Recipes: Summer berry delights
Strawberry and blueberry crumble
Serves 4Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients
1 teaspoon cornflour
Juice of 1 medium orange
450g (1lb) strawberries, hulled, halved or quartered depending on size
200g (7oz) blueberries
40g (11/2oz) caster sugar
Crumble topping
100g (4oz) plain flour
40g (11/2oz) caster sugar
50g (2oz) butter, diced
75g (3oz) marzipan, coarsely grated
Finely grated rind ½ orange
Vanilla ice cream to serve
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF), Gas Mark 4. Mix the cornflour and orange juice together in the base of a medium saucepan. Add the strawberries, blueberries and sugar to the pan then cook over a medium to low heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring until the berries begin to soften slightly. Spoon into 4 x 250ml (8fl oz) individual ovenproof dishes.
2 To make the crumble add the flour, sugar and butter to a mixing bowl and rub in the butter with fingertips or an electric mixer until fine crumbs. Stir in the marzipan and orange rind.
3 Spoon the crumble over the fruit and bake for 20-25 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and the juices are bubbling around the edges. Serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Cook's tip
Don't have any individual ovenproof dishes? Make the crumble in one large dish instead and cook for 30-35 minutes until golden. Keep an eye on the crumble as the marzipan can brown quickly, so loosely cover the top with foil if needed.
Strawberry Chia Jam and Almond Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Chia jam
200g of strawberries
3 tbsp of chia seeds
2 tbsp of honey
1 vanilla pod
Muffins
300g of ground almonds
300ml of full fat coconut milk (from a can)
2 organic freer range eggs
1 Pinch of sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
4 tbsp honey
1 vanilla pod scraped
Method
Preheat oven to 180° C
To make the muffins mix the almonds, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the coconut milk, eggs, honey and 1 vanilla pod scraped. Combine together and pour the mixture into muffin paper holders, but only fill them 2/3 full as they will rise.
Bake the muffins for 20 minutes until just cooked through and golden on top.
While the muffins are baking put the strawberries, honey and vanilla bean pod in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in the chia seeds. Let this sit for 15 minutes stirring every 5 until it thickens into a jam like consistency.
Top the muffins with the strawberry jam and enjoy.
Summer berry swirled lollies
Makes 10Preparation time: 15 minutes
Freezing time: overnight
Ingredients
75g (3oz) blackberries
150g (5oz) raspberries
4 tsps runny honey
300g (10oz) flavoured Greek yoghurt – vanilla, honey or coconut
Method
1 Mash blackberries on a plate with 2 teaspoons of the honey using a fork.
2 Do the same with the raspberries and another 2 teaspoons of the honey on a second plate.
3 Layer alternate spoonfuls of mashed fruits with the yoghurt in plastic shot glasses.
4 Add lolly sticks and freeze overnight. To serve, dip moulds briefly in warm water, then lift out of the moulds and serve.
Layered berry breakfast pots
Serves 4Prep 15 minutes
Ingredients
75g/3oz muesli
2 tablespoons goji berries
100ml/31/2fl oz freshly squeezed orange juice or from a carton
500g/1lb 2 oz carton coconut or honey flavoured Greek style yogurt
350g/12oz strawberries, hulled
1 tablespoon chia seeds
100g/4oz blackberries
Few extra strawberries, hulled, sliced
Method
1 Mix the muesli, goji berries and orange juice together then spoon half the mixture into the base of 4 x 370g/121/2oz clip top or screw topped jam jars. Top with a layer of yogurt.
2 Roughly chop then mash the strawberries with a fork. Mix with the chia seeds and spoon over the top of the yogurt.
3 Cover with most of the remaining muesli then the yogurt. Sprinkle with the blackberries, a few extra sliced strawberries and the rest of the muesli. Clip or screw on the lids and serve now, or chill until ready to serve.
Cook's tip
Not a fan of muesli then simply stir the strawberry and chia mix and whole blackberries into your favourite flavoured yogurt.