buttermilk blueberry almond loaf bites

Despite my general enthusiasm for cooking and sharing, I tend to avoid cooking for coworkers. By avoid, I mean I think I can honestly say I've never done it. I've been a working professional since 2005 and I've never purposely made anything and left it on the corner of my desk. Ever. Until this week...

It was a rather big week for my company. I'm not sure that I'll ever have the opportunity to experience something like it again. I think this is the first time that I've cared meaningfully about what I was doing in my ever-changing definition of work hours. So, it made sense to whip up a fun little breakfast bite for my desk neighborhood.

I searched a little for a recipe that would be good for the office - can be served room temperature, doesn't need a knife, nothing too weird for flavors. I stumbled upon a blueberry breakfast bread and used that as the base what we ended up with: buttermilk blueberry almond loaf bites. These are not muffins but the bite-size nature makes them perfect for pretty much anything. I wanted to include almond flour or almond slivers but was concerned it would make the bites too dense. Next time I try this recipe, I might opt for little mini loaves ... in which case those almond slivers are absolutely making it.

BTW - The best thing you can do when cooking with blueberries... is splurge on getting Maine Wild Blueberries. They are so much tinier than the normal ones - which makes your baked goods a million times better. It's probably a $2-3 premium but well worth it in my opinion.

Here's how it goes:
(Step 1) Cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together.

(Step 2) Add to the blended mixture 1 egg and the almond extract. Blend.

(Step 3) In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder.

(Step 4) Alternate mixing in the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the sugar butter bowl. To be honest, I forgot to alternate and it all worked out just fine. Just blend all together until it’s smooth. FYI, the mixture will be thicker than cake batter but don’t stress about it.

(Step 5) Toss your blueberries in flour until they are covered. Gently fold these into your mixture. The more you fold, the more blue the batter will get, which isn’t a big deal just an fyi.

(Step 6) Portion out your mixture into whatever baking method you use (mini muffin tin, regular muffin, loaf, etc). I went with mini muffin to facilitate sharing. Lightly spray your baking container with PAM.

(Step 7) Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes.

Shopping List
½ cup butter
7/8 cup sugar (+ more for sprinkling)
Zest of one lemon
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour (+ more for the blueberries)
2 tsp Baking powder
½-2/3 cup buttermilk
1 ½ cups frozen wild blueberries (they are smaller, this is better)

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