HuckleBerry Heaven

Last week Monday we escaped the city and hiked our favorite trails in “Huckleberry” Heaven. The fall day could not have been more perfect – crisp in the shadows, warm in the sun and all around peaceful. We wanted to stretch our legs and pick our favorite little berry.   

Sadly it seems that a bear or two might’ve come through before our hike, because it was slim pickings.  It took us a while, but we did find enough to satisfy our cravings and fill a couple of water bottles full for some homemade treats.

Besides snaking on the tart little fruit or sprinkling it over vanilla ice-cream with chocolate syrup, I made a Huckleberry cheesecake and Huckleberry swirl ice-cream. The first turned out fabolous so the recipe follows, the second still needs tweeking - tasted more like frozen yogurt than ice-cream.

Huckleberry CheeseCake

Nut crust

Blend ¾ cup Nuts (I used Walnuts and Hazelnuts) with 2 T of butter til just combined. Add ½ c of Almond meal.

Spread in springform pan and brown crust (I use my toaster oven on the toast setting).

Chocolate Ganache

Melt 2oz of chocolate in 2oz of cream. Pour over nut crust and harden 30 mins in fridge.

Huckleberry Cheese

1 ½lbs cream cheese

1tsp Vanilla

¾c Sugar

2tsp starch (Tapioca)

2-4oz of white chocolate

2-4oz of cream

1 ½ c fresh Huckleberries, rinsed & picked through

Blend cream cheese, vanilla, sugar & starch until creamy. Melt the white chocolate in the cream (use equal amounts) and add to cream cheese mix. Add Huckleberries and gently fold in. Pour over prepped crust and bake for 65 mins on 325F.  DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR!

Let cool on counter for 1 hour, then chill for at least another 2 hours.

Optional topping: more chocolate ganache.

Enjoy.