Blueberries. Wonderful fresh blueberries that I picked myself. Some tart, some sweet. All delicious. These pretty much speak for themselves…so what more could I possibly have to say?

Tweet This Post 

I’ve blended summer blueberries with winter Meyer lemons to make these lemon cupcakes with blueberry buttercream frosting.

I missed Meyer lemon season last winter and was determined not to miss it this year. It seems that nearly everyone in the blogging world raves about them, so I figured I should give them a go. I noticed that they were in season when I saw them at Dean & Deluca on a recent visit to Georgetown but I didn’t feel like dragging a bunch of lemons around all day. Fortunately my local Trader Joe’s had them in stock when I got home.

These cupcakes are the first and only thing I’ve made with them so far so the jury is still out on whether I like/love them or not. Lots of people seem to love them because they’re not as tart as regular lemons. I’ve no issues with the tartness of regular lemons so that’s not going to make me love the Meyer lemons. I was advised to try them with agave nectar in a batch of margaritas. That might be when I decide whether I love them or not.

For these cupcakes, you can skip the Meyers altogether and use regular lemons. I would have done so if the Meyer lemons weren’t already in the house. For the blueberry buttercream frosting, I added blueberry jam to a batch of regular buttercream frosting. I made the jam last summer with blueberries I picked. You could use store bought blueberry jam.

If you already have a favorite golden cupcake recipe, use it. Just add lemon juice and lemon zest.

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

Very slightly adapted from the “Golden Vanilla Cupcakes” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of 2 Meyer lemons (or 2 medium regular lemons)
• 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest (or regular lemon zest)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside a few minutes to curdle.
3. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a separate large bowl, cream margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes at medium speed with a handheld mixer. Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice & lemon zest.
5. Alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients. Stop to scrape the side of the bowl a few times.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

Adapted (and no longer vegan) from the “Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup blueberry jam

Directions

1. Beat shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and milk, beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.
4. Add blueberry jam and beat until well combined.
5. Pipe or spoon onto cupcakes.

Tweet This Post 

This is a crumb topped tart containing a mixture of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries & cranberries.

Despite the fact that I’m a little burnt out on this dessert, I am posting the recipe for it as it has been requested several times.

I made this mixed berry tart four times in the month of November. The first time was entirely by choice for a small party at home. The second time was not by choice and had to be prepped in a hurry very late at night and baked very early the next morning. The third time was for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. And the fourth time should have overlapped the third time for the boyfriend’s family’s Thanksgiving dinner…but it didn’t. I baked the same tart twice in two days due to a slight communication error. So…I won’t be making this tart again for at least a few months. But I’ll share the recipe now so that someone else can enjoy it.

The bottom crust of the tart is the Flaky Pie Crust recipe from the book Sweety Pies. I previously blogged about this crust in October and you can find the recipe for the crust here.

The pictures here are of small individual tarts that I made…the recipes below are for making one large tart in an 11″ fluted tart pan. Or if you don’t have one of those, the recipes should work pretty well for a standard size pie plate.

Mixed Berry Tart

First, you will need to make a half recipe of the Flaky Pie Crust found here.

Next, you will need to make the crumb topping as listed below.

Crumb Topping

Recipe from Sweety Pies

Ingredients (for an 11″ tart)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon until well mixed.

2. Work the butter in with a pastry blender (or your fingers) until the mixture resembles crumbs the size of tiny peas. Set aside.

Mixed Berry Filling

Ingredients (for an 11″ tart)

• 4 1/2 cups mixed berries (use any combination you want here – I used blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and cranberries in my tarts – but if you use just a couple of types of berries, it will still taste great!)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind (I use freeze-dried lemon peel from Penzey’s)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the crust in the tart pan and set aside.

2. Make the filling. Stir together the sugar and flour until well mixed. Gently stir in the berries, lemon rind and juice. Pour the mixture over prepared tart crust.

3. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the the top of the pie.

4. Place tart in the oven on a cookie sheet or pizza pan large enough to catch any juices that might bubble over. You’ll regret it if you don’t put something under it and it does bubble over. Bake until crumb topping is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.

4. As with any berry pies or tarts, cool to room temperature before slicing and eating.

5. Serve at room temperature, cold, or warm. It’s fantastic all three ways. It’s good plain and even better with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Tweet This Post 

Quote from  American consultant, statistician and educator W. Edwards Deming

I believe that these pictures of my blueberry almond bread pudding officially mark the end of the blog posts about the goodies I made with all those fresh blueberries I picked earlier this summer. Took me long enough, eh?

The inspiration for this bread pudding came from a post at Food Gawker over the summer. I really like to use sites like Tastespotting and Food Gawker to find new food to make and bake. Anytime I’m bored by my own ideas and my own cookbooks, all I need to do is to turn to the food blogs for an endless set of options.

This particular recipe was adapted from a recipe at Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.

As usual, I did make a few alterations to the original recipe. I used fresh blueberries instead of frozen as I had plenty of fresh ones available. I baked the brioche from scratch from a recipe in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I did take a few shortcuts in baking it (as I really didn’t want to wait 24 hours to bake the brioche) and it probably would have tasted better if I hadn’t taken them.

The original recipe used a Meyer lemon marmalade in the filling. I skipped that entirely as I had no Meyer lemon marmalade and no way of obtaining or making any since Meyer lemons weren’t in season. Instead of the marmalade, I used copious amounts of amaretto and slivered almonds to add a little more flavor to the pudding.

I also used a lot more cream and eggs than the recipe called for as it seemed too dry otherwise…but maybe I made my bread pudding in a larger quantity than the original recipe?

This was the first bread pudding I’ve ever made but it certainly won’t be the last. Next time I may or may not go to the trouble of baking the brioche from scratch…baking the brioche wasn’t difficult but it takes a long time to prepare…and then I had to wait another day to assemble and bake the bread pudding. The anticipation of the eventual dessert killed me…enough so that the next time I make bread pudding, I might start with stale French bread from the grocery store to save myself a day.

Tweet This Post 

I should use Seinfeld quotes more often (this one is from “The Muffin Tops” episode from 1997). Between Seinfeld and The Simpsons quotes, I could have endless title material.

These blueberry muffins, like all of the other blueberry baked goods I’ve showcased this summer, are from the plethora of blueberries I picked in July.

Even when I didn’t particularly care for blueberries as a fruit, I liked blueberry muffins. This might stem from my general love of muffins. My favorite blueberry muffins have a crunchy top…as a child, teenager and young adult, I was a sucker for the Duncan Hines muffin mix with the can of wild blueberries and the crumb topping. Nowadays I’d never consider using a mix…so I made these from scratch from a Martha Stewart recipe found in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. Are you tired of me praising the recipes in this book yet?

These were very good. Way better than average. For the topping, I simply sprinkled turbinado sugar over the batter. The turbinado sugar provided a nice crunch that regular granulated sugar wouldn’t have.

I loved the advice in this recipe to toss the blueberries with a little bit of the dry ingredients in order to prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom as the muffins baked.

Blueberry Muffins

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (I used fresh this time but I’ll probably use frozen next time I make these!)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, toss the blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.

Set aside both the flour mixture and the blueberries.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after the addition of each egg. Mix in the vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Add the milk and beat just until combined. Do not overbeat. Lightly fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatule. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. If you’d like a little crunch on the top of the muffins, sprinkle a small amount of turbinado sugar over the batter in each muffin cup.

Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tweet This Post