Blueberry Bounty
Posted by Danielle Bean in Food on Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:00 AM
Do you have blueberries? Do you have LOTS of blueberries? I haven’t yet brought my gang to pick them, but we are planning a trip next week. It usually takes us only a few minutes to pick enough to fill the freezer for many months.
Blueberries freeze easily and there’s really nothing better than a taste of summer from your freezer when the weather gets cold. To freeze, place fresh blueberries in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in freezer for about 30 minutes, or until frozen. Transfer frozen berries to freezer containers or resealable freezer bags and return to freezer. They’ll keep this way for many months.
Here’s one of my family’s favorite recipes for this time of year:
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cake:
4 T. butter, softened
1/ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Streusel topping:
1/3 cup flour
4 T. butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan. To make the cake: Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until thoroughly blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together and stir and toss to mix well. Add the mixed dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture along with the milk, and beat until the batter is smooth. Spread evenly in the prepared pan and sprinkle the blueberries over the top.
To make the topping: Combine the flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and work with a pastry blender until you have a mixture of light dry crumbs. Spread over the blueberries. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Serve warm from the pan. You can double this and bake it in a 9×13 inch pan.
If you are looking for a place to pick your own berries, a handy site is PickYourOwn.org. You can search by state to find berry farms, orchards, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and even Christmas tree farms near you.
Do you have a favorite berry recipe to share? Post in the comments or post on your blog and share the link here!
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