Yesterday I got a call from a woman who reads my newspaper food articles and she told me that long ago she clipped one with a recipe for Blueberry Buckle and has now lost it. It is one of her husband’s favorite desserts!
It is always so flattering when a reader calls to tell you they like your stuff, the articles, the recipes. Mostly I am thrilled that someone out there is actually cooking the recipes I give.
And this was one of her husband’s favorites!
The call made my day.
I asked whether the recipe was actually mine — her description of the lemon-milk combination didn’t sound familiar — but she said yes it was. Then I asked her when the recipe was printed and she didn’t remember but thought maybe sometime in 1987!
1987!!
Good thing I have recipes so perfectly organized in files (Fruit: Bueberries). I went to that one immediately, but no luck. Then I looked in Fruit: Cobblers and Crisps. Uh-uh.
Good thing I have clipped all my articles over the years. I tape them into big black photo presentation folders. Yes, I know how old fashioned that is. Hard copy and all. But I have had some computer crashes, so I like to keep hard copies. Besides, some of my articles go back to a time BEFORE I had a computer.
So I looked in my 1987 book. I passed through recipes for Mustard-Macadamia Chicken. And Poor Knights of Windsor, which is a kind of almond crusted French Toast. Then I got to an article I wrote that summer on Cobblers!! Eureka!
Only the Blueberry Buckle recipe wasn’t there.
So maybe it wasn’t one of mine after all.
But there was this, which I will tell her about, because, while it may not be THE one, it is sweet, delicious and perfect for summer feasting:
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler
Filling:
5 cups sliced peaches
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour or cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Biscuit:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teapoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
1/3 cup milk (approximately)
1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice the peaches and place them in a bowl with the blueberries. Add the sugar, flour, lemon juice and cinnamon and mix to distribute the ingredients evenly. Place the fruit in a baking dish. Make the biscuit: mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Mix the milk and egg yolk together, then pour it into the flour mixture. Stir to create a soft dough, adding more milk if the dough seems too sticky or dry. Drop the dough in small mounds on top of the fruit. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and serve. Makes 6 servings.
I like to serve this dish with Cinnamon Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Use a cold bowl and beaters to beat the cream, sugar and cinnamon with a whisk or an electric mixer until thick, but still pourable. Pour over still-warm cobbler.