BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

I often see a recipe for Blueberry Buckle in my many Amish cookbooks, but never got around to making it until Thursday when my quilting friends came over to play canasta. Mrs. Gid Miller from Norwalk, Wisconsin said to serve it warm with milk. I decided to serve it warm but with a generous dollop of whipped topping.

I would definitely recommend you serve it warm. I had it all prepared to put in the oven at 12:30 when my friends would be arriving. While I was washing up the dishes I had used preparing it, I realized that I had forgotten to make the topping. Fortunately it didn't take very long to make it, so the game wasn't delayed too long.

Oh, it smelled so good baking in the oven. I let it cool about 30 minutes before I told them I was ready to eat mine. They all agreed they were ready for dessert, too. It was so good.  

I usually eat quickly - still in my school teacher mode of eating in less than 20 minutes. But this Blueberry Buckle was so good, we all found ourselves eating it slowing and savoring every bite of it. 

No one at the table had ever heard of a "buckle". Friend Fran "googled" the word and told us it was a cross between a crisp and a pudding. It was in the
"Pudding and Cobblers" section of the cookbook, but we didn't agree. The fresh blueberries, the cake, and the topping (which I think is where the "buckle" has to come from) were just scrumptious whatever the name means. 

It made 9 generous servings so my husband and I have 3 more to argue over.

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

3/4          cup sugar
1/4           cup shortening
2              eggs
1/2           cup milk
1-1/2        cups flour
2              teaspoons baking powder
1/4           teaspoon nutmeg
scant 1/4 teaspoon cloves
1-1/3        cups fresh blueberries

TOPPING

1/2           cup sugar
1/2           cup chopped nuts (I used pecans.)
1/3           cup flour
1/2           teaspoon cinnamon
1/4           cup butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9 - inch pan.

Mix the sugar, shortening, eggs, and milk. (Doing all of this together meant the shortening didn't completely blend, but it turned out okay.)

Stir in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. (I mixed them together first in a smaller bowl.)

Fold in the blueberries.

Spread in the pan.

Mix the topping ingredients together to make a crumbly mixture. (I thinly sliced the butter to make this process easier and used my fingers to mix it.)

Sprinkle the topping mixture over the cake.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

Slice into 9 servings when ready to serve.

Serve warm with whipped topping if you like.