Blueberry Buckle

Did you know that blueberries are grown in Florida?  More specifically, they're grown awfully close to where I live?  I've lived in the Tampa Bay area for over ten years, and I had no idea, until I Google-searched for some strawberry picking and found out I was way late on that.  I did, however, find blueberry farms.  I completely made my son's day the first time we went blueberry picking.  We've been several times, most recently on the last weekend of blueberry season at a local blueberry and blackberry farm, and came away with 5 pounds of blueberries.  My mother had told me that when she was little, her mother used to make something called blueberry buckle when they went blueberry picking up north, so I thought I'd do the same.

I did my homework and found several different recipes - some more cake-like, and some more biscuit-like.  I erred on the cake side of things, because doesn't cake just make everything better?  It does in my world.  So, I fiddled around and compiled a couple of different recipes, and wound up with this recipe.  It's got a wonderful streusel topping, and it can be used with fresh or frozen blueberries.  Best part of this recipe?  It's so easy, and blueberries are so wonderful for you, health-wise, that the fact that they're in a cake is perfectly okay!

My husband likes to eat his blueberry buckle warmed up with some half and half on the bottom

Blueberry Buckle
Printer-friendly recipe
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel topping
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.
2. Cream together the softened butter and white sugar until well mixed.  Add egg and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients well.  Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with your 1/2 cup of milk.  Gently fold in blueberries, then transfer batter to your greased square pan.
4. To make the streusel topping: Mix brown sugar, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter well.  This mixture will be a little bit crumbly.  Sprinkle mixture over the top of your batter.
5. Bake at 375 for 28-30 minutes.  Let cool before serving.  My husband prefers it served warm, so he puts in the microwave for a few minutes after he cuts a slice.

P.S. - Stay tuned for my next recipe next week, a marinara spaghetti sauce that reminds me of Maggiano's!  :)

Oh my goodness, it's my SITS day!!

I truly thought I was being punk'd when I spotted an email from Heather last weekend saying that my SITS day had come at long last!  Especially since I'm in the process of doing a market research study right now that requires me having a Flip Cam by my computer at the moment...a small part of me fully expected to have a bunch of cameras and lights pop out of nowhere and perhaps Ashton Kutcher would start laughing at me maniacally.  But, no, it truly is my SITS day.  And phew, I sure could use it right now.  I've been awfully depressed as of late, and as such have been neglecting my blog.  This email from Heather couldn't have come at a better time, it truly put a smile on my face when I really needed one. Best of all, it re-inspired me to work on my blog!

Here are the three blog posts you're definitely going to want to check out while you're visiting:

Brown Beauty Cake - the most famous cake in my family, though not the prettiest...

Double Fudge Cookies - big, chocolatey, and yummy!

Tiramisu Cake - the most wonderful thing I make, according to my husband

And if you're not into baking or desserts...
Beef Teriyaki - one of my favorite dinner recipes

Thank you so much for coming by!  If you like what you see, follow me, I've got some great recipes planned for June, including the second best thing I've ever baked for my husband, Blueberry Buckle.  I've truly enjoyed getting to know many of you through SITS, and look forward to getting to know more of you :)

For those of my loyal followers who aren't familiar with SITS, it's a fantastic blogging sisterhood that is a fantastic place not only to network but to find new blogs to love.  If you are a blogger or if you love to read blogs, you simply must check it out!

P.S. - Have you read a good book lately?  Tell me about it!  I absolutely love to read, and I'm running out of books to read on my To Be Read pile!