Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I wanted to celebrate with you, even though I am in Oz, so I made Red, White and Blue-Berry Buckle. You can see the red, white and blue better in this daytime photo:
The recipe that I used for this Berry Buckle was from p222 of Sugar, Sugar by Kimberley Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero, and was originally the recipe of one Dolly Dougherty, a commercial aviation graduate, which is pretty cool and trail-blazing for a woman who was born in 1920. Instead of just using the traditional blueberries, I used mixed berries so that I ended up with the red, white and blue effect.
This berry buckle is absolutely delicious, with a crunchy topping on a soft, berry laden sponge cake base. It is very easy to make, but because it is in two steps and involves working with butter, it takes a little time.
Basically, the topping is made by grating 55g of butter into a bowl, and adding 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. You rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips, then put the topping aside.
The base is made by beating together 55g butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. You then beat in an egg. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Fold half of this mixture through the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in half a cup of milk. Finally, fold in the remaining half of the dry ingredients, followed by 2 cups of berries (I used frozen mixed berries).
Press the batter into a greased and lined 9 inch square baking dish. Don't leave out the lining or the berries are likely to stick to the tin. The batter is quite thick, so pressing it out evenly takes quite a bit of muscle. Once the base has been pressed evenly into the pan, sprinkle the reserved topping evenly over the top, then bake the buckle in an oven preheated to 190 degrees Celsius for approximately 50 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the buckle from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin completely before cutting it into 2 inch squares. Eat and enjoy!
