Fruit Desserts for the Royal Family

So last week I made a trip home to spend some time with my family! (I guess this blog makes them the royal family). The king had to work, so he came up for the weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It involved a B&B, wine tasting, and a lot of delicious food. He flew home on Sunday night and left me in the care of the royal family.

My big request for eating with the royal family for the week is that we get to enjoy many fruit desserts-something the king does not approve of. If it doesn't incorporate chocolate or ice-cream, then it is not for him.

We went to the berry farm and picked up some fresh strawberries, so we got to indulge in these little beauties:

Later in the week, the queen mother, myself, and my sister hit up the public market in our town. It is endless row stalls filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. We strolled past all of the stalls first to check for the best prices and the best produce. Turns out it is all very similarly priced and everything looked amazing. The queen mother picked up some lemons, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, mushrooms, oranges, basil, mint, olives, and cheese. And a Creeping Charlie plant that looks like this for my sister:

Long story short, I had a ton of fruit to work with. So I made my family a pitcher of that awesome sangria (and I actually remembered to take some pictures of it!):

And then I made these amazing Raspberry Crumb Bars...beautiful and delicious:

Raspberry Crumb Bars 

•(inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s recipe)

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 3 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 additional teaspoons flour

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Line 9x13 inch pan with foil (for easy cleanup) and grease it.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly.

4. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan.

5. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, the 4 teaspoons of flour and lemon juice. Gently mix in the raspberries.

6. Sprinkle the raspberry mixture evenly over the crust.

7. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

8. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

9. Enjoy!

P.S.  I realize there is still a lot of space between some of the pictures and text, but I give up : )

P.P.S.  I discovered the app "Instagram" on my phone this week, which is why these pictures look so awesome.