Are you tired of blueberry recipes yet? No promises, but I *think* this is the last one for awhile. Unless I decide to make something new. 🙂  But this vanilla bluebery butter is a great recipe to end on. I re-discovered fruit butter last year at American Spoon in Petoskey, Michigan. I bought a jar of their strawberry butter and proceeded to be amazed at how delicious it was. I’ve had apple butter before, but that didn’t prepare me for just how good fruit butter could be. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to try and make my own.

I followed a recipe I found online for blueberry butter but added in a vanilla bean because I think blueberry and vanilla is a wonderful flavor combination. The end result was so good. It was smooth and thick, with an almost creamy consistency. The consistency, in my opinion, is what makes this so much better than traditional jam. I can’t wait to try this with other fruits. I’m already planning peach butter once peaches are in season around here!

Vanilla Blueberry Butter

Ingredients:

1 lb blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 vanilla bean

Directions:

In a medium sized sauce pan, toss the blueberries with the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend the blueberries until very smooth. Be careful of hot blueberry splatters!

Add the sugar and cinnamon to the blueberries. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, adding them to the blueberry mixture. Add the empty vanilla bean as well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is thick, about 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove the vanilla bean and transfer the blueberry butter to jam jars or other containers and let cool completely.

Will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in the freezer.

adapted from Andrea's Recipes

Another blueberry recipe for you! I have the same problem every season. As soon as a certain season hits, like blueberry season, I go crazy trying all kinds of fun new recipes. And then I am always pressed for time trying to get all the new recipes posted before the season ends and you don’t want to make them any more! Hopefully you still have plenty of blueberries left, because I’ve still got recipes to share. 🙂

This blueberry bread is definitely one you’ll want to make time for during blueberry season. It basically tastes like a blueberry muffin in bread form. The recipe produces a dense, moist bread that is filled to the brim with fresh bursting blueberries. It doesn’t taste overly sweet, which means you won’t feel too guilty eating this for breakfast. It’s a fairly simple quickbread, and the perfect vehicle for fresh in-season blueberries to shine! Enjoy 🙂

Blueberry Buttermilk Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, well-shaken
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 inch loaf pan and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg until well-combined and light colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogoenous, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2-3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the buttermilk in 2 additions, whisking just to combine, then whisk in the vanilla.

Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evently distributed. Be careful not to overmix.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.

adapted from Baking Illustrated

I couldn’t let the 4th of July come and go without posting  some sort of patriotic treat.  I’m cutting it a little close on this one, but hopefully if you’re still looking for a fun dessert for the 4th, you’ll have time to make this one. I love traditional fruit pizza (who doesn’t??), but these mini versions are just so cute!  Basically, these mini fruit pizzas are just simple sugar cookies covered in a cream cheese “sauce” with various types of chopped fruit as a topping. I covered mine with blueberries and strawberries to give them a red, white and blue theme, but you could use any fruit that you want.  They taste amazing and are sure to be a hit with adults and kids alike. Plus, if you’re having a picnic or cook-out, these would be so fun to set out as a “make your own” station. Stack the cookies up on a plate, set out a bowl of the cream cheese topping, and set out various bowls of chopped fruit. Then people can build their own with the fruit that they like, and it keeps the cookies from getting soggy as they sit.  No matter how you serve these, they are sure to taste great. 🙂

*If you’re looking for other dessert ideas, try one of these! 🙂 Patriotic Brownie Skewers :: Strawberry Pretzel Dessert :: Red Velvet Brownies

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cups Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Topping:

• 1 pkg.(8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• assorted fresh fruit, for topping

Directions:

For the cookies:

1. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, yolks and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add flour to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Do not overmix. Transfer the dough to saran wrap and wrap well. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. When you are ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness, cut out cookies, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are set and just starting to brown around the edges.

