Blueberry Crumble

Another in my "blueberry series" recipes.

My granddad - I get all of my baking skills from him! - makes a delicious peach and blueberry crumble. I know I have the recipe somewhere but couldn't readily find it so I just winged-it in making this Blueberry Crumble. I get into the differences between crumbles, crisps, and other fruit desserts with toppings in my Blueberry Crisp post.

For this recipe, similar to the crisp, I mixed the blueberries with a little flour (to thicken the juices), sugar, spices, and lemon juice/zest. For the crumble topping, I used flour, a little semolina flour, brown sugar, spices, lemon zest, vanilla, egg, and melted butter.

fresh blueberries

adding the dry ingredients

mix until well coated and set aside. The sugar brings out the blueberry juices

mise en place...a bit of this, a bit of that

mix the dry ingredients together

cut in the egg until the mixture starts to clump up

spread over the blueberries in your baking dish

drizzle the melted butter over the top

and bake until the juices bubble up through the crust

so delicious!

Bye for now...

Blueberry Crisp

It seems that whether you call something a crisp, crumble, cobbler, buckle, or betty is a regional distinction. They are all, basically, a baked fruit dessert with a topping. I call a dessert with an oatmeal-sugar-butter topping a 'crisp' and a dessert with flour-sugar-butter-egg topping a 'crumble.'

I like making crisps because they are so easy and fast (especially if you make individual-sized servings) and you can kind of just wing it with the recipe. Plus, you probably have the ingredients you need already in your cupboard! The leftovers are easy to store and reheat right in the microwave...and they taste just as amazing a few days later (if they last that long).

For this crisp, I used fresh blueberries (but you could easily use frozen). I tossed the blueberries in a little sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, a bit of cardamom, freshly grated nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Mix together gently so as not to crush the blueberries and scoop into ramekins. I love making things in individual-sized servings because everything is cuter when it's small!

blueberries in ramekins...yum

The topping - again, easy to improvise! - is oats (the real ones, not the quick cooking kind), a bit of flour, brown sugar, more spices, another pinch of salt, and some butter. Cut the butter into the oat mixture...I use a pastry cutter to start and then my hands. Scoop a bit of topping into each dish. I use my hands - so easy!

delicious mixed oatmeal topping, going over the blueberries

and...that's it!

Bake at 350-375 for about 45 minutes or until the blueberry juices start to bubble up around the edges.

smells delightful

let cool slightly then serve warm, right in the ramekin,
with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Supermoist Banana-Nut Muffins

Here is one more from my Avid Baker's Challenge group's 2012 book, The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. These Supermoist Banana-Nut Muffins were very easy to pull together (and I feel like I always have overripe bananas around!) and were very good. You could easily adjust the spices, but even by the recipe, they was delicious - moist with a great banana flavor.

I've already made this recipe - in a loaf pan - at least twice since the first time (July 2012) and have some overripe bananas sitting on the counter right now so will probably be making another loaf tomorrow. I think I prefer this recipe as a loaf. As cupcakes - unless you plan to eat them all the day they are made - they tend to dry out a little. But, as a loaf, it's much more moist and remains moist for several days. Day (or two) old, toasted and served with butter and a drizzle of butter...the best!

mise en place - this cake is very easy to make

dry ingredients are added to the wet

to avoid over-mixing, add the nuts before the flour is fully incorporated

one last stir and...done!

I use a scoop so all the cupcakes are the same size

done - they would be delicious with a smear of creamcheese frosting

a close up

are they cool enough to eat yet??

yummy - very light and tender

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake

I haven't baked with my friends from the Avid Baker's Challenge group in months, but this is a recipe from last year from our 2012 book, The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. I enjoyed my Blueberry Galette from this book much more than this Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake (page 70).

The flavor of the cake itself was quite nice - a lovely blend of spices - but overall I found it to be a little lacking...in something...and was disappointed that the crumb topping wasn't fully moistened and blended into the cake. I would probably pass on making this one again, or perhaps make a an upsidedown cake and put the fruit and "topping" on the bottom and then flip it over after baking. It would be delicious served with vanilla ice cream.

Here are my Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake photos from July 2012.

mise en place

final mix of the batter - the cake itself was easy to make

you can almost see the specks of spices in the batter

mixing the topping

ready to bake

hmmm...this looks exactly the same as when it went it.

I wish the topping had been more incorporated into the cake...
but on the plus side, it smelled amazing!

definitely missing some vanilla ice cream

moist with a nice light crumb...time for a bite

Bye for now...

Summertime Grilling

Wow - I can't believe it's been almost nine months since I've posted. I've missed you, blog!! I've started grad school, for counseling psychology, and so sadly, my baking and time in the kitchen has morphed into class, time with huge books on my lap, and writing papers. So far, though (2 semesters in, while working fulltim), I am rocking a 4.0 so I am extremely proud of myself.

I have several old draft posts from last summer and fall, so I'll catch up and post these as I procrastinate finishing a paper.

These photos are from one of our first BBQs of the summer last year (June 2012). Us New Englanders call anything cooked outside, over fire, BBQ...whether or not you make actual BBQ. As soon as the weather is warm enough - or we can make a small path in the snow - we like to cook on the grill. Food always tastes better cooked on the grill.

summertime perfection: grilled corn on the cob and a Sam's Summer Ale

we also baked some potatoes on the grill

bite-sized beets fresh from my veggie delivery...yum

grilled porkchops with a little marinade, salt and pepper

I made a salad with the leftovers

delicious

tossed and ready to enjoy!

Bye for now...