Lemon Blueberry Loaf
Baking Emergency: Lemon Blueberry Loaf
This week we packed up our stuff and headed from our normal house on Long Island to our house in the Catskills, the place we will eventually make our full time home. In getting ready, I packed up the electric kettle, my husband’s espresso maker, a handful of spices, and my favorite knife. What I couldn’t bring was my beloved Kitchenaid stand mixer or most of my baking supplies. But how could I not bake for an entire week!? Torture! Happily, I figured out a recipe for this lovely lemon blueberry loaf.
A Lemon Blueberry Muffin in Loaf Form
This lemon blueberry loaf is like a giant blueberry muffin. It is light and fluffy with a bright lemon taste and lots of juicy berries. Best of all, I made it with melted butter, so I didn’t have to kill my arms with any labor intensive mixing. I was a little perplexed for a minute about how to zest the lemon since, of course, the zester wasn’t a priority in my packing. Happily, I found a vegetable peeler in a drawer and removed all of the zest of one lemon. My husband then very kindly agreed to cut the zest into tiny strips. He makes orange marmalade with lemon strips, so he is the expert. In the end, the lemon taste from the zest was way better than I would get with the tiny flakes from the zester.
The Basics
The ingredient list was super straightforward – flour, baking soda, butter, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and one lemon and blueberries. A quick whisking together of all of the ingredients and an hour in the oven and we were set. Helpful tip: toss your blueberries in a little flour before mixing them in. This keeps the fruit from falling to the bottom of the batter.
Snow? In April? Lemon Blueberry Loaf to the Rescue
Have I mentioned it snowed up there? Like a lot? It snowed for almost 48 hours straight! This lemon blueberry loaf and a cup of tea helped preserve my sanity as the wind whipped around the house – in April. It was a little bit of spring in a very tasty snack.
Lemon Blueberry Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 tbsp flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease with butter. Make sure to get the corners of the pan.
- Begin by zesting one lemon. You can use a zester or, as I did this time, peel off the lemon zest with a vegetable peeler. Be careful not to get the white part on the zest since it is very bitter.
- Cut the zest into thin strips and set it aside. You want to have the tiny strips like in the photo.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
- Cut the butter into one tablespoon pieces and melt them. I did this in heatproof dish in the microwave for about 40 seconds.
- Pour the butter into a large bowl.
- Add the sugar to the butter and mix thoroughly.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one.
- Add the vanilla, the lemon juice, and the lemon zest and combine.
- Add the flour and the milk, alternating them. I start with the flour, mix, milk, mix, flour, mix, milk, mix.
- Toss the blueberries in a small bowl with one tablespoon of flour. I use my hands.
- Add the blueberries to the batter and mix until combined. Don't over mix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and let bake for about an hour. It is done when it is golden and when a knife or skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for about fifteen minutes, then let it cool completely on a wire rack. It has to be completely cooled before cutting. I never do this, but it's a good idea!
