My Motto

May the muffin rise to greet you, may your friends be always at your door, and until we meet again, warm a single-malt in the palm of your hand and make something homemade for someone you love.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Raspberry Cannoli Buckle

That is creme fraiche on top
There are some foods that I have been on a twenty year quest to conquer;  to find the absolute ideal recipe for, and this is one of them.  Sometimes, you get lucky.  For instance, I finally found the perfect baked macaroni and cheese recipe a few years ago, and could put that to rest, much to our delight.  However, the search continues for the perfect brownie.  Tyler Florence's Amarreto Brownie recipe comes close, but it has a crunchy, flaky crust on top that I don't like.  I want a brownie that is deep, intensely chocolate and chewy, but not gooey.  I have tried at least 25 different recipes, plus countless original variations.  If I make Tyler's brownie batter, and then make the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix and stir both batters together, that is darn near what I'm looking for.  But that's cheating.
As for buckle, the quest started when I was 18.  Growing up in the 70's, I had a neighbor who made really good blueberry buckle, and graciously gave me the recipe.  While in high school, I used to make it all the time, but during college I lost the recipe card.  Since then I've tried every buckle recipe I've come across, but none have been right.  Until this.  This recipe was adapted from one in a little pamphlet put out by the Maine Wild Blueberry Company.  I substituted raspberries and added 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.  Now we're talking. This is one quest I can put to rest........now if only I could find the perfect brownie recipe...
Raspberry Cannoli Buckle

Batter:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking dish.  Cream butter with sugar.  Add egg and beat well.  Stir in ricotta cheese and flavorings.  Sift flour with baking powder and salt.  Add to creamed butter mixture alternately with milk.  Do not over beat.  Gently fold in raspberries.

To make topping, place all ingredients in a medium bowl and then smash it together with your fingers, pressing the pieces of butter into the dry ingredients until you have a crumbly mixture.  

Spread batter in prepared pan and sprinkle topping evenly over.  Bake approximately 45 minutes.  Serve warm with creme fraiche, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

14 comments:

Tickled Red said...

This looks absolutely amazing!! I am so glad that I found your blog :)

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Thank you so much! I'm glad you did, too :-) Hope you get a chance to make this, and let me know how you like it!
Regards,
~M

aleahy said...

Hi Margaret!
Joy emailed me info about your blog-and if there is one thing I love to do (when not in school, or working etc...) is cook! I love your recipes and can't wait to try them! keep up the good work! Is there a way to add this to my google reader?

Anonymous said...

adding it to reader is easy -- go to your reader -- click add subscription and paste in the address -- http://theirishmother.blogspot.com/

and you'll be good.

Margs -
very interesting read so far

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Thanks "Anonymous" (Oooh, intriguing) for the tech tip!

Alisa, Hi - nice to hear from you! Thanks for the kind words, and I hope you get a chance to try a few of the recipes!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous is much better to be on the net. I don't need people knowing where I am afterall. Have lots of useless tech tips!

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Haha! That's just fine.

Sheila Fretz said...

This too looks so yummy. Can't wait to make this Buckle too!


Regards,
Mrs. Mix It

Robin said...

My diet won't last reading recipes like this :D

It looks delicious.

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Thanks Robin,
I hope you get a chance to try it!

Couscous & Consciousness said...

This looks beautiful - I have to try this one. Thanks for sharing it.
Sue

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Hi Sue,
Thanks! Hope you get a chance to make it. Thanks for popping by :-).
BTW, everything okay over there? Watching news right now - showing there was an earthquake!
Regards,
Margaret

Liza | @aMusingFoodie said...

This looks wonderful...I'm going to have to try it if I can still get my hands on some good raspberries!

As for brownies - here's a delicious, rich and fudgy recipe I adapted from @lamiavitadolce. The link to her blog recipe is in my post as well:

http://www.amusingfoodie.com/2010/08/fudgy-chocolate-brownies.html

Look forward to following!

Liza
http://www.amusingfoodie.com
Hope this helps your quest!

Mandi said...

Thanks for being friends with me on foodbuzz, you are my first one.

This recipe looks SO good... I love raspberry