Blueberry Jello Salad

The blueberries are blooming! I'll try & get out to take some pictures of them in the next day or so - they have very pretty little bell shaped flowers. Hopefully the bees are busy too - without bees, there would be no berries (or apples, or cherries etc. etc. etc.) Blueberry honey is very good - just a very faint fruity fragrance to it.

I found the following recipe in "The Church Supper Cookbook" It is a collection of over 375 great potluck recipes from families and churches across the country. It was originally published in 1980 as "The Yankee Church Supper Cookbook" and was edited by David Joachim. It has a lot of those recipes like Four Bean Salad that you can't find in cookbooks today (trust me, I have a LOT of cookbooks and one day I looked & looked for that recipe - finally found it in a homemade cookbook from the UU church in Bellingham - aptly named "The Garden of Eatin") - anyhow, there are a half dozen blueberry recipes in this cookbook, so I'll share some of them with you in the coming weeks. I haven't made this recipe, but it looks awfully good. (of course you have to remember I come from a little town in Eastern Washington and a Scandanavian background - no potluck was complete without at least 3 or 4 jello salads)

I would think that you could save out a little of the gelatin mixture and mix it in with the cream cheese mixture for a very lovely shade of lavendar. Wouldn't that be pretty?

BLUEBERRY SALAD Serves 8-10

2 ea (3 oz each) packages black raspberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2 ea (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
½ cup water

8 oz. package cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix gelatin with a little bit of cold water for 3-5 minutes, then add boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Add pineapple (with juice) and fresh blueberries with the half cup of water. Pour into a 9” x 13” pan and chill until set. Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla, and spread over the gelatin and fruit mixture. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Refrigerate until time to serve.

From “The Church Supper Cookbook” Edited by David Joachim copy write 1980
Marcia Fletcher, St Anne’s Episcopal Church, Calais, Maine

Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

Although I don't have any pictures of this cake, I've made it and remember that it was delicious. It is made in a spring form pan So it is somewhat like a coffee cake but more a dessert, I think.

BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM CAKE - serves 8 - from the kitchen of M.T.

CAKE BASE:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, soft(room temp)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups fresh blueberries, picked clean of any stems, etc. Rinse if they are dusty (**do not confuse dust with the white, waxy coating on the outside of blueberries which is called "bloom." This is part of the berry's natural defense mechanism, which protects the berries from sunlight, holding in valuable moisture and extending their shelf life. Bloom is completely natural and not at all harmful. You should not try to wash it off your berries. Raspberries sometimes have bloom as well, though it's not as prevalent as with blueberries.)

CUSTARD:
2 cups sour cream (I would NOT use fat free)
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (with butter) a 9 or 10 inch springform pan.

1. Combine flour and baking powder - set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, cream the butter & sugar until smooth. Blend in the egg and vanilla, then blend in the flour mixture.
3. Pour the batter into your springform pan.
4. Top the batter with the blueberries
5. Make your custard topping by combining the sour cream, eggs, 1/2 cup of sugar and the tsp of vanilla. Blend well; pour over the blueberries.
6. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until the edges are lightly browned. Let it sit for at least an hour at room temperature before you remove the outer ring of your springform pan.





** Info on the white coating on blueberries came from QueryCat.com where you can search for over 5,000,000 questions and answers - quite the neat site, I think.

Vickie's Blueberry Upside Down Cake

This recipe is from the blog The Moveable Feast. Vickie is a personal chef, a teacher, a spinner & knitter. I always enjoy reading her blog. She kindly agreed that I could share her Blueberry Upside Down Cake with you.

"The recipe came from one of my old faithful books Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. I have had this book for years and years. The recipes in the book are pretty simple and I do think that sometimes that less is more and simple is right. There is a reason for KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Cake mix makes this a quickie dessert"


-Blueberry Upside-Down Cake Serves 9
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened blueberries, thawed
2 tsp grated lemon peel (divided in half)
1 (8 1/2 oz) pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 cup heavy cream (whipped)

Melt butter in 8" square baking pan. Sprinkle sugar evenly over butter.
Mix blueberries and 1 tsp lemon peel; sprinkle over sugar. Prepare yellow cake mix according to package directions, stirring in 1 tsp of lemon peel at end of mixing. Spread batter over berries. Bake in moderate oven (375) for 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Let stand 10 minutes. Turn out on platter. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream at the table if you wish.

Editor's note - your standard box cake mix is anywhere from 16-18 ounces, so if you're going to use all of a "regular" cake mix, I would think that you should double your fruit, butter & sugar AND use two 8" baking pans or a standard 9x13 cake pan.

