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The little tiny ones, bursting with real blueberry flavor.
The farmers markets are full of them, and so is my refrigerator.
So many recipes, so many things to do with them, it's hard to know where to start.
The list of fruit desserts include some funny names.
There's grunt. Slump. Buckle. And pandowdy.
Do any of those really sound like something you want to eat?
How about a cake called Blueberry Boy Bait?
There's a cute story about a teenage girl, in the '50s, who won a prize in the Pillsbury baking contest with this recipe. One bite, and supposedly the boys were hooked.
Of course these days we would never try to win them over with our baking talents, would we? Oh no never!
Yet it sounded so intriguing, I had to try it.
It tasted very good, but I can't say it was anything special. Plus, all the blueberries fell to the bottom.
(Can any experienced bakers out there tell me why that happened?)
Girls, if you're going to throw some bait out to the boys, I think you might have more luck with chocolate. All the boys worth catching love chocolate.
Then I made Blueberry Crumb Bars.
Now we're talking!
Crumbly and nutty, loaded with berries, perfect with a spoonful of fresh whipped cream.
These bars have the taste and texture of a blueberry crisp ( a perennial favorite), but add a delicious bottom crust and you've got a dessert that's extra special. Easy too.
Note: I used half all purpose white flour and half whole wheat pastry flour, for the health benefits. Whole wheat pastry flour can usually be found in the natural foods section of your supermarket. It is more finely milled than regular whole wheat flour, and can be exchanged for about half the all purpose flour in a recipe without changing the taste.
Blueberry Crumb Bars, adapted from Bon Appetit
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
(or 1 cup ap flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries (about 15 oz.)
1 cup blueberry preserves
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom of 13 x 9 x 2" metal pan.
Whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add butter cubes, and using your hands, rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture sticks together in small clumps.
Transfer half of this to another bowl and mix in almonds. Reserve for topping.
Press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan. If you find you don't have enough to cover, take some from the reserved topping.
Bake crust until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.
Mix all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Spread evenly over cooled crust, then sprinkle reserved topping over it.
Bake bars until filling is bubbly around the edges and topping is golden, about 40 minutes.
Cool in pan on rack, then cut into squares.
Warning! It may not have "boy bait" in the name, but the warm scent of butter, brown sugar and berries is very likely to bring them running.
