My Nana's Blueberry Buckle

We all have recipes that remind us of childhood. This one reminds me of both childhood and summer. Weeks spent at my grandparents' house in Connecticut, playing in the pool, cuddling the dog, chasing the cousins around the yard. Actually, in my case, I remember a fair amount of corralling the cousins, all of them younger than I. Two weeks of having five little siblings to boss around.

And my Nana had blueberry bushes growing out by the pool. We used to pick them for her, and only the promise of cakes like this one could get us to actually bring any of them inside before eating them all ourselves. Back in Colorado we'd read Blueberries for Sal, about a little girl's blueberry-picking adventures in Maine, and remember the satisfaction of eating fruit plucked straight off the bush.

Nana often had a sheet of blueberry buckle waiting for us by the time we rolled out of bed and made it out onto the covered porch for breakfast. The recipe comes from a small spiral-bound cookbook, shaped like a basket of strawberries. Just the kind of down-home collection such a recipe should be from. As far as old-fashioned American desserts, the buckle is pretty straight forward. It's just a single layer of cake with fruit, usually blueberries, tossed over it and topped with crumbs of butter, flour and sugar. And it makes for wonderful childhood memories.

Nana's Blueberry Buckle
Adapted from A Very Berry Cookbook by Judith Bosley

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Topping:

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the first three ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg. Next, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Spread the batter in a greased 13x9 inch pan. Sprinkle with the berries, and set aside. In another bowl, combine the remaining topping ingredients. Kneed them with your fingers until the mixture is a crumbly texture, and sprinkle over the berries. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes.