The
DISH
I love when berries are finally in
season, anything from strawberries,
blackberries, raspberries and, of
course, blueberries. I recently tried
blueberries from the Fruit Club that
comes to Windom and they were very
good. I ordered 6 pints so my refrigerator is overflowing with blueberries. So,
what better theme this week than to
feature blueberries — because I have a
lot to use up before they go bad!
Blueberry Cheesecake
French Toast
1 loaf day old french bread,
cubed
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1½ cups frozen blueberries,
tossed lightly with flour (leave
frozen)
8 large eggs
1½ cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Spray a 9-by-13-inch
baking dish with nonstick
cooking spray (really get it
in the corners). Layer half
the cubed bread in dish.
With a hand mixer, cream
sugar and cream cheese and
vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls over bread.
Toss the frozen blueberries in flour. Layer blueberries. Cover with remaining
bread.
Whisk the eggs and milk
until combined and pour
over bread. Press bread
with spatula to help soak up
mixture.
Cover and refrigerate
overnight. The next morning, preheat oven to 350
degrees and bake for 45 to 50
minutes.
Fresh Blueberry White
Chocolate Brown Butter
Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-1/3 cups packed light brown
sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large whole eggs at room
temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1½ cups fresh blueberries,
washed and dried
Brown the butter: Heat
butter in a small heavy
saucepan over medium heat,
stirring constantly. When
butter turns to an amber/
light brown color, remove
from heat immediately (you
should be able to smell the
deeper more caramel flavor
of the butter). Pour browned
butter immediately into a
small bowl and set aside to
cool.
Once butter has cooled,
place in the large bowl of an
electric mixer with sugars;
beat on high speed until well
combined. Add egg and vanilla, mix on medium speed
until well combined.
In a separate mediumsized bowl, whisk together
flour, baking soda and salt;
slowly add to wet ingredients with mixer on low
speed; do not over mix.
Slowly stir in white chocolate chips; remove bowl
from mixer and gently fold
in blueberries. Chill dough
■
Vicki Rasmussen
Food Columnist
[email protected]
for 24 hours for best results
(minimum of 2 hours) before
baking.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees; line
baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Scoop cookie dough, with
large cookie dough scoop, on
to prepared baking sheets
(note it is normal for cookie
dough to be very hard, you
can let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes
prior to scooping); be careful
not to pack dough too tightly
as to avoid crushing blueberries before baking.
Bake cookies until firm:
17-19 minutes or until edges
are golden brown and blueberries have popped. Allow
to cool before serving; best
enjoyed within 24 hours
or frozen until a few hours
before ready to eat.
Blueberry Cheesecake
Poke Cake
1 box white or vanilla cake mix
plus ingredients on the box
(water, oil, eggs, etc.)
3.4 oz. pkg cheesecake (or
vanilla) pudding
1½ cup milk
BLUEBERRY SAUCE:
12 oz. blueberries, rinsed
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. water
WHIPPED CREAM:
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese at room
temperature
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake according to the instructions and
ingredients listed on the box.
Beat on medium speed until
well combined.
Bake cake in 9-by-13-inch
pan for 20-22 minutes. Check
to see if done by inserting
a toothpick into the middle
of the cake. If the toothpick
comes out clean, your cake is
done. Remove from oven and
allow to cool for 10 minutes.
To prepare the blueberry
sauce, start by rinsing the
berries. In a medium-sized
sauce pan, combine blueberries, sugar, flour and water;
stir well. Cook over mediumhigh heat until mixture
starts to bubble, stirring
often. Turn down heat and
let simmer to allow the
blueberries to soften. Cook
until sauce thickens; maybe
10-15 minutes. Stir often so
the bottom does not burn.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes,
refrigerate if necessary.
While the cake is still
warm, take the end of a
wooden spoon or another
round object and poke holes
all over the top of your cake.
Allow to cool for another 20
minutes.
Prepare the pudding
filling by combining cheese-
cake pudding with milk and
whisk until the pudding is
dissolved. Pour pudding
over top of cake, filling the
holes. Refrigerate at least 10
minutes until the pudding is
firm. Pour blueberry sauce
over top of the cake and
refrigerate until cake and
toppings are cooled.
Remove the cream cheese
from the refrigerator 15-20
minutes before preparing
the whipped topping. At the
same time, put your mixing
bowl and wire whisk in the
freezer to help it get very
cold. Beat cream cheese on
medium-high speed for 2-3
minutes until cream cheese
is smooth and free of lumps.
Scrape down the sides of the
bowl occasionally.
Add 3 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream and beat it into
the cream cheese until the
cream cheese resembles a
liquid mixture. Then, add
the remaining heavy whipping cream and beat on
medium-high speed. Once
the cream starts to thicken,
slowly add the powdered
sugar and beat until stiff
peaks form. Spread over
cooled cake. This cake must
be refrigerated.
No-Churn Blueberry
Cheesecake Ice Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
Blueberry swirl
2 cups fresh blueberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Combine blueberries,
sugar and lemon juice in a
pan over medium-high heat.
Cook until berries burst and
release juices. (Use your
spatula or spoon to gently
“smoosh” some of your berries to release more juices.)
Allow berry mixture to simmer for a few minutes, until
mixture thickens. Remove
pan from heat, pour mixture
into a bowl and put bowl in
the refrigerator to chill.
In a large bowl, beat
your cream cheese with an
electric mixer until smooth.
If you’re not already using
them, change your mixer
attachments to use whisk
attachments. Slowly add condensed milk and vanilla and
whisk mixture until smooth.
Add heavy cream and keep
whisking until stiff peaks
form. (This will take longer
than usual because of all the
other ingredients. Be patient
and keep whisking!) Spoon
about half of whipped cream
mixture into a standard
sized loaf pan.
Remove chilled berry
sauce from the fridge and
spoon about half of it over
your whipped cream mixture in the loaf pan. (Drop
blobs of sauce in spoonfuls
over the top of the cream.
Doesn’t have to be pretty.)
Cover with remaining
whipped cream mixture and
top with your remaining
berry mixture. Use a butter knife to drag/swirl your
blueberry mixture into your
cream mixture.
Cover pan tightly with
aluminum foil and put it in
the freezer for about 6 hours
or until ice cream is firm
enough to scoop.