I grew up surrounded by a bounty of berries. Seems they were everywhere. I remember cruising on my bicycle with my friends, stopping when we saw a patch of blueberries near the side of the road, and having a feed.
I remember picking blueberries with my grandma, ice cream buckets in hand, and getting ants in my pants – literally. My grandma (my dad’s momma) loves to pick berries. I don’t know how many times I’ve led her through the field next to her house in rubber boots to get to her regular raspberry patch – the rubber boots were just in case there were snakes in the grass. You can bet that if we ran into a snake, Grandma’d be gone before I turned around to let her know.
We ate berries any way we could – jammed, in crisps, with dumplings (my mom’s momma’s recipe), or in a bowl with sugar and canned milk on them. And in buckles. Part coffee cake, part crumble, studded with plump blueberries, and usually served with whipped cream or ice cream, blueberry buckle was one of my favourites. My auntie’s buckle is practically famous.
This is my version of blueberry buckle.
Blueberry Buckle
(Recipe adapted from Favourite Recipes from Old New Brunswick Kitchens)
Cake:
1/4 C butter
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
salt
1/3 C milk
2 C fresh blueberries
Topping:
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C butter
Preheat oven to 350F. This is also known as a “moderate” oven.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add an egg, mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Add to the egg mixture, along with the milk. Mix well.
Spread the batter in a greased 8×8 inch or a 9×9 inch (the size I used) pan.
Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the batter.
Now to make the crumbly topping.
Cream together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.
Sprinkle the crumble topping over the blueberries.
Bake in a “moderate” oven for 45 minutes, or until the buckle looks like this:
And this:
And this:
The Frilly Apron 