Three blueberry recipes

I've a couple of blueberry recipes for you guys today! It was blueberry season a while back as you might recall me saying earlier on where I posted about the blueberry orange scones here.

I made quite a few blueberry items using fresh blueberries and I've compiled all of them into one blueberry post.

Homemade blueberry goodies: preserves, crème brûlée tart and gelato

Blueberry are were in season...

Homemade blueberry preserves; Blueberry preserves crème brûlée tart

The blueberry preserves were a little sweet on its own, but spread on toasted bread or warm scones, it was just the perfect touch for breakfast. I made two small bottles of blueberry preserves, and both bottles have already disappeared from the fridge. I'm still contemplating if I should make some more from my frozen blueberry stash or wait till when blueberry season strikes again. Tough decisions. I know.

As I've just moved house within the last few months, most of my friends are only just starting to visit my new place. A few days back, we had a belated Christmas gathering at my place and I decided to contribute desserts - blueberry themed of course.

Since I had a leftover tart shell frozen and ready in the freezer, and homemade blueberry preserves, I had already made plans to bake a blueberry-something tart. The gathering was just the perfect reason for me to set things in motion. I wanted something to pair with the blueberry tart, thus, the blueberry gelato. I was actually lazy to make the gelato myself so I got our resident ice cream expert, the Sister, to make it for me. ;)

Blueberry preserves; vanilla cinnamon custard

My friends seemed to enjoy the blueberry gelato quite a bit. Two of them actually requested for seconds. One of them commented that you could clearly taste the blueberry flavour in it. I thought so too, just that the texture of the gelato was just a little icy.

Blueberry tray recipes:

Blueberry preserves (adapted from Julie at Always with Butter)
(makes about 2 small jars of preserves)
3 cups blueberries, rinsed and dried
1.5 cups sugar (or less)

Place the blueberries in a saucepan. Crush half of the blueberries with a spoon, add the sugar, cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Stir every once in a while to prevent blueberries from sticking to the bottom of the pan or burning.
Store in sterilised jars, cool completely before sealing.
Keep open jars in refrigerator and sealed jars in a dry cool place.

Blueberry preserves crème brûlée tart

Sweet tart shell (use your favourite)

3/4 cup homemade blueberry preserves (recipe above)

Custard (adapted from the Bourke Street Bakery recipe here)
360ml whipping cream (35% fat)
1 vanilla pod, beans scraped
1cinnamon stick
5 egg yolks
40g caster sugar, plus extra for burning

Start on the custard the night before to infuse the cinnamon and vanilla into the cream. Place cream and spices into a saucepan over high heat. When it boils, remove from heat, pour into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator overnight for the flavours to infuse.
Line a 8" or 9" tart ring with sweet tart dough. Prick holes and return to refrigerator to chill.
Bake the tart shell at 175C for 15-20 minutes or until browned. Set aside to cool.
Continue with the custard making from the infused cream. Whisk the yolks in a large heatproof bowl, gradually add the sugar and continue whisking for about 30 seconds, or until the sugar has dissolved. Reheat the infused cream over med-high heat, bring to simmer, then remove from heat. Cool slightly. Gradually pour the warmed cream through a fine sieve, discarding the spices, into the egg yolk mixture, whisking well to combine.
Pour mixture into a clean saucepan and continue stirring with a heatproof spatula for about 10-15 minutes over low heat, or until the mixture is smooth and thick. It is important to keep stirring at all times or the mixture will curdle. Remove the bowl from the heat and place in an ice bath to cool, whisking constantly to cool it.
Spread the homemade blueberry preserves onto the baked tart shell. Pour the cooled custard over the blueberry preserves. Bake at 145C for 30-35 minutes. The center should still be a little bit wobbly. Cool in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Sprinkle a layer of castor sugar over the tart, blow torch it and serve immediately.

Blueberry gelato (adapted from The Artisan Gelato's Blueberry lavender gelato - recipe can be found here)