Orange Blueberry Muffins

On days like this...

...all I want to do is bake. And, since I was working from home and had several conference calls this afternoon, that's what I did.

Orange Blueberry Muffins

1 1/4 cups orange juice

zest of one orange

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup quick oatmeal

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 cups blueberries

3 Tbsp sugar (I used course sugar)

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Combine orange juice, zest, oil, eggs, quick oatmeal and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry just until blended.

Fold in the blueberries (I used frozen).

Fill 24 cupcake liners 2/3 full.

Sprinkle combination of chopped walnuts and sugar onto each cupcake.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes (until golden).

Blueberry Syrup

I guess this is why you RINSE and SORT your berries before making syrup or jam...or anything else! Little beetle had been hiding out in my box of berries in the fridge for 24 hours!



I bought a new blender about a month ago because ours has a crack in it, but hadn't yet taken it out of the box.



It blended 7 cups of blueberries (no liquid) into puree in about 20 seconds! I'm convinced it's the most awesome blender ever.

Syrup was so simple! The cliff notes version:

Puree 6 1/2 to 7 cups of blueberries in a blender. Run it for a few minutes and you won't even need a strainer...there will be no solids left.

Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice and 7 cups of sugar.

Bring to a boil.

Skim the foam off the top and ladle into hot, sterilized jars.

Add hot lids and rings.

Detailed recipe HERE.

Blueberry Jam

There is an easy recipe for blueberry jam on the Pickyourown site. Funny that it looks so complicated with all of these pictures. Yes, it's 8 pages! I hung them with magnets so I wouldn't have to flip pages with sticky fingers while I worked. It's really much easier than it looks.



Here's the short-hand version.

Mash 8 cups of blueberries (I put them in my food processor on 'chop.').

Add 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup water and 1 box of pectin.

Cook on medium-high until you reach a hard boil (the kind you can't stir out).

Then add 7 cups of sugar and return to a hard boil for another minute.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, clean the tops of jars and affix hot lids and rings.

No need to process in a canner if they seal themselves and you hear the lids 'pop.' This happens because the jam is as hot as lava.That's it!

My batch made 9 half pint jars with a little leftover to eat right away.

Blueberry Ice Cream

My Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt - Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker is awesome! I sometimes forget that I have it and that it only takes 30 minutes to freeze ice cream.

We picked these blueberries Saturday morning and made ice cream Sunday afternoon.

The Cuisinart recipe calls for 1 cup whole milk and 2 cups heavy cream. I simplify by using 3 cups Half & Half.

Blueberry Ice Cream

2 cups blueberries, mashed (I put them in the food processor on 'chop')

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar

3 cups Half & Half

1 tsp vanilla

Mash the blueberries and let them macerate in lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar for 2 hours. Then add the other 3/4 cup sugar, half & half and vanilla. Process in ice cream maker for 30 minutes. Transfer to a tupperware container and store in the freezer.