Cooking recipes

Its almost blueberry season in Iceland, so here is a recipe to try.

What we call bláber (blueberries) in Iceland are actually the related bilberries. Either bilberries or blueberries can be used in this recipe.

Bilberries in the wild:


250 g blueberries or bilberries, fresh or frozen
1 + 3/4 litre water
approx. 150 g sugar
30 g potato starch or cornflour
100 m cold water

Drop the berries into boiling water and cook on low until they burst, 3-5 minutes. Mix together potato starch/cornflour and cold water into a smooth paste. Add sugar to the soup and stir until melted. Thicken with potato starch/cornflour mix. Serve and enjoy.

-Use more thickening mixture to make a blueberry pudding. Pour into a bowl before it stiffens and sprinkle sugar on top. Serve warm or cold with milk or cream (or half and half).

Have you been picking blueberries this summer?  Were fortunate enough to live in a place where berries grow in abundance, and weve been blueberry-picking several times this summer.  This has been one of our favorite ways to enjoy them.  Blueberries are so tasty fresh, but I have to admit, I love them even more when theyre cooked and they burst with juices and flavor.  These muffins are super easy to whip up and they are quite healthy too!  You can use fresh or frozen berries; and yogurt, buttermilk, or non-dairy milk.  Weve tried them all ways and theyre delicious anyway you do it!  Enjoy!



Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
*I made them once using almond milk, but I made my own "buttermilk" by using 1.5 Tbsp lemon juice + almond milk up to 1 1/2 cups.  Ive also made them with yogurt - couldnt even tell a difference!
Yield: 12 muffins

2 1/4 c. whole wheat flour (I use white wheat, but either red or white works)
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (heaping cup)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. buttermilk, plain yogurt, or non-dairy milk*

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease the cups of a muffin tin.

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients, including  the blueberries.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, vegetable oil, and buttermilk or yogurt.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the 12 muffin cups, filling almost all the way full.  Bake the muffins 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.

Remove muffins from the oven, let stand 5 minutes, and then remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.  Store leftovers loosely covered at room temperature.  They also freeze beautifully, if you have any left...
Source: King Arthur Flour

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup blue cornmeal
3/4 cups sugar
1 tbl. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs (large)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or hucleberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour 2 8X3 loaf pans

In a large bowl stir first 6 (dry) ingredients together and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Gently incorporate the wet mixture into the dry and stir until moistened. Fold in the blueberries and place batter into pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack for a few minutes and remove from pans and continue cooling.

http://nativechefs.com

My daughter recommended this cake recipe and she was right, it is delicious (she found the recipe on allrecipes.com). Not only is it super moist (made with a cup of butter + a cup of sour cream + a cup of blueberries) but it has a brown sugar and pecan layer that swirls through the batter as well!! Thank you for sharing the recipe BreeAnn!!!

1 CUP BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
2 CUPS WHITE SUGAR
1 CUP SOUR CREAM
2 EGGS
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
1 TEASPOON LEMON ZEST (my recipe tweak)
1 & 5/8 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR (see note )
1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER
1/4 TEASPOON SALT
1 CUP FRESH OR FROZEN BLUEBERRIES
1/2 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1 TEASPOON CINNAMON
1/2 CUP CHOPPED PECANS

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9" bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time; stir in sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir it into the butter mixture until well blended; fold in blueberries.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture over the batter in the pan & top with the second half of the batter. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar mixture over the top of everything. Gently swirl a butter knife through the batter a couple of times to irregularly distribute the brown sugar pecan layer.

Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes in preheated oven. Cool cake (in the pan) on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake plate.


A couple of people have written to ask me about the glaze on this cake. I start with two or three tablespoons of melted butter, two cups of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla. I then whisk in just enough whipping cream to make a good consistency. Sorry I cant be more specific than that (I dont measure glaze ingredients).

As for the question I received about the intensity of lemon...I used one teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest in this recipe and you can taste it, but it is very subtle. I think next time I will go for two teaspoons of zest.

NOTE: The recipe called for 1 + 5/8 cups all purpose flour. Im assuming this must be a metric conversion? I measured 1 + 3/4 cups then removed a tablespoon of flour.