Blueberry Buckle

Summer here in Jersey. Not quite time for my beloved tomatoes-I must wait until late July for cherry tomatoes, August for the big guys. Then corn.

In the meantime, here's a year-round favorite that is especially wonderful with local blueberries. I had to do some googling for the derivation of Blueberry "Buckle" and I'm glad I did. The top "crust" is supposed to "buckle"-hence the name. And for all these years I thought I was doing something wrong.

The original recipe, from The California Heritage Cookbook, Pasadena, CA, didn't have enough buckle in the buckle for me. I changed it up a bit and now I am happy with the cake to buckle ratio. Feel free to cut the crumb topping recipe down if you think it's too much.

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk (slightly less if it's low-fat)
2 cups fresh blueberries
Pinch of salt

CRUMB TOPPING

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter -cut up if cold (softened is fine too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan. Glass is great if you have it, as you can check for doneness.

In a large bowl cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Blend egg into creamed mixture. In separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder & salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk to the creamed mixture, beating after each addition. Gently fold blueberries into the batter.

To prepare crumb topping: In a small bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using pastry blender or your hands, mix topping until it resembles coarse meal. It isn't rocket science. Different sized crumbs are fine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with crumb topping. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Place on rack to cool.

Serve warm as a coffee cake, or cooled with ice cream or whipped cream.