Sourdough Waffles & Blueberry Sauce

Until these so-light, they-almost-float-off-your-plate sourdough waffles, I have never had good luck with sourdough anything. The minute I saw these on Coleen's Recipes blog though, I just I just had to try again. I had been craving waffles for breakfast, so I took this as an omen.

Excuse me if I speak while my mouth is full, but I must say, "Oh my!" Light, airy, crunchy, slightly tangy, good! Ole Sweetie-Pi, who never eats eats a whole waffle, ate an entire one in record time and declared that we must have this again.

Grins. My waffles are a bit overdone, (Coleen's are far more gorgeous!), but I was hoping to capture the crispy goodness of these. Check our her pictures for a better idea.

Now I just have one addendum to Coleen's excellent instructions. What I didn't consider is that the batter would rise like the sun at dawn. It started to spill out of my pitcher and onto the counter. Fortunately, I was standing in the kitchen when it was just undulating over the sides and I was able to throw the batter into a much larger bowl. The batter does stop rising after a bit, but plan on having a container maybe three to four sizes larger than your starter.

I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer and decided to make wonderful, full of rich blueberry flavor sauce. I declare, this tasted blueberrier than fresh blueberries!

Blueberry Sauce

In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, a good pinch of ground nutmeg and a dash of salt. (That equates to about an 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and even less than that for the salt.)

Stir in 1/2 cup of boiling water; cook and stir until bubbly, about two minutes or so. The mixture will be thick and clear.

Add 1 cup of blueberries and return to boiling. Cook until the blueberries begin to burst and remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Pour into a serving dish and serve.

This is so good warm and so much better than any store-bought blueberry sauce I've ever had. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Blueberry Tea Cake

With the blueberries in such great abundance, I could not resist sharing this simple little recipe. I've had it years and years and have made it numerous times; it's a recipe I pull out when I have friends and family to share my breakfast table. This fluffy, blueberry studded little cake is simple, works up quickly, and just makes a darling breakfast treat or, no surprise, with tea!

Blueberry Tea Cake

5 tablespoons shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups blueberries, rinsed, drained, tossed with a little flour and sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Generously grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.

Cream shortening. Add sugar, beaten eggs, and milk. Sift the flour and baking powder, add to the wet ingredients, and mix well. Fold in the blueberries into the batter and pour into the prepared baking dish. For a little extra sparkle, sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (You may have to cover with tin foil at some point if the center isn't cooking as fast as the rest.)

Sweet with a rush of blueberry tartness! Love it.

Very Blueberry Pie

Ever been blueberry picking, hot sun beating down on you, pail in hand, picking blueberries, maybe with mosquitoes buzzing around you. Mysteriously, an equal amount of those luscious blue-purple globes found their way to the bucket and to your mouth. And when you bit down on them they squirted their sweet tart juice down your throat and you knew you were eating sunshine. It was like that for me. My grandmother used to take me on an old logging road near her home, and we followed it alongside the little brook that separated her property until we arrived at her secret blueberry patch. There we would eat like two mischievous children, coming come back with with only a brimming bowlful, enough to make a pie.

I love blueberry pie, but so many of them are thick with crust and starchy filling. I'll eat them, can't say no, but if you LOVE blueberries, don't want a lot of ingredients between you and those wonderful globes of goodness, try this Very Blueberry Pie. Nothing but a mound of whipped topping is between you blueberry heaven.

I clipped this recipe out of a grocery store pamphlet some years ago. The recipe instructions call for salt, but it's not included in the ingredient list. I've Goggled the recipe and can't find this precise one so I add a 1/4 teaspoon. Seems to work fine.


Very Blueberry Pie

1/4 cup cold water
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups fresh or dry-pack frozen blueberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

1 baked 9-inch pie shell (recipe to follow)

Make a smooth paste with the 1/4 cup cold water flour and salt and set aside.

Boil 1 cup blueberries with sugar and 1/2 cup water. Add the flour paste*** and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and cool.

Add the remaining blueberries. Put into baked pie shell.

Refrigerate. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

***When I followed these directions, I had a horrid lumpy floury ball that seized in the middle of my blueberries. I stirred and stirred, the mixture did thicken up, but there were unsightly strands of flour throughout. I ended up putting the mixture through a fine sieve and then tossing away a floury mass. The syrup was smooth and thick, but it would've been better if if were thicker. I haven't made this recipe in a while and I don't remember this happening the last time. If you have any ideas how to avoid this in the future, I'd be glad to adopt it. Perhaps the flour/water mixture needed more water?




Because this pie needs one prebaked pie crust, I went to Allrecipes and found Easy Pie Crust and the submitter isn't kidding; this crust is super easy. You make the crust right up in the pie pan you're going to use, pat it around the sides and bottom, and then bake. No rolling out. No extra dishes to wash. It's an acceptable crust, and it worked well. I think a rolled crust is better tasting and has a better texture. This one was kind of crumbly, almost like a cracker crumbly. I reduced the salt and added extra sugar as some reviewers suggested, but I thought it was too sweet. Would I do it again? Perhaps. But if I saw another similar recipe I wouldn't hesitate to try it.