Blue-huck Bread

This is how I spring-clean the freezer. So long, summer huckleberries and blueberries. You survived the winter without freezer burn!

Behold the berry-studded loaf

I used a recipe from my go-to Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham, taking her blueberry cranberry bread and altering it for the berries I had. The original recipe calls for cooking the cranberries with 3/4 c. of sugar, but since I was using huckleberries I opted not to take that step and thus this bread is a little less sweet. Which is how I prefer it, anyway.

It's crumbly and crisp on the outside, but tender on the inside. Buttermilk does the trick for getting that nice bite of richness with the tangy berries. I bet it would be good topped with some maple-sweetened cream cheese or something decadent, but I'm more of a salted butter-er myself.

Also, a warning: get up early to make this because it takes about an hour in the oven. Or, just plan a second breakfast (like we did).

Blueberry Huckleberry Bread
adapted from Marion Cunningham's Blueberry Cranberry Bread
The Breakfast Book

1 c. brown sugar
8 T. butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1 c. buttermilk, not too cold
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 c. huckleberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

Beat the brown sugar and butter until well blended - a minute or so at medium speed. Add the eggs and beat well, followed by the buttermilk.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, soda, powder and salt together and add to the butter mixture. Beat until just blended. Carefully fold in the berries. Spoon into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, with maybe just a crumb or two. Turn loaf out on to a rack to cool.