This is my favorite kind of stupid-easy recipe. Not only is it truly stupid-easy, but it’s handed-down stupid-easy. It’s stupid-easy with history, People, and that’s the best kind!
I was given this recipe by my adopted grandmother. This woman is truly the embodiment of grandmotherly loveliness, and she’s a practiced hand in the kitchen. She makes this recipe a lot – as do I – because it’s both easy and versatile. One doesn’t need blueberries – one can use pretty much ANY yummy filler – or none at all; one can make a cake or a loaf or cupcakes; one can eat this as dessert or a snack or breakfast. Truly, it’s culinary acrobatics at its finest, and here’s how you do it:
Set your oven to 350° and either grease and flour your pans or line cupcake tins with papers and set aside. Cream together a stick of butter with one egg and a cup of sugar and set aside. Sift together 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then pour, into a separate container (I use my Pyrex measuring cup), one cup of milk with a good blop of vanilla extract (the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, but I’m SURE I use more than that; I never measure it and I have a particular affinity for vanilla). Bring the butter mixture back and add the flour and milk alternately until all the ingredients are combined. Fold in about 2 and 1/2 cups of blueberries (or whatever mix-in you’re adding) and turn the batter into whatever cooking vessel you’ve prepared. Sprinkle the top with sugar, if you’re into that sort of thing – and bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes for the loaf pan; your baking time will be decidedly less – only about 11 minutes or so – if you’re baking in a cake pan or cupcakes, so keep an eye on them. They are done with the toothpick test.
I make this most often with blueberries, but I’ve also had fantastical luck with cinnamon and brown sugar swirled through, chunks of peaches, strawberries, and even rhubarb and raspberries. It is a consistent winner, and I hope you enjoy it half as much as we do.
July 3, 2008 at 10:01 pm |
This looks incredible! I’m going to try it this weekend.
July 8, 2008 at 9:48 pm |
I just found In the Kitchen and so appreciate your recipes—–they are just my cup of tea!!! I will look forward to more………….am another regular reader of California Teacher Guy.
August 6, 2008 at 2:33 am |
Oh, man. That would be some kick ass on-the-way-to-the-airport food.
September 25, 2008 at 1:18 pm |
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