One, two, buckle my blueberry

At the risk of sounding a bit Janet Evanovich-ish, the name "Blueberry Buckle" makes me think of "one, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, shut the door." I was trying to make it rhyme...."One, two, buckle my blueberry, three four, shut the funerary/ dromedary/ Londonderry..." but I'm having trouble thinking of appropriate words ending in "erry" or "ary"... so let's just stick with Blueberry Buckle.

In case you don't know: a buckle (in baking terms) is a coffee-cake like item, almost always made with blueberries, and always topped with a deliciously decadent streusel. It's closely related to the crumble, and falls in the same family as pandowdys and Brown Bettys. (I must say, I really like the names that American settler-types came up with for their desserts. The list that includes the desserts I just mentioned also includes grunts, slumps, and sonkers...which all sound a bit like the noises a messy eater might make while stuffing their faces with some fabulous blueberry buckle or apple pandowdy). The buckle gets its name from its streusel topping, which 'buckles' in the oven while it's baking.

Blueberry Buckle tastes like a sweet, cake-like blueberry muffin that traded tops with its friend the dutch apple pie. The buckle is loaded, completely stuffed, with fresh blueberries, bursting with juiciness all through the sweet cake batter. Then the top is cinnamon-y and spicy, crunchy, and sweet, and the whole thing is absolutely perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. The dough is spiked with spices like nutmeg and cloves (whose ridiculously deep smell always strikes me as redolent of faraway places, conjuring up images of camel trains laboring across the Silk Road to bring such delicacies to the not-so-good-smelling Europeans), and its enticing aroma will make you impatient to slice in right away, but resist! I promise, it's actually better when it's closer to room temperature, or even cold. You can't properly appreciate the sweetness or the crunchiness when it's piping hot. The buckle is not necessarily the prettiest baked good on the block, it cannot compare in tidiness with a muffin, but a slice of this for breakfast is heaven.

Blueberry Buckle
adapted from mi madre's recipe

3/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cloves, set aside. In a larger bowl cream together the white sugar and shortening, then beat in the eggs and milk, until mixture is smooth and mostly lump-free. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, again until mixture is smooth. Then gently fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into either one nine inch square pan, or two smaller loaf shaped pans (either way the pans need to be lightly greased on the bottom and sides). The batter won't be very thick, so don't worry if it doesn't seem like quite enough at first.

In a small bowl (or that medium bowl you used for the flour) mix together the sugars, cinnamon, flour, and butter, until the mixture is fine and crumbly, and there are no big chunks of butter. I used a pastry cutter for this part, which worked really well. Then sprinkle this topping evenly over the batter, making sure to get all the way to the corners!

Bake in an oven that was pre-heated to 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, and the topping is firm and brown.

Then cool on a wire rack for at least half an hour, maybe a bit more, until the buckles have cooled. Carefully remove to a cutting board, slice, and devour.