blueberries Archives - Fresh From Oregon

Over the Top Blueberry Muffins

July 27, 2016 · by Carrie Trax ·

Fresh from Oregon, blueberries have a long season and you can still find plenty at the local farmers markets and stores. Here on the mountain (Mt Hood) I have been picking the blueberries from my bushes for about a week. With the higher elevation we are about 4 weeks later than the farms in Portland, Oregon. With Blueberry Muffins on the menu for breakfast today I was out early in the morning to pick 2 cups of fresh blueberries. The recipe below will make a nice tall muffin if using tall paper muffin cups in your muffin tins or if you want a more shorter muffin with a large top bake directly in the muffin tin. To me a muffin is best with a little crumb topping but if you prefer you can just leave plain or sprinkle with some coarse sugar.

Over the Top Blueberry Muffins
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (22 ounces)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar (8 ounces)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
16 ounces plain whole fat yogurt or plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 cups fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping:
In medium size bowl mix 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon flour and 1/4 cup of room temperature butter. Mix until you get small crumbs, set aside.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick spray or place tall muffin paper cups in muffin pan.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In second bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, yolks, yogurt and orange zest until smooth. Make a crater in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Resist the urge to over-mix – there should be a some lumps of flour in the batter. Fold in the blueberries, mixing just to combine. Drop about a cup of batter in each of the muffin tin’s wells or paper cup. You may have extra batter to make a few more muffins. The cups should be quite full. Sprinkle the muffins with crumb topping and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the bottom of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Recipe ~ Alton Brown’s Over the Top Muffins

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding

July 26, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Here is a good bread pudding to making in the summer months when the berries are ripe and juicy. You can make this bread pudding with just one type of berry or as many as you like. The egg custard layered with these juicy berries will melt in your mouth. I baked in 6 medium size ramekins but you can also bake in a 13×9 baking dish or 2 bread loaf pans. Serve it in the morning, afternoon or evening for a sweet taste of summer.

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding
9-12 slices soft French or egg bread, cubed 1-inch pieces (6 cups)
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups fresh mixed berries (blueberries, marionberries, red raspberries, blackberries), divided
Mixed berry sauce, recipe below (optional)

In large bowl place cubed bread, set aside. In medium bowl beat eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour milk mixture over bread cubes and let set for 30 minutes. Grease 6 medium ramekin baking dishes. Place about 1/2 cup of the cubes of bread in each greased ramekin, sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the mixed berries, add another 1/2 cup bread cubes, sprinkle top with 1/4 cup of mixed berries. There should be a small amount of egg mixture left in the bowl, evenly divide among the six ramekins. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and add about 2 cups of water to the baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown and knife inserted comes out clean. Remove and cool for about 10 minutes if you would like to serve warm. Once cooled completely you can refrigerate to serve later or the next day.

When you are ready to serve run a knife around the outer edge of the bread pudding and flip over to remove the bread pudding. Top with remaining 1 cup of fresh berries or mixed berry sauce below. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Fresh Mixed Berry Sauce
4 cups mixed berries
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water

Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Serve warm or cold over the bread pudding.

Fresh Oregon Berry Tart

June 14, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Fresh berries in all shapes and colors are now ready in Oregon. The fruit stands are overflowing with fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries red raspberries and tayberrries. You will always find a pint or two of berries in my refrigerator ready to create a sweet dessert or muffin or just to top off my Sunday morning pancakes or serve with some yogurt. The sugar cookie crust in this tart is sweet and crisp and much firmer that a traditional pie dough crust making it last a few extra days in the refrigerator without getting soggy. The sweet taste of the lemon filling with the sauce from the tayberries and the mountain of berries creates layers of flavor from top to bottom.

What is a Tayberry? Its a cross between a blackberry and red raspberry and the fruit is sweeter than a blackberry and much larger than a red raspberry. The name comes from the river Tay in Scotland.

Fresh Oregon Berry Tart

Sugar cookie crust:
8 Tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 and ½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Lemon filling:
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
¼ cup whipping cream

juice from 1 large lemon
¼ cup granulated sugar

Topping:
2 cups Tayberries or Red Raspberries, slightly mashed
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons water
2-3 cups mixed berries, washed

To make the sugar cookie crust, place the butter and sugar in a standing mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on high. Add the egg and mix on medium until fully incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt all at once and mix on medium just until no spots of flour remain, about 20 seconds, do not over mix. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray fluted 9 1/2″ removable bottom tart pan with cooking spray.

