I love camping. Every summer I spend as much time in the outdoors as possible. I like backpacking, car camping, and everything in between. I also always like to make great food no matter what type of camping I’m doing. That means that when I’m backpacking, instead of eating Mountain House Granola, I’ve brought my own using this recipe. It also means that when I’m car camping, I always bring my Dutch ovens. This recipe was originally something that I came up with to make in a Dutch oven while camping. In July in the Pacific Northwest, blueberries can be found at U-picks and farmer’s markets everywhere. I end up going out and picking several huge flats of berries every year. I always use some fresh in recipes like this. The rest I flash freeze and enjoy all year. For camping I prep the berry mixture and dry ingredients and place them in plastic baggies. I mix the wet ingredients and place them in a jar. While camping I pour the wet into the dry ingredient baggie, stir it around a bit and pour it on top of the berry mixture in my Dutch Oven. It makes a great dessert or breakfast! Here I’ve made the recipe in the oven because it is also yummy to eat whenever you have fresh (or frozen) berries in the house. This recipe is great with other types of berries as well. I’ve used blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries at different times. When using raspberries and strawberries, I omit the cinnamon. So take this recipe camping and make some great memories! Blueberry Cobbler

1 cup – All-purpose flour (I actually mix 50% All-purpose and 50% cake flour)

1 1/4 cup – Sugar

2 tsp. – Baking powder

1/8 tsp. – Baking soda

1 tsp. – Kosher salt, divided

2 Tbsp. – Butter, chilled, divided

1 Tbsp. – Shortening (or lard), chilled

1/2 cup – Buttermilk, chilled

1 – Egg

1/2 tsp. – Vanilla extract

4 cups – Fresh (or frozen) blueberries

2 Tbsp. – Corn starch

2 tsp. – Ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. – Ground nutmeg

1/2 cup – Brown sugar

1/4 cup – Pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for several minutes. Add 1 Tbsp. butter and the shortening. Cut in the butter and shortening using a pastry cutter or food processor until the dry ingredients look like corn meal. In a large deep backing dish add the berries, corn starch, remaining sugar, remaining salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir well. Chop the remaining butter and stir into the mixture.

In a small bowl lightly whisk the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir lightly, just until incorporated. Pour over the berry mixture. Top with the brown sugar and pecans.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

I recently was walking down the streets in Seattle on a bright summer morning. I had attended an early meeting and had skipped breakfast. Now I had a few minutes break before my next round of meetings and wanted to find something to eat. There were several donut shops nearby but I wanted to find something savory and filling. I stepped into a local bakery right as they were pulling ham and cheese croissants out of the oven. The smell alone had me won over. I ordered one and sat down right there and enjoyed every last bite. Having the ham and cheese baked into the croissant ensured that it was hot, gooey, and delicious. The essence of the ham and cheese filled the entire pastry. I had been craving one ever since and decided that I needed to make some of my own. I had made a large batch of croissant dough previously as part of my Cronut experiment. I used some of it to make a batch. Personally, if I were to choose between a Cronut and a ham and cheddar croissant, I’d choose the latter.

Ham and Cheddar Croissants

1 batch – Croissant dough, chilled

8 oz. – Black Forest Ham, sliced into 6 slices (so a bit thicker than what you usually use for sandwiches)

3 cups – Medium Aged Cheddar, shredded

4 oz. – Cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1 tsp. – Fresh thyme, minced

Black Pepper

1 – Egg

 

Mix the cheddar, cream cheese, thyme, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Separate the cheese mixture into 12 equal balls. Roll the balls into 3 1/2 inch long cylinders. Cut the slices of ham in half and wrap them around the cylinders of cheese. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a large rectangle, 24”x16”. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough in 6 long strips (4”x16”) then in half so that each piece is 4”x8”. Place a ham wrapped cylinder of cheese and the end of each strip of dough and gently but firmly roll the dough strips up, pinching the ends to cover the center filling. Pinch the ends slightly so that they do not unravel.

Place the rolls onto two parchment lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet. Crack the egg into a small bowl or cup and add a couple of Tbsps. of water. Blend thoroughly then brush as an egg wash onto each roll. Place the sheets in a 100 degree oven and proof for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Brush the rolls with egg wash again, then bake for 20 minutes or until a dark golden brown.

Let cool slightly then enjoy!