This post is long overdue, because I promised it back during my Meatless Monday: Memorial Day Edition post back in May! I was planning to write it yesterday, but my Fourth of July Reflections post ended up taking longer to write than I had planned. So it’s kind of for July 4th itself, but since the federal holiday is tomorrow, perhaps it can inspire you to make something special then.
Full disclosure: I did NOT make the beautiful red, white, and blue croissant pictured above. It is one of the delicious and unusual croissants made by Tsuru Sweets and Coffee, a coffee shop in nearby Fuquay Varina that is a recent, and EXTREMELY POPULAR, vendor at the Cary Downtown Farmers Market. It contains a vanilla cream inside the red, white/brown, and blue flaky dough. We haven’t had any of it yet, but we have consumed too many goodies from them since they started coming to the Farmers Market and every one of them has been DELICIOUS. There are some things that I’m just never going to try making myself, and croissants are one of them…especially since we have such a variety of them now available at the Market. Thanks, Tsuru!
But I did experiment with a red, white, and blue bread for Memorial Day. For dessert, I made a Strawberry and Blueberry Focaccia! I had sweet juicy organic strawberries from Meadowhawk Farms and similar blueberries from Altar Creek Farm, both from the Farmers Market, of course. I just sprinkled them on top of a regular focaccia dough I made and cooked them in the iron skillet.
This was definitely not a sweet, sweet dessert. But we enjoyed the sweet juice of the berries against the yeasty, chewy, somewhat salty dough of the focaccia.
Yesterday, we had a friend over for a Fourth of July brunch, and I tried a different variation. This time, I included chopped strawberries (the remnants of the season) and blueberries into cornbread.
My son like the chewier focaccia and the contrast between fruits and the salty dough, but I think I prefer the crumbly and sweet cornbread with its summery fruit.
There is also this pie by the very talented Tsuru vendors:
So just some suggestions about ways you can use seasonal fruit to make holiday-colored treats.
BlissFullU 