While the oven is preheating, make the lemon filling by whisking together the eggs, egg yolks, whipping cream, lemon juice, and granulated sugar until smooth. Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Press dough it into the tart pan evenly on the bottom and up the sides. Pour the lemon filling into the crust. Bake until the filling is set and the crust begins to turn golden, 20-25 minutes. Do not over bake – pull the tart out just when you see any golden color on the crusts. Make sure the lemon filling is cooked by inserting a toothpick in the center and checking to see if it comes out clean. Allow the shell and filling to cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To prepare the topping add tayberries or red raspberries and sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in another small bowl combine cornstarch and cold water; whisk until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to raspberries and whisk to combine. Bring to boil and continue boiling 3 to 5 minutes or until sauce is as thick as you like. Set aside to cool. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

To assemble spread raspberry sauce over the lemon filling and place mixed berries on tart and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve chilled.

Mini Oregon Berry Pies

July 4, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

You know that summer has started here in Oregon when you see the boxes of berries overflowing at the farmers markets. Blackberries, Blueberries, Tayberries are in season with a few Strawberries still around. After gathering up several boxes of each of these berries I needed to find a way to enjoy all these berries in one day. Mini pies are a great way to make small size treats so that you can sample several different flavors without a lot of baking. Blackberries and blueberries are both mixed with lemon zest and a dash of cinnamon to bring out their fresh berry taste. For the strawberries I mixed them with fresh chopped rhubarb and the tayberries are so sweet just a little sugar brings out their delicious flavor! The last thing on any pie is the topping. I made one each of the blackberry and tayberry with a traditional double crust. To show off the blueberries a lattice top was the best choice. Crumb top was a must for the strawberry rhubarb pie and the remaining berry’s pies. Enjoy the recipes below and make a Fresh From Oregon berry pie this summer. The recipes below will make 6 mini pies. If you want to make a full size of any of these pies below just triple the amounts of the filling and its perfect for a full size pie.

My favorite and only Pie Crust
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
5 tablespoons cold water

In a large bowl mix flour and salt, add shortening and with a pastry blender mix just until the shortening is mixed and the dough is the size of small peas. In small bowl beat egg, vinegar and water with a fork, add to dough and mix until the dough just comes together (Do not over mix or the dough will be tough). Divide dough into three pieces and flatten slightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Once slightly chilled divide each dough into 3 pieces. Roll out 6 pieces on a lightly floured surface and place into 6 mini pie pans. Roll out the remaining 3 pieces slightly bigger than the pie pan and set aside until ready to top one on the blackberry, tayberry and blueberry pies.

Crumb Topping
In medium size bowl mix 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon flour and 1/4 cup of room temperature butter. Mix until you get small crumbs, set aside.

Blackberry Pie ~ 2 mini pies
2 1/2 cups blackberries
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet they are)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons instant tapioca (These helps to thicken the juices)
1 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place blackberries, sugar, lemon juice & zest, cinnamon and tapioca in a large bowl and toss gently to mix. Let set for 30 minutes. In one pie crust add 1/2 the pie mix place 1/2 tablespoon butter over berries and place one of the rolled out pie crusts on top. Roll edges under the bottom pie crust and crimp the edge. Cut a couple of slits in the top crust or use a decorative mini cookie cutter pressed in the top to create a vent for the pie. In the second pie crust add remaining berries and top with 1/3 of the crumb topping. Place on baking sheet.

Tayberry Pie ~ 2 mini pies
Follow the recipe above for the blackerry pie reducing the sugar to 1/8 cup and omitting the cinnamon.

Blueberry Pie ~ 1 mini pie
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons sugar
dash cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

In small bowl combine blueberries, lemon zest & juice, flour, sugar and cinnamon. Place in one of the prepared pie crusts and top with the butter. Roll the edge of the pie crust under and crimp the edge. With the last rolled out pie crust cut strips of dough about 1/2″ wide and place on top of the blueberries in a lattice pattern. Place on baking sheet.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie ~ 1 mini pie
1 cup rhubarb, chopped in small pieces
1 cup strawberries, de-stemmed and cut in half
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant tapioca
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

In small bowl mix rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, flour, lemon zest and juice and toss to combine. Place in remaining prepared pie crust top with butter and roll pie crust under and crimp the edge. Top with the remaining crumb topping and place on baking sheet.

You are ready to bake your mini pies. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, decrease temperature to 350 degrees and baking another 45 minutes or until the tops are a golden brown and juices are bubbling from the pies. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Over the Top Blueberry Muffins

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding

Mini Oregon Berry Pies

Experience fresh food from Oregon!

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