Chef Hunter Lee/Tips & Tales With Chef
Let’s get shakin!!!!!
When you think of Louisiana you think of cotton, sugarcane, rice, even corn, but how about blueberries?
Absolutely, especially if you are over 40 years old and from DeSoto Parish Louisiana.
It conjures memories of the Blueberry Festival, half the town covered in Blueberry signs, teens picking blueberries in the summer for extra money, and even the Blueberry Cafe.
Those days are all but memories now, or at least for most, but all is not lost. Louisiana still produces amazing blueberries and has blueberry farms, several right here in DeSoto Parish like Hillcrest Blueberry Farms in Gloster, Louisiana. Hillcrest was even featured in Southern Living Magazine.
Blueberries have a short season sadly BUT after that you can get them frozen.
In honor of the Louisiana Blueberry and the farmers that work hard to make a living and supply all of us with these delicious little treats. I’m going to share one of my favorite things to do with them.
Louisiana
Blueberry Cobbler
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel
1-1/2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan. Combine sugar and butter in a mixing bowl, cream together. Add egg and beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in blueberries. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake at 350˚F for 40 to 45 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and place on wire rack.
To prepare Glaze:
In a bowl, cream together confectioner’s sugar, butter, and orange peel. Gradually stir in milk until mixture reaches desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over warm cake and serve. Even better served with homemade vanilla ice cream.
Remember, “treat your kitchen, treat yourself”