For the topping:

1. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended.
2. Spread over cookies and top with fresh fruit.

from my favorite Sugar Cookie> recipe and Kraft Foods

I’m pretty sure that now that it’s May, it is officially ice cream season!  Even if it’s not, I couldn’t wait any longer to try this blueberry vanilla ice cream.  Ever since the weather started warming up, I’ve been wanting to go out for ice cream as much as possible. Thankfully Mike shares my priorities and we’ve discovered the best little ice cream place that is only a mile from our house! I could see this becoming an expensive habit over the course of the summer, so I decided to make my own. 🙂

I’ve mentioned it before, but Mike absolutely loves blueberries and anything with blueberries in it.  Blueberry and lemon is his favorite combination, but I prefer blueberry and vanilla. And since I’m the one making the ice cream, blueberry and vanilla it was. 🙂 Don’t worry though, Mike was a huge fan of this ice cream. We both were! It’s smooth and creamy, and the flavor was perfect. Actually, Mike said he’d rather eat this any day than go out for ice cream. I’m guessing I’ll be making this many more times, but I hope I still get a few ice cream dates in my future. 🙂

Blueberry Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp water
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, stir and simmer together the blueberries, water and sugar until the blueberries soften and the sugar dissolves, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

When the blueberry mixture is sufficiently chilled, use an immersion blender to puree the blueberries. In a large bowl, stir together the blueberry mixture, cream, milk and vanilla. Freeze according to the directions on your ice cream maker.

adapted from the Penzey's Spice Catalog

If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that I made this cake to celebrate Mike’s birthday last weekend. He absolutely loves the combinatinon of lemon and blueberry, so when I saw this cake on Sweetapolita’s site (hers looks a ton better than mine!) I knew it would make the perfect birthday cake for Mike.

Unfortunately we have quite a few people in the family who aren’t big fans of blueberries, but for everyone else, this cake was a huge success. The lemon flavor in the cake is strong without being overwhelming, and the lemon frosting was the perfect finishing touch. Mike declared it his perfect birthday cake, and I’m already wondering what other excuses I can find to make a batch of zesty lemon frosting.

Note: Does anyone know why my blueberries always sink to the bottom of my cake? What am I doing wrong?

Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

Ingredients:

Lemon Blueberry Cake:
2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs

Zesty Lemon Frosting:
1 cup soft unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon zest
5 cups icing sugar (or 6 for sweeter version)
60 ml fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
2 tablespoons water
pinch salt
1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions:

For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9″ round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir milk, sour cream, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among cake pans.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centet comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool. Frost with zesty lemon frosting.

For the Frosting:
Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy.

from Sweetapolita

Have I mentioned it’s blueberry season in michigan? I can’t get enough of the fresh blueberries I’ve been buying each week. We eat plenty straight out of the refrigerator, but of course I’ve been experimenting with some fun new recipes! These mini blueberry tarts might be one of the best blueberry desserts I’ve ever tasted.

These tarts are simple and light and perfect for summer. The highlight is definitely the white chocolate sweetened whipped cream. As soon as I saw that ingredient, I knew I had to try these! The whipped cream is light and fluffy and perfectly sweetened from the white chocolate, which gives it a distinct and wonderful flavor. The tart shells are crunchy and just barely sweetened, the fresh blueberries are juicy and bursting with flavor and the combination creates a mouthwatering summer dessert. These would make perfect potluck desserts because of their size, but you could just as easily make one large blueberry tart for an impressive dessert for company. Next time you have some extra blueberries on your hands, try this dessert – you won’t regret it.

*Note: I used the mini tart pan set from Williams Sonoma (a birthday gift from my sister-in-law!)

