It's officially blueberry season here in Florida, and at our house that means it's time to make all things blueberry, from muffins to pancakes to a cake we call Blueberry Buckle. The local blueberry farm not only offers up blueberry plants that you can grow at home, but they also offer U-Pick, allowing regular old folks to come pick from their bountiful trees.

This year's crop is quite beautiful, and on Friday morning, I headed over to the farm to pick a few pounds of blueberries. Almost all the berries are bright purple now, so it was easy to find loads of great blueberries, and quite a few of my son's favorite type of berries, "monster" berries - ridiculously large berries.


On Saturday, my son and I donned our aprons and got to work making blueberrry buckle, a simple coffee cake style cake with blueberries. This recipe works beautifully with fresh or even store-bought frozen blueberries and is  a simple treat to whip up. The tastiest part of this recipe, by far, is the streusel topping. And blueberries are chock full of healthy vitamins and minerals, so that makes this kind of a cake a bit of a healthier option than a slice of chocolate cake, right???

Blueberry Buckle

Makes approximately 16 slices of cake, and freezes well

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk of your choice
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries

Streusel topping:
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.
2. Cream softened butter and granulated sugar until well blended. Add egg and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients well with a fork or whisk. Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with your milk. Gently fold in blueberries with a rubber spatula, then transfer batter to your greased square pan.
4. To make the streusel topping: Mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter well. This mixture will be a bit crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over the top of your batter.
5. Bake at 375 for 28-30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

I hope you have a great day today!