DEAR ABBY: Last week, I visited my Aunt Bess in Mississippi. She is a great cook and served a delicious trifle to us and the 30 or so relatives who came for the family reunion. Although the dessert she presented was wonderful, I was disappointed she hadn't served the wonderful fresh fruit dessert she served last summer when my children and I visited. I told her how much we had enjoyed the fruit dessert and asked her for the recipe. Sadly, she said she no longer had it. She said she had loaned her Dear Abby Cookbooklet to a friend who had subsequently lost it.
Abby, does a fresh fruit dessert ring a bell with you? If you give me the recipe, I'll send her a copy -- or better yet, how can I get your cookbooklet? I'm sure with a recipe that good, your cookbooklet must have others that are also outstanding. -- TRICIA IN TAMPA, FLA.
DEAR TRICIA: As a matter of fact, it does ring a bell. That dessert has always been a favorite summer taste-treat in my family. It's called Summer Surprise Dessert and is extremely easy to make.
My cookbooklet set can be ordered by sending a business-size, self-addressed, stamped (57 cents) envelope, plus check or money order for $10 (U.S. funds only) to: Dear Abby Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included.)
Fruit is plentiful in the markets now, so I'll go ahead and give you the recipe for the Summer Surprise Dessert, and since you've made my mouth water, I may make one for myself this weekend.
SUMMER SURPRISE DESSERT
1 cup fresh seedless grapes, halved
1 cup fresh whole blueberries
1 cup fresh strawberries, halved
1 cup fresh peaches, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups dairy sour cream
In shallow 9-by-12-inch glass dish, combine all fruit and mix well. Sprinkle brown sugar over the fruit. Top with sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 3 to 4 hours or overnight. The sour cream will seep through the brown sugar to the fruit.
To serve, gently stir the fruit; spoon into sherbet glasses.
TIP: Any combination of fruits may be used: fresh plums, kiwi, raspberries, pitted bing cherries, etc. However, FRESH peaches, FRESH grapes and FRESH blueberries are a necessity. Frozen or canned fruits are NOT recommended.