Blueberries are my favorite summer fruit. I love the color, texture, the little crown at the top of the berry, and the memories that I associate with this small delicate fruit that was plentiful on the East Coast. As a child I picked berries in Lakewood, New Jersey and watched my Tante Marisha and mother prepare blueberry buns that we would eat straight from the oven, the warm berries oozing out with the first bite. At The Rendezvous, a corner store in The Bronx, I always ordered fresh blueberry ice cream in the summer. It had a particular fragrance that I had completely forgotten until this past year when a facial cream brought back this incredibly familiar smell, it was the smell of fresh blueberry ice cream.
Other memories include reading Blueberries for Sal to my children, a family favorite, and listening to Blueberry Pie by Bette Midler.
Life is peachy, let’s go bananas,
no one will care!
Blueberry Pie, let’s have fun,
’cause when all is said and done
I love you, yes I do,
’cause, Blueberry, you’re true blue.
There was a trip to Maine when the kids were little and we picked berries on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Summer trips to Toronto where blueberry buns were a local specialty of European Jewish bakeries. I remember my cousin Rose serving a delicious blueberry cake and I have a favorite peach and blueberry cobbler recipe that I make each summer. Blueberry buns, or yagda bilkelach, which is what they are called in Yiddish, are from an era when you could go out and pick your berries, bring them home and spend the day making something special for your family to eat. Summer days should be like that. Try them.
Make your favorite challah recipe or use the one I give on an older post.
Voila!
Blueberry Buns ( The photo is of my husband’s Toronto version, folded on the side but I prefer them pinched on the top)
Filling
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
Mix blueberries and sugar and let stand for about 5 minutes.
Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Roll dough on floured board into circles 1/8 inch in thickness. Place one tablespoon of filling in center and bring sides of dough to the top and pinch closed. Brush with egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water. Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Makes 8 buns.
Enjoy,
Irene
