Blueberry Tart with Walnut Crust

Blueberries are ripening now and they make wonderful additions to cereal, smoothies, shakes, and a whole host of summer desserts. Eating Well has a great recipe for Blueberry Tart with a walnut crust! Perfect for your summer picnic. Easy to make with little prep. Click on the photo above for the recipe.

Follow me on Pinterest  for some more great recipes!

Strawberry Blueberry Trifle

This looks delish!!! Could even lighten it up using Angel Food Cake instead of boxed cake. For the recipe, visit Mavis at One Hundred Dollars a Month by clicking on the photo above.

Until Next Year :(

Remember I was telling you about our ONE blueberry bush! Well, here's the last of this year's harvest - over 6 gallons of big, beautiful blueberries!!!

Most have gone into the freezer for muffins, cakes, ice cream, etc. so, if you have any good blueberry recipes, feel free to pass them on!!!

Blueberry Cobbler & Homemade Ice Cream or is that Homemade Ice Cream & Blueberry Cobbler?

Berry Cobbler

3 cups  flour
1/4 tsp  salt
2 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cups heavy cream
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar


Topping

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. butter at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9" ×13″ baking dish and set aside.

Toss the blueberries with the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Set aside.

Cut butter into approximately 1 tsp size pieces. Cut into flour mixture using either a pastry blender or two butter knives until crumbly.

Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then lightly toss them with the flour mixture until combined.

Add in the cream and mix until combined. Batter will be sticky.

Lightly press about 1 1/2 cups of the dough mixture into the bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish. Spread blueberry mixture over the dough. Drop by large spoonfuls the remaining dough on top of the berries.

Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon for the topping. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over dough. Bake 45 - 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Best served warm with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (will post recipe tomorrow). Refrigerate leftover cobbler (that is if you have some left over!!!) My husband had a piece last night cold out of the fridge and liked the cobbler that way as well. Not me, warm with ice cream is the only way to go!!!

Blueberry Ice Cream

Blueberry Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 TBS lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 cups half -n- half (you can use heavy cream for a richer ice cream)

Dissolve sugar in 1/4 cup water in medium saucepan over low heat. When sugar is dissolved, add blueberries, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to burst.

Remove from heat. You can mash the berries if you want, but I don't.

Allow to cool to room temperature. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Once berries have chilled completely, add half -n- half. Combine thoroughly. Pour into your favorite ice cream maker following the manufacturers directions.

If you like a soft ice cream, serve immediately. Or, allow to freeze for an hour or so to firm up a little.

Makes approximately 1 quart.

Enjoy

Blueberries - Yummy!!!

When we bought our house 21 years ago, there was only one Blueberry Bush already on the property. It was probably about 10 years old or older at the time. It was sickly and spindly, had so much woody stems and no growth. We might have gotten less than a couple of blueberries, if the birds didn't get to them first that is!

Over the years, I have pruned and pruned and pruned. Even though I would read that you need to have more than one bush in order for good pollination to occur, we just never did get around to  planting any other bushes (until last year and it is still very small).

For the past two years, this bush has produced an abundance of blueberries; big, beautiful, tender, sweet blueberries. Last year, I actually froze 4 gallons of blueberries!!!

This year, the bush is so heavily laden with fruit, I'm pretty sure there will be even more than 4 gallons! Yay!!! If you click on the photo, you can see how large the fruit is already and they still have about a month before harvest.

I'm thinking muffins, pies, cheesecake and an amazing BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM!!!! I'll have to post that recipe soon!

In order to keep the birds from eating all the blueberries, we cover the bush with netting. We started to do that yesterday but for some reason couldn't find the netting. And it started to get pretty windy and that stuff can be a bugger to work with. So my husband has the stakes in the ground and all he needs to do is scout out the netting so we get that covered this week.

We did have supervisors while we were working outside yesterday afternoon!!! Take a look at who thinks they are in charge :)

This is Lucky Boy!!! He's probably about 10 years old now and loves to have a run around the Blueberry Bush after we have the netting around it. He's so funny! We inherited him from my nieces before they moved to Florida. He lives year round outside and loves it!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and he loves lovin'! Just start scratching his face and ears and you've made a friend for life. I think he was probably disappointed that the blueberries aren't protected yet. Patience Lucky, patience!

Why is it that some dogs do not like looking at the camera? Do you think they know that they are having their picture taken and are a little camera shy? This is Maggie! Maggie is 11 years old and is part Australian Shepherd. She is certainly the smartest dog I have ever been around. She actually taught herself to bring me my slippers! I never even thought about teaching any dog how to do that, but she felt that was something she needed to do.

 Maggie LOVES to garden. I will be pruning dead limbs, pulling weeds, whatever - and she has her nose right in my hand pulling everything out of my hands and throwing it on the ground wherever she wants. (I don't have the heart to tell her that I actually have to clean up the yard twice when she HELPS!) We have even had her carry large tree limbs for us! She really is a hard worker and loves to please. Hey, everyone has to earn their keep around here.

If anyone has any favorite blueberry recipes, would love to have you pass them on. Maybe we can even get a Blueberry Cookbook together. Now, that sounds like a good idea!!!

Banana Blueberry Quick Bread

This quick bread is so easy to make and oh so good :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries or 3/4 cup frozen blueberries thawed
• 2 TBS + 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripened bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, dredge blueberries in 2 tablespoons flour. Gently stir blueberries together with oats, nuts, 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream shortening. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed banana. Add blueberry mixture to creamed mixture, and stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf/12 servings

How about a little coffee and...

Blueberry Muffins:

1 cup (240 ml) plain yogurt (regular or low fat)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup (60 ml) canola or corn oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (100 grams) fresh or frozen blueberries

*Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding them to the batter.

Blueberry Muffins: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the yogurt, lightly beaten egg, oil, and vanilla extract.

In another large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the blueberries. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the blueberries. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source:
Sher, Gail. From a Baker's Kitchen. Aris Books. Berkeley: 1984.

Read more: http://joyofbaking.com/muffins/BlueberryMuffins.html#ixzz0cfqO6koY