I had a delightfully uneventful week. I’ve been trying to bask in the end of summer. Buy up as much good produce as I can before it’s out of season. Wear shorts and sandals. Take scenic drives with the windows down. I thought a lot about what to cook, which was mostly motivated by a desire to complement my recent paintings with a new color scheme. I really wanted purple, a rare color in the world of recipes. So I went to work brainstorming my ultimate blueberry recipe to utilize the end of Maine blueberry season. Ultimately I made these delicious blueberry biscuits, but I started with a different plan.

Blueberry Biscuits

At the beginning of the week I watched Traitors Ireland with my dad. Ironically, there’s a father and son this season, which is cool to watch. We did some chores around the house, ate lunch, and I took a walk with my mom. On Tuesday I made my beloved protein pancake recipe, which I haven’t baked in ages. It was so nice to eat it again, washed down with brand new Maine maple syrup. A birthday gift. I did some planning, walking, cooking, and wrote down my best ideas for a light pink or purple recipe.

Rose. Lavendar. Raspberry. Berries were the obvious choice. I went to my favorite farm stand after walking to buy berries, but they were fresh out. My plan was to make a bright pink glazed cookie recipe. Inspired by Claire Saffitz’ lime squiggle cookies. I’ve always wanted to make them – a piped shortbread recipe that’s chilled, baked, and glazed with lime icing. I endeavored to create a unique shape of my own, piping bag in hand, with blueberry brown butter in the dough and blueberry glaze on top.

Mixing Blueberry Cookies

It seemed simple enough. A thinner shortbread batter, rather than a dough, like the texture of choux pastry. I wanted to pack as much blueberry flavor as possible into the dough. So I thought of blending blueberries into eggs for natural food color. Or blending them into melted brown butter. Using it in place of regular butter. I also wanted to put whole blueberries in the dough, but feared it would get too muddy and grey. A mistake I’ve made once or twice while over-mixing blueberry muffins or blueberry coffee cake.

I forgot to mention, a couple days before my birthday we made a blueberry oven pancake for dinner. My mom gave me my maple syrup jug early to celebrate. She insisted several times that I needed to open a gift early, and I refused. I am a birthday purist. Like a superstitious person at a wedding that thinks seeing each other before the ceremony is back luck. But she insisted, and I obliged. Quickly I realized my gift was heavy, tightly packed into a box. And when I pulled it out I gasped, having recently finished my gigantic bottle that lasted me over a year.

Maine Maple Syrup

So I doused my oven pancake with syrup. This time we added raspberries in the mix with the blueberries, which added so much flavor. It was incredibly delicious. So sweet blueberry dishes have been dancing through my mind. I had a back up plan in case I didn’t find blueberries. So I parked and walked to the market nervously on Thursday. The selection is starting to dwindle a little. But tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes are still going strong. Eggplants galore. Onions and scallions and peaches and plums.

They didn’t have blueberries. They’re still in season, but they must have run out a week or two ago. I considered buying a pan au chocolat to treat myself, or a loaf of bread. But I left the market with my sights set on the farm stand down the road. I parked and nearly galloped inside excitedly and immediately spotted those familiar blue boxes of berries. Raspberries and blueberries both. Next to a wall of fresh baked pies and fruit breads. I paid $9 for my huge pint of Maine blueberries, which seemed hefty at first. Still a ton of berries for the price.

Recipe Research

When I got home I prepared myself by watching a few cooking videos. Shortbreads, mostly, and some sugar cookie doughs with high amounts of butter. I got to work quickly, because I was so excited to see my bright pink squiggle cookies come to life. The other recipe I had considered and still had as a backup was homemade blueberry biscuits. Living in Maine, we’ve eaten many blueberry biscuits for dinners, which are always so tender, sweet, and nostalgic. Buttery and dense and delicious. I had them in my head as I mixed my shortbread dough. The delightful melted butter on warm biscuit halves. The scent of the toasted dough.

Quickly I realized my dough was off. I had made blueberry brown butter very carefully. Homemade brown butter, immediately off the heat, mixed with a little heavy cream to replace the evaporated water content. Then, I added a cup of blueberries to infuse while warm, and blended it up into a gorgeous purple. I put it in the fridge to firm up, which didn’t take long, and cut it into my flour and sugar for shortbread dough. Suddenly, when faced with a mountain of crumbly grey-ish purple, it occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to pipe it. It was far too stiff.

