A Buckle is typically made with a cake like yellow batter with the fruit filling mixed in to it, and then covered with a crumbled topping made of sugar, butter, and flour before baking. Buckles are usually made with blueberries. A Betty is made by layering a fruit filling, usually apples, with bread crumbs and resembles a bread pudding when baked. Crisps and Crumbles are a fruit filling covered with a crumbled topping made with oatmeal. Grunts and Slumps are a New England version made stove top, usually in a cast iron skillet, and believed to have been named for the sounds the cobbler creates as it is cooking. The Sonker is unique to North Carolina, and is simply a deep dish version of a cobbler.

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Blueberry Buckle

A moist yellow cake filled with fresh blueberries, topped with a crumble.

Course Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Christoph

Ingredients

Cake

• ¼ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1½ cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk, minus 1 teaspoon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Crumb Topping

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Icing

• ½ cup confectioners sugar
• ½ teaspoon milk

Instructions

Cake

• Heat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8” x 8” square pan or a 9” springform pan.
• Tip: Place a piece of parchment paper over the bottom of your springform pan before closing. Grease the pan and paper as you normally would. The paper makes it easy to separate the cake from the bottom.
• Cream together the butter and sugar. Add egg to creamed mixture and mix well to combine.
• In another bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Add vanilla to milk to make ½ cup.
• Add flour mixture alternating with milk to the creamed butter, mix until combined. Gently fold in blueberries.

Crumb Topping

• In a small bowl mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender or fork cut the butter into sugar mixture until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Icing (Make when cake is completely cooled)

• Place powdered sugar in small mixing bowl. Add milk a little at a time until icing will drizzle off spoon.

Assemble

• Pour cake batter into prepared pan.
• Cover batter evenly with crumb topping. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is slightly browned.
• Place pan on a wire rack to cool for 15 - 20 minutes before removing the springform.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Drizzle top of cooled cake with icing.

Notes

If using frozen blueberries, be sure to thaw and drain the berries before adding to the batter.

Rhubarb is usually thought of as an old-fashioned garden staple and with good reason. Rhubarb is in fact a very old plant. Its medicinal uses and horticulture have been recorded in history since ancient China with records dating back to 2700 BC. The roots of the Chinese variety are still used in medicine today. Marco Polo was very familiar with the Chinese rhizome, and talked about it in accounts of his travels to Asia, helping to establish the importance for trade.

An early planting of rhubarb is recorded in Italy in 1608, and 20 years later in Europe. In 1778 rhubarb is listed as a food plant in Europe, with earliest known usage as a filling for tarts & pies. It is thought that this was probably the first hybrid of the Chinese variety.

Early records of rhubarb in America identify an unnamed Maine gardener as having obtained seed or rootstock from Europe in the period between 1790-1800. He introduced it to growers in Massachusetts where its popularity spread, and by 1822 it was sold in produce markets. Rhubarb was originally considered a vegetable until 1947 when a New York court decided that since the primary use of the produce was for making dessert like items, it should be reclassified as a fruit. This made rhubarb easier to import since there are fewer restrictions on fruits than on vegetables, and also lower import tariffs.

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Rhubarb and Berry Crisp

On old-fashioned favorite. Tart rhubarb is baked with berries under a brown sugar crumble.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Retro

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Christoph

Ingredients

• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
• ¼ finely chopped walnuts, optional
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups sliced rhubarb
• 2 cups mixed berries, (strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• In mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, walnuts, butter and cinnamon; mix together until crumbly. Press half of the brown sugar and oats mixture into a buttered 8-inch square baking dish.
• Top with the sliced rhubarb, berries and orange zest.
• In a saucepan combine 1 cup granulated sugar, cornstarch, 1 cup of water, and vanilla. Cook together until clear, then pour over rhubarb berry mixture. Top with remaining crumb mixture.
• Bake at 350° for 45 to 55 minutes or until filling is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.