I've been meaning to bake these buns for absolute ages as blueberries have always been a huge summer hit in our home. Last year we enjoyed delicious blueberry dumplings with big dollops of sweet, sweet cream and this time around I went for buns instead.
Both of these dishes are something I remember very fondly from my early childhood with a small, but noticeable difference. The berries we get here are American high-bush blueberries (technically they're all American as it seems we didn't get them until 1930s apparently but I digress) and the one I remember from back when I was very little were tiny, freshly picked earlier the same morning, sold by old ladies at the farmers market, foraged not farmed. Huge taste difference. They would get your mouth and tongue purple and tasted absolutely amazing. Fresh fruit is still our number one buy whenever we go back home, simply cannot replace it with anything else.
These buns aren't too sweet (although they can be as sweet as you'd like really) so they can go with everything. Going for a picnic? Having a quick lunch break? Cheeky desert after dinner? Perfect choice!
Recipe:
Orange glazed blueberry buns.
Buns
2 cups of flour
1 cup of milk of your choice (I went with coconut but whatever floats your boat really)
1 packet of dried yeast
1/2 cup of sugar
a pinch of salt
1-2 cups of blueberries
2 tsp of cornflour
1 tbsp of icing sugar
a few drops of lemon juice
Orange glaze
3 generous tbsp of icing sugar
juice from a freshly squeezed orange
Mix the flour with the yeast, icing sugar and salt. Add milk and knead until uniform. Leave it in a warm place until it doubles its volume (this should take about an hour or so). Next wash and dry off the berries, add a few drops of lemon juice and the rest of your sugar together with the cornflour.
When your dough is ready form small balls from it and flatten them (you can add more flour to keep them sticking to your fingers). You could also flatten the whole dough and cut out small bits with a glass, that works as well. Each of these gets 2-3 tsp of our lovingly prepared blueberries, the more the merrier and then you fold the corners inwards to form a bun shape (if that's even a thing - what is a bun shape to you?). Put them on a baking tray lined with greased paper for 20-30 mins to settle and bake at 180°C (that's around 350f for you guys not fans of Mr Celsius and his scale) for about 12 mins or until golden. I managed to get 15 out of these ingredients.
The glaze is even easier - you just mix the sugar with the OJ (I prefer it very sticky and not too runny but it's up to you here). Generously brush it all over your freshly baked buns and enjoy. Simple and yummy!
