My Favorite Recipes for Blueberry Season

When Rykers Ridge Blueberry opens for the season, I pull out all my favorite blueberry recipes and start calculating how many pounds of berries I’ll need to get the job done. Between what came in my weekly CSA bag and what I picked up at the farm, twelve pounds turned out to be just right!

So let’s just jump in to the most important blueberry recipe category – PIE!

I’ve mentioned my Aunt Jane’s culinary skill in previous posts, and her Blueberry Sour Cream Pie is one of my favorites. The pie is sweet, but not overly sweet, and the nutty streusel topping gives every bite a nice crunchy texture. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you have a killer combo.

I tried something new this summer – canning blueberry pie filling. I’ve canned cherry, peach and strawberry pie filling, so it was time to add to the stash! I used the recipe for Homemade Blueberry Pie Filling for Canning from Cooking with Mary and Friends, and it was delicious. Bear in mind you will need to use a thickener for cooked pie filling, and cornstarch is not it! For the best results, use Clear-Jel by Hoosier Hill Farm of Fort Wayne. I purchase mine from Amazon.

I prefer to can pie filling in pints, rather than quarts, so I can make a smaller pie. One pint of filling makes a small 6-inch pie, or my personal favorite, a small free-form galette (or crostada, if you prefer the Italian over the French!) Here’s the recipe for Bon Appetite magazine’s Blueberry-Pecan Galette pictured here.)

I have to give a shout out to my daughter, Carrie, who is also a cook extraordinaire. Her favorite blueberry pie is a recipe from Garden & Gun magazine. She and her husband Mat swear their Blueberry Buttermilk Pie is the best they’ve ever tasted. I haven’t made it yet, but as the instructions say “fresh or frozen blueberries”, I plan to make it later in the year with some of the berries I’ve put in the freezer.

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Another favorite blueberry pie that I intend to make later on with my frozen blueberries is Southern Living magazine’s recipe for Honey Balsamic Blueberry Pie. I first tasted it when my cousin’s wife, Linda List, made it for a City of Madison Fourth of July Parade Party at The Attic/Coffee Mill Cafe a few years ago. I went right home and tore the recipe out of the magazine! I’ve made it a few times, and it is really wonderful. You might balk at the balsamic vinegar, but trust me, the depth of flavor is amazing.

Although it really is all about the pies, I must say there are a lot of other blueberry recipes I crank out during the season and beyond. You may recall a previous post about my Main Street Bed & Breakfast Blueberry Muffins that are a family favorite. They are great made with fresh or frozen berries, and “frozen hockey puck” muffin batter keeps a stash at the ready! I like making Blueberry Butter to use on toasted English muffins, and this recipe from The Pretty Bee is simple – only 3 ingredients! Blueberry Pound Cake is a favorite with coffee for breakfast, and made in 2 loaf pans rather than a tube /bundt pan, it’s a great item to share. One of Ken’s favorites of my blueberry concoctions are the Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars from Life Made Simple’s recipe. If you like cheesecake, you will LOVE these! Last but not least, Blueberry Pancakes. Whether you add fresh or frozen blueberries inside your pancake batter or decorate with them, they can really make breakfast a wonderful thing!

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Clearly, I love berry season! If you are a blueberry lover as well, I hope you’ll try a few of these recipes and share a few of your own with me. Rykers Ridge Blueberry feels they’ll have berries up to August, so if you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and pick – or pick up!