July | 2023 | Is this a keeper?

Lamingtons.

No one in my tasting group had ever heard of these. I love that you can learn things even through baking!

These cubes of cake covered in chocolate and coated with unsweetened coconut are a national treasure in Australia…quite literally! They have their own day of celebration…National Lamington Day is July 21!

We felt so special to be able to try out this treat!

You begin by making a génoise, whole egg, sponge cake, preserving the volume by having a light hand in the folding, which can be hard to do. The secret to the dessert is to leave the cake out overnight to slightly stale the cake so it will be ready for its chocolate coating.

Next day, the cake is cut down into squares…I made mine more bite-size for ease of eating, but also to have more to share. The chocolate coating is neither a frosting nor an icing but more of a sauce that seeps into the cake slightly to create a soft outer layer.

For the sauce, you mixed together..a little butter, water, confectionery sugar, and cocoa and then get ready for dipping. It is best to have a little station set up for the assembly line….dipped in chocolate, set a minute, dip in coconut and rest for an hour.

I used my handy new containers to deliver the goodies and I don’t know what was more of a hit…the Lamingtons or the box. 😂

I think everyone was excited to try these out and experience an Australian treat! I am not a fan of coconut, but those that are, thought they were really good! I made a couple with sprinkles for those of us that don’t like coconut and they were pretty good too.

This one is a keeper!

It is always berry season for us… living in Southern California, we eat them daily all year long. However, making a berry pie does seem to scream summer-time to me.

This was an easy and delicious pie to make…everyone LOVED it. It is rather simple really, relying on the sweetness of the fruit…and a lot of fruit there is!

You start with making our All-Butter pie dough, which we have used before…and loved by all. One half of the dough is rolled and fitted in the bottom of the pie plate, the other rolled and saved for on top.

The filling consists of fruit…lots of berries: 4 cups of blueberries, 2 cups of blackberries, and 1 cup of raspberries…a little bit of sugar, flour for thickening and some lemon juice. That is it.

You start by using half the blueberries, sugar, and a little water to cook down and make a jam. Once getting the right consistency, you add the rest of the berries, stirring to get everything coated with the blueberry jam. This is piled into the pie plate and covered with the second crust you have reserved. Slits and a circle are cut to release steam…and the bubbling berry juice.

Dorie tells us in the into, “it only has enough flour to thicken it-the slices of the pie hold together, but there’s still runaway juice, which is a hallmark of a good homemade pie”.

I think the pie was a success…both in the runaway juice and the way it was loved by all. 😍. I was encouraged by all my tasters that they would like me to make this one again haha.

This one is a keeper!