Fresh Blueberry Bread

Sunday was a lovely day for berry picking and farm-fresh ice-cream. We drove to Tangerini Spring Street Farms in Millis, MA, and came back with 1.5lbs of fresh blueberries in a bag. We also had three large cups of ice-cream and a large smoothie between the four of us: Purple Cow (black raspberry ice-cream with dark and white chocolate chunks), Extreme Chocolate (rich Dutch chocolate ice-cream with chocolate chunks), Rainbow Sherbet (a mix of orange, raspberry and pineapple sherbet), and a Blueberry Banana Smoothie.

Deliciously juicy and sweet, the fresh pickings made a perfect excuse to bake a loaf of quick bread. I found this blueberry muffin recipe on allrecipes, but as always, I modified it (replaced sugar with maple syrup, reduced and replaced butter with canola oil and added more fruit) and made it my own. The recipe below produced a light and mildly sweetened loaf, which was just right for me. If I were making this for a brunch, I would double the amount of sugar, to suit those with a sweeter tooth.

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


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  1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 tbs white sugar


• 
  
  2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


• 
  
  1/2 teaspoon salt


• 
  
  <3/4>


• 
  
  1 egg


• 
  
  1/4 cup canola oil


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  1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, egg, and butter; mix until ingredients are moistened, do not overbeat. Stir in fresh fruit. Spoon batter into twelve greased muffin cups.

2. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Serve warm. (Because I was making a loaf, I baked it at 450 for about 10 mins to brown the top and then for about 45 mins at 350, so that it was cooked through.)

Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 154
* Total Fat: 6g
* Cholesterol: 33mg
* Sodium: 265mg
* Total Carbs: 22.2g
* Dietary Fiber: 0.8g
* Protein: 3g