What’s Cookin’ – Blueberry Coffee Cake

It’s berry season and in between all of the activities we have been involved in these last few weeks, I have been trying to find time to make some berry jams and jellies.  The best I have been able to do is to make some fruit salads and a blackberry cobbler.  Blackberry jelly is my favorite, and I am going to regret not having made some a few months from now.

On Sunday, I realized that I had some blueberries leftover in the frig so I made one of my favorite coffee cakes.

This recipe is from an old baking cookbook that my sister owns, and that I am tempted to snag from her bookshelf every time I go to visit her.  Snag sounds a little better than steal.

She has celiac disease and can no longer eat anything with gluten in it.  Most of the recipes in this book contain flour so I would be doing her a favor by taking it off her hands.

That’s my story.

Blueberry Coffee Cake – ingredients.  Nothing fancy and a great recipe to make when blueberries are in season.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.  Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.  I use baking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  If you are a purist, feel free to use a sifter.

Note:  Pictures of food are best when taken in natural light.  It has been so overcast and gray for so long now, that I’d almost given up on ever having good light to take pictures again.  I couldn’t resist this picture with the light and shadows on it.

Cream together the butter and sugar.  This is infinitely easier if your butter is softened to room temperature.

Here’s another picture with light and shadows.

Add the egg and vanilla to the butter-sugar mixture and cream together until well blended.

Okay, enough with the light and shadows.  Here’s what the mixture should should really look like at this step.

Add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter-sugar mixture and beat well just until smooth.

Spread the batter evently into the bottom of the greased 8-inch square baking pan.

Note:  My baking pans are well used.  They look well used.  I promise they are impeccably clean even though they don’t look like it.

Sprinkle the blueberries evenly on top of the batter mixture.

Add the streusel ingredients to a small bowl.  In this case, you will want your butter to be cold.

Streusel topping – I love streusel toppings.  I gravitate to recipes that have them.  I love the crunchy texture.

Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your clean fingers, cut the ingredients together until they resemble coarse crumbs.

Add the stresel topping to the top of the batter and blueberries in the pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Mine took 50 minutes.

This is best served warm right from the oven.  It will be crispy on top, and the blueberries will be plump and juicy.

Yummy.