Homegrown Gourmet 5- Maple Blueberry Quick Bread

Yippee for Homegrown Gourmet!

Canela Y Cameno, a great blog from Peru, is hosting round 5 with the theme Quick Breads, and I'm getting in just under the wire. In fact, I've only got one hour to spare as I start typing this! (Note to self- type faster!!!)

As soon as Gretchen Noelle announced Quick Breads as the recipe of choice, I knew exactly what to make- Maple Blueberry Bread. But I was lacking the time to actually do the baking. What can I say, I work well under pressure, and waited til the last day to bake.

I used my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook as the base for this bread, using the Zucchini Bread to get the measurements right. From there, I made this into a Maine recipe. So here in Maine, we have lots of wild blueberries. Did you know blueberries are one of only 4 fruit crops native to North America? And boy are they delicious! Good for you too with tons of antioxidants. My husband and I went blueberry picking this past summer and ended up with a ton of them. I froze a few cups and it was such a delight pulling them out to bake with today after we got 5" of fresh snow!

So I had blueberries. That would have been enough, but I wanted to make this something special. Why not add in another very northen New England food- maple syrup! I love maple- maple syrup, maple butter, maple fudge, maple candy... good stuff. With some local Maine maple syrup laying around not being used, I thought it would be a fantastic touch for my quick bread.

The local ingredients were picked, the recipe chosen, and I was off to the races. This recipe came out really moist and delicious in the loaf I made. Perfect crisp crust, tender moist insides with a nice hint of maple and berries bursting through. The batch was enough for 2 loafs, but I could only find one loaf pan. I used the rest of the batter to make mini muffins. Although these are also tasty, they kind of ended up as mostly crust. I miss the sweet soft interior. But gosh are they fun to pop in your mouth. And it's fun to say- Mini Muffin!

And so I submit my entry for this round. Thanks for hosting Gretchen!



Maple Blueberry Bread
Inspired by Betty Crocker

• 1 C. White Sugar
  
• 2/3 C. Brown Sugar
  
• 4 Eggs
  
• 1/2 C. Vegetable Oil
  
• 1/2 C. Dark Maple Syrup (I let the 1/2 cup overflow quite a bit!)
  
• 3 C. Flour
  
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
  
• 3/4 tsp. Salt
  
• 1 C. Fresh Blueberries
  
• Syrup to glaze, about 1-2 Tbsp.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom only of 2 loaf pans, or as I did, 1 loaf pan and 1 24 count mini muffin pan.
   
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugars, eggs, oil, and maple syrup and blend until smooth.
   
3. Stir in the dry ingredients just until it is evenly moist. You do not want to over beat the batter.
   
4. Gently stir in the berries.
   
5. Pour the batter into your baking pans.
   
6. Bake until the tops are browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. My mini muffins only took about 15 minutes, and I probably could have taken them out at 12. The loaf took just about an hour, maybe a few minutes more. I put foil on the top with 10 minutes to go as it was looking very brown, but the inside was very soggy. 10 minutes later it had set up beautifully and was ready to come out.
   
7. About halfway to 3/4 of the way through cooking, remove the breads from the oven and gently brush the tops with the remaining maple syrup. You can also do this at the end while they are hot, but it does not set up as well, and you get sticky surfaces. Return to oven to finish baking.
   
8. Remove pans from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
   
9. Gently loosen the bread from the sides of the pan and remove to the wire rack. Allow to cool before trying to slice; too hot and it will crumble apart.