Fabulous Friday Food - Blueberries!!!

My lips are blue, my freezer is full, and I am one happy girl because today we picked blueberries.

Today was one of the days I look forward to all year long. In the middle of winter, I dream of this day. As summer approaches, I begin to arrange my schedule around this day. In the fall, we enjoy the fruits of today's labor.

Today was a very good day.

Last year, you may recall, was a complete and total bust in the blueberry picking arena. When I got to the blueberry farm it was closed. And I was sad. Or, maybe more like mad. Whatever. It was horrible.

I've pushed it into my subconscience for so long that I can't even remember. Sort of.

But let's put bygones aside and rejoice in the moment, shall we? Because today has been a very good day.

Blueberries make everything alright.

And not to make you jealous or anything, I (O.K. well, we--Kate, Maggie, and I) picked 15 pounds of blueberries. I have gobs (is that a legitimate word?) of them in my freezer now.

Have I mentioned that I'm happy?

In honor of my fantastic blue spoils, I'm going to share my famous blueberry coffee cake recipe. I think I've given this recipe out to more people than any of my other recipes, and since Amy asked me for it this morning, I thought I might as well share it here.

Make it for your family this weekend, how 'bout?!

So here's what you do. First, gather your ingredients. In a small bowl, mix together the sour cream and baking soda (I'll show you what happens to that mixture in a minute).

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour and baking powder (not soda--that's mixed with the sour cream, remember?).

Now, looky here. See the sour cream and baking soda that you mixed together a few minutes ago? It's all fluffy now. Fun, huh?

Add the sour cream mixture to the batter in the bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together some brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and flour with a pastry blender.

When it's mixed, it should look like this.

Now you have three components to your coffee cake: batter, blueberries, and topping.

Take half the batter and spread it in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle the blueberries over the top of the batter, then about 1/3 of the topping mixture.

Add the rest of the batter (it works best if you spread it with an offset spatula) and then sprinkle with the rest of the topping. When you're done, it should look like this:

Bake at 325 for 1 hour. You might want to wait a couple of minutes (or more) before you slice it . . . if you can.

For those of you who like exact measurements, here's the "real" recipe.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2 Cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 Cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Cup butter

3/4 Cup sugar

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 Cups flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

Topping:

1 Cup brown sugar

4 T. cold butter

1/4 C. flour

2 T. cinnamon (or less if you don't like cinnamon that much)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Wash and drain blueberries.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and baking soda and set aside

3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add flour and baking powder, mixing well. Add sour cream mixture to batter.

4. Combine topping ingredients with a pastry blender until well blended.

5. Spread half the batter in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Top with blueberries and 1/3 of topping mixture. Spread rest of batter on top, then remaining topping ingredients.

6. Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy this one. I know your family will.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Now tell me, what fabulous foods are you making this weekend?