Baking with foraged blackberries
Every Autumn the hedgerows around where we live are full of juicy blackberries. I used to pick them with my mum when I was a kid and she’d put them in crumbles – yum!
Since Tin Box Tot was born I’ve been a bit of a foraging failure. I’ve noticed the blackberries coming into season when we’re out on walks with Tin Box Dog but have always forgotten to bring a box carry them. Or I’m so flustered trying to coordinate a pushchair, toddler and excitable Labrador Retriever that I trundle on by.
Last weekend, during a spur of the moment walk everything came together. The Tot was enjoying puddle jumping in her new wellington boots, the dog was coming back when called and the baby was preoccupied looking at the leaves on the trees.
And there they were: blackberries.
As usual I didn’t have a box with me but I did have a spare nappy/doggy bag. We began to forage.
The Tot was really into it; looking for berries, asking to be picked up to reach the fat ones high in the bushes and getting absolutely covered in juice. We came away with a small harvest of about 100g.
When we got home we washed the berries (and removed plenty of red ones that the Tot had also enthusiastically pulled off the bushes). They then went in the fridge until the next day the Tot was home from nursery.
Before I go any further, apologies for the state of my kitchen. Housework is not one of my virtues!
It was raining outside so perfect conditions for an afternoon of baking. I’d decided I couldn’t top either my mum or Mr Tin Box’s crumbles, so we found a recipe for blackberry muffins.
The Tot loves baking. We started doing little baking projects together before she turned two. At that time things would get very messy if I left her with a spoon and bowl of ingredients so I did the majority of the mixing. I’m a bit OCD about food being wasted.
Now I can talk the Tot through the ingredients we need and pass them to her to put in the bowl. She even did quite a good job of cracking the eggs. We took it in turns to blend the ingredients together and spoon them into our silicon muffin cases. I love these cases as they are much more robust than paper ones when you are baking with a toddler whose aim is a bit off.
We popped the batter into the oven for 25 minutes and the took the dog on another walk while our muffins cooled. They were a lovely treat when we returned.
Lots of blogging families have been out blackberry picking in the past few weeks, which reminded me about how rubbish I had been not doing any. I found their foraging adventures on the County Kids and Whatever the Weather blog link ups. Check these out for more outdoor fun inspiration.
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That's a shame but I think I would enjoy the wild flowers too! 🙂
I'm liking your style. Crumble is still my favourite thing to do with blackberries 🙂
Fantastic! Enjoy x
Jam is a great idea too! Someone tweeted me a picture of there's and it looked amazing. Was it you? X
They were really tasty 🙂
I hope you've been able to get out foraging. Our blackberries in Hampshire have pretty much finished now 🙁 x
Yes, do! It's great fun, especially if you get to make something tasty with your bounty afterwards 🙂
I love crumble and don't blame you at all 🙂 x
How wonderful!! Unfortunately, few edible things grow wild in my part of Texas (probably mostly because of the manicured lawns everywhere), but we do get stupendous wildflowers. Thanks for linking with #TwinklyTuesday.
nothing better than blackberry picking. There are lots of blackberry bushes on our road so we have been out lots picking them. Must have made 7/8 crumbles this year with them 🙂
#whatevertheweather
Mmmmm blackberry muffins sound delicious!! I've never thought about using them in anything other than crumbles. There are so many about now you've inspired me to head back out and get some more! 😀 Thank you for linking this post to #whatevertheweather x
These look yummy, I had plans to make muffins with ours and write a post….its still in draft lol 🙂 and we ended up with blackberry jam before they went over. Such a great thing to do with kids – great photos too xx #TwinklyTuesday
Yum, these look fabulous! I had never thought of baking them into muffins or cakes or something, I'm stuck in the crumble rut! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂 Ray xx #twinklytuesday
Yummo these look fantastic
#whatevertheweather
The muffins look delicious! Our blackberries up here are just turning black this week, so we can finally start foraging. We picked a few on the way home on our walk today, but the majority are still red, we may have to stop by another route soon to collect more. I love foraging and blackberries are so versatile!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
What a lovely idea! We're going to have to raid our hedgerows now too! #whatevertheweather #twinklytuesday #Letkidsbekids
We love blackberry foraging and there are loads near us so we have done about 4 blackberry crumbles so far this year! Never thought of muffins though and they look yum so will have to branch out! Xx
It the eating of cake that spurred me on 😉
I hope you remembered your container and had a yummy time!
Thanks you – you are very generous re our kitchen. I do see some lovely ones on other peoples blogs and have quite bad kitchen/house/garden envy. Crumble is amazing. I love it after a roast dinner. Yum!
I'd love to have blackberries in our garden. How convenient! Enjoy!
Ha! TBT was covered in juice from eating just a few. I managed to wrestle the rest off her. However, she has insisted on eating the rest that we have picked over the past few days 🙂
It certainly was. TBT is happy any time we bake to be fair 🙂
I'll definitely be doing them again 🙂
Blackberry foraging is great, but like you I've been slack on this front. I have been getting jealous of reading everyone else's posts about it. It looks like you managed to have a fab time and got to eat some delicious muffins.
Thanks of linking #letKidsBeKids
Oh yum, they look good. Think I might do this with my 3 1/2 year old today if I can remember to take a container on the way back from nursery. #twinklytuesday
Such a treat to be able to go out for a walk and pick berries! city kids don't know what they're missing! Your kitchen looks just fine from the angle you took the photo. 😉 Muffins sound great but CRUMBLE! oh my I love crumble and with blackberries it would be the death of me. yum. #twinklytuesdays
Oooooh that's a brilliant idea! We have loads of berries along the bottom of our new garden so muffins sound like a nice easy way to make use of them #twinklytuesday
Ooh they look yummy! We've done a bit of blackberry picking this year but not many have made it home for baking! My three-year-old loves them 😉 #Countrykids
Jenni
One of my favourite activities is blackberry picking. That looks like a happy face with the muffins 🙂
Yum, we do a lot of blackberry muffins during this season. Mich x
Cobbler sounds fab too. I love the versatility of fruit in baked desserts 🙂
She did really enjoy it. Sadly I think that they are just about to turn. We might get some more this week but it's going to be our last chance 🙁
They were really tasty!
It was worth it. I used to love apple picking when I was a kid too. They always taste so much better straight off the tree 🙂
We do this here on the farm as part of an activity hour treat, there's nothing nicer than home baked cakes with freshly picked berries. Those blackberries are calling for being picked so you definitely made the right decision on collecting some. Tin Box Tot looks like she's having a great time picking all the blackberries. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
We love foraging, especially for blackberries! I've not made muffins with them before though so might just try that this year!! #countrykids
Yum. Those sound delicious – I am never very good at foraging but blackberry muffins would tempt me to try!