Nectarine Crumble

There are a number of easy-to-make fruit desserts, which consist of baked fruit covered in various types of crumbs or batter. These go by the names of Brown Betties, grunts, cobblers, crumbles and crisps. They're all variations on a theme.

Because I had recently purchased some seemingly ripe, but actually rock-hard nectarines, I was inspired to design a recipe to both soften and sweeten them, that is, to bake them into submission.

Ingredients for fruit base:

• 7 nectarines sliced (no need to peel because they aren't creepily fuzzy-skinned like peaches)
• 1/2 cup plum jam (apricot jam should work just as well)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• pinch of salt

The nectarines, in a pretense of ripeness.

Ingredients for topping:

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• pinch of salt



The topping

Methods:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. After slicing the nectarines, combine the ingredients for the fruit base in a bowl then transfer to an ovenproof baking dish. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and place evenly over the fruit. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling at the edges of the baking dish and the crumbly topping is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla icecream.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Pastries

This is a slightly revised version of a Better Homes and Gardens recipe for blueberry pastries. Basically, these work with whatever fruit and jam combination you might choose to use. 

Ingredients:

• 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1teaspoon lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1cup fresh or frozen blackberries

• 1/2 cup peach jam

• 17.3 ounce package frozen puff pastry sheets (2 sheets), thawed

• 1egg

• 1 tablespoon water

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. then line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla then beat again. In a small bowl stir together the fruit and jam.


On a lightly floured surface, roll each sheet of the thawed puff pastry into a 10 1/2 inch square. Cut each square into nine 31/2 in squares and transfer the squares to the baking sheets. Using a fork, prick the center of each square, leaving a 1/2-inch unpricked border around all the edges. In a small bowl beat egg and the water together with a fork, then brush the squares with the egg mixture. Spread a well-rounded tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each square of pastry, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Top each with about a tablespoons of the fruit mixture, spreading evenly over cream cheese mixture. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.