I Messed With Betty’s Buckle

It’s blueberry season in our area. Call me an old fashioned girl, but there is something special when my daughter and I head out to our local farm, buckets in hand, ready to pick. Yes, you can buy them in the grocery store or your local farm stand, but there is nothing like being a part of the process. If you are lucky, the season extends for several weeks.

Often, you hear the people talking in the next row, or young families taking their children on an adventure for the first time. That’s when I look at my now willowy fourteen year old and think, “didn’t we do this with the baby carrier yesterday?” Sigh.

There is a sense of community and accomplishment to berry picking that is really unique. For every person I share this with who thinks, “OH COOL!” there is another person who gives the blank glazed over stare. As in, “That sounds painful.” I get it, to each her own. For some reason, I think the berries I pick myself…always taste sweeter. I’m sticking to it.

Blueberry picking is something we have done for years. I am a huge fan of supporting local businesses, and especially the farms in our area. By doing this, hopefully one day (WAY) down the road I can bring my grandchildren for the same experience.

A Blueberry Buckle is essentially a really great blueberry coffee cake. So for my base I used a recipe a friend of mine makes and brings to school if we are lucky. Thanks Lisa for sharing Betty’s goodness. Of course, leave it to me to mess with a good thing…

The original recipe can be found here and it is amazing.

https://www.bettycrocker.com Blueberry Best Coffee Cake

So here is where I went off trail…

  1. I switched out half of the flour with Cake Flour. Cake flour is silky and light, and I found it made the cake batter less dense.
  2. I also make extra crumble topping because, well, crumble topping is a good thing. You really can’t have too much crumble topping.
  3. The blueberries are almost doubled because I like a little cake with my blueberries. There is nothing like cutting a slice and seeing the abundant bright violet blue of steamy blueberries (I’m sorry, did you think I waited to slice this up?).
  4. I also switched out the extract to have either Almond or Vanilla because in our house…Almond Extract has a special place. Something about the smell, it’s a certain magic. (Yes, I swoon over extract). You can adjust the hot water to make the drizzle either thicker or looser depending on your taste.

This Blueberry Buckle is basically made in three bowls. The topping bowl, the cake batter bowl, and the drizzle bowl. It is made very quickly and is not stressful, I promise.

I used a smaller baking pan to make the serving size taller, and with the addition of the cake flour the overall result looked like one of those muffins you get at the good coffee shops…just bigger.

I tend to share everything I bake, so this got divided up and given away…which was a good thing, because it was really really good. It is quintessentially the perfect sidekick to my kick-off-the-day-large-cup of coffee.

Thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

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I Messed With Betty’s Buckle

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This is based on Betty Crocker’s Original Blueberry Buckle recipe. SO good, with some changes in the flour, berries, and spices.

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

Crumble Topping 1⁄2 C Sugar

2/3 C Flour
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1⁄4 C Softened butter

Cake:
1 C All-Purpose Flour
1 C Cake Flour
1⁄4 C Oil
3⁄4 C Milk
1 Egg

1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 1⁄2 Tsp baking powder
3 -4 Cups Blueberries ( I used fresh- I believe frozen would work just as well)

Warm Vanilla Drizzle
1⁄2 C Powder Sugar
1⁄2 Tsp Vanilla or Almond Extract 1 Tsp Hot Water

Instructions

 

  1. Preheat oven to 375. Prepare an 9 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray.
  2. Prepare Crumble Topping. Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter until consistency is crumbly.
  3. Mix Cake ingredients until combined well and stir in blueberries. I typically like my blueberries with a side of cake- so you can tailor the quantity to your liking. 3 cups will be ample, 4 cups will be just shy of overboard…but that’s how I like it.
  4. Spread batter into pan,
  5. Top with Crumble Topping
  6. Bake for 40 -50 minutes.
  7. Prepare Warm Vanilla Drizzle
  8. When cake is slightly cooled – time to slowly drizzle the drizzle!

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Pesto with Kale and Avocado Oil

Pesto with Kale and Avocado Oil

This has been a bumper year for basil in my garden. I can’t explain it, because we have had a lot of rain, and days when we are wearing sweatshirts in July, but I am literally on my fourth or fifth batch of Pesto and there is more basil out there waiting to be picked…

Pesto is a beautiful sauce that I use on cheese tortellini, zuchinni “zoodles”, on top of salmon, even on an egg sandwich, you name it…if you are a fan of Pesto you can just about use it in ANYTHING. It is also an amazing way to hide some additional greens, such as spinach or kale.