Mini White Chocolate Blueberry Tarts

Ingredients:

Tart Pastry
1 large egg yolk
2 Tbsp cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salted butter, chilled, and cut into small pieces

White Chocolate Sweetened Whipped Cream
6 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
~3 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:

Tart Pastry: Mix the egg yolk and cream in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture, using a fork, and mix until just combined. Dough will be crumbly. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll the dough out 1/8 inch thick and cut out mini tart shapes. Press the cutouts into a mini tart pan and prick the bottoms with a fork. Bake for 12 minutes then rotate the pan 180 degrees. Continue baking until the crust is golden brown, 5-10 more minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool 10 minutes. Remove the tarts from the pan and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

White Chocolate Whipped Cream: Place the chopped white chocolate in a medium sized bowl and set aside. Heat 1/2 cup of the cream in a small saucepan until it just begins to bubble. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes. Stir gently until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the chocolate/cream mixture cool until it is room temperature. It must be completely cool before continuing. Beat the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until it holds the softest peaks. With the mixer on high speed, add the white chocolate/cream mixture all at once and continue to beat just until the mixture holds firm peaks.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tart shells. Top with fresh blueberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook and Baking from My Home to Yours

It’s finally blueberry season in Michigan! I love going blueberry picking and stocking up on fresh blueberries to use throughout the winter. Plus, because he loves them so much, blueberries are the one fruit Mike will pick without too much complaint.  The blueberries in these muffins aren’t fresh-picked, but they are straight from the farmer’s market. There’s nothing like fresh blueberries to make blueberry muffins extra wonderful. (Or so my husband tells me. I don’t actually like blueberry muffins, but he LOVES them. Emphasis on loves.)

I already have a great blueberry muffin recipe on the blog, but I figure there’s always room for more. I tried to get Mike to pick which he liked best between this one and our old favorite, but he said they were both too good and he couldn’t choose. This recipe uses a quick homemade blueberry jam to spread blueberry flavor through the whole muffin, and they bake up big and beautiful, like bakery style muffins. The lemon sugar on top adds the perfect amount of flavor and crunch, and I caught myself stealing crunchy lemon sugar crumbs off the top of the muffins once they were baked. These muffins are a definite favorite in our house. I’ve already made them twice and I’m sure I’ll be making them again before blueberry season is over!

Blueberry Burst Muffins

Ingredients:

Lemon-Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces)
1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

For the topping:
Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

For the muffins:
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together until thick and homogeneous. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.) Gently stir in blueberries.

Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter, pushing it below the surface. Using a chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into the batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 more minutes before serving.

from Cooks Illustrated

These are some of the easiest 4th of July treats I’ve ever made, and they’re so fun! Sometimes the simple ideas are the best, don’t you think?  I saw a picture of something similar on Simple Organized Living, and just had to replicate her idea. Ingredients include fresh baked brownies (I used a ghirardelli box mix), strawberries, blueberries, mini marshmallows and wooden skewers. I cut the brownies into stars to fit with my patriotic theme, but you could just do squares, or use a mini biscuit cutter to make cute little circles. Then assemble the various ingredients on your skewer in whatever order you want. (Tip: Don’t choose the brownies with chocolate chips in them. Learn from my experience.)

These would also be delicious drizzled with melted white chocolate to finish them off, but I ended up leaving mine plain and simple. It made me feel healthier. If you’re looking for a fun and simple “red white and blue” dessert for the 4th of July, give these a try – they’re sure to be a big hit. 🙂

*Don’t miss the blueberry giveaway at the bottom of this post!*

It should be no secret around here that Mike LOVES blueberries. Seriously, I think I post a blueberry recipe once a week!  But it makes him happy, and it causes him to give me high ratings on my food, so it’s kind of a win-win.  That being said, there is one blueberry recipe I’ve been hesitant to make – blueberry sauce. Mike has often told me of his grandmother’s blueberry sauce that he loved as a kid. I think he brings it up every time I make pancakes. Unfortunately his grandma is 92 and can’t remember her recipe, and no one seems to have a copy.  I was nervous to just pick a recipe and try it, because I was pretty sure there was no way it would compare to his grandma’s recipe.

