BBJ (Blue Berry Jam) Toast

These are the same blueberries I was talking about a few days back while making my Blueberry crumble cake. I got them on sale and now I can buy them whenever they are on sale because I can make two perfect items from these bluey blueberries. One is the crumble cake and another is this glossy jam which uses a whole lot of blueberries. I am waiting to find a good recipe for blueberry muffins too but still havent formulated one or even browsed for one. If you guys come across one good recipe please do pass me the link.. My toddler son just loves muffins..especially banana nut muffins.Those are his favorite. Whenever I make it, I dont have to give it to him,he helps himself by opening the fridge and taking it. I have to just nuke a little.So friends, if you find a good recipe for blueberry muffins please do pass it on to me.

Ingredients

blueberries - 1 pint

sugar - 1 cup

juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Grind blueberries to an almost smooth paste.
2. Heat a stockpot. Add blueberries and sugar to the stock pot.
3. Now let the mixture heat up and bubble slowly for about 15 min making sure the temp is med. The reason for keeping medium temp is taking care not to burn the jam.
4. Now add the lemon juice and let it bubble for another 20 - 25 min.
5. Remove from heat and after few min the jam will be set.
6. While making bread toast, apply a layer of butter on the bread,then spread the blueberry jam for a nice,delicious taste.

Peanut Laddus(Senikai Unta)

The recipe for this laddu was given to me by my sister and it is the simplest recipe because it uses only two ingredients namely peanuts and jaggery. There is no syrup making in this recipe like most of the laddu recipes. The main reason I prefer this snack is because it is very healthy.

Peanuts are a powerhouse of protein and roasting them just boosts the level of antioxidants by a healthy 22% and according to Wikipedia these roasted peanuts even rivals the antioxidant content of the very famous berries. Well jaggery is also a harmless,natural, unrefined form of sugar that is very good for the body. It does not enter the bloodstream as rapidly as regular white sugar. People suggest taking jaggery alone for throat infections but after some research I found that it is indeed used in Ayurvedha for lung and throat infections.

My mom uses microwave to roast peanuts. She arranges the peanuts in a microwaveable tray and roasts them for about 3 min maximum, checking every minute taking care not to burn them. Roasting peanuts in a frypan is also fun. It takes a little more time than microwave but you can get the perfect texture.Iam using the conventional oven for the second time and this time I set my temperature to the lowest but took the longest to finish roasting...Next time I will stick to a higher temp like 425F and bake for just half the time...!

Anyway guys here goes the laddu recipe..........

Ingredients

Peanuts - 1 cup(skinless)

Jaggery - 1 cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F

2.Arrange peanuts on the tray. Roast for about 35 to 40 min.Once roasted powder these peanuts to about a semi fine powder.

3. Powder the jaggery to a fine powder.

4. Combine the powdered jaggery and peanuts.

5. Make balls and thus peanut laddus are ready.

Blueberry Crumble Cake

I have been buying these blueberries on and off. The very first time I bought blueberries I made a syrup to go with pancakes. I did not want to pop rest of these tart blueberries in my mouth. For the same reason I did not buy these for a long time.

But after watching much television and reading many a blogs, I have come to appreciate what this tiny,mighty and powerful fruit has to offer.So with all this in mind and with the unseasonal sale, I bought these blueberries . I got two boxes for the price of one. This time I certainly had few ideas in mind before buying them like muffins and pancakes but never thought about a cake, that too a crumble cake version. I got this recipe from Food Network by Chef Ina Garten. She has a video demonstration of this cake, but unfortunately I did not look at it until I was done with the cake.

For Streusel

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 pound(1 stick) unsalted butter,melted

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

For Cake

Wet Ingredients

6 tblsp butter(3/4 stick) room temp

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 extra large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

2/3 cup sour cream

Dry ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup blue berries

Method

For streusel : Mix all the ingredients and keep aside.

For cake : Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan. Prepare the dry and wet ingredients.Now add the dry to the wet ingredients and fold in the blue berries. Spoon the batter to the cake pan and spread it neatly. Now crumble the streusel topping evenly over the cake batter. Bake for 40 to 50 min.