Individual Raspberry-Pistachio Buckles

With the abundance of raspberries in my garden I am happy to use this recipe which calls for quite a bunch of them, an advantage to me. Another is that the little cakes can be frozen and pulled out to be freshly baked later. One more is that you can mix this in your food processor after you've chopped the nuts.

This recipe can take substitutes for the berries and for the nuts. Cook's Illustrated offers a variation with blackberries and walnuts. See note below.

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Individual Raspberry-Pistachio Buckles

Source: cooksillustrated.com
Serves 8

1/2 c pistachios
4 T unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1/4 teas salt
1/3 c heavy cream
2 large eggs
1 teas vanilla extract
3/4 c unbleached flour (I subbed 1/4 c with whole white-wheat flour)
1/2 teas baking powder
3 c (about 1 pound) fresh raspberries, frozen are not recommended--too much liquid

Lightly coat eight 6-oz ramekins with butter or vegetable oil spray and place on a baking sheet. Toast 1/4 c of the nuts in a small skillet until lightly toasted and aromatic. Coarsely chop the remaining nuts and set aside.

Process the toasted pistachios, butter, sugar, and salt in the food processor until finely ground, 10-15 seconds. With the machine running, add the cream, eggs, and vanilla through the feed tube and continue to process until smooth, about 5 seconds. Add the flour and baking powder and pulse until just incorporated, about 5 pulses.

Transfer the batter to a large bowl and fold in the raspberries. Spoon the batter into the ramekins and sprinkle the top of each cobbler with the remaining nuts.

Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes and serve after resting about 5 minutes. These are also good at room temperature.

If you wish to refrigerate (for up to 3 days) or freeze (for up to 1 month), wrap each ramekin tightly in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. If these are frozen, let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. An additional 5 minutes of baking may be necessary.

Note: If you sub blackberries, you may use frozen as long as you pat them dry after thawing them. Use equal amounts of subbed berries or nuts. I haven't tried the blackberries but have used walnuts. I prefer pistachios because they make the cake a pretty shade of speckled yellow. But walnuts are easier to find.