Blueberry Orange Bread

There are some great blogs out there with blueberry recipes on them right now. One that I stumbled across the other day is called Welcome to Prosperine written by J.K. from Missouri. Her blog is much like our farm blog - a farm journal with snippets of every day life thrown in. She gracefully has allowed me to share her Blueberry Orange Bread recipe with you. Seeing as how I have about a gallon of fresh blueberries hanging out in the 'fridge, I think I might try out this recipe this weekend. Oh, and of course I'll take pictures.
P.S. With only two tablespoons of melted butter in it, this bread is very low fat.


Blueberry Orange Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, combine egg, orange juice, water, butter and orange peel. Add to dry ingredients just until combined. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into a greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack.

Blue Blueberry Muffins

I have recently been reading Joanne Fluke's "Bakery" mystery novels. The third book in the series (there are 11 to date) is called "The Blueberry Muffin Murder" - and the murdered woman is found with one of bakery shop owner Hannah Swensen's new Blue Blueberry Muffins in her hand - a lively search for the murderer ensues - all I can tell you is that the muffin did NOT do it.

All of the books come complete with the recipes for the tasty treats that Ms. Swenson sells in her shop, The Cookie Jar. I haven't tried these out yet, but they sounded good - heavy on the butter and sugar, how could they not be?

Blue Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees - rach in middle position.

3/4 cup melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs (whip them up with a fork)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
1/2 cup blueberry pie filling
2 cups plus 1 Tblsp. flour (no need to sift)
1/2 cup milk

Crumb topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup softened butter (1/4 stick)
**Now here's where I would add about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon - it would really be good with this muffin)

Grease the bottom only of a 12 cup muffin pan (or line the cups with cupcake papers). Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar. then add the beaten eggs, baking powder and salt and mix thoroughly.

Put one tablespoon of the flour in a plastic bag with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries, and leave them in the bag for now.

Add half the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in in with half the milk, then add the rest of the flour and milk and mix thoroughly.

Here comes the fun part. Add 1/2 cup blueberry pie filling to your bowl and mix it in (Your dough will turn a shade of blue, but don't let that stop you - once the muffins are baked, they'll look just fine. When your dough is thoroughly mixed, fold in the flour-coated fresh or frozen blueberries.

Fill your muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bred loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.

For the crumb topping, Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it's crumbly (you can also do this in a food processor with hard butter using the steel blade)

Sprinkle the crumb topping over your muffins and bake them in a 375 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes (the tea bread should take about ten minutes longer than the muffins.

When the muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. They will come out of the pan much easier that way.

The author suggests freezing the rest of the blueberry pie filling in paper cups filled with 1/2 cups measured out in each one - Keep them in a plastic freezer bag and that way the next time you want to make some muffins just thaw out one of the pre-measured 1/2 cups for your next batch.

If you are looking for some fun summer reading, bake up a batch of these Blue Blueberry Muffins and sit down with a cup of tea and one of Ms. Fluke's delicious murder mysteries - you won't know where the day went.

Recipe copyright Joanne Fluke, 2002.

Blueberry Lemon Tea Cake

I found this in an article on blueberry reicpes - I have not made it, but it looked very good, and it is very low in fat. To tell you the truth, I'm unsure what they mean by "1 large and 1 tsp grated lemon zest", maybe 1 tablespoon & one teaspoon? That seems like a lot to me, so I'd just go with the one teaspoon only. This would be an ideal recipe for using up some of the frozen blueberries that you have in your freezer. I'll bet that the lemon glaze on the top really gives it a zing! Let me know if you try it.

Blueberry-Lemon Tea Bread - 16 Servings

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup fat-free buttermilk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 large egg whites
1 large and 1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 cup blueberries
DIRECTIONS
In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas , 1/4 cup fat-free buttermilk, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp canola oil, 2 large egg whites, 1 large and 1 tsp grated lemon zest. Stir flour into mixture then stir in 1 cup blueberries. Pour batter into 9x5x3-inch loaf pan coated with baking spray; bake 1 hour. Cook in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. invert ;invert again. Cool 10 minutes. IN a bowl combine 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice ,and 1/2 grated lemon zest. Spread over top loaf; cool completely.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
1 serving: Calories 183; Carbohydrates 38g; Fat 2g;