I have many cookbooks, right. And one of the newer books is "Bouchon Bakery".

The recipe for blueberry muffins looked very interesting since it required resting the dough overnight. I've never done that with muffin batter before, only with yeast dough or madeleine batter. Naturally I had to try it out.

I did leave out a couple of things like molasses and honey. The thing was already sweet enough, besides I'm not a fan of molasses.

I did use however those large and fleshy foreign blueberries from the store, as that's what are commonly used in the States. But next time I would stick to the smaller European wild berries because I thought there wasn't enough blueberry flavour.

The overall result was satisfying, nice crumb, pretty domes, the mouthfeel was more cakey than crumbly.
I'm adding this to my list of "keepers".



Blueberry muffins


120g wild blueberries or bilberries
130g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
65g butter
65g sugar
50g egg (that's one small egg)
1 tsp vanilla paste
60ml kefir or buttermilk

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Cream butter with sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Now add half of the flour mixture, combine, add the buttermilk and the rest of the flour. Mix well.
Cover and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Crumble topping:
20g flour, 20g ground almonds, 20g butter, 20g sugar and a pinch of salt.
Rub everything together to a grainy/sandy consistency.

About an hour before baking take the batter out of the fridge. Turn your oven onto 220C.
Mix berries into the batter and divide it between six regular size muffin cups. Sprinkle the crumbs on top and slip into the oven. Lower the temperature to 165C.
Bake for about 30 minutes.

Last week, armed with cute wellies and baskets we set off to the woods. There were some wild raspberries to be had and plenty of bilberries, you know, the smaller but tastier cousin of the blueberry. Or as some might call it, the European wild blueberry.

Warning! Fire hazard. On the right you can see the firebreak, a barrier to stop the progress of a wildfire. Seems a bit neglected though.

Bilberry and marzipan tartlet and bilberry pies
Makes one 16cm tartlet and four 8cm pies.

230g flour
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
vanilla seeds
150g butter

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and vanilla.
Cut butter into small cubes and rub into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add about two teaspoons of cold water and mix the dough until it comes together.
Flatten into a disk and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.


For the tartlet:
100g marzipan
250ml custard*
about 250g bilberries
1 tbsp sugar

Take about one-third of the dough and roll into a 20cm circle. Butter the sides and base of a 16cm round tin and sprinkle with a bit of ground almonds or flour, but best to use a tin with a removable base.
Ease the pastry into the tin, making sure the sides are all neat and even, trim if necessary. If there is a tear or two, just patch it up with extra dough.
Now take the marzipan and roll it into a 16cm disk, a slim flat circle that you will place on the bottom of the pastry.
Pour the custard on top and pop the tin into a 180C oven for about 10-15 minutes.
Carefully take the tin out of the oven and top it with bilberries. Make sure there are plenty because they will collapse a little during heating. Sprinkle with sugar and place back into the oven for about 10 minutes. Now, if you like, you could use a blowtorch to caramelise the top.


For the pies:
200g bilberries
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp Framboise

Gently heat half of the bilberries with Framboise and cornflour until some of the berries start to break down. Add the rest of the bilberries to the mixture. Set aside to cool.
Take the other two-thirds of the dough and roll it out as thinly as possible. Cut out four 12cm circles and place them inside four pie rings or tins. Trim the excess. Fill the pies with bilberry mixture. If you happen to have any custard left over, add a spoonful to each pie. Now take all the leftover dough and roll it out again, cutting out four 10cm circles to cover the pies. Pinch the edges together and trim. Cut a hole in each of the pastry lids, to let the steam escape. Bake in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.


*Custard
3 egg yolks
30g sugar
200ml milk
1 vanilla pod

Whisk egg yolks to ribbon consistency. Heat milk with scraped vanilla pod and sugar until scalding. Pour hot milk onto the egg yolks, whisking continuously. Tip back into the saucepan and cook over a very low heat (or bain marie) until starting to thicken. Pour into a bowl, cover and leave to cool.