Red, white and blueberries

Earlier this year, when my parents moved to their new home, I learned they have lots of great flowers, fruit trees and bushes on their property. The blueberries are just starting to come in, so before I pulled away Saturday evening, my mom, dad, niece Amelia and I picked blueberries for me to take home. We were probably out there less than 20 minutes, yet I left with quite a stash of blueberries from these early arrivals!

That meant the July 4 cooking at my house had a distinct "blue" theme. My husband made some wonderful blueberry pancakes for breakfast. He said that with the white of the pancake batter and the red of his neck (he's joking!), he figured it would serve as a red, white and blue breakfast! My own treat was this Blueberry Pound Cake. So last evening I enjoyed a slice of cake with some oolong tea, and I thought I'd share the recipe here in case some of you are blueberry lovers as well!

Blueberry Pound Cake

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, divided
2-1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a tube pan with 2 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle 1/4 cup of the sugar on the bottom. (I used a Wilton 9-3/4 inch tube pan with removable tube insert.)

Using an electric mixer, cream the 1 cup of butter and slowly add the 2 cups of granulated sugar. When combined, add the eggs one at a time, combining well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Gradually add 2-3/4 cups of the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Coat the blueberries in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to keep them from sinking in the batter. Carefully fold the blueberries into the mixture and then pour into tube pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a testing knife comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.