Scone + Biscuit Recipes

I’m not sure why I completely overlooked it. I made a traditional shortbread recipe, forgetting to research pipeable versions. So I panicked. Shortbread usually doesn’t have eggs. But I added an egg yolk, hoping it would help. Still too stiff. Like a tart dough. So I added another egg. And another. Yet, still the dough was nowhere near ready to pipe. My anxious impulsivity got the best of me and I added a half cup of heavy cream. Which caused the dough to get gummy and overworked. It turned fully grey. And it smelled weird. I knew the texture would be horrible, even if I managed to pipe it. So I threw it out. Which I deeply hate to do.

I wanted to curl up into a warm blanket and forget about cooking for a little bit. But the end of the week was breathing down my neck. I needed to get a head start, especially if I decided to made something with a long resting time. The dream of fancy piped cookies in abstract shapes, glazed in a perfect mauve shine fell by the wayside. I needed to start plan B. Blueberry biscuits. They wouldn’t be hard to make. I’ve made plenty of biscuits and scones. I stopped myself from panicking further by focusing on making myself lunch. While I ate I watched several biscuit tutorial videos on Youtube.

Buttermilk Sugar Biscuits

The one that stuck out was Eric Kim’s buttermilk sugar biscuits. Accordions of layered buttery, golden dough. He got the recipe from a bakery in Maine, ironically, so I was hooked. The chef gave him keys to the secret recipe: grating the butter on a microplane, using extra sugar, and adding the liquid ingredients in stages to not overwork the dough. He also did the impossible, showing that a crumbly, dry dough could quickly turn into a perfect biscuit consistency when folded correctly. I was mesmerized. So I used his recipe, Tandem Bakery’s recipe, as inspiration. Dreaming of the taste of fresh hot biscuits lathered in butter.

I started at my basket of blueberries as I got started. $9 was well worth the loot. I dumped the pile onto a kitchen towel and spent a few minutes picking out the stubborn stems that the farmers missed. Common for Maine blueberries, which is why many people don’t cook with them. Once I was ready I decided to freeze them to hold up to the dough. But I forgot. I carried on. Fully fixated on nailing the biscuit dough. I grated the butter on my microplane, which created magical cascades of stringy, angel-hair butter mountains in my flour. I added a little extra sea salt to compensate for the sugar. And I threw it all in the freezer to chill.

Mixing + Cutting Biscuits

While I waited, I made homemade buttermilk (with cream and lemon juice) and added a spoonful of sour cream for flavor. I added about a half cup of berries, too, and blended it together in a stick blender. It created the most beautiful pastel lavender color. Which I hoped would color my dough, too. I set it aside, removed my butter and flour bowl from the freezer, and quickly worked it together into a sandy mixture. I took some photos. My body groaned from a rough night of sleep. And my mind wandered. Quickly I was working all of my buttermilk mixture into the dough. I forgot to do it in stages.

I sighed and rolled my eyes when I realized. Afraid I just ruined another recipe. But thankfully I had the sense to immediately stop mixing the dough. I dumped it onto my counter and began the seemingly impossible folding process. Which worked! My dough was a little less crumbly than Eric’s, simply because of the extra liquid from the berries and sour cream. So it was easier. I stopped right away when I had a thick brick of layered rectangles of blueberry biscuit dough. Oh, and I also sprinkled a whole cup of berries onto the first layer to sandwich them between the dough. It would have helped to freeze them first.

Baked Blueberries + Butter

I persisted, determined to come up with a winner of a recipe after my trashed cookies. I was happy with the texture. The smell. So I cut 9 square blueberry biscuits and placed them on a baking sheet. I popped them into the freezer to chill, preheated my oven, and cleaned my flour-filled kitchen. I couldn’t wait to finish. Even more excited to taste one after the many visions and memories of tender blueberry biscuits we’ve had. So after ten minutes I set a timer, put my pan in the oven to bake, and watched carefully. I sat on the floor, too, like a contestant on Bake Off. I hoped my biscuits would spring and rise like Tandem’s.

But they didn’t. Never fear though, because they came out damn good. It’s pretty near impossible to replicate the layers of dough with the addition of the blueberries, which weigh it down and add juice to the equation. Still, the biscuits rose a bit, browned deliciously, and berries burst and caramelized with tantalizing pink pools around the base. The smell was incredible. Like a blueberry pie candle, and not the one from Heretic. I let them cool for a little bit. And I got an idea. I feared my biscuits would be a little one-note. Just perfectly cooked berries and amazing biscuits.

