Blueberry Gems

[Alex A]

The birds are actually letting me have some of the blueberries from my bushes this year, so I’ve been finding new ways to use them up. When doing a google search for ‘blueberry gems’, the first 15 or so results are the same two recipes stolen and reposted over and over. And neither looked appealing to me anyway. Then I found this one from the FB page Julsy’s Delicious Food in New Zealand: https://m.facebook.com/Julsysdelicio...015518/?type=3

I made it just now. It’s yummy. https://imgur.com/a/BEMYlIs

I’m reposting it here with more technical detail based on what worked well for me:

1 cup self rising flour
1/4 cup sugar
5oz whole milk*, warm or room temperature
50g melted butter (I used Kerrygold salted butter. It’s great for baking.)
1 tsp vanilla
1 beaten large egg, close to room temperature
1 cup fresh blueberries
More butter, cut into small pieces, for greasing the pan

-Put gem pans into 400*F oven while it preheats.
-Mix sugar and flour in a medium bowl; make a well in the center.
-Pour egg, butter, and vanilla into center, whisk five or six times, then continue whisking while pouring in the milk.
-When the mixture is still a little lumpy and runny, add the blueberries and whisk gently until smooth.
-Pull gem pans from oven and add a little butter to each cup, enough to coat the bottom and sides using a pastry brush. Fill cups using a ladle or measuring cup.
-I baked mine until they were nicely browned on top and a knife came out clean when I pierced them. For me this was 20 minutes in the oven because I filled the cups all the way to the top (which is not necessary, but I didn’t want to have to use more than one pan), and I used a Griswold number 5 gem pan, which has fairly large cups. I would imagine this could be done in 12 - 15 minutes with pans that have smaller cups.
-When gems are done, set pan on top of stove for 5 minutes, then remove gems to a baking rack to finish cooling. I didn’t actually time it, but I think this is close enough. They might get soggy if you leave them in the pan to finish cooling.

*The original recipe says 1/2-3/4c (aka 4-6oz) milk. I used the avg of 5oz. The batter looked pretty loose when I was done mixing, but the end result was nice and moist without falling apart.