My Blueberry Blues

Blueberries, the perfect summer fruit? Some might disagree and I'll admit watermelon was definitely a serious competitor for this title, but in terms of versatility...blueberries came out on top. It's the perfect teammate for yogurt, that extra ingredient that makes pancakes even more wonderful, delicious as a sauce for pork chops, and for me it gave me a reason to make French Toast with Apple Berry Topping, Counterfeit Blueberry Muffin Tops, and Blueberry infused Gin.

Before I go further, I must apologize for my lack of posting. August has been one crazy month and I wish I could say I will be posting more in September, but I can't. I will be in Japan for 2.5 weeks! I will be doing shorter posts as I eat my way through the country. This will be my second time in Japan. I was there about 2 years ago and was lucky enough to be able to stay there for the whole summer. Look forward to my posts in Japan in September! I shall return to my love of blueberries now.





Anyone a Seinfeld fan? Well if you are, all I have to say is "top of the muffin to you!" I love muffin tops and what better than muffin tops but blueberry muffin tops. Unfortunately mines came up sort of confused.



Too short to be a muffin and too tall to be a muffin top. I'm going to call it my Counterfeit Blueberry Muffin Top. I couldn't figure out what went wrong. Did I put too much batter in the pan? For the second batched I put less, but the result didn't changed much as you see below (the 1st batch is on the left and the 2nd batch is on the right). Too much baking powder? I just didn't know. It tasted fine though and actually pretty good. The crumble topping was buttery and golden brown. The batter wasn't too sweet and let the blueberry flavor shined. So what happen?





What happen was I miss read. I am a newbie to the world of muffin top baking. I had no idea there were baking pans designed especially for baking muffin tops. Who knew right? Please nod your head as you are reading this. Actually, I'm going to blame this on my utter thrill and excitement for blueberries. Yup, I am refusing to take responsibility for this embarrassment.


Counterfeit Blueberry Muffin Tops

Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine: Blueberry Muffin Tops*

*to get that confused and counterfeit look for you muffin tops, just bake the batter in a regular muffin pan


Now lets move on to my French Toast with Apple Berry Topping.



French toast is just sexy. It's simple, beautiful, and is guarantee to gain you some ooohs and ahhs especially when piles of fruits and maple syrupy is on top. I didn't have any maple syrupy with me and instead turned to a mixture of apple, plums, strawberries, and orange juice.


French Toast with Apple Berry Topping

Apple Berry Topping

Ingredients:
Apple
Plum
Strawberries
Fresh squeeze orange juice
Orange zest
Cane Sugar (if cane sugar is not available regular granulated can be use)
Water

Cut apple into medium size cubes. Peel and cut plum into medium size cubes as well. Cut strawberries into quarters.

Place apple, plum, and strawberries into a pan.

Squeeze fresh orange juice, add orange zest, and about half a cup of water in the pan as well.

Turn the heat up and add about 1/4 cup of cane sugar. As the sugar begins to dissolve, taste and adjust flavors as needed.

When the sugar is dissolve and the sauce begins to thicken, turn the heat off and set aside.


French Toast
(serves 1)

Ingredients:
2 large slices of day old Brioche bread
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

In a shallow plate, beat egg and then whisk in milk, vanilla extract, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

Soak the slice bread in the mixture one at a time and allow excess to drip off. Make sure the each slice gets a good soak in the mixture, about 30 second on each side.

In a pan heat up oil and add in the soaked slices of bread.

Depending on the thickness of your bread, it should take a minute or less on each side. Toast will be ready when it turns a nice golden brown.

Place done french toasts on a plate. Spoon a good amount of the Apple Berry Topping on top and sprinkle with fresh blueberries.



What better way to end this post then with some Blueberry infused Gin. This picture was taken a little less then 2 weeks ago. The gin has now turned a lovely purple color and it's almost ready to come out of its hibernation from my fridge. Oh I already have some lovely ideas for it, but that's for another post.

What is your favorite summer fruit? Do you have a favorite way of cooking or eating blueberries?