Open Harvest Recipes

Classic Mixed Berry Compote

By Doug Roese, Natural Foods Chef

You can choose your favorite berries for this dessert, and spoon over organic vanilla ice cream (and a base of thin pound cake, if desired) for a wonderfully simple and elegant summer dessert Makes 6-8 servings.

• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup Gran Marnier or other cognac, or sherry
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups (1 1/2 pints) mixed berries (try sliced strawberries with whole blueberries and blackberries)
• 2 to 3 pints organic vanilla ice cream

In stainless saucepan, boil water, liquor, sugar and lemon juice, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 1/2 cup and syrupy. Gently stir in berries, then transfer to bowl to cool. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Drunken Fly Pudding

Here's a treat for the big ghouls, from the editor

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 9-10 slices of Open Harvest raisin bread
• 2 cups milk 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup sugar or brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Butter 1-1/2 quart baking dish and a lid. Butter bread, slice, arrange in baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients, pour over bread. Press lid down over bread to submerge, add weight, if needed. Let sit for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 325 degrees and make Flies (above) and Hard Sauce (below). Remove weight from lid. Bake 20 minutes with lid. Remove lid, bake 20 minutes more. Cool 20 minutes. Pour more Jack Daniels over pudding if desired.

Hard Sauce

• 2 Tablespoon butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Shot Jack Daniels whiskey

Combine ingredients. Pour sauce over the pudding. Place Flies on top. Heeheehee!<

Missy's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Mix Dry:
• 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• Mix or Shake in Jar and Let Sit:
• 3 tsp. egg replacer
• 4 Tbsp water
• Blend Wet:
• 1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance soy margarine
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar**
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

**one part molasses to 7 parts unrefined turbinado or florida crystals sugar

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add 1 - 2 cups Chocolate Chips (to taste) Shape into dough balls (you may wish to flatten dough balls slightly) and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Yields about 2 dozen small cookies.

Randy's Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake

By Randolph Messman, Cashier.

• 1/2 cup Scharffenberger dark ganache chocolate sauce
• 20 Newman-O Ginger Sandwich cookies
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup crystallized ginger
• 3 Tablespoons ginger juice
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/2 pounds Neufchatel cheese
• 6 eggs

Place jar of Scharfenberger sauce in a small sauce pan in an inch of water over medium heat to melt sauce. In a food processor, process ginger cookies and butter until fine. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. Press cookie-butter mixture firmly into pan. Bake 7 minutes at 400°. Remove and reduce temperature to 375°. Combine crystallized ginger, ginger juice, and sugar in food processor. Process into small pieces. Divide Neufchatel into 5 pieces and process, adding one piece at a time, alternating with eggs. Add ginger mixture. Process 10 seconds. Pour over crust in pan. Drop 6-8 spoonfuls of chocolate sauce into batter. Gently swirl with a knife. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn off oven. Prop oven door open. Remove cake when cool. Refrigerate. Serves 16.

Rhubarb Butter Crunch

From co-op member-owner Carla McCullough

You know Spring is here in all its glory when you pull this bubbling dish from the oven.

• 6 cups diced rhubarb
• 1 cup turbinado sugar (or less)
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup brown sugar (or less)
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine rhubarb, turbinado sugar, and 3 Tablespoons flour. Gently press into greased 9x13 inch pan. Mix remaining ingredients together until stiff and crumbly. Press on top of rhubarb mixture. Bake for 40 minutes until lightly browned and bubbly. Cool slightly. It is even better with vanilla ice cream.

Silky Cranberry Vanilla Pudding

From Lyndsay Griffith, Retail Manager.

• 1 packet of Mori Nu Mates vanilla low-fat pudding mix
• 1 box of Mori Nu firm silken tofu
• 2-4 teaspoons of milk or soymilk
• 3/4 can of organic whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of organic vanilla extract

Put the tofu by itself in a blender, cover, and blend until creamy. Add the vanilla pudding packet and milk or soymilk to the tofu and blend together until creamy. Add the cranberry sauce and vanilla. Blend ingredients together. Pour into single serving dishes. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours for best results.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Blueberries

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Grease and lightly flour a 9" bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in sour cream and vanilla.

Combine flour and baking powder together, stir it into the batter and gently fold in the blueberries (don't add liquid from thawed berries).

In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Fill the bundt pan with half the batter, sprinkle in half the pecan mix, add remaining batter and top with remaining pecan mix. Use a knife or fork to swirl the pecan mix into the cake batter. Bake 60 minutes or until a knife blade inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cake when cooled. Optional: dust with powdered sugar when cool.

Quark Fruit Tart

Recipe courtesy of Branched Oak Farm

• 4-6 oz Quark for topping
• favorite fruits, drained (too much juice will make it too runny)
• variation: 2-3 oz melted chocolate

• crust:
• 1/2 C coconut oil*
• 1/2 C butter
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 T milk
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t vanilla
• dash salt

Beat butter and coconut oil with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the egg, sugar, milk, baking powder, vanilla, and salt. Beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Pour crumbles into springform pan and press into a crust with the edges slightly higher than the middle. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-12 minutes (this depends on the size of the springform) until done. Let cool. Spread the Quark on the cooled crust and decorate with fruit.Berries are great but anything in season works.

Variation: melt 2-3 oz chocolate and then mix in with the Quark. Ratios depend on preferences.

* Can substitute with butter. It's a bit crumblier but still works.