Blueberry Buckle Coffeecake

Expectation: To make an amazing whole-grain coffeecake.

Winning Recipe: Blueberry Buckle Coffeecake

I decided to take on this coffeecake because we were looking for a way to use some blueberries that came in our veggie box. The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book, where I found the recipe, made some pretty hefty claims about it, promising that "Blueberry Buckle Coffeecake is rarely still around for more than an hour out of the oven, but should you have admirable restraint, it will still be just as delicious later for dessert, under a scoop of ice cream." It certainly lived up to my expectation, and I couldn't taste even a hint of whole wheat. I can't say that the cake is particularly "healthy", but you can feel a little better about it knowing you are getting the extra nutrients and health benefits of whole grains. 

First, a little explanation. I had no idea what a buckle coffeecake was, and I thought for sure that it would be explained here at ochef.com, where they describe the difference between betty, clafoutis, cobbler, crisp, crumble, grunt, pandowdy, and slump (I promise these are all baked goods and not diseases). But, alas, the buckle was left out. I did find a bit of an explanation at cooks.com, which states that "a classic buckle is made by covering a layer of fruit with a cake batter and sweet crumbs. A coffeecake made 'buckle fashion' will buckle and crack as it bakes." The cake we ended up with might be better described as a crisp, but I am certainly not complaining.

I made the recipe exactly as written in the book, and it was pretty easy to do. I did have to go out and buy some white whole wheat flour, which I will explain further below.

Ingredients:

Streusel

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (how to measure flour)
• 1/4 cup unbleached (preferably) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Buckle

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen- I used fresh)

Preparations:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.

To make the Streusel: Whisk together the sugar, flours, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter and mix to make medium-size crumbs. (Here I am pictured grinding fresh nutmeg - yummy!) We found it works best to cut the butter up into small pieces before adding it to the dry ingredients, then cut it in with a pastry knife or two butter knives.

To make the Buckle: Whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl between additions.

Stir in half the dry ingredients, then the milk and vanilla, scraping down the sides. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients, then gently fold in the blueberries. Spread the batter in the prepared pan, and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top. 

Bake the buckle until a cake tester (in other words: toothpick) inserted in the center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool, in the pan, on a rack. The book also says that this recipe can be made with any berry you like, or cherries, or diced stone fruits, such as peaches, plums or nectarines. 

Nutrition facts for one serving (one 2 1/4 inch square):

252 calories

8g fat

43g carbohydrate

3g fiber

GI 68

GL 27

About the grains and ingredients:

Unbleached Flour comes from exactly the same thing as bleached flour, only it is bleached naturally as it ages instead of being mixed with a bleaching agent. A bleaching agent is typically added to flour to give it a whiter appearance, and to oxidize the surface of the flour grains. Known bleaching agents include benzoyl peroxide, calcium peroxide, nitrogen dioxide, and chlorine dioxide (which, incidentally, produces alloxan, a contaminant that has been identified as a possible cause of type-1 diabetes). Unbleached flour is supposedly best for yeast breads and pastries, whereas bleached is best for more typical baked goods like cookies and pancakes, because it gives foods more volume and finer grain. 

White Whole Wheat Flour is produced from a hard, white (instead of red) variety of the wheat plant. It tastes and appears more like refined flour, even though it has almost the same nutrient content as red whole wheat. It can be found at most health food grocery stores (I found it at Whole Foods). 

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour comes from the same grain as regular whole wheat flour, but is made from a softer variety and milled to a finer texture. It has a higher starch content, but is lower in gluten and protein. The end product is lighter and more tender than that of regular whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour can be found at most health food grocery stores (I found it at Whole Foods).

Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats are oat groats that have been steamed and flattened by a roller. Oat grains have an outer husk when they come off the plant which must be removed to uncover the whole oat kernel called groats. Rolled oats cannot be eaten raw, but are the main ingredient in minimally cooked recipes, like granola. Oats are a top source of soluble fiber, which can help lower cholesterol levels. Oat bran also contains beta glucan, which has been shown to enhance the immune system's response to bacterial infection. They also contain a large amount of protein and healthy fats.