hurry this up and slow that down

We moved! Into a beautiful little jungle of boxes and packing tape! Really we are making good progress in our unpacking phase, and since I am rather uncomfortable in transitions, I am hustling (bossing?!) us right along. It’s not that I fear change—in fact I love this new house!—it's just that I don’t like to lose the moments of efficiency inevitably involved in getting to know a new system or routine. I think Quimby is uncomfortable with our current maze too because he follows us around from room to room like a separation anxiety case in the making.

With those complaints out of the way…

Ben’s sister Naomi came through Houston last Friday on her way to a girl’s weekend and found herself fortunate enough to be caught mid-move while staying with us. I had a cobbler/crumble and hand pies to make for a rehearsal dinner I was helping with that night and all of my measuring spoons/cups were already boxed up. Transition demands adaptation I suppose, so adapt we did. The desserts turned out just fine and the conversation time afforded by this less efficient way of making them was even better. Turns out conversation in general flows more easily when efficiency does not characterize your motive. 

Oh these little life lessons…I’m learning, I’m learning.

Blueberry Crumble

For the Filling:

2 pints fresh blueberries

2 lemons, juiced (and the zest of 1 lemon)  

2/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

For the Crumble:

1 ½ cup flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon (heaping ¼)

¾ cup (one and a half sticks) cold, unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium sized dutch-oven (I used an oval Le Creuset) mix together the blueberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and cornstarch. Let sit for about 15 minutes so that the berries become nice and juicy.  

For the topping, mix together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  Cut in the butter with a fork and knife to combine until mixture is crumbly and well combined.

Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the blueberry mix in the dutch-oven and place in your oven.

Bake the crumble for 30-40 minutes, or until the top looks browned and crisp and the berry mixture is juicy and bubbly. Serve warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Blackberry Cherry Hand Pies

For these, I semi-closely followed http://thewimpyvegetarian.com/2012/07/blackberry-cherry-turnovers-high-altitude-baking/…or as much as possible lacking actual measuring spoons ;)