Marionberries - Marionberry Cake

Today I was given two two pint baskets of beautiful ripe marionberries! Marionberries are native to Oregon. They were created at the Oregon State University as a cross breed from cross-pollinating two different kinds of caneberries (the chehalem blackberry and olallie). I froze one pint by rinsing them and letting them freeze flat on a cooky tray before placing them in a bag. The rest I made into a marionberry cake. The recipe was called Marionberry cheesecake but it's more like a cross between a scone and a cake - delicious! I followed the recipe but altered it slightly. I mixed together 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/3 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/3 cup soft butter, 2 egg whites, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and mixed it all together until well blended (I mixed by hand)Then I pushed it flat in a sprayed pie plate and placed a pint of marionberries on top. Baked in 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes until cooked through and edges just slightly brown. This would be great served with vanilla ice cream on top! See original recipe here. http://www.gingerich.com/recipes/marion/01cheesecake.htm

Blueberries - Blueberry Muffins

With the U-pick Blueberries I got from Bear's Berries, I froze most of them for later use. I also threw some in the dehydrator since I love dried berries. Today I made some blueberry muffins using better homes & gardens muffin recipe http://www.bhg.com/recipe/sweet-rolls/muffins/ since it is one of the easiest around. Instead of lemon peel I threw in about a tsp. of lemon juice. I like adding poppyseeds as well if I have them on hand. You can see these look a little skimpy on the berries - my blueberries are medium sized to large so next time I will add more than just a cup, smaller berries go around a lot more!

So yummy having blueberries on my breakfast cereal! As you can see, I had blueberries in every bite this morning.