‘Tis the Season for Blueberries: Try These Recipes

Sweet summery blueberries are perfect in fruit salads or just to nibble on during the hot summer months. They also make great oatmeal and yogurt toppers.

Blueberry Orange Almond Salad

Blueberry Vinaigrette Dressing:
½ cup oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp parsley
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp vinegar
Dash of pepper
Juice of 1 cup blueberries

Blueberry Orange Almond Salad

Salad:
¼ cup sliced almonds
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
½ head leaf lettuce, torn
½ head Romaine lettuce, torn
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped red onion
1 can (11 ox) mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup blueberries
1 cup sliced strawberries

Combine dressing ingredients and shake well. Chill at least one hour.

Cook and stir almonds and sugar in skillet over low heat until sugar is melted and nuts coated and browned. Cool and set aside. Combine both lettuces, celery and onions. Cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, pour dressing over lettuce mixture and add oranges, blueberries and strawberries. Sprinkle nuts over top just before serving. Yield: 6 servings.

Recipe adapted from Le Bonté Women’s Club’s Elegant But Easy cookbook

Blueberry Chess Pie

Blueberry Chess Pie

1 ½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
4 eggs, add one at a time
½ cup of milk
Juice of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and blend until mixed. Using unbaked pie shell, put about 1 ½ cup (the more the merrier!) blueberries in bottom, pour batter over. Bake 1 hour or until pick comes out clean.

You can use fresh or frozen berries. This is just a good basic chess pie recipe, so any fruit can be substituted.

By Sally Bullard, Main Street Market Café, www.mainstreetmarketcafe.com

Blueberry Scones

Blueberry Scones

4 cups all-purpose flour + additional 1/4 cup for dusting fruit
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. orange (or lemon) zest
3/4 lb. cold, unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream + additional 1/4 cup for brushing on scones prior to baking
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
4 tsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the blueberries and 1/4 cup of flour, then, add to the dough by folding them in. The dough may become marbled at this point, but this will not take away from the appearance of the finished product.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inches thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn’t stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.

**At this point, the scones can be frozen, bagged, and then baked off at a later time. They keep up to a month in the freezer.

Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

By Laura Albright, SoCo Bake Shop

Recipes and photos courtesy The ‘Sip Magazine