Blueberry Baking Bonanza (Pt. 2)

And the blueberries kept rolling in! Now for the dramatic conclusion of my escapades in baking the berry of the blue variety (recall part 1).

Lemon Blueberry Cookies: I was in a giving mood, so I decided to make some cookies to bring into lab. In keeping with my lemon-blueberry theme, I found this delicious-sounding recipe for cookies. I also did a slight modification - though I love cheesecake, I decided to forego the cream cheese center, mostly for time concerns. If I did want to add it, though, I would have whipped 4 oz. cream cheese with about 1/4 cup sugar to make a more cheesecake-like filling. Still, the cookies turned out cakey and delicious (some of my labmates decided they were more like muffin tops), and they are so light you could eat 10 of them. Except they have 1 cup of butter. Figure that one out... In my experience, they also didn't spread very much in the pan, and for me took about 13-14 minutes to cook.

Blueberry Balsamic BBQ Sauce: OK, so not baking technically but still amazing. I love blueberries, and of course because I'm Italian love balsamic vinegar, so when this recipe combined them both I died. Then made it. Then died again. I am only slightly bitter that I had to buy 24 oz. of ketchup to use 3 Tbsp, because I'm definitely not into ketchup. I also added about 1/2 tsp of pepper just to spice things up a bit (see what I did there?). As with the tomato sauce on my last post, WAIT for the blueberries to cool before transferring to the blender. The only thing worse than tomatoes all over your kitchen is blueberries. That stuff doesn't come out.

Over pulled chicken, with sauteed veggies on the side - recipe to follow!

What would you eat this over? ANYTHING - chicken, sandwiches, however you like your BBQ sauce. Maybe even a pizza (though don't tell my ancestors).

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars: For our lab retreat up to Northern Michigan (more on that another time), I had to bring some more baked goods (especially since they have had a lot of the windfall of my baking streak, I couldn't stop now). I'm also really into using boxed cake/brownie mixes in new and exciting ways because a) it saves me a ton of time and b) it looks like it didn't. So now that I have divulged my secret, here's the recipe. The only thing I noticed was that the top was browning a bit before the center was set, so I would bake uncovered for 40 minutes (until the top is sufficiently browned), and then cover with foil for the last 15 minutes or so (until the cheesecake part is set).

About to go into the oven - attempting to be artistic with the "crumb topping".

Fortunately, these were a big hit - they taste like blueberry cheesecake on a poundcake vehicle. Make a double-batch they're so easy!

As for the rest of the blueberries? They'll be eaten the old-fashioned way, just as they are :).