Summer means blueberries!
August 1, 2022
Categorised under: New England, Recipes
It’s blueberry season in New England. I just pulled a batch of blueberry muffins out of the oven. Never mind I didn’t add enough baking powder, they taste great. Hard to go wrong with blueberries.
Wild blueberries in particular have featured in a number of my books, including the first book I ever submitted to a literary agent and publisher. I remember typing The Venus Shoe on a rented typewriter with my then infant daughter beside me. It’s a favorite of longtime readers, available in eBook if you’d like to dip into my early days as a writer.
Emma Sharpe in my Sharpe and Donovan series treasures memories of picking wild blueberries with her father.
I’ve been picking blueberries for as long as I can remember. When we were young children, my parents would take us to Quabbin Reservoir to pick berries. Who knew Quabbin and its history would become the backdrop for my Swift River Valley series? I was just a kid having a good time.
If you love blueberries, here’s one of my favorite recipes for blueberry muffins. Don’t forget to take a bit of the flour and toss the berries in it to help keep them from sinking. It’s a handy trick I need to add to the recipe.
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Ingredients
1 cup wild blueberries (fresh or frozen; I also use cultivated blueberries)
2 cup all-purpose white flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar (up to 1⁄4 cup for sweeter muffin)
1⁄2 teaspoons salt
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1 cup milk (preferably whole)
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F (190°C). Butter muffin pan for 12 muffins or line with muffin papers.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, baking powder, sugar salt). Mix together the egg, milk and melted butter and add to the dry ingredients. Stir lightly, just enough to dampen. Don’t worry about a few lumps!
Fold in blueberries. Optional: dust blueberries with a bit of the flour first. Add batter to muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Note: For a gluten-free version, I use King Arthur Baking’s Measure for Measure Flour instead of all- purpose flour.
Enjoy!