket – another of my favorite recipes – strawberry rhubarb pie, as well as a beautiful photo session for a couple’s five-year anniversary – photos taken in Wisconsin!

Cheers!

-Kristine

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Missoula’s turned a bit gray over the past few days, so I thought I’d post a delicious cookie recipe for those of you who like to bake on rainy days. (I do!)  This recipe is an all-time favorite of mine.  Farmstyle Oatmeal Cookies are just such a wonderful comfort food and loaded with oatmeal.  They’re not the fanciest looking things, but my, are they tasty!  Enjoy!

Farmstyle Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup lard or shortening (I used shortening)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I didn’t have buttermilk on hand so I made my own by adding a bit of vinegar to regular skim milk and letting it sit for a while to “curdle” a bit.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups quick cooking oats
1 3/4 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour (I only had all purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix brown sugar, buttermilk, vanilla and shortening. Stir in remaining ingredients. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place about three inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the cookie balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove the cookies from cookie sheets.

Pack that brown sugar.

I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I made my own with a bit of vinegar added to regular skim milk.

So, shortening's bad for you, yes. But it's pretty in this picture.

Beat the ingredients together. It will smell very yummy and you'll find it difficult to resist doing "quality control" checks.

Flour is just so pretty. Make sure you don't pack it into your measuring cup as this will increase the density of the cookie and decrease its loveliness.

Cookie! Baked, plated and ready to eat!

Cheers,

-Kristine

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And now, here’s the recipe (and photos) so you, too, can satiate that chocolate fix in the late evening hours.

Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

4 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
3 Tbsp. chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (microwave safe!)

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using them) and vanilla extract and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug (see photo below), but don’t be alarmed! This is normal!

Allow to cool a little (it’s VERY hot), and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!  (This can serve two if you’d like to feel slightly more virtuous.)

Enjoy!  Don’t forget to check out the photos below to get an idea of what it looks like.  Yes, it’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but hey…don’t judge a book by its cover, right?

Cheers,

-Kristine

Mix those dry ingredients together very well!

Mmmmmm, milk.

Mix it, mix it, mix it! Very important!

Don't forget to add those little chocolate chips.

Watch it grow in the microwave!

It looks very strange indeed.

Ignore the fact that it looks so bizarre, serve it up, and eat!

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I highly encourage you to make this recipe yourself – it’s easy, quick and oh so tasty!  Plus, you get to look at the pretty lemons, smell the pretty lemons, and eat the pretty lemons in their new bar form.  Mmmmm.  Enjoy!

Luscious Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour

Cream butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add 2 cups flour.  {I did this with my food processor – awesome!}  Pat in bottom of 9 x 13 cake pan.  Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until slightly brown.  Immediately add filling to hot crust.

Filling:
4 eggs
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons-worth)  {I only had to use 2 for my recipe}
1 cup coconut {I eliminated the coconut since I’m not really much of a fan…I know, I know….}
1 tsp. baking powder

Beat eggs slightly. {Again, I just plopped all this in my food processor again.} Add 2 cups sugar, lemon juice and rind, 3 Tbsp. flour, and baking powder with coconut. Pour over baked crust (remember – you’re adding this filling to the hot crust, so be sure it’s ready by the time you take the crust out of the oven!), and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes until filling is set.  Cool.  Sift additional powdered sugar on top.  Cut into bars.

Devour.  Yum!

Ok, now for the photos!

Four little lemons, all in a row - I only used two of them.

Half a cup of powdered sugar for the crust - or if you're like me, a "heaping" half cup...

Pat the crust into a sun-drenched cake pan.

Add the four eggs to your filling mixture. Marvel at how cool eggs are.

Grate the lemon rind for the filling and savor the citrus smells...mmm...

Cut your grated lemon in half and squeeze the heck out of it.

Be on your best behavior and wait patiently for your lemon bars to cool before adding powdered sugar topping.

Turn on some tunes and shake it while you sift on the powdered sugar.

Cut up those little bars, admire how beautiful they are and gobble one up. Or savor it. Whatever floats your boat. :)

The end!

-Kristine

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