Blueberry Buckle

This dessert definitely makes it into my top 5 favorite desserts…Which says a lot because there’s no chocolate in the picture, and in my diet, chocolate is the epitome of dessert.  Instead, there’s a whole lot of blueberries (4 cups to be exact), a little cinnamon and sugar, and…whole wheat flour?  You’d never know this dessert is somewhat healthy.  Well, yeah, that’s probably a bit of exaggeration, but it does beat the standard white flour, butter-filled pastries in terms of both nutrition stats and taste.  Plus, it’s made up of 50% blueberries, which are jam-packed with antioxidants.  According to this recent study performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they may help strengthen your bones too.

If you’ve never tasted a buckle before, let me first fill you in on what it is.  A buckle is a dessert that combines fruit with a cake-like batter, and then is typically topped off with a streusel.  This recipe here yields an addictive buckle that tastes comparable to a blueberry muffin with twice the amount of blueberries and flavor.  Usually I’m a pie fan over cake, but this lies somewhere in between and has me totally hooked.

It’s rich. It’s moist.  It’s slightly sweet.  It’s got a topping that will make your taste buds go crazy.  It’s everything you could ask for in a dessert (well, minus the chocolate…but really, that’s not needed here).  And forewarning, don’t sample the batter.  It’s like cookie dough—addictively delicious.

While blueberries are certainly awesome all on their own, this recipe’s worth putting a few of them to use.  If you want, feel free to experiment with the levels of whole wheat flour.  While I think the 1:1 ratio is ideal in terms of consistency, a 1.5 cup whole wheat to 1/2 cup white flour turned out pretty well too.

So, I think I’ve sold the recipe enough by now.  And thanks to Vegetarian Times for sharing this one with me!

Blueberry Buckle via Vegetarian Times
(Serves 12)

Streusel

• 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or spelt flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 to 6 Tbs. canola oil

Cake

• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or spelt flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9-inch springform pan and wrap bottom with foil.

To make Streusel: Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in bowl. Stir in oil 1 Tbs. at a time until mixture looks crumbly.

To make Cake: Sift flours and baking powder into bowl. Whisk syrup, oil, vanilla and salt in second bowl.
Stir syrup mixture into flour mixture. Fold in berries.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle streusel over top. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes on wire rack. Cool 15 minutes, unmold, and serve.