Blueberry Squares

     I hadn't tasted these wonderful blueberry squares since I was child.  Much to my delight, I came across my grandmother's  1947 copy of  "Robin Hood Prize Winning Recipes", and there, handwritten in the flyleaf, was the recipe for Blueberry Squares!  These are meant to be a dessert*, but I think they work well as a substitute for coffee cake at breakfast time, too. Don't skimp on the blueberries! 

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 cups sifted cake flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1-1/2 cups blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon rind (optional)

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 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together the shortening and 3/4 cup of sugar.  Add the vanilla and egg and beat until fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and add to shortening mixture alternately with the milk (begin and end with dry ingredients).

Pour half the batter into a greased 9x9 pan.  Cover with a mixture of the blueberries, lemon rind and remaining 1/4 cup sugar.  Pour the remainder of the batter over the berries.   Bake 40-50 minutes.  Cut into squares when cool and dust with powdered sugar.

*I seem to remember that my mother served these with custard sauce.  Of course, my mother served everything with custard sauce.  She didn't make it from scratch, but always used Harry Horne's Custard Powder (no other brand was acceptable).  Since Harry Horne's wasn't available in California, boxes of custard powder were brought in bulk from every vacation trip back to Toronto. Nowadays, I can usually find the similar Bird's Custard Powder in the foreign foods section at my local supermarket.