And then I found The Blueberry Store. Yes, a store entirely devoted to blueberries! If anyone would have a good blueberry sauce recipe, I figured it would be this place. So I decided to try it. I made their blueberry sauce, and surprised Mike with buttermilk pancakes covered in blueberry sauce for dinner one night. The verdict? He loved it! A complete success. He kept saying “This is awesome, this is so good!”, and he said it tasted just like his grandmother’s. I call that a success 🙂

*This recipe is fairly sweet. Mike didn’t mind, but cut down on the sugar a little if you prefer it a little less sweet.

Curious to know what Mike’s favorite dessert is from his grandma, and all-time favorite – period?  Check out this Blueberry Pudding Dessert!  Yes, it is also made up of blueberries. 🙂

Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• ½ Cup Sugar
• ½ Cup Water
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 2 Cups Fresh Blueberries
• 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
• ½ Teaspoon Grated Lemon Peel

Directions:

1. Combine water, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a sauce pan. Stir frequently over low heat until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in lemon juice and lemon peel. Add fresh blueberries, simmer 5 minutes. Let sauce cool slightly before using.
2. Serve over ice cream, fresh melon, French toast, cheesecake or pancakes. Makes about two cups.

from The Blueberry Store

• Blueberry Cranberry Juice
• Blueberry Apple Juice
• Old Fashioned Preserves
• Blueberry Beef Jerky
• Blueberry Coffee
• Blueberry Walnut Dip Mix
• Blueberry Mustard
• Blueberry BBQ sauce
• Blueberry Blossom Honey
• Blueberry Salsa
• Blueberry Vinaigrette
• Cranberry Walnut Dip Mix
• Blueberry Granola

• Check out The Blueberry Store and leave a comment telling me which product you would most like to try.
• Anonymous comments – please leave your name and email address in your comment
• Extra entries (leave a separate comment for each):
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  • For an extra entry, subscribe to receive blog updates (Use subscribe button on the right hand sidebar)
• Contest ends at 11:59pm, Sunday August 22nd.  I will choose a random winner and contact the winner via email.  I will also update this post with the name of the winner.

I’m on a roll. I have added blueberries into so many recipes, and blueberry season’s not over yet! This blueberry cheesecake was a highlight for me. Much like the pie, it was a new challenge, because it was my first ever cheesecake. Don’t cheesecakes seem intimidating? (or is that just me?). Well take it from me, if you’re nervous about making a cheesecake, start with this one. I don’t think you can go wrong. Slightly overbaked? Doesn’t matter, it still tastes amazing. Huge crack down the center? Doesn’t matter, you’re covering it with a pretty blueberry sauce. That’s the kind of cheesecake I like.

As I’ve said before, Mike loves anything with blueberries in it. I saw this recipe for blackberry cheesecake on The Pioneer Woman Cooks and knew that I had to try it with blueberries. My best friend Katie and her husband came to visit, providing me with the perfect excuse. (I try not to waste visits from guests…I’m always looking for taste-testers for my experimental baking).  This turned out great. It was quick to make, and much simpler than I expected a cheesecake to be. It tasted wonderful, and is a guest-worthy dessert. It’s a great simple and classic dessert with a fun fresh twist.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust
1 box Vanilla Wafers
½ cups Pecans
1 stick 1/2 Cup Butter, Melted
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

Filling
3 packages 8 Ounce Cream Cheese, softened
1-½ cup Sugar
4 whole Eggs
½ cups Sour Cream

Topping
2 cups Blueberries
½ cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust: Place vanilla wafers and pecans into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until mixture becomes crumbs. Add melted butter and vanilla and pulse again until combined. Pour into a 10-inch springform pan and press crumbs into the bottom of the pan. (It's ok if they come up the sides).

For the filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl. Add sour cream and mix again. Pour mixture into crust, smooth the top, and bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes. Turn off oven and open door and allow to sit in the oven with the door opened for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

For the topping: Add blueberries, sugar, and water to a saucepan or skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Pour blueberries over the cheesecake and place pan into the fridge to cool and set for at least 2 hours—several hours is better.

When ready to serve, remove rim around pan and slice into 16 pieces with a long serrated knife.

adapted, slightly, from the Pioneer Woman