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.

Blueberry Muffins

I love old-fashioned blueberry muffins. Plain, no-streusel-on-the-top, bursting-with-berries, blueberry beauties.  Sweet, but not too sweet--I like to taste the fruit and convince myself that breakfast pastries can actually be good for you.  Make these as is, or try one of the variations.
 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well-beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, tossed with two teaspoons of flour

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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease twelve muffin cups or use paper liners.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Combine beaten eggs, milk and melted butter and add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir quickly and lightly until batter is barely mixed (lumps are O.K.).  Add blueberries on last few stirs.  DO NOT OVER MIX.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes.  There is no need to thaw frozen blueberries first, but the longer baking time will probably be required.

Variations:

• Add  1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. 
• Add 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind.
• Substitute other berries (blackberries, raspberries, etc.) for the blueberries.
• For cranberry-orange muffins, use 1 cup cranberries, and  increase sugar to 3/4 cup.  Add grated rind of one orange.