Very Awesome Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

This was in the Burlington Free Press and is originally from the Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe in Santa Monica, CA by way of Bon Appetit, May 2010. I've made it three times. It's that good.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake
325 F, about 1 hour and 15 minutes

1 1/3 c flour
2/3 c corn meal (I liked the coarse stuff better than the finer stuff for this)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
6 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
10 T butter (room temp)
3/4 c + 3 T sugar, divided
1 tsp salt (the recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp but that seems like a lot)
1 c ricotta cheese
1/3 c plain yogurt (I subbed half milk, half lemon juice)
3 cup blueberries

Prepare grease 10" springform pan (I used parchment on the bottom too). Whisk flour and the next 3 ingredients. Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla and honey. Beat butter, 3/4 c + 2 T sugar and salt until creamy.

With mixer running, slowly add egg mixture. Beat in flour mixture, just to blend. Add ricotta and yogurt to blend.

Pour half of mixture into the pan. Cover with half the blueberries. Pour remaining batter in and top with the rest of the blueberries. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about one hour and 15 minutes, longer if the blueberries are frozen. Cool in pan on rack.

Blueberry bars

I've been picking blueberries and freezing blueberries and this week I made the bars I saw over at Smitten Kitchen. Two thumbs up! Or three. Or four. I can't remember who we gave them to but no one refused and everyone liked them. The difference between here and there? A helper and sprinkles.

Ingredients:

Crumbs

    1 c sugar

    1 t baking powder

    3 c flour

    1/4 t salt

    zest of one lemon

    1 c cold butter cut into chunks

    1 egg

Berries

    Juice of 1 lemon

    1/2 c sugar

    4 t corn starch

    4 c blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

 

It's blueberry season!

Sam and I picked for awhile today after he was sent home from school for having a fever...hey, he seemed to be well enough to be out and about or I'd have brought him home pronto! We went to a local organic berry farm and picked about 6 lbs of blueberries and a token pint of raspberries. Guess which are my favorite? The berries are huge this year so they made for relatively fast picking even with my unexpected helper. Most are already in the freezer preparing for a future as pie, crisp, pancakes, smoothies, or just plain frozen blueberries. I plan to go out picking a few more times this summer, hopefully alone so I can concentrate on volume instead of entertainment so my winter will be filled with these little luscious bits of summer.