Blueberries!!!

I really wish I could find a place fairly local that had "Pick Your own" blueberries for great prices. That is one of the few things I miss about Vermont. They had a PYO 10 minutes form my house that was 1.50 a pound. With that in my mind I went web surfing. The cheapest I found was 2.75!!!!!!! And that was if you got more then 20 pounds. Ok, I have picked berries for 2 hours before with one other adult - we netted 6. Um, seriously, who has time to pick that many berries without keeling over?

I got a great deal at the grocery store the last 2 weeks. Too bad they limited how many you could buy without a million trips to the grocery!

So far I have made Blueberry Buckle (recipe below), plan to freeze some for winter muffins and smoothies, and I want to make blueberry jam.

So, blueberry buckle. Can I just say YUM????!!!!


Blueberry Buckle, taken from Blue Ribbon Recipes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp. (I use salted and skip the salt below)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (not me)
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups blueberries - um no, try 4 cups!!! Less is pointless

Preheat oven to 375. Grease/Spray a 13 x 9 baking pan. IF YOU USE THE LEMON SAUCE PART OF THE RECIPE DO NOT USE A GLASS BAKING DISH!!!! It cannot handle being under the broiler.
In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and milk and beat well. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add to butter mixture and stir (I used my stand mixer on a lower speed) and stir to combine. Fold in blueberries (Do NOT use a mixer, use a spoon or spatula unless you want very blue batter and very little juicy berries.)

Next, make the topping and press over top of batter.

Topping:
Combine the following ingredients until crumbly. (Mine ended up gooey but still worked)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace or nutmeg (I skipped)

Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out cleanly. I usually set the time for 15 less minutes and check them. Generally it takes 10 minutes less in my oven but this one took the whole 45 minutes and then some.

They have a sauce they put on top but my husband isn't always huge into lemony things so I did something else. Their recipe for lemon sauce -

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 eggs beaten
Grated zest and juice from 1 large lemon

Preheat broiler. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar, water, and eggs. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and zest. Pour as much of the lemon sauce as possible over the baked cake. Broil until bubbly and golden. Serve with remaining sauce.

As I said, I skipped the lemon sauce. Instead I made honey orange whipped cream.

I poured heavy whipping cream in a bowl, drizzled in a teaspoon of honey and then squeezed approximately 1/4 of an orange's juice into the bowl as I beat the whipping cream. It ended up so yummy. I wasn't sure how the citrus would react with the cream so I undercut the orange. Next time I will make it a bit stronger.

It was a HUGE hit!!!