So here’s where my typically hard core rule follower mindset goes off the path…when I make Pesto, I almost NEVER measure. I pick basil until I have “enough,” I use the leftover baby spinach I picked up at the market and used some for a salad…I drizzle in the oil until it “looks right.” UGH. Why did I choose this recipe to kick off my blog? Because I love it. Because it is versatile and both of my children eat it. Because it reminds me of my Dad, and he would be so proud to see me do this. So, I am making my best effort to give the quantities as I do them…and you too will amend it to suit your style.

Traditionally, I make this with a good olive oil, fresh garlic, Pignoli nuts, and Romano cheese. I choose Romano over Parmesean – it’s a personal choice. But here is the beauty of Pesto…If you want to substitute walnuts instead of pine nuts, avocado oil instead of olive oil…it changes-and yet, it doesn’t. Pesto is still this amazing vibrant green bold sauce whether my My mom makes it with no nuts and one garlic clove, or I throw in the whole head of garlic.

Have I mentioned it freezes? Oh yes, throw that miracle sauce into a container and pop it in the freezer. That Christmas party you need to make a side dish for? Just get yourself some frozen cheese tortellini, thaw that pesto, and yeah, you will impress. (Important to note- after freezing and heating up, the pesto does tend to lose the vibrancy, but not the flavor).

For this batch I switched out the oil and added frozen kale to the mix, and no one was the wiser. Here is a trick regarding Pesto I stick to- I don’t add the grated cheese until the entire sauce is combined and I am finished with the food processor. The cheese gets mixed in by hand at the end. I find this way, the heat of the processor doesn’t melt the cheese and make the sauce too oily.

Thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

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Pesto with Kale and Avocado Oil

Print Recipe

The perfect way to capture fresh basil and sneak in a few healthy ingredients!

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

 

  • 4 Cups of Basil
  • 2 Cups frozen Kale
  • 1/2 – 3/4 C Pine (Pignoli) Nuts (depending on personal taste – my mom doesn’t
  • even use nuts in hers…)
  • 3 cloves of peeled Garlic (again, feel free to add more or less depending on taste)
  • 1/2 –1 Cup Avocado Oil, slowly drizzled until the right consistency
  • 2 C shredded Romano Cheese (Truth: I usually add more right before I serve it…don’t judge)

 

Instructions

Place basil, kale, garlic, and nuts into food processor (your food processor will be full), pulse and slowly drizzle oil into the mixture until all of the ingredients are combined.

I tend to like my pesto thicker- as it thins out when warmed up – but this recipe is all about what works for you.

Once the whole mixture is blended into a beautiful bright green sauce, empty out of the food processor and into a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the cheese until it is well combined. You want less cheese? More cheese? It is all good.

Serve over your favorite pasta, zoodle, use on top of salmon, or as a base for a fantastic pizza…the possibilities are endless.

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Welcome to My Thankful Table

Welcome to My Thankful Table!

My name is Chrissy,

Food is my love language. I enjoy the whole process, from choosing ingredients, menu creating, meal prep, and serving family and friends.

It is a part of who I was growing up; big extended family suppers at Grandma’s on Sunday, and dinner around the table with my parents and my brother during the week. This is a tradition I keep with my own children, even though with school, work, and kids in sports means sometimes we navigate it creatively!

In my other life, I am a Language Arts Consultant, working full time in a primary school in Connecticut…so expect some book recommendations along the way, along with some New England goodness.

About a year ago, I began to intentionally start looking for the blessings in life, and tried to find a gift in each day. It could have been a flower growing on my back deck, a sunset, my children jamming on their ukeleles, my mother laughing…#everydayagift became my hashtag. So…when my sixteen year old suggested I needed to move forward with my love for cooking, photography, and writing in a new platform, I took it to heart. This is my first attempt at a website, and I am learning as I go – but isn’t that just like life?

Mythankfultable is an extension of our every day living. Imperfect, but grateful. Ever so grateful.

Thank you for joining us at the table!

Chrissy