By Memorial Day weekend. The third year of the lake tradition with Tyler and it has graduated from something we started doing to something we have always done, which is the right trajectory for a tradition. I made the same things as the first year: fried chicken, deviled eggs, the watermelon and cucumber salad, the cold brew coffee in a travel bottle. He brought Debbie's corn pudding as a contribution, which is now also part of the tradition and which I am entirely in favor of.
On the way home we talked about the rehearsal dinner. Debbie has a plan that involves approximately eleven dishes and the whole Clarke extended family and Tyler's aunt from Birmingham who makes a sweet potato casserole that Tyler describes as transformative. I am looking forward to every bit of it. I told Tyler that going into this marriage I was also going into a family that feeds people to say what they cannot say otherwise. He said: you already knew how to speak that language. I said: I learned it from someone who did it first. He said: and now you are going to belong to two families who speak it. I said: three, if you count the daycare. He laughed. He said: I count the daycare.
After the fried chicken and the corn pudding and the drive home full of rehearsal dinner plans, I wanted to end the weekend with something sweet that felt like all of it at once — abundant, a little golden around the edges, the kind of thing you bring to a table and people just reach for it. A mixed berry buckle is exactly that. It doesn’t ask anything of you except that you show up with good fruit and people you love to share it with, and going into a marriage where two families speak the language of feeding people, that felt exactly right.
Mixed Berry Buckle
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 9
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 cups mixed fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
- 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (for streusel)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan and set aside.
- Make the streusel topping. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the cinnamon. Cut in the cold butter pieces with a fork or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator.
- Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
- Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Combine batter. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir just until combined — do not overmix.
- Add berries. Gently fold in 1 1/2 cups of the mixed berries, reserving 1/2 cup for the top.
- Assemble. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Scatter the reserved berries over the top, then sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over everything.
- Bake. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the topping is golden brown. Let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 180mg