Eating a Blueberry Biscuit

Nothing wrong with that combination, obviously. But I wanted to add more berry flavor. And color. I realized that I had a bowl of royal icing in the fridge, which I saved in case of emergency. It was meant to glaze my blueberry cookies. But something about glazing biscuits in a thick, pink icing excited me. So, when my blueberry biscuits cooled, I dipped a few of them in the glaze. They immediately took on a beautiful, opaque pink crown, which I loved. Some of the berries poked through as the glaze set. And it added a pop of citrus and sugar with lemon and berry juice.

Finally I got to enjoy one. Warm, too. I sliced it in half and marveled at how many berries I managed to pack inside. Like a purple polka dot tablecloth. I slathered it in butter, which melted calmly over the tender crumb. I took a few bites in a flash, masked by hunger, exhaustion, and pent-up frustration with a long day of battling my inner self-critic, dissatisfied with my failed cookies still. It all melted away. Tender, thick biscuits with unrelenting pops of acidic blueberries. Fresh, vibrant, and warm. Butter-filled dough, layered and flaky, with crisp and caramelized bottoms. I got out some blueberry jam I made recently and added some.

Blueberry Shortcake

And I made a quick blueberry whipped cream, too, to go all-the way. I spent a bit of time photographing my monochrome purple mess of mushy jam, cream, and biscuit dough. Like a blueberry shortcake. I had a few more bites after my shoot ended. And I put the rest away for dessert later. I don’t think I fully realized how good it was until I had some space. Rest. I took a walk with my mom. We gabbed about TV and politics and work. And when we got home I made breakfast for dinner. Kettle-cooked potato chips cooked in a pan until sort of soft. Scrambled with eggs and cheese. I served two blueberry biscuits, toasted, on the side.

It tasted even better, somehow. I love the glazed biscuits and I also love them plain. So it’s a choose your own adventure situation. If you want them for dessert, go for the glaze. If you want them for breakfast, or with eggs, eat them plain. With butter. Toasted. What a heavenly way to end another perfect late-summer day in coastal Maine. Another sleepy night listening to podcasts, reading mystery novels, and writing. I don’t have any blueberry cookies. But I think my blueberry biscuits are much better.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my paintings and recipes, be sure to check out my Etsy for 100’s of recipe cards and art prints. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off.

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Blueberry Biscuits

Buttermilk blueberry biscuits with loads of butter and berries. Glazed in blueberry icing!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword biscuits, blueberries, blueberry, shortcake

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 9

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 4 cups AP flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 2/3 cups Maine blueberries
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

• Combine flour, sugar, sea salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
• Using a microplane or cheese grater, shred your cold butter onto the flour mixture. Once done, place bowl in freezer for 10 minutes.
• While chilling, blend buttermilk, 1/4 sour cream, and 1/3 cup Maine blueberries in a blender or food processor. Don’t over-mix or the mixture will split.
• Remove flour and butter bowl from freezer and work butter pieces into flour with a fork or your hands. The mixture should resemble coarse sad.
• In 3 batches, add your blueberry buttermilk mixture to the biscuit dough and gently work together until no liquid is left. Do not over-mix.
• Add the last of your liquid and bring dough together into a shaggy dough. Transfer mixture to a floured work surface.
• Bring the dough together into a large rectangle. Using a bench scraper, cut half of the dough and place it on top of the other half, pressing gently. The dough will be crumbly and hard to work with at first.
• Repeat this step, but this time add 1 cup of blueberries on the dough first and place the other half on top, securing the blueberries in the middle.
• Continue cutting the dough and placing one layer on the other, 1-2 more times, until dough is cohesive and no shaggy bits remain.
• Form dough into a thick 9″ x 9″ square, about 1 1/2 to 2″ tall. Cut square into 9 equal biscuits and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Preheat oven to 375°F and place biscuits in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes before baking. Then, place sheet of biscuits in the oven to bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until golden brown and risen.
• Let biscuits chill at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. In the meantime, add powdered sugar to a large bowl.
• In a food processor or blender, combine 1/3 cup of blueberries with 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Blend until you have a loose purple liquid.
• Strain blueberry liquid into the powdered sugar, starting with about 1/4 cup. Add more strained juice, 1 tsp at a time, until the icing is thick but pourable.
• Dip the tops of each biscuit into the blueberry icing and flip back over to rest on a wire rack or cool baking sheet.
• When ready to eat, heat biscuits gently or split them open and toast, lathering with butter, cream, or jam.

Notes

• The icing is a donut-style icing, which won’t harden. If you prefer the icing to harden to the touch, add 1-2 egg whites in place of liquid until thick but pourable. Whip with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until medium peaks form. 
• I recommend adding cinnamon, cardamom, or ginger to the biscuit dough for extra flavor. 
• Try serving these with cinnamon butter, maple whipped cream, or blueberry jam.