I am so behind planning my Father’s Day menu!  I was just a lazy bones in Mexico last week and for some reason didn’t really have Father’s Day on the brain, but now here it is, coming up in 5 quick little days.   I have my father coming into town this weekend which is an extra special treat.  Most Father’s Day menus I’ve seen floating on the web all focus on the grill.  If I didn’t know any dads, I would assume from Pinterest that they are all obsessed with huge slabs of grilled steak.  And beer.  And maybe most of them are!  But that is not the way to my husband’s heart or my father’s.  And it’s probably better that way since my husband inherited off-the-charts cholesterol levels and my dad has had his share of arterial plaque.  Oy.  I think I’ll make a fruit dessert!!

Truth be told, my husband loves fruit desserts, especially pies and crisps.  And cobblers and crumbles.  And tarts.  Wink, wink.  In my May classes this year, I taught this absolutely delicious (and pretty clean fruit buckle.)  You have surely heard of the other desserts I mentioned, but most people have no idea what a buckle is.  And neither did I a year ago.  But my life was incomplete without it.

A buckle is more cake-like than crisps and crumbles and cobblers.  In fact, I liken a buckle to a coffee cake but with double or triple the fruit.  Whereas I have seen pictures of buckles with varying amounts of fruit, all buckles have some sort of a streusel or textured topping, which makes the cake looked “buckled.”  I absolutely love fruit desserts because I absolutely love fresh fruit, but also because you can swap different fruit according to the season and make cool combinations of fruits, too.  I never over-sweeten fruit desserts because I like the true fruit flavor to shine through and not be muddled by too much sugar.  The most popular (and best) fruit to use in a buckle are blueberries.  Because the cake contains so much fruit, it can get a bit wet with too many peaches, strawberries or plums.  Blueberries aren’t overly juicy and they’re skins make them a little heartier.  In the recipe I photographed here, I used half blueberries, one quarter raspberries and one quarter blackberries.Continue reading