Take a Megabite

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I get weird in the heat. It’s right up there with being hungry. If I get too toasty I will surely stop talking and most likely get sassy about it. If I join you for a patio lunch, just save me a spot in the shade will you?

On the other hand, this is a picnic dessert for real. It doesn’t bother getting weird in the heat. So bring it to your next bbq or take it to the park. It won’t get sassy. And check out those lemons up there. They make these bars zesty on top of being crumby (in a good way). So get these in your belly before crabbiness from hunger strikes!

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

crumby goodness -

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 t salt
• zest of 1 lemon

berry mixture -

• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 t cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9×13 inch pan. (I lined mine with foil and then greased that for easy removal later on.)
2. Make the crumby goodness. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. Make berry mixture. In another bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle berry mixture over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. I stored mine in the fridge for awhile to hurry up the cooling process.

Doilies are the new napkins.

Red + White + Blue Stuffed Strawberries

So you guys should probably know that I single-handedly ate an entire watermelon in 2 days. I miss it already. With that said, I just can’t get enough summer fruit in my life, in my belly or in my desserts. So, I figured I’d tell you Happy Fourth of July with some patriotic berries!

Don’t bother considering these a dessert. Consider them a fruit-filled snack and eat a lot of them, ok?

Red + White + Blue Stuffed Strawberries
Recipe from The Family Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 20-25 strawberries
• 20-25 fresh blueberries
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 3 T confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t vanilla (I used half a vanilla bean.)

Directions:

1. Wash and dry strawberries and blueberries. Set blueberries aside. Using a small paring knife cut a cone shape into the top of the strawberry removing the stem and leaving a little nook inside. Cut the tip of the berry off so that it can stand up on a plate or tray.
2. Using an electric mixer beat together the mascarpone, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Using a pastry bag or using a small plastic bag with the tip cut off, pipe the mixture into each berry and top with a fresh blueberry. Store in the fridge until time to serve.

Check out this group of berries just hangin’ out being patriotic and stuff.

Blueberry Cobbler

Hey cashier,
Why’d you try to ring up that lady’s gum with my groceries? I guess I could’ve bought it for her but I don’t know her … and I am totally ok with the fact that you rang up Katie’s lunch with my groceries even though she told you it was hers and not mine. I’m ok with that. I like buying Katie lunch.

Hey oil change dudes,
Thanks for not calling me “sweetie” when I got my oil changed. Also, thanks for not offering to pop the hood for me. I know how to do it. I really do.

Dear blueberries,
I’m really glad you exist. I’m glad you exist in this cobbler. Thanks for being blue.

I made a half recipe of the one below and it made three perfectly sized cobblers. At the moment, I’m almost so full I can’t breathe. It was totally worth it though.

Blueberry Cobbler
Recipe from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

blueberry filling -

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 t lemon juice
• 4 cups fresh blueberries

cobbler -

• 1 cup flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 T cold butter
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Make blueberry filling. In a small saucepan at a medium heat stir together a 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and blueberries. Cook until thick and boiling. Pour into a buttered 2 quart casserole dish or six 2/3 cup ramekins that have been sprayed with cooking spray.
2. Make cobbler. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Rub butter into the dry ingredients. Stir in milk until the dough comes together. Top the hot berries with cobbler dough. Bake for 25 minutes if making one big cobbler and 15 minutes if you’re baking them in small ramekins.
3. Top with whipped cream and eat until you are majorly full.

Blueberry Streusel Pancakes

These are basically the lovechild of a certain blueberry pancake and streusel topped coffeecake. They should’ve met years ago. Would you agree?

So my parents came into town this weekend and it was up to my mom and I what we’d have for breakfast. We both happen to love pancakes and all things streusel and I happened to have blueberries, so here you go!

It’s a dreamy concoction really. You might find yourself describing this breakfast with words like: heavenly, dreamy and OMG-SO-GOOD.

I recommend making these immediately. Substitute another berry if you don’t have blueberries. Shnozberries would probably work perfectly!

Blueberry Streusel Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

pancakes -

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk*
• 1 T brown sugar
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4-1 cup blueberry (fresh or frozen)
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 T butter (for the pan)

streusel -

• 1 T unsalted butter
• 1 T flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• sprinkle of cinnamon

* If you don’t have buttermilk place a tablespoon of lemon juice in the bottom of a 1 cup measuring cup and fill to the top with milk. Stir together and allow to sit out for 5 minutes, and next thing you know, it’s buttermilk.

Directions:

1. Make pancakes! In a medium bowl, beat egg with hand mixer or whisk vigorously until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients besides blueberries (flour, buttermilk, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) until smooth. Stir in blueberries.
   
2. Melt a tablespoon of butter griddle or skillet over a medium heat. For each pancake pour scant 1/4 cup of batter onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes until bubbly on top and puffed and dry around the edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown. Place pancakes on a baking sheet in a warm oven (150-200 degrees F) until they are all cooked.
3. Make streusel. Using a fork or your hands rub the cold butter into the flour. Add sugar and cinnamon and rub all together until resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Sprinkle streusel evenly over all of the pancakes and turn the oven up to 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes or until streusel is crispy to the touch and smells fabulous.
5. Promptly stack the pancakes. Drizzle with maple syrup and eat a breakfast you will want to serve for lunch, dinner and dessert.

P.S. My grocery store currently has these:

Heart-Shaped Tortilla Chips

I’m pretty excited about it.

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Shnozberries taste like shnozberries and this coffeecake right there looks like pac-man.

Most importantly it tastes delicious, and sometimes coffee cake can be dessert with a grilled dinner.

Good thing it’s summer because these blueberries are Michigan’s finest, and they needed to be used promptly or they would’ve ruined everything by giving up on life.

So make this! For dessert! For breakfast! For guests! For fun! For the sake of all blueberries in the world that need a home!

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Recipe from Quick and Simple

Ingredients:

Streusel -

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Batter -

• 5 T unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9-inch springform pan.
2. To prepare streusel: In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter with your pastry blender or fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in walnuts. Set aside.
3. To prepare batter: Beat all batter ingredients (except blueberries) in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan and scatter blueberries over the top.
4. Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over blueberries. Bake for 1 hour (check at 50 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake for 15 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove side of pan and cool for another hour before serving.

I’m dessert AND breakfast and so I’m multitalented.

Blueberry Buckle Muffins

I go to bed thinking about breakfast. My stomach rumbles as I tune into late night Golden Girls episodes, and I think about the breakfast in the near future and the coffee that is it’s close companion. Tonight I sampled one of these muffins and even drank coffee as if it was morning. Even though the windows are dark, there’s breakfast in my belly.

These muffins are REALLY good, and it’s the perfect time to make them since blueberries are chubbiest and happiest in the summer.

Blueberry Buckle Muffins
Recipe adapted from Family Fun Magazine

Ingredients:

Batter –

• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 cups blueberries, stemmed and rinsed

Topping-

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, then the milk and vanilla.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and stir well, being careful not to overmix. Use a spatula to fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin filling each cup about three quarters full.
3. Make the crumb topping by stirring together the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Divide crumbly goodness over the muffins.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes (or 15 minutes for mini muffins) or until they are lightly brown and a knife inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Cool in tin for 15 to 30 minutes before serving. If you don’t, you risk some of the delicious buckle topping coming off. Then simply pretend it’s breakfast time, despite the hour, and enjoy with coffee.

Three’s not a crowd in your belly.