Blueberry Picking and a Few Recipes

My Facebook memories this week are full of pictures from blueberry picking and recipes I’ve made with blueberries, so that can only mean one thing … Blueberry Season is here! July is National Blueberry Month, and you can already start picking blueberries at several farms in Bucks County and nearby.

Here are a few places you can go:

Shady Brook Farm

Where: 931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley
When: Wednesday – Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (last wagon leaves at 3 p.m.)

Blueberries, flowers, squash & zucchini, kale, Swiss chard, and herks like basil, dill, and rosemary.
Cost is $5 online/$7 at the gate. Kids 23 months and under are free. Picking pass does NOT include crops. Crops are sold by the container.

(Tip: Be sure to save time to stop by the playground by the Market and get some Uncle Dave’s Ice Cream!)

Solebury Orchards:

Where: 3325 Creamer Road, New Hope
When: Thursday – Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Blueberries and flowers (starting July 7) are available. Priced per pound.

Terhune Orchards:

Where: 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton
When: Daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Blueberries, blackberries and flowers are available for picking.

Terhune is holding their Blueberry Bash July 9 and July 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with children’s activities, games, pony rides, blueberry treats, live music, and more. Buy tickets HERE.

They’re also holding their Blueberry-themed Read & Pick event for young children on July 12. Tickets are $12 and include a container of blueberries that the children will pick during the event. Register HERE.

Linvilla Orchards:

Where: 137 W. Knowlton Road, Media
When: Daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Blueberries, sour cherries, raspberries are now available. Blueberries are $9/pint. PYO tickets are $9 and must be purchased online.

Once you’ve picked your blueberries, the obvious thing to do is to eat them! You can also freeze them if you know you won’t eat them fast enough. (This is actually Henry’s favorite way to consume blueberries, and he instructed me last year, that he ONLY wanted to pick the FROZEN blueberries!) While I like them fresh or frozen, I also love to bake with blueberries. And when I was looking through my pictures and files of blueberry recipes I’ve made over the years, I noticed that almost all of them combine lemons with blueberries because they’re delicious that way!

I thought I’d share some of my favorite blueberry recipes in case you’re doing some blueberry picking or just want to celebrate National Blueberry Month this July!

Blueberry Almond Oat Muffins

Back before Harry and I were married, I went through a phase where I made us a new healthy muffin to try just about every week. Almost every recipe started with this base – oats, banana and Greek non-fat plain yogurt. There are SO many different flavor profiles you could do with this base, but these blueberry almond muffins were a favorite of mine.

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 extra ripe banana, cut in quarters for easier mixing
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoons agave (honey could also be used)
• 3/4 cup Greek non-fat plain yogurt
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons almond slivers
• 1 cup blueberries

Optional streusel:

• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon almond slivers
• 1 Tablespoon old-fashioned oats

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with spray or butter.
3. Using a food processor, grind oats until fine. They should have the consistency of flour.
4. Add all other ingredients except blueberries, and pulse until the batter has a smooth consistency.
5. Gently fold in blueberries, being careful not to crush the berries.
6. Distribute batter evenly in the muffin tin.
7. To make the streusel, simply stir together ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle on the top of each muffin.
8. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the tops gently bounce back when touched and a toothpick comes out of center of a muffin clean. These muffins are meant to be soft, so don’t wait for them to get too firm.

Lemon Blueberry Buttercakes

These mini buttercakes are reminiscent of a cheesecake and don’t need any frosting. If you’d like, dust with powdered sugar just before serving for a little extra sweetness.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for blueberries
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 whole egg, room temperature
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (Or ¼ cup milk, plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar.)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• Zest of one lemon
• 1- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine the vanilla and buttermilk.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer until it’s light and fluffy.
5. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the sugar is well incorporated and the mixture is fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs and egg whites. Beat until incorporated.
6. Alternate adding dry mixture, buttermilk/vanilla mixture and lemon juice plus zest, while mixing on low speed.
7. Gently toss blueberries in a few tablespoons of flour. This will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of your cupcakes.
8. Gently fold coated blueberries into batter.
9. Spoon batter into cupcake liners. (Makes 24 cupcakes)
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes until tops are just starting to turn a pale golden color and are slightly firm to the touch.
11. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Blueberry Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze

This is the recipe I made last year with our Shady Brook Farm blueberries! I got the inspiration from THIS recipe I found on Pinterest, and then I made a few tweaks. I was so happy with how fluffy, flakey and tender they came out. In fact, this will likely be the recipe I make AGAIN this year!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup cold butter
• 1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 cup blueberries

Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• Pinch of lemon zest

Instructions:

1. Grate the butter to create fine curls of cold butter. Place it in a bowl in the freezer while preparing the other ingredients.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter to the dry ingredients, using a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, use two forks to cut the butter into the dough. You’ll want to do this just until the dough is crumbly and starts to resemble course sand.
4. Stir in the milk and lemon juice.
5. Gently fold in the blueberries and form the dough into a ball shape.
6. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. (You can skip this step if you’re short on time, but it really does make the scones fluffier and so tender.)
7. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Lightly flour a counter or cutting board. Unwrap the dough ball and gently shape it into a circle that is about 1″ thick. Cut the circle into 8 wedges.
9. Place each wedge onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (Or, I prefer to use silicone mats like THESE* from Amazon.) Leave 1 to 2 inches between each wedge, and brush the tops with a bit of milk.
10. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until the tops turn a light golden brown.
11. While the scones are baking, prepare a glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest.
12. After the scones have slightly cooled, drizzle the glaze over each wedge.

Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

I made this cake a few years ago for my mother-in-law’s birthday. Her birthday is in the beginning of August, and we always celebrate at the shore. This bright and cheerful lemon blueberry cake is perfect for such an occasion. It’s just a pretty cake that’s sweet and tart and just feels like sunshine. As you can see in the picture, I decided to leave the sides naked so you could really see the flavors and colors of the cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (I never have buttermilk, so I add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to whole milk and let sit for 5 minutes)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (approximately 3 lemons)
• 1-1/2 cups blueberries plus 1 Tablespoon flour

Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2-3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans* with parchment paper (cut into circles) and then grease the parchment paper and sides of the pan with either butter or non-stick spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars and lemon zest until light and fluffy. (I’ll let this mix with my stand mixer for up to 5 minutes!)
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine after each egg. Add the vanilla and let mix for 1-2 minutes.
5. In a separate bowl, whish together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
6. Add the dry mixture to your large mixing bowl and mix on low just until combined.
7. Add the buttermilk and lemon juice and beat just until combined. Do not over mix.
8. Toss the blueberries with 1-2 Tablespoons of flour just to coat them. (This helps with sinking in the cake.) Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
9. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until just baked through. When it’s finished, the top will spring back when you lightly poke it. You can also test by inserting a toothpick (or a dry piece of spaghetti!) It should have have moist crumbs. If it has wet batter, bake a bit more.
10. Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans. Then Turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely. While cake is cooling, prepare the frosting.
11. For the frosting, cream the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
12. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed.
13. Add the vanilla, salt, lemon juice and zest. Mix well.
14. Add 2 Tablespoons of cream and beat for about 3 minutes. If it seems too thick, add just a bit more cream.
15. When the cake has completely cooled, place one round on a platter or plate and spread frosting over the top. Place the other cake on top and add more frosting. (Tip: For either stacking, use a baker’s knife or serrated knife to cut the rounded tops off each layer.)
16. If you’d like, top with additional blueberries!

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