Tea Time Blueberry Cake

Hello there. Are you enjoying the summer? Specifically, are you enjoying the summer fruit? I hope so. This first month of my summer has been uncharacteristically busy -- an out-of-the norm for me. Usually when school ends, I spend a good week and a half doing nothing and mulling about, reminiscing and baking scones or making a treat for a road trip. Not this year. Boo hoo.

But I did make cake. A wonderful, hearty, spelt and blueberry tea cake, sweetened with dark maple syrup and made with the season's first Ontario blueberries. I obsess over berries each summer, and in the fall, I always regret not eating more. Berries are so fleeting and will always be. And even though I know the best way to eat these local delights is to just enjoy them straight up, I can never resist baking up batches of goodies studded with ripe, local fruit. This cake is no different. It's a very simple, no fuss cake, adapted from one of Heidi's recipes at 101 Cookbooks. Her version uses huckleberries and includes a little crumble topping. Seeing as I've never seen a huckleberry here in Ontario before, I decided that blueberries would have to do, and although I love crumble topping, I skipped it for a more wholesome, breakfast friendly-version of this cake. Heidi also included some fresh rosemary and thyme in her cake and I loved the idea of herbs adding that little something extra to a dessert. I followed her lead with the thyme, as each summer they grow like mad on the balcony and I feel bad if I don't use them up, but instead of the rosemary, I added some fresh lavender leaves which perfumed the cake ever-so-slightly -- perfect with the floral, fruity berries.

While making this cake, I thought about one summer when my sister drove my best friend and I to a farm just north of the city, and we spent the afternoon in the sun, picking blueberries and raspberries. When I sampled the blueberries I bought for this cake, the whole day came flooding back to my mind -- the hot, dusty drive out of town, the sun on the back of my neck as we stooped over the pick our berry treasures, the way I giggled when a farm boy with an accent handed me my blended lemonade and grilled corn on the cob, the rustic, touristic feel inside the gift shop where you could buy jams, pies, and other assorted goodies, and the way my best friend giggled at me when I bought honey-roasted soybeans of all things at the shop and snacked on them all the way home in the car. Gosh, that was a good 7 or 8 years ago, but I remember it so clearly.

I'm not sure if there will be road trips, berry picking or dusty car rides into farm land this year. But there will be cake, there's already been lots of coffee, and there will always be giggles and good times.

Happy Summer. I hope you're having a good one .. and I hope it lasts forever ...

Maple Blueberry Tea Cake
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1/4 cup of spelt flakes
1/3 cup of skim milk yogurt
zest and juice of one lemon
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup of dark maple syrup (grade B amber)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of canola oil
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
5-6 fresh lavender leaves, finely chopped
1 cup of spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of fresh blueberries, washed

1. In a large bowl, combine the spelt flakes, lemon juice and zest and yogurt. Stir well and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding the egg, maple syrup, vanilla and canola oil. Mix well.

2. Add the thyme and lavender and sift in the flour, baking soda and powder. Mix until just combined. Add the blueberries and give it one final mix.

3. Pour your batter into a baking pan and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until the cake tester inserted comes out clean and the top of the cake is springy when you touch it.

4. Serve with tea, coffee or big dollop of yogurt and more fresh berries for breakfast!

Hearty Bread for the Road

I just got back from a week in one of my favourite places: Montreal. The city totally stole my heart ... again. Although I'm always happy to be home, I long to be back there roaming the streets, hiking through parks and sitting in quiet cafes. I'll post more about my trip in a little while; I need to wrap my head around being back in Toronto for a bit. For now, I'll leave you with another thyme treat. It's a beautiful, hearty loaf made with sunflower seeds, a touch of honey, lots of thyme and a little grating of lemon zest. There's also olive oil in it, which brings out the lovely thyme and lemon flavours. Hearty, nutty, delicate, just sweet enough. It was the perfect treat to enjoy on the train ride to Montreal.. ooohhh Montreal ...


Sunflower Seed Bread with Thyme and Honey
adapted from Joy the Baker
makes one loaf

2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup of yogurt
1/2 cup of soy milk
2 tablespoons of olive oil
zest of half a lemon
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of all purpose flour
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
1/2 cup of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the honey, sugar, egg, yogurt, soy milk, olive oil and lemon zest. Mix until well blended.

2. Sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Mix gently until just combined. Add the thyme and all but one tablespoon of the sunflower seeds and mix one last time.

3. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and sprinkle with the remaining one tablespoon of sunflower seeds. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top of nice and golden brown and a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

4. Let it cool for a few minutes and then slice away!

A Series in Thyme

I'm over-run with thyme. This happened last year too. We go nuts with the herbs on the balcony ledge, and they grow faster than we can eat them. But I'm not complaining. I love looking at those big fat basil leaves, almost begging to be plucked and placed on top of tomato slices, and my new friend, Thai basil, seems to grow overnight in large quantities. And the thyme. Oh the thyme. Their tender springs are starting to lean away from their box and it seems like every time I cut a sprig, it grows back the next day.

I love thyme. There's something about it that just says "fresh." And it's taste lends well to both savoury and sweet things, a total plus in my book. Last year, we were content to add sprigs of thyme into our veggie broths and chicken dishes, use tons of it in summer salads and throw it in a biscuit or two. This year, I wanted to branch out and experiment more with it. I wanted to bake with it. Sweet treats with thyme?! Oh yes please!


Before I got any further, I'd like to give a big shout out to Lisa over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies. She has this wonderful thing going on at her blog: a sweet treats link party. People share their sweet treats recipes via a link on Lisa's blog. There are so .. many.. yummy..treats! I just linked my rhubarb orange madeleines, but I'm sure Lisa would also love these lemon thyme shortbread crisps.

I say shortbread crisps because they aren't like traditional shortbread that's thick and almost cake-like. They're still crumbly and buttery, but are thinner and crispier. I made them this way mostly because I wanted to roll out the dough and cut out little hearts, but it worked out perfectly. I used a modified recipe from epicurious via sevenspoons, which called for honey and rosemary added to a traditional shortbread recipe. I used thyme instead, and added a little grating of lemon zest that made all the difference. If you had lemon-thyme, that would be perfect as well, but regular thyme works very nicely. The flavour of the herb stands up well to all that buttery goodness and pairs nicely with the freshness of the lemon zest. They are a perfect treat to give to someone special (like a sister!) or just to have with a cup of coffee. They'll even fancy up a store-bought ice cream that you can serve as dessert to guests.


Baking with thyme? Totally awesome, totally summery and totally fun. I've got more coming!
And don't forget to visit Lisa for more sweet treats inspiration!

Lemon Thyme Shortbread Crisps
makes about 20 little heart-shaped crisps
adapted from epicurious

1 cup of all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup of sifted confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon of honey

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest until smooth. Add the thyme and stir well. Sift in the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix to form a loose dough.

2. On a floured surface, turn out the dough and give it a few little kneads. Flour up your rolling pin and roll out to about 1/4 inch. Use your favourite cookie cutter and go nuts! Place the cut cookies on a cookie sheet.

3. Gather up the remaining dough, roll out and repeat until all the dough is used up. Bake your cookies in a 300 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges get lightly brown. Remove and cool.

Hey .. speaking of experimenting with shortbread .. remember last summer? Blackcurrent, where have you gone?