Hop Into A New Season With Blueberry Spring Recipes

Although this year’s groundhog predicted an extended winter, you can still bring spring into your home with recipes that illustrate the change to brighter days. Lemon, frozen BC blueberries and Easter-themed treats make for a sunny start to this new season. Make one of the following recipes to add some colour to your kitchen and hop right out of winter and into spring! —Vita Daily

BC Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Toast

Yields: two slices

1 cup (250 mL) Ricotta cheese
½ cup (125 mL) Frozen BC blueberries
1 tbsp (15 mL) Milk
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp (15 mL) Honey
3 tbsp (45 mL) Butter, softened
Bread for toasting

Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or a hand mixer, add ricotta cheese and lemon zest. Mix on medium speed. As you mix, slowly drizzle in milk and increase to high speed until well incorporated and smooth. (You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice). Prepare a piping bag* fitted with a petal tip. With a rubber spatula scoop, place whipped ricotta mix into the piping bag. Cover and refrigerate for two hours or overnight. Butter slices of bread and fry in a pan until golden. Set aside to cool slightly. Pipe chilled ricotta onto fried bread. Top with frozen BC blueberries, thyme, and drizzle with honey. Add some additional lemon zest for presentation. Serve immediately. *No piping bag? No problem! You can use a re-closable sandwich bag in a pinch. Use your rubber spatula to fill one corner of the bag with the whipped ricotta. Twist the empty part of the bag around to keep a little pressure on the ricotta. Snip the corner of the bag and pipe your ricotta onto your toasted bread.

Vegan BC Blueberry Lemon Galettes

Yields: Six mini galettes

For Pastry:

2 cups, Spelt, all purpose, quinoa or oat flour
Pinch of pink or sea salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
12 tbsp Vegan butter (Earth Balance)
4-8 tbsp Very chilled water, depending on flour used

For Filling:

2 cups Frozen BC blueberries
Juice from ½ a lemon (Add ¼ first and adjust)
1 – 1 ½ tbsp Coconut sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 – 1 ½ tsp Arrowroot powder

Add-ons:

Thyme for garnish
Vegan Ice cream, simple vanilla or your favourite flavour, with extra frozen BC blueberries on top

Start to preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and prep one to two large baking sheets. Line them with parchment paper. Then, to a large mixing bowl, add in your dry pastry ingredients – flour, cinnamon and salt. Then, with a potato masher or fork, start to add in and cut butter into the dry mixture until uniformly blended. If too firm to mix in, add chilled water bit by bit and stir until you can use all dough from the sides of the bowl. The mixture should be doughy and not loose and runny. If you add too much water, add some more flour. On a clear, flat surface, sprinkle flour. Get your hands a little floured up as well and start gently dividing dough from the bowl into six balls and place on your floured “station.” Then, take one dough ball and adding more flour when required, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough into a circle. Then carefully transfer the flattened dough onto the baking sheet. Repeat step five and six for rest of the dough balls. For the blueberries, add them to a bowl and toss with coconut sugar, ¼ lemon juice and arrowroot powder. Taste and adjust, then add berries among the pies, placing in the center of the dough. Make sure not to fill up all the flat area. Leaving enough space to fold the remaining dough, fold the crust edges over the blueberries and keep overlapping them as you go. Try to seal when you overlap, as the blueberry mixture can leak through cracks while baking. Lightly brush these galettes with a tiny amount of vegan butter and sprinkle with coconut sugar. This helps creating a golden-brown crust. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. A trick is to broil for the last two to three minutes (depending on your oven) for a delicious golden crust. Once done, let the galettes cool for a few minutes. Then serve when still warm, with a scoop of vegan ice cream.

BC Blueberry Coconut Cupcakes With “Egg Basket”

Yields: 12 large cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1.5 cups (195 g) All purpose unbleached flour
1.5 cups (195 g) Finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1.5 tsp (7.5 ml) Baking powder
1.5 tsp (7.5 ml) Baking soda
⅛ tsp (pinch) Salt
1 cup (165 g) White sugar
½ cup (120 ml) Coconut oil, melted and cooled
2 Large eggs, room temperature
½ cup (120 ml) Plain yogurt
2 tsp (10 ml) Lime zest, finely grated
2 tsp (10 ml) Lime juice, fresh
2 cups (300 g) Frozen BC blueberries – divided in half

Frosting and Garnish:

1 cup (160 g) Finely shredded unsweetened coconut
½ cup (120 ml) Coconut oil, melted and cooled
½ cup (120 g) Butter, room temperature
1 tbsp (15 ml) Lime zest, finely grated
2 tbsp (30 ml) Lime juice, fresh
⅛ tsp (pinch) Salt
2 cups (300 g) Icing sugar – sifted
Green food colouring (two – three drops)

Add-ons:

Chocolate eggs for the ‘egg basket’
½ cup (80 g) Frozen BC blueberries

Make the cupcakes first. Pre-heat oven to 350F/160C. In a bowl, combine flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and coconut oil until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in one at a time. Add the yogurt, lime zest and lime juice. Slowly mix in the flour mixture. Gently fold in half the frozen blueberries. Spoon batter into a lined muffin pan and top with the remaining 1 cup of blueberries. Bake in the middle rack of a pre-heated 350F/160C oven for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes in the muffin pan, then invert on a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting and “egg baskets,” in a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the shredded coconut, coconut oil, butter, lime zest, lime juice and salt. Blend in the sifted icing sugar until creamy. Add a few drops of green food colouring until icing looks like ‘grass.’ Let icing stand for a few hours at room temperature to thicken. Frost onto cooled cupcakes. Garnish with frozen BC blueberries or chocolate eggs to complete your ‘egg basket.’

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