Nectarine and Blueberry Bread

I had some nectarines in the refrigerator that had been there too long for just eating in their present state but they were fine for cooking. Just needed to find a recipe and this is the one I found and we love it.

Nectarine and Blueberry Tea Bread recipe adapted from Shove It In Your Face which was adapted from Lynne's Country Kitchen

1 1/2 Cups Flour, divided

3/4 Cup Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/3 Cup (75 grams) Butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon Orange Zest (I used grapefruit) (I skipped this)

1/4 Cup Orange Juice (I used grapefruit) (I used pineapple)

2 Eggs

2 Nectarines (I used 4 small)

1/2 Cup Blueberries, fresh or frozen

Topping:

2/3 cup Almonds, chopped well and divided

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Combine 1/4 cup almonds, sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C

Combine 1 Cup of flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt in a bowl or stand mixer.   Add in butter, orange juice and orange zest.  Mix on low for about 30 seconds, then on high for 2 minutes.  Add in eggs and remaining 1/2 Cup of flour.  Mix to combine.   Fold in fruit and remaining almonds.

Pour batter into a loaf pan and add the topping.  Bake 50 - 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan for ten minutes then finish cooling on a rack.  Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Bread

I saw this recipe in the D&C 7/27/12 and finally tried it.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120727/LIVING/307270014/Recipe-Week-Lemon-blueberry-bread-provides-sweetness-zing?nclick_check=1
 
According to the article the blueberries will not sink to the bottom because they are coated in flour first and that this will work for other fruit as well.
" Coating berries or other fruit with flour absorbs moisture that is released during the baking. That moisture is what causes the fruit to fall precipitously to the bottom."

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

I was looking for some fruity recipe to make for Bridge Club and I came across a Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe I saved from Good Morning America where Justin Timberlake said it was his favorite recipe and his Grandmother made it.

I Googled Blueberry Crumb Cake to find other variations and then saw that this is really Dump Cake.  That sounded familiar to me and I looked in my old recipes and saw that I had a Cherry Dump Cake.  It's called a Dump Cake because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan that you're using to bake it in.  My kind of recipe.

Following is my version of the recipe.

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (undrained)
4 cups blueberries
3/4 cups sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts chopped (can use pecans or nuts of choice)

Spray or butter bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish
Spread can of pineapple in dish
Mix sugar and blueberries and spread over pineapple
Sprinkle cake mix over blueberries
Drizzle melted butter over the dry mix
Mix 1/4 cup sugar with nuts
Sprinkle over cake mix

Bake at 350 ℉ for 1 hour or until nicely browned.

Blueberry Bread

Today I was going to make banana bread but I mistakenly whipped up 1 cup of butter, which is what I use for oatmeal cookies so I needed to think of something else to make to use the other 1/2 cup of butter and I decided to look for a blueberry bread recipe.  The first one I came across sounded good and it turned out to be just that.

BLUEBERRY BREAD

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Mix together beaten eggs with the sugar. Add milk and melted shortening or vegetable oil.
2.  Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine mixtures, stirring only until blended. Carefully fold in fresh or frozen blueberries and broken walnut pieces.
3.  Pour into greased 5 x 12 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50-60 minutes. Cool in pan but try to turn it out of pan before it is totally cool. It will be easier to remove. Can also be made in a normal size loaf pan or can be made into 2 pans.

Printed from Allrecipes.com 10/2/2011
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-bread-i/

Note:  2/11/12 - After reading this recipe, I'm wondering how I used the 1/2 cup butter based on the recipe.  I'm going to make this again today but will use 3 Tblsp of butter and report back on the results.
Results:  Came out OK but definitely need to cook for 60 minutes.  I took it out after 50 and although the top looked done and the toothpick test was OK the bottom wasn't cooked.  I prefer butter to oil but need to do a comparison test after reading about the differences between the two and also of melting butter vs creaming it.

Note:  6/16/14 - After re-reading this today I saw that in the instructions it said melted shortening or vegetable oil.  I used oil and it seemed to rise a lot more but when looking up the difference it seems that oil or melted shortening doesn't make a difference when the recipe calls for oil, mainly in muffins and I would assume these breads fall into the same category since they are more forgiving and be used 1:1.  But for other recipes it could have an impact, especially replacing butter with oil when it calls for creaming.  Butter has water and oil does not which is what makes the difference.