Is it summer yet?  Seriously… can we just go ahead and kick this season off a little early?  

I’m in… you should totally join me.  

What does it mean to kick summer off a little early?  Well, here’s a list of things I’m going to get rollin’… like toot sweet.  

Summertime means:

Consuming abnormal amounts of pink wine.  Yea… that’s totally going to happen.

Driving around town with all of the windows all the way down.  Hair be damned. 

Summer soundtrack… this one comes with time.  So far I’m thinking a little Kanye and little Jay-Z and a smattering of  Fleetwood Mac.  I know… nuts-o. 

How often will I be in a bikini?  Nope… not often at all.  How often will I not be in a bikini.  Most of the summer.  Believe that.  

Strawberry Blackberry Shortcakes.  Kickin’ off early summer right on time.  Go and do. 

Maybe these pictures are a little dark.  Maybe these pictures are a little blurry.  Maybe I didn’t have a lot of pictures to choose from.  Maybe I just wanted to snap away as fast as I could so that I could shovel this shortcake into my mouth as soon as possible.  Maybe…. definitely.  

Here’s what we’re dealing with:  sweet and tender vanilla biscuits, fresh summer berries and berry juice, topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream.  Simple.  Divine.

Just go ahead and quit you job and make shortcakes all day.  

Dang… I’m full of such great advice.  

Strawberry Blackberry Shortcake

     makes 6 servings

For the berry mixture:  

1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

1 large handful fresh blackberries, cut in half

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the whipped cream:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the biscuit mixture:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, plus more for brushing the tops before baking

about 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar to sprinkle before baking

Slice the strawberries and blackberries and place in a medium sized bowl.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Stir.  Cover and place in the fridge to macerate for at least 2 hours.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using simple a bowl and whisk, whip the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together until soft peaks form.  Cover place in the fridge for later.  

Now let’s make the biscuits!  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  In a small bowl whisk together the egg, vanilla extract and heavy cream.  Cut the cold butter into small pieces and, using your fingers, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture.  Work quickly, the butter and flour mixture will look like coarse crumbs.  

Make a well in the center of the butter and flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients.  Mix just until the dough comes together.  Dump out onto a clean, floured surface and bring it together with your hands.  Knead once or twice then pat the dough out into a rectangle roughly 7-inches long, 4 -inches tall and 1-inch thick.  Cut the dough into six equal pieces.  

Place the shortcakes onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush the tops of each shortcake with a bit of cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until nicely browned.  

Remove from the oven.  Cool completely.  

To assemble, cut the shortcakes in half, top with a few spoonfuls of berries and juice, whipped cream and the biscuit top.  Dang good.  

Can I let you in on a little something?

I don’t live in the cool Los Angeles neighborhood that all my friends live in…

I have more matching spatulas than I do matching bath towels.  

I still can’t seem to commit to buying myself a couch.  

My bedroom bookcase seems to be made up of one part books and three parts dust.  

I tell you all of this to let you in on the fact that I’ve been feeling domestically restless these days.  The kind of restless that has had me daydreaming about moving into a downtown loft that I can’t afford.  The kind of restless that has had me daydreaming about decorating a downtown loft that I can’t afford with expensive furniture that I also can’t afford.  

Not being able to afford your daydreams?  Torture and motivation.  Together.   

This weekend I decided… get this… that it’s all ok! 

I took to my kitchen with my rubber gloves, bleach spray and a few rags and I scrubbed and organized like I’ve never done before.  Yes, it’s just the kitchen.  No, I couldn’t get to my whole apartment.  But the scrubbing and organizing helped me remember that my humble little apartment, in the uncool part of town, is pretty darn sweet.  I don’t need the fancy loft and the expensive furniture.  I just need to make my little spot in the world a little brighter… with bleach.  

And the pancakes this weekend helped too.  Tremendous.

I can’t seem to leave well enough alone when it comes to pancakes. 

Berries.  Meyer lemon zest.  Buttermilk. Sweetened Meyer lemon mascarpone.  Delicious breakfast treat.

Berry Meyer Lemon Pancakes

     8-10 pancakes, enough for two

     Print this Recipe!

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

zest of 1 Meyer lemon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries (thawed and drained berries work well too!)

oil or butter for cooking

In a small bowl rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar until pale yellow and fragrant.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and butter.  Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir until just combined.  The batter may be a bit lumpy.  That’s better than overmixing the batter.  Fold in the berries with a few strokes.  Not much stirring necessary.  

Heat a griddle pan or a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of oil or a dab of butter and heat through.  Add 2 heaping tablespoons of batter to the pan.  Heat until bubbles form and start to pop.  Carefully flip over and cook through.   Place cooked pancakes on an oven proof plate and let rest in a 200 degree F oven while you fry the rest of the pancakes.  

Top pancakes with maple syrup or mascarpone sweetened with a dash of powdered sugar and the juice of one Meyer lemon.

There are three things I want you to take away from this post.  No foolin’ around… I’ll get straight to the point.

One.  You’ll want to stop by tomorrow if you think you might like to be one of those people that attends my (holy heck yes!) summer party.  It’s in August.  It’s for real.

Two.  You know that part of the pedicure when the lady at your feet goes to it with a pumice scrub?  It’s at that point that I have to try with every ounce of who I am, not not not to kick her in the face.  I’m ticklish.  Extremely.  Now you know.

Three.  These blueberry muffins are (yes) perfect.  Straight forward.  Simple.  Summer.  One whole hell of a lot better than the stale coffee shop version… perfect. How often do I say something is perfect?  Not often.  Fact.

Browned Butter Fresh Blueberry Muffins

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

makes 12 glorious muffins

Print this Recipe!

7 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

For the Topping

3 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin pan with paper or foil liners

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Keep an eye on the butter.  Melt and cook down the butter until little brown bits appear in the pan.  The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly after that.  Keep a close eye.  Remove from heat.

Whisk milk, egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.  Add the brown butter and stir to combine.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl  Add milk and butter mixture all at one and stir gently to combine.  Gently but thoroughly fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.

To make the topping combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over the batter in the cups.

Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.  Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes then remove from the pan.  Serve warm or at room temperature.