More than any other food, blueberries bring summer to my kitchen. Blueberries taste best right at the start of the season when they are almost tart and very firm. As soon as they show up in the farmers’ markets, I pop them into pancakes, muffins, tarts, sauces, cakes and pies.
I also freeze them to brighten my winter cooking. To freeze blueberries, transfer them from their cartons and spread them on a jelly roll pan, sorting through them to discard stems, leaves and any soft or spoiled berries. Freeze them just like that, exposed on the pan. As soon as they are frozen solid (it takes no more than 2 hours), load them into one plastic food bag, tie it airtight, then enclose that bag inside another plastic bag, again tying it airtight. (This way, the berries don’t absorb odors from the freezer. They also remain separate so you can use just a few at a time without thawing the rest.)
Don’t thaw frozen blueberries before mixing them into your recipes because they become mushy (which is why they can’t be used uncooked). It just may take a little longer in the cooking or baking.
The following recipes highlight blueberries. The multigrain blueberry hot cakes are light-tasting. For morning convenience, the batter can be made the night before or frozen. The old-fashioned blueberry cake with cinnamon sugar is versatile, perfect served plain (but warm) for a leisurely breakfast or tea or topped with ice cream after a simple family meal or barbecue. The deep-dish blueberry pie is the essence of summer. If it’s a hassle to make your own pastry dough, make the compromise with ready-made pastry.
A cooking note about blueberries: No matter the recipe, blueberries’ flavor always seems enhanced with a little lemon, whether it’s a little zest, a splash of lemon juice or a combination of the two.
If you prefer a heavier texture, decrease the cake flour and increase the other flours. The batter can be made the night before or frozen. For a fairly even distribution of blueberries, I prefer to dot the pancakes with the blueberries rather than mixing them into the batter.
MULTIGRAIN BLUEBERRY HOT CAKES
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
(32 3 1/2-inch diameter pancakes)
1/4 cup each: buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, cornmeal
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons each: baking soda, grated lemon rind (colored part only, removed with zester or grater)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 cups blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
Butter or margarine, for cooking
Warm maple syrup or raspberry preserves, for serving
1. Combine flours, cornmeal, baking soda, lemon rind, sugar and salt in 2-quart bowl. Mix ingredients. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter to bowl. Whisk until smooth. Can be made a day ahead and refrigerated or frozen (thaw overnight in refrigerator). Before using, stir well, adding more buttermilk as needed if batter is too thick.
2. Grease a griddle and heat until very hot. Use scant 1/4 cup batter for each cake. Scatter about 5 blueberries on each. Cook until bubbly on top, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Flip over and cook other side until golden, about 1 minute. Keep the cooked pancakes warm in 200-degree oven while you cook the others. Serve hot with maple syrup or raspberry preserves.
Nutritional information (per serving): 255 calories, 49 g carbohydrates, 8 g protein, 5 g fat, 65 mg cholesterol, 575 mg sodium. Nutritional analysis by Jodie Shield.
– Blueberry pie should be just that, abundant with blueberries, enhanced with just a little lemon. No other flavorings are necessary. Nothing matches homemade pastry although Pillsbury Pie Crusts (sold in the refrigerator case) are a great shortcut when push comes to shove. A food processor mixes pastry extremely well if you don’t overprocess it. The glaze is optional, giving the pie a shiny finish.
DEEP-DISH BLUEBERRY PIE
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Cooling time: 2 hours
Yield: One 9-inch deep-dish pie,
8 servings
Pastry:
Basic pastry for 2-crust, 9-inch pie (recipe follows) or 2 Pillsbury Pie Crusts
Filling:
9 cups blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
Grated rind (colored part only, removed with a zester or fine grater) of 1 large lemon
2 tablespoons each: fresh lemon juice, flour
2/3 to 1 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of berries
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, cut into small bits
Glaze (optional):
1 tablespoon whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Ice cream, optional, for serving
1. Put rack in center of oven; heat oven to 450 degrees. Have ready a deep, 9-inch Pyrex pie plate and baking sheet. Set aside.
2. For pastry, prepare and roll out pastry dough. Set aside. Alternately, follow directions on package for Pillsbury Pie Crusts.
3. For filling, put berries into large bowl. Toss with lemon rind and lemon juice. Combine flour, sugar, tapioca and salt in small dish. Add to berries. Toss well to combine. Let stand 20 minutes.
4. Ease bottom crust into pan. Pile berries in pan, mounding them in center (they will cook down as pie bakes). Dot with butter or margarine. Center top crust over filling. Fold in and crimp edges. Cut a few 1-inch air vents in top of pie. Place pie on baking sheet. To glaze, use a pastry brush to gently spread cream over surface. Sprinkle with sugar.
5. Place pie in oven. Immediately decrease oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until crust is a deep brown and blueberries are bubbling, about 1 hour (about 15 minutes longer if blueberries are frozen). Protect edge of pie with strips of aluminum foil if it is becoming too dark. Let pie cool on rack until juices are thickened, about 2 hours. Serve slightly warm. Gently reheat in 300-degree oven for 15 minutes. Cut into wedges. Top with ice cream, if using.
Nutritional information (per serving): 528 calories, 79 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein, 23 g fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 165 mg sodium. Nutritional analysis by Jodie Shield.
BASIC PIE PASTRY
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 9-inch pie crusts
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons each, chilled: unsalted butter, vegetable shortening
1 large egg yolk
6 -7 tablespoons cold water
1. Put flour, sugar and salt into food processor fitted with metal blade. Mix well. Cut butter into 6 pieces. Add to processor along with shortening. Use short on/off spurts to cut into flour, leaving obvious small lumps. Combine egg yolk and 6 tablespoons water in small dish. Use spoon to scatter over mixture. Again, use on/off motion to mix dough until lumps form but it’s not one cohesive ball. Add remaining water if dough seems too dry.
2. Transfer dough into large plastic bag and compress dough into one ball, then flatten into a disc. Place in freezer briefly until firm enough to roll out. Can be refrigerated as long as 2 days or frozen up to 3 months, wrapped airtight. If too firm to roll, let rest at room temperature until pliable enough to roll out without splitting.
3. Divide dough into 2 balls, one slightly larger for bottom crust. On well-floured surface, roll out bottom crust until 2 inches larger than pie pan. Roll out top crust.
– Straightforward and simple, this blueberry cake is perfect to make with the season’s first blueberries. Serve warm at a leisurely weekend breakfast or as a delicious dessert, topped with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
OLD-FASHIONED BLUEBERRY CAKE WITH CINNAMON SUGAR
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: One 9-inch cake, 8 servings
Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons light sour cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon each: baking powder, cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Cinnamon sugar:
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Put rack in center of oven; heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch, springform pan. Set aside.
2. For cake, beat 1/2 cup of the butter or margarine with 1/2 cup of the sugar in large bowl of electric mixer. Add egg, sour cream and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix until smooth. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Use spatula to smooth surface.
3. Put blueberries, remaining sugar and lemon juice in small bowl. Toss until well mixed. Spoon blueberries evenly over batter. Cut up remaining tablespoon butter into small bits. Dot surface of blueberries with butter.
4. For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
5. Bake until well browned and toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle cake evenly with reserved cinnamon sugar. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes. Use knife to loosen cake from sides of pan and remove sides of pan. Serve warm. Can be made a day ahead and kept at room temperature, covered. Reheat, uncovered, in 350-degree oven until barely warm, not hot, about 10 minutes or gently in microwave oven.
Nutritional information (per serving): 277 calories, 35 g carbohydrates, 3 g protein, 15 g fat, 65 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium. Nutritional analysis by Jodie Shield.
