Blueberry Buckle/Blueberry-Ginger-Lemon Syrup

It's blueberry time! The price finally fell to an acceptable range so I stocked-up. My freezer is filled and I made a batch of blueberry/ginger/lemon syrup for lemonade and ice cream topping. I was torn between a cobbler and pie, and finally settled on a blueberry "buckle." I'm glad I did-it is wonderful. And oh, the luscious smell of blueberries and lemon zest-I wish I could bottle the fragrance.

The recipe is quick and straightforward. The lemon zest is optional, though it really does take the blueberries from good to fantastic. The recipe for blueberry/ginger/lemon syrup follows at the bottom of the page.

For The Buckle:

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature.
1-cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1-teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
2 cups blueberries, washed and drained
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon cardamom
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With an electric mixer, cream together half of the butter and half of the sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift one cup of the flour with the baking powder and salt. Starting and ending with flour, alternately add with the milk. Pour into a greased 9-inch square pan. Top with blueberries and lemon zest. Combine remaining sugar and flour. Add spices and cut-in the butter with a pastry cutter. Sprinkle over blueberries. Bake 35-45 minutes. Serve slightly warm (not hot) with whipped cream.

For Blueberry/Ginger/Lemon Syrup:

¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1-cup blueberries
1 cup lemon juice
11/2 cups sugar
1-cup water

Dissolve the sugar in water in a small, heavy pan over medium heat. Add the ginger and blueberries and simmer for about 8 minutes (watch to make sure it does not foam over-you may need to adjust the heat). Remove from heat. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean measuring cup. Add the lemon juice. Strain again into a clean jar and let cool first at room temperature and then completely in the icebox-then close cap. Keeps about two weeks. The syrup is wonderful diluted with water and ice cubes for lemonade, or over seltzer water. I've not tried it with vodka, but I suspect it would make a wonderful cocktail. You can of course spoon it over vanilla ice cream as well. I've made the same syrup with lemon and ginger only and had terrific results as well.