One of the first books I ever remember reading in school was Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. If you’ve never read it, the story is about a little girl who goes blueberry picking with her mother in the blueberry patch, while at the same time a bear cub goes with her mother to eat blueberries in the blueberry patch. Shenanigans ensue.
I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s remarkable how a children’s book can fix an image of how something should be in your mind. Like Turkish Delight from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Icing sugar covered, rose-flavoured gelatin cubes? Nope!).
I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s remarkable how a children’s book can fix an image of how something should be in your mind. Like Turkish Delight from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Icing sugar covered, rose-flavoured gelatin cubes? Nope!).
Our teacher brought in a basket of blueberries, and we tried them. I was NOT impressed. These little, sour things were not what I had pictured at all! Why would Sal want to eat all of these? What horribly deprived childhood did she have that she thought these, of all things on earth, were worth all that trouble?
Ingredients
- 4 cups Nova Scotia wild blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup sugar*
- 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Pour blueberries into oven-safe deep-dish pie plate and add sugar and lemon or lime juice.
- Stir well, then place dish in oven and bake berries uncovered. 10 to 15 minutes for fresh berries or 20 minutes for frozen berries.
- While the berries are in the oven, make the biscuits: in a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt to mix.
- Break butter into pieces with hands and add to flour mixture. Cut the butter into flour with a fork until butter and flour are combined in small crumbly pieces.
- Crack egg into a measuring cup and top with milk to 3⁄4 cup.
- Mix egg and milk with a fork.
- Add to flour mixture and blend with fork until combined — mix in any remaining dry bits with hands.
- Take hot blueberries out of oven – scoop biscuit dough with a 1⁄4 cup measuring cup and arrange on top of hot berries (approximately 11 biscuits).
- Carefully cover dish tightly with aluminium foil and return to oven.
- Bake, covered, 15 minutes.
- Remove dish from oven and carefully remove foil. Place dish back in oven and continue to bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until biscuits are lightly golden.
- Allow to cool 10 minutes or so —the longer the grunt sits, the more blueberry liquid the biscuits will soak up.
- Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
