Sunday Nite Dinner » blueberries

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Chuck — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:10:27 +0000

"Streusel topping, streusel topping!" exclaimed Hungry Bear as I closed the oven door, "we forgot to add the streusel topping!" Well, considering I had specifically requested the topping for the blueberry muffins, it was a big omission on our part. Luckily we remembered in time or we'd still be kicking ourselves.

We recently bought four pounds of blueberries. Almost half of them went into a blueberry kuchen that Hungry Bear can't get enough of. I made the kuchen and we devoured it in two days. With the remaining berries, she made these amazing muffins with a streusel topping.

The recipe is an adaptation of Ina Garten's blueberry coffee cake muffins with a topping added. The muffin part is delicious on its own with a moist and light cake like crumb filled with blueberries. And they aren't overly sweet, which is a big plus for us. The streusel topping makes the muffin even better by adding a nice crunchy texture and a bit of sweetness.

Just remember not to get distracted and forget to sprinkle on the streusel topping, streusel topping!

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping Recipe

SND Note: Coat the blueberries with a dusting of flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom. Also remember to evenly distribute the blueberries across the muffin cups.

Streusel Topping Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Muffin Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup milk
3 cups (1 1/2 pints) fresh blueberries, stems removed

Directions

For the topping, in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Add the butter pieces and combine the mixture with a fork until the topping resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place paper liners in muffin pans. In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
With an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. At low speed, beat one egg in at a time, then add vanilla, sour cream, and milk until combined. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients at a time and beat until just combined. With a spatula, evenly fold blueberries into batter.
Scoop batter into muffin pans and fill each cup to the top. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a cake tester or wooden skewer comes out clean.

Makes 24 muffins

[Blueberry coffee cake muffins adapted from Barefoot Contessa]

Tags: blueberries, fruit, muffins, streusel

Blueberry Kuchen

Chuck — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:17:59 +0000

Last August, my parents came out to visit me in San Francisco. One of our excursions was to the Serramonte Farmer's Market, our favorite farmers' market for fresh fruit. My mom was very excited when she saw the fabulous blueberry vendor. She immediately bought a couple of quarts of blueberries and made three blueberry kuchens for us and friends.

The kuchen was simple to make and it was absolutely delicious. Hungry Bear got the recipe from my mom, but sadly, we didn't make a kuchen before blueberry season ended. We thought we'd have to wait until summer before finding high quality, reasonably priced blueberries again.

A few days ago, we were trying to survive the craziness at Costco and stumbled upon big packages of fresh blueberries. Hungry Bear declared that we should buy some blueberries and make a kuchen! It turns out the blueberries are from Chile and the growing season down south is November to March. So much for eating local, as the blueberries looked too good to turn down, and we needed a blueberry fix badly!

We searched our email archives and found the blueberry kuchen recipe my mom sent and made it yesterday for dessert. It was really easy to make and only required fifteen minutes of prep time and forty or so minutes of baking. Our kuchen turned out great with a nice golden crust and a not too sweet, jam-like blueberry filling. Fresh blueberries were added on top of the filling and each bite of the kuchen sent us to blueberry heaven!

Blueberry Kuchen Recipe

SND Note: In step two of the recipe, a sugar, flour and cinnamon mixture is sprinkled over the blueberries, which leaves a few pockets of undissolved sugar on top of the filling after baking. Next time, we would mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon with the 3 cups of blueberries before adding them on top of the dough.

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, slightly softened and cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon white vinegar
5 cups (725 grams) fresh blueberries
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). In medium bowl, mix 1 cup flour, salt and 2 tablespoons sugar. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with vinegar and shape into dough. With lightly floured fingers, press dough into 9-inch springform pan about 1/4 inch thickness on bottom, less thick and 1 inch high around sides. Add 3 cups blueberries on top.

2) Mix remaining 2 tablespoon flour, 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over blueberries. Bake on the middle rack for 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Sprinkle with remaining 2 cups blueberries. Cool for at least 30 minutes. Run a pairing knife around the crust edge to separate from the pan before opening springform. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Makes 8 servings

Update February 11, 2008: The first picture in this post won the DMBLGIT Feb 2008 Edibility Award! We are very honored to win the award. It's the first time the blog has won anything! You like us, you really like us!

Tags: blueberries, blueberry, easy, fruit, kuchen, pie, simple

Ginormous Fruit Salad

Chuck — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:24:00 +0000

I present to you Hungry Bear's ginormous fruit salad. On Thanksgiving, we had the latest version of her giant fruit salad with cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, kiwis, persimmons and mandarin oranges. The fruit selection is usually seasonal, but we are fortunate to get good fruit year round in San Francisco.

Similar to Hungry Bear's Chinese sticky rice, the mega fruit salad is a featured item at our holiday feasts. You maybe asking, "Is it really that big?" Yes, the fruit salad is humongous. We actually weighed it this time and the fruit came in at 20 lbs! The bowl is 6.5 inches deep and has a diameter of 14 inches. That's a lot of fruit capacity... 3.1 gallons!

Why is there so much fruit salad? I often ask this question myself. It's not like she's feeding a football team. At most, there are 15 people at our largest gatherings, with plenty of other food and desserts. The reason why there is so much fruit starts with Hungry Bear's refusal to buy half a melon because it's not as fresh. She typically begins with a whole cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon and pineapple, which is a lot of fruit. Next, to balance the flavors (sweet versus tart) and colors, a lot of berries and tropical fruit are required, which yields a 20 lb fruit salad.

Hungry Bear's love for leftovers is the ultimate reason why all dishes are bear-sized, i.e. quadrupled. On Thanksgiving, the fruit salad was a huge hit as always. It was very refreshing after a heavy meal and a great interlude before the apple, pumpkin and pecan pies. We had a ton of leftover fruit and everyone was more than happy to take some home.

Now you have the story of Hungry Bear's ginormous fruit salad!

Tags: bear size, blueberries, fruit, fruit salad, kiwis, mandarin oranges, melons, raspberries, strawberries