I Miss Blueberries

I miss blueberries.

We do have gorgeous tropical fruits here in Puerto Rico - bananas, mangos, papaya and dozens of others that we love discovering and sampling.

It is hard to be in a position to complain when you can pick your own mangos, and some are as big as your head.

And the bananas are plentiful and delicious. My favorite are these tiny banana niños. They are just 2 bites and they taste like a sweet banana-pear blend.

But this time of year, I miss all the berries. Strawberries. Raspberries. Blackberries. Blueberries. They just don’t grow them here, and as a result, the few that get shipped to the grocery stores cost a fortune and are often tasteless and moldy. My yogurt, cereal and salads are sad.  I am relegated to buying frozen berries. These are fine for smoothies, but defrosted, they don’t hold the right texture to appear on shortcakes. Since every summery dessert seems to have berries in them, I had to adapt.

Growing up, my mother made a delicious crumb cake that had a layer of fruit between the cake and the crumbs. In my memory, I think of this as an apple crumbcake, but in the last few weeks, I have made it with a peach compote, and then with cooked (originally frozen)blueberries. Today I share my mom’s original recipe as well as my Gluten Free version. (And yes – a slice of warm bluberry crumbcake and a glass of milk eased my berry sadness.)

The Peach

MOM’S CRUMB CAKE

INGREDIENTS

Batter:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

pinch of salt

Topping:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 sticks of butter

3 tsp cinnamon

Fruit: 

homemade cooked fruit compote, canned pie filling, or fruit jam

DIRECTIONS

• Beat batter well, it will be thick.
• Spread into a greased, rectangle pan (9×12, 10×13)
• Spread fruit on top of batter
• Mix topping with finger until combined and lumpy
• Sprinkle lumps on top of fruit
• Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes
• ENJOY
• Serves 12-16

The Blueberry

GLUTEN FREE CRUMB CAKE

Note – based on the contents of a Bisquick box, I halved the above recipe. This entire cake can be made with 1 box of Gluten Free Bisquick.

INGREDIENTS

Batter:

1 cups Gluten Free Bisquick

1/2  cup sugar

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup milk

1 eggs

Topping:

1 cup Gluten Free Bisquick

1/2  cup sugar

1 stick of butter

2 tsp cinnamon

Fruit:

homemade cooked fruit compote, canned pie filling, or fruit jam

DIRECTIONS

• Beat batter well, it will be thick.
• Spread into a greased, square or round pan
• Spread fruit on top of batter
• Mix topping with finger until combined and lumpy
• Sprinkle lumps on top of fruit
• Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes
• ENJOY
• Serves 6-8