In my Berkshire Eagle column this past week I share a recipe for a blueberry crumb cake that I have on one of a number of treasured recipe cards written in my grandmother’s handwriting.

Even though it’s not berry season anymore, I almost always have blueberries in the freezer, usually that I’ve picked the previous summer, and I am happy to report that I’ve had success using frozen berries, for a taste of summer any time of year.

BAKING MEMORIES

by Elizabeth Baer

I’ve been feeling nostalgia rather deeply lately.

I recently went apple-picking with my three-year-old granddaughter Naomi, and then we made applesauce together. In doing so, I was passing to a fifth generation the recipe of my maternal grandmother. We cousins called her Nena, and she used to make gallons of applesauce every fall from the apples that my parents, my sister, and I had picked. Not too long after that I went to New Haven for my Aunt Betsy’s 90th birthday party. She’s not really my aunt, but a lifelong friend of my mother’s from childhood, and back in the day friends who were too close to be called Mr. or Mrs. were instead Uncle or Aunt so-and-so. Also at the party were her kids whom I hadn’t seen in ages, and I was flooded with remembrances of all the times we used to play together as children.

Feeling wistful about family memories, I pulled out the small pile of recipes I have from Nena. She was phenomenal cook and I don’t think anything ever came out of her kitchen that wasn’t superb. I also think she didn’t cook from a recipe very often – it was all in her head. All the more grateful am I for this treasure trove recipes, especially the handwritten ones. There’s something about seeing a loved one’s handwriting that brings them close.

I’ve shared the applesauce recipe previously, and here’s another one I love, a blueberry crumb cake that works well with fresh or frozen berries. Since Nena was such a great cook, many of her instructions are pretty sparse, but I’ve elaborated upon them for more modern expectations for recipes.

One time some years back, my son Wilson texted me a photo, and it was this blueberry crumb cake he had just made, which, coincidentally, I had also made that very same day! I knew then that I had done right by Nena and her legacy.

NENA’S BLUEBERRY CRUMB CAKE

Makes one 8x8 cake

INGREDIENTS

Topping:

⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups blueberries
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
½ cup milk
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup walnuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment (allowing it to hang over the edges on two sides), then spray the parchment lightly.

Make the topping. Combine ⅓ cup flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter and, using two knives, two forks, or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Make the cake batter. Sift together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Remove 1½ tablespoons of this mixture and toss in another bowl with the blueberries to coat them with flour.

Cream the softened butter and sugar in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium to medium-high speed. With a hand mixer, you may need to use a higher speed depending on the appliance. Add the egg, vanilla, and lemon extract, and beat until well combined. Alternating, add the flour and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour, beating until well combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the lemon zest. Fold in the blueberries. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the walnuts on top of the batter and then cover all with the topping mixture.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

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