Blackberry Crumble Pie

In my second year of boarding school, on the coldest day of the coldest spring Northern Michigan had to offer, I sat on the floor of my dorm room eating a mediocre cherry pie with my bare hands. No, I was not a burgeoning competitive eater. Nor was this part of a misty-eyed break-up montage. I was suffering from a severe lack of pie, and the summery warmth it provides.

Let's face it, pie is the best dessert. It's simply the most delicious taste in the whole world. I eat it on my birthday instead of cake. And at my wedding, well, let's just say I hope the structural integrity of the crumble is somehow better than its name suggests.

And, yes, I know I'd be a better person if everything I ate was locally sourced and seasonally appropriate. My life could be a satisfying series of soft-focus sepia-toned facebook albums. In the winter, I'd make swiss chard soup in vintage crockery. In the spring, I'd roast asparagus with homegrown herbs. And in the summer, there'd be self-brewed beer and handspun picnic blankets. But, folks, blackberries are available only a couple months a year. And without them, there is no blackberry pie. And without that, there really isn't much reason to do anything at all.

So before you ride off on your European bike to the artisanal cheese shop, allow me to make a case for frozen berries in April.

Though they're far from being the ideal berry, glowing in little baskets at your weekend farmer's market, the frozen ones are really the next best thing. Think about it this way, frozen berries were plucked from the vine in their succulent prime and quickly preserved to provide you with year round tastiness. So, grab your re-usable grocery bag, head to Whole Foods, buy yourself the biggest bag of organic blackberries imaginable, and pat yourself on the back. Job well done. You don't have to feel bad about the impact to the environment or your gylcemic index. Utilizing oats, agave, and whole wheat flour, this probably comes out to just 180 calories/serving. Unless your serving is the size of a pie pan. In that case, be civilized. Use a fork.

Blackberry Crumble Pie

For the topping:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  
• 1/4 cup (half stick) butter, melted

For the filling:

• 4 cups frozen blackberries
  
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

Heat oven to 350. Toss fruit with agave, flour, cornstarch, and lemon juice and zest. When fruit is coated, pour into ungreased pie dish.

Combine oats, flour, sugar, and baking powder in medium bowl. Pour in egg and mix until combined. Topping will be somewhat dry and crumbly.

Sprinkle topping evenly over berries, then drizzle with melted butter. Bake about 40 minutes, or until topping is toasted and fruit is bubbling and tender.

Banana Bread

Some people have it in their minds that banana bread is some kind of dumping ground for unused, overripe bananas, like the threat of wasted produce is what drives them to get in the kitchen and bake.

"I just don't know what I'll do with all these leftover bananas, guess I have to make bread."

And while my struggle for dominance in the produce aisle is far from over, I, like anyone else with an oversize sweet tooth, have learned something important.

Bananas are not the boss of me.

You see, I no longer let my rotting fruit strong-arm me into anything. I have taken a stand. When I go to the grocery store I assertively buy bananas for one reason and one reason alone. And that is banana freaking bread.

Even if that means slapping a half-eaten banana from a loved one's hand and screaming, "I need those!", I remain vigilant and ready to defend. Sorry, Nathan.

Bottom line, banana bread is not happenstance, it is a treat. A delicious, creamy, on-purpose treat that should be honored as such. That said, there's no need to get gluttonous about it. Have your sweets and mind your waistline, folks. This here's the healthiest and most decadent banana bread you'll ever taste. So don't worry if you eat half a loaf. Like we did immediately after this picture was taken.

Banana Bread

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large, overripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/2 cup agave syrup
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wipe a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with olive oil and dust with flour.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, almonds, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the mashed bananas, agave syrup, yogurt, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until just combined. Don't mind the lumps, those are tasty!

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 60 minutes, but check it with a toothpick at 45. When the toothpick comes out clean, take it out of the oven. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Now, I like a slice of piping hot banana bread as much as the next girl but trust me when I say, once this baby is cool, put it in a ziplock bag and leave it alone overnight. In the morning, the sweetness of the bananas will have intensified and it will be about one million times better.

Linzer Sablés

This looks like a Christmas cookie. Especially if you're Swiss or German. Thankfully I'm American and I can do what I want, however culinarily insensitive, so let's make Christmas cookies in March.

These are actually really easy to make provided you have a cookie cutter. Somehow I managed to make it to my mid-twenties only owning ONE gingerbread man-shaped cutter. So further disrespecting our position on the calendar, I attempted to make a few Linzer Sablemen. These were not a success. This cookie's delicate and crumbly texture does not want to have arms and legs. It wants to be circular. So I relented and used to an upturned egg-cup as a makeshift cutter and voila, Lenten Linzer Sables were born.

Linzer Sables

• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
  
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam plus 1 teaspoon water

Put the first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk together. In another small bowl, stir the egg and water together using a fork.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth, about 5 minutes.. Add the egg mixture and beat for about another minute until well combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Don’t work the dough too much once the flour is incorporated.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, put the dough between two large sheets of plastic wrap. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a disk, then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough, turning it over frequently until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Leave the dough in the plastic and repeat with the second piece of dough. Transfer the wrapped dough to a baking sheet or cutting board (to keep it flat) and refrigerate or freeze it until it is very firm, about 2 hours in the refrigerator or 45 minutes in the freezer.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Peel off the top sheet of plastic from one piece of dough and, using a 2-inch round cookie cutter—or...whatever you have—cut out as many cookies as you can. If you want to have a peekaboo cutout, you can use the end of a piping tip to cut out a very small circle from the centers of half the cookies. Transfer to the baking sheets, leaving a little space between the cookies. Set the scraps aside—you can combine them with the scraps of the second disk and roll out and chill again before you cut more cookies.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden, dry, and just firm to the touch. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Place the jam in a small saucepan or in a microwaveable bowl and stir in the 1 teaspoon water. Bring to a boil over low heat or in the microwave. Let the jam cool slightly, then turn half of the cookies flat side up and place about 1/2 teaspoon jam in the center of each cookie; sandwich with the remaining cookies. Finish off with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

Forget everything you know about chocolate chip cookies. I know you've been making it off the Tollhouse bag with your grandmother since 1985, but save those for the office party or the PTA meeting. Make these wholesome whole wheat chocolate pretzel cookies, in all their gooey goodness, for the people who matter the most. They will thank you.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

• 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup safflower oil
• ¼ cup almond butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped dark chocolate pieces
• ½ cup crushed pretzel pieces

Preheat over 375. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside. Cream oil, almond butter, and sugars together with a wooden spoon for 3-5 minutes, until very smooth and shiny. Beat the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients, then fold in chocolate, then pretzels. Drop by rounded spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet (very important) before transferring to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

So delicious, so sweet, so salty. Good hot from the oven or sent to work the next day in your favorite person's lunchbox.

And as an added benefit, Safflower oil is incredibly high in the antioxidant vitamin E and whole wheat flour is full of fiber and protein.