Blackberry party

Last weekend was another rather successful weekend in terms of berry picking: we managed to pick 1.6kg of blackberries! I kid you not!!! After picking lots the previous weekend, I just couldn't resist - their fragance is simply exquisite!!! And Boyfriend had found an interesting recipe which he was dying to try out: blackberry brandy. So here it goes! Take 1kg of blackberries (clean of course!) and place in a large glass container (I used a demijohn found in Wilkinson's):

Add 500g of caster sugar,

Add 1L of brandy (not the cheap stuff, the aim is to drink this!),

And there you go! Easy peasy!!!

Finish off by giving it a good swirl.

The plan is to give it a good swirl every few days to start with, then once every two weeks I think. Might have to put it in my diary to make sure I don't forget! Also have to store it in a cool dry place. And hopefully, fingers crossed, it'll taste really nice and we'll be able to bottle it in small bottles and give some out at Christmas! [I reckon we could add another litre of brandy in there, there's plenty of fruit to flavour more so we just need to get some more at the supermarket - so if you try this, get 2 litres to start with].

You might be right to point out that we collected 1.6kg, not 1kg as used in the above concoction. Well rest assured I put the rest to good use! I'm planning to make a blackberry and apple crumble later on in the week (with apples found at the weekend too!),

but even better, some I made some blackberry icecream on Sunday night!! I don't have an icecream maker because there's simply not enough space in the kitchen, but I've managed fine without it to be honest. I've got a fool proof recipe that works everytime:

1. 
   
   whisk some double cream (a large pot of 600ml is good) until you get soft peaks
   
   
   
2. 
   
   add in a couple of heaped tablespoons of icing sugar (add more later if it's not sweet enough - remember, it should almost taste too sweet at this point, as it will taste less so once frozen)
   
   
   
3. 
   
   mix in whatever it is you fancy (mashed bananas, some chocolate chips and fudge pieces, blackberries in my case this time)
   
   
   
4. 
   
   put in a tupperware in the freezer, mash with a fork after an hour and then again an hour later
   
   
   
5. 
   
   enjoy the next day and try not to eat the whole thing at once!!!
   
   
   

Happy Tuesday all! xx