Blueberry ebelskivers

One of the things that I inherited from my mom was our family's ebelskiver pan. What the heck is an "ebelskiver" you ask? It is a little round pancake made in a pan with "dimples". For the last several years, our friend Nancy has had a wonderful New Year's brunch at her farm, and I have made it a tradition to make ebelskivers - with homemade applesause they are just yummy but Williams and Sonoma have come up with some new ebelskiver recipes, including one using blueberries for the filling. I think this year I'll make the Blueberry ones. Here's their recipe.

Blueberry-Filled Pancakes
Known as ebelskiver in Denmark, these light, fluffy pancakes make a delicious breakfast treat paired with lingonberry or raspberry jam.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of 1/2 lemon
3 egg yolks plus 5 egg whites
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 pint blueberries
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

In a batter pitcher or bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar, salt and lemon zest. Set aside.

In another bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks. Whisk in the buttermilk and ricotta. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the mixture will be lumpy. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the whites into the batter in two additions.

Put 1/2 tsp. butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well, place 4 blueberries in the center of the batter and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Using 2 wooden skewers turn the pancakes over and cook until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and blueberries.

Dust the pancakes with confectioner’s sugar and serve warm. Makes about 30.

copywrite 2007 Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Oh, Oh, Oh, I've been SO busy!

I found this recipe on Mom's Best Recipes" and would like to thank Shirley McNevich for giving me her permission to reprint it here on my blueberry blog. I haven't made it yet, but I'm gonna!

Blueberry Pound Cake - (by Shirley McNevich)

1 box Betty Crocker butter flavored cake mix
8oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup canola oil
3 eggs
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

In a mixer add cream cheese--beat. Add eggs and canola oil--beat. Add cake mix and beat until smooth. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the blueberries with a spoon. Pour batter into a lightly greased and floured 10" tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 min. to 1 hour. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Serve cake with Cool Whip or glaze.

By the way, this is a very lucky family - the recipes that I have read from this blog all looked great - what a wonderful legacy to leave!

Blueberry-Lime Margarita

Reviews of this recipe were quite high. One person said they used 1/2 cup of tequila instead of 3 oz. The other issue seemed to be lack of "blueberry nectar" but apparently blueberry juice was readily available. I wonder what would happen if you used Rose's Lime instead of plain lime juice - I'll bet it would add a little more zing - maybe a little dash of apricot brandy on the top?

Blueberry-Lime Margarita - 2 Servings
Frozen limeade adds zing to this stellar blueberry margarita.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ice

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup blueberry nectar
1/4 cup seltzer
2 tablespoons frozen limeade
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 ounces tequila
1 lime wedge
Coarse salt

DIRECTIONS:

Combine ice, blueberries, blueberry nectar, seltzer, limeade, lime juice and tequila, if using, in a blender and blend until smooth. Rub rim of 2 glasses with lime wedge and dip in salt. Divide the margarita between the prepared glasses and serve.


Presented by: EatingWell.com
Total Time: 10 min
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
1 serving: Calories 125; Carbohydrates 31g; Dietary Fiber 2g; Fat 1g; Potassium 147mg; Sodium 6mg

Photograph from EatingWell.com

Pancakes ala' Williams & Sonoma

About once every couple of weeks I get a "Customer e-mail" from Williams & Sonoma. They never fail to delight me with a very cool kitchen tool that I'd love to have, but either don't have room for (remember, there's all those Pampered Chef things in my kitchen) - or can't afford - face it - W&S is top drawer BUT their customer emails are anything but junk mail - They also have what I call "do-able" recipes - that is something that looks not too fussy that the DH will eat and will also be fun to make. Here's their latest offering - (and actually they called it "Maine" Blueberry Sauce - but bein' as how we're in Washington, and you might be in Minnesota, I left the state off)

Pancakes with [YOUR STATE'S NAME HERE] Blueberry Sauce

This pancake batter combines all-purpose flour with buckwheat flour, a dark flour that has a nutty, slightly sweet flavor and firm texture. A warm sauce made from fresh blueberries adds the perfect finishing touch.

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 cup whole-ground buckwheat flour, sifted

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 cups fresh blueberries

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1 Tbs. cornstarch

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Preheat an oven to 200°F. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until frothy. Add the all-purpose and buckwheat flours, 3 Tbs. of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, butter and vanilla and stir just until smooth. Heat a griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly grease the griddle with oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Using a batter dispenser, dispense the batter onto the griddle. Cook until bubbles form on top of the pancakes and the batter is set, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while cooking the remaining pancakes.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the blueberries, the remaining 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. sugar, the lemon zest and 1/2 cup water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch, 1 Tbs. water and the lemon juice. Add to the berries and stir until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve the warm blueberry sauce over the pancakes. Serves 4.

Copywrite 2007 Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.