Baked Blueberry French Toast with Blueberry Syrup

Blueberry French Toast

As shared by Mari @ Once Upon a Plate (www.onceuponaplate1.com)

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread, sliced and cut into 1 inch cubes

2  (8 ounce packages) cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes (I use 1 package)

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed

12 large eggs

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 cups milk

Method:

Grease or spray with cooking oil a 13" x 9" baking pan.  

Place half the bread cubes evenly in the pan.  Scatter cream cheese over bread and then scatter blueberries over all.  Arrange remaining bread cubes over the top.  In a large bowl, combine eggs, syrup and milk.  Pour over bread mixture.  Cover and chill overnight.

Next day, bake casserole at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, covered with foil.  Remove foil after 30 minutes and cook for 30 more minutes, until puffy.    While casserole bakes, make Blueberry Syrup.* 

Top blueberry casserole with some of the Blueberry Syrup, and pass the rest at the table.

Blueberry Syrup

1 cup sugar (I use about 3/4 cup sugar)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

1 cup blueberries

1 tablespoon butter

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water over medium heat.  Cook 5 minutes until thickened, stirring.  Add 1 cup blueberries and simmer, stirring for 10 minutes.  Add butter and blend.

*You can make the blueberry syrup one to two days ahead if you desire, refrigerate until

serving time.(Best served warm.)

Enjoy!

Click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate

Summer Fruit Cake
As shared from the kitchen of Once Upon a Plate, by Mari
www.onceuponaplate1.com
(My notes are in italics)

Makes 1 single layer 9-inch cake
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1 cup sugar*, put 2 tablespoons of this aside for topping
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Fruit: Berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). Pitted apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears, cut into wedges or chunks. (I quartered the plums.) If using frozen berries, do not thaw. (The recipe did not indicate the exact amount of fruit to use, next time I'll probably add more plums as they shrunk as they baked, but it was still very good.)
Optional: 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract; I used almond extract instead.

*You may cut the sugar down to 3/4 cup if desired. I used Italian Plums.

Method: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9-inch cake pan, coat with plain breadcrumbs or flour.

In a bowl whisk or stir together the flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, with a spatula, cream together the butter and all but 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla (plus extract, if using.)  Note: I found it more effective to use a whisk to incorporate the butter with the rest of the ingredients.

Stir in the flour mixture with a spatula until smooth. Transfer batter to the
prepared pan. Cover the surface of the batter with fruit, pressing fruit slightly into the batter. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Note: I tossed the quartered plums with about a tablespoon of sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon before pressing them into batter.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350º, then reduce to 325º and bake until golden
brown and firm to the touch. [Original recipe stated to bake for another 50 to 60 minutes ~ but my cake was done at approximately 35-40 minutes. Perhaps if you really use a lot of fruit you may need to bake longer.]

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.  Enjoy!

Recipe posted on www.chowhound.chow.com by Sir Gawain, July 2005/Apparently an adaptation from a Martha Stewart recipe

Click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate (www.onceuponaplate1.com)

Crumpets with Blueberry-Vanilla Preserves

Crumpets
makes 16 three-inch crumpets

As shared from the kitchen of Once Upon a Plate
Similar to English Muffins, but more dense crumpets are delicious warm from the griddle, or split and toasted and served with jam, preserves, honey or your favorite spread. Excellent with a cup of hot tea or coffee.
Round cookie cutters or egg cooking rings are necessary for this recipe. I like to make these in my electric skillet for accurate temperature control, but you can also make them on a griddle or pan on the stove top.
1 packet dry yeast (scant 1 Tablespoon)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
1 3/4 cup milk
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a few Tablespoons butter, melted to brush pan/griddle and the metal rings
Method:
Sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in a mixing bowl, stir to dissolve yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes, then stir in milk, flour, salt and soda. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to develop for 30 minutes.
Heat skillet or griddle over medium heat (275*) until hot. Brush pan surface lightly with melted butter. Arrange cooking rings on cooking surface, brush insides of rings lightly with melted butter.
Fill each ring 2/3 full of batter. (For 3-inch rings I use a 1/3 cup measuring scoop.)
Cook about 10 minutes or until tops are full of holes and batter begins to dry and lose it's shiny surface. Remove rings and flip crumpets to lightly brown the other side.
Serve immediately, or toast (or split and toast) and serve with your favorite condiments.

This is my favorite way ~ split, toasted and spread with butter:

~*~*~*~*

Blueberry-Vanilla Preserves
Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Sugar (may use part Splenda TM)
water
freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 1 scant teaspoon for 1 cup of berries
pure vanilla extract
Combine equal amounts of berries and sugar (I reduce the ratio of sugar a bit ~ personal preference) in a saucepan, add a couple of tablespoons water and the lemon juice. Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently so mixture doesn't scorch. Cook until liquids begins to evaporate and desired consistency is reached. Keeping in mind that mixture will firm up further as it cools.
Remove from heat and stir in a teaspoon of vanilla. Place in clean jar and refrigerate when preserves have cooled.
Will keep in refrigerator for 1 week.

Please click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate

Pan Seared Salmon Filets with Toasted Almonds, Blueberries on Spinach with Black Fig Drizzle

I've seen recipes for Salmon with the unlikely paring of blueberries before, but none really appealed to me.

However, finding the kitchen overrun with fresh blueberries was encouragement enough to rethink this combination.

I still wasn't able to find a recipe that called out to me, set out to invent my own ~

I devised this simple salad which received THUMBS UP around the table. :)

If you've been following my blog, you know by now that I often "wing it" when it comes to cooking, I love the creativity it provides ~ and this recipe (more of a guideline) is no exception.

The steps are easy ~

Prepare the salad ingredients: rinse and drain baby spinach leaves, sliver as much red onion as you like, wash the blueberries, and toast almond slivers (directions follow.)

In a medium-hot saute pan (big enough to hold salmon filets in one layer), toast almonds in dry pan, stirring often until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In same pan add 2 teaspoons up to 1 Tablespoon or so of olive oil (you can use more but I use as little oil as possible), allow to heat over medium-hot flame.

Lightly salt and pepper (4 to 6 ounce portions ~ one per person) salmon filets, add them to the hot pan and cook turning once about 4 to 6 minutes per side (depending upon thickness of the filets)

When salmon is cooked, arrange on the beds of spinach, add about 1/4 cup of Sweet Black Fig Vinegar* to the pan the filets were cooked in and reduce over medium heat until thick, but still pourable. Drizzle over the spinach leaves and salmon.

Sprinkle toasted almonds, slivered red onion, and blueberries over the salad, then enjoy!

* The salad dressing/sauce is simply a reduction of

Cuisine Perels' Black Fig Vinegar it is DELICIOUSLY sweet, and not too tart.

(click the link to learn more.)

Please click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate.

Easy Blueberry-Almond Sticky Buns

Easy Blueberry-Almond Sticky Buns
Makes 12, (The recipe is easily halved)

12 tablespoons (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds (or pecans, chopped in very large pieces)
1 package (17.3 ounces/ 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted

FOR THE FILLING:
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup dried blueberries (or raisins)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the nuts evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right.

Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons of the cinnamon, and ½ cup of the blueberries (or raisins). Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

Trim the ends of the roll about ½ inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1½ inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (help the filling and nuts out onto the buns with a small silicone spatula, or a spoon) and cool completely.

Recipe adapted from "The Barefoot Contessa"



Click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate.