A few months ago, I switched from shopping at Cub Foods to Trader Joe’s.
Even though shopping at Cub was convenient (being less than two miles from my house), I became frustrated with how expensive fruits and vegetables were, and their lack of quality. I’d buy grapes at $4 per pound, only to have them turn black within two days of getting home. The same thing went for fresh herbs.
The only other times I had shopped at TJ’s were when I lived in Chicago and New York City. I was surprised by how much cheaper my staple items were at TJ’s, and how much longer they stayed fresh. After one shopping experience there, I was hooked and have never looked back. Cub has become my “emergency-only” location for when I don’t have time to run to TJ’s.
A few weeks ago, these fresh blueberries were just STARING me down. So I bought them. When I got home, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but ended up making lemon-blueberry bread.
This bread isn’t your loaf of white bread—it’s soft, moist, sweet, and crumbly. The blueberries alone would make it knee-weakening, but the lemon really acts as a nice flavor booster. I made this with and without glaze, trying to decide if it needed any or not. I decided it didn’t, since the lemon and blueberries add enough sweetness to it.
This kept good for the entire week on my countertop inside a Zip-Loc bag. Fall is a great time for making bread (well, actually, any time is really a good time for bread), and this lemon-blueberry bread is a great addition to a meal, or a standalone snack. I had a piece before I made a salad for dinner last week.
Enjoy!
Lemon-Blueberry Bread
Use fresh blueberries to make this lemon-blueberry bread. It's light, fluffy, and sweet—a perfect addition to any meal as an appetizer or dessert!
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 1/2 cups, plus two tablespoons, sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Steps
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 4x8x2-inch loaf pan.
- In a bowl, toss the blueberries in 2 tablespoons flour and set aside.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, lemon juice, and eggs.
- Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, and salt.
- Add the flour and milk alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Fold in the lemon zest, blueberries, and pecans.
- Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf should come out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack.