BLUEBERRY season has rolled around once again, please tell me where the year has gone?
It's time to head out to Richmond and pick a bucket of blues (or just pick some up at your local store). It's easy to love blueberries: nutritionally they're 10 out of 10, and they're heaven in any kind of baked item, whether it's a coffee cake, cobbler, muffins or pancakes. Blueberries need minimum preparation, just a rinse and a quick sort to remove spoiled berries, stems and leaves. Be sure to freeze some to use later in the year.
BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE BARS
2½ cups rolled oats (not instant)
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp grated orange rind ¼ tsp salt
1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
Filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ?3 cup orange juice
4 tsp cornstarch
To prepare filling, bring blueberries, sugar and orange juice to a boil in a saucepan; reduce heat and simmer until blueberries are tender, about 10 minutes. Place cornstarch in a small bowl; add two tablespoons cold water and whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the blueberries and boil, stirring, until mixture has thickened, about one minute. Remove from heat; place plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate until cool, about one hour.
To make crumble mixture, whisk together the oats, flour, brown sugar, orange rind and salt. With a pastry blender cut in the butter until it forms coarse crumbs. Press half the flour mixture into an eight-inch, square baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper (cut two eight-inch wide strips
of parchment and place one going in each direction in the pan; allow some overhang to use as "handles").
Spread the blueberry filling evenly over the crumb base, then sprinkle remaining crumble mixture over top and press down lightly. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden, about 45 minutes.
Let cool on a rack, then lift bars out of the pan using the parchment handles; cut into 16 two-inch squares.
Blueberry Carrot Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown
sugar 4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups grated carrots
1½ cups fresh blueberries
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Place the two sugars in a large bowl and whisk in the eggs one at a time; whisk in vanilla and oil. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, then fold in the carrots and blueberries until well incorporated.
Turn mixture into a well-greased 13-by-nine-inch baking pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack before cutting; sprinkle top with icing sugar or frost with cream cheese frosting (eight ounces cream cheese, one-quarter cup butter, one cup icing sugar and one teaspoon vanilla beaten until smooth and creamy).
Blueberry Lemon Iced Tea
This is the perfect partner for your blueberry squares.
3 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups boiling water
4 orange pekoe tea bags
¾ cup sugar (or more or less to taste)
Lemon wedges and additional fresh blueberries
In a medium saucepan, bring the blueberries and lemon juice to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until blueberries are very soft.
Remove from heat and strain into a bowl through a fine wire mesh strainer, pressing with a spoon to squeeze out juice. Discard solids left in strainer.
In a large teapot, combine the boiling water and tea bags; let tea steep for five minutes then remove and discard tea bags. Pour the tea into a large pitcher; stir in the blueberry mixture and add sugar until tea is sweetened to your taste, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Cover the pitcher and chill for at least one hour or until very cold. Serve in tall ice-filled glasses garnished with lemon wedges and fresh blueberries. Makes about six three-quarter cup servings.
Angela Shellard is a self-described foodie. She has done informal catering for sports and business functions, and enjoys cooking for family and friends. Contact: ashellard@ hotmail.ca.
