During the summer before my senior year of high school, my friends and I would wake up early every Saturday in June to pick blueberries. As we drove to the blueberry farm in East Feliciana Parish, familiar suburban fixtures melted into endless rural landscapes under the Louisiana sun. Armed with a repurposed gallon milk jug with its top cut off, which I tethered to my denim shortall’s belt loop, we’d head into the fields in search of the plumpest blueberries. I reached both hands high over my head to pluck blueberries so dark they were ashy. I always filled my belly before the makeshift bucket.
One of my oldest friends, Grace, shared this recipe with me after one morning of blueberry picking. I have since made this one-bowl buckle countless times. The admirers of this crave-worthy dish either love it or learn to love it. If you’re not swooning the first time you try it, the buttery and caramelized edges of the cake that rise over the plump, juicy berries will have you hooked by the second time. Be sure to serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream—the perfect creamy, cold complement to the syrupy, warm berries.–Vallery Lomas
One-Bowl Blueberry Buckle
Ingredients
- 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
- 1 cup self-rising flour*
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
☞ TESTER TIP: For easier cleanup, line your pan with foil or parchment paper.
- Place butter in a 9- by 5-inch (23-by-13 cm) loaf pan and put it in the hot oven. When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the oven.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, milk, and salt (it’s okay if the batter is a little lumpy). Pour batter into the pan with the melted butter and use a spoon to lightly mix it. There should be visible streaks of melted butter that don’t get completely mixed; this yields buttery, caramelized edges.
- Place the blueberries on top of the batter in an even layer. Bake until the top is golden brown all over, 45 to 50 minutes. (If you remove it too early, the buckle will indeed “buckle” in the middle and fall—which would still be tasty, though sunken!) Wait until it’s golden all over the top and set in the center.
- Place the buckle on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before serving warm with a scoop of ice cream. Leftover buckle can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Notes
*How do I make self-raising flour?
If you don’t have any on hand, it’s pretty simple to make. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder plus 1/4 teaspoon salt to 1 cup all-purpose flour. Make sure to sift well and you’re ready to go.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I love a lot of things about this one-bowl blueberry buckle recipe. Firstly, it’s quick and easy. It would be a fun thing to let your kid help with. I think this recipe is also infinitely flexible; you could change up the fruits and add some different spices for the seasons, and maybe even try different milk.
I love how the finished buckle is such a great combination of flavors and textures (Sweet! Crunchy! Juicy!). Add a scoop of ice cream to it, you have another texture. The top crust and sides get nice and caramelized, but I had some challenges getting the first piece(s) out of the pan. I think it would be worth it to use a shallower pan, or barring that, line your loaf pan with some parchment, just to be on the safe side.
It isn’t very often that a recipe is both incredibly simple and incredible tasting. I was blown away by this one-bowl blueberry buckle! It was very flavorful, perfectly sweet, caramelized around the edges, and had a super moist crumb. I am interested to try it as a base recipe for other seasonal fruits. I made mine with frozen wild blueberries which worked very well, but would love to try it with figs, raspberries, and maybe even sliced nectarines.
The look of the buckle in a loaf pan was also a great idea—it made it easy to slice and serve in equal pieces. The buckle smelled wonderful coming out of the oven and in my opinion, didn’t even need a scoop of ice cream, but I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt things at all.
I initially thought this one-bowl blueberry buckle recipe was going to be a disaster. The amount of liquid to flour seemed out of proportion and the batter was very thin, almost like a heavy cream consistency. But, to my pleasant surprise, it turned out great! Not only was there plenty of batter to encase all of the juicy blueberries, but it also puffed up beautifully. It also didn’t “buckle” much, if at all.
Frozen blueberries were my fruit of choice, as this is what I had on hand. The recipe was a snap to put together. It took about 5 minutes for the butter to melt which gave me enough time to throw the other ingredients together. A bonus was the minimal bowls and clean-up. The only change I would make is experimenting with something to line the pan. Once the batter cooled, it stuck to the pan with great power which means extra elbow grease for scrubbing it clean. (Maybe nonstick foil or parchment?)
Not too rich, this could be eaten for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. (Or just because!) We had it as-is, but any type of creamy topping, frozen or not, would accompany it quite nicely.
I had never made a buckle before, so I was eager to make what seemed like a simple dessert, which required so few ingredients. When I mixed the melted butter and the batter, I made an effort to ‘lightly mix’ the two together as it says in the recipe. However, the two stayed in very distinct layers, like oil and water. I also tried to distribute the blueberries evenly on top of the batter, but they swirl around in the batter as they like. Do not worry about these details-the result is still lovely.
When the buckle had finished cooking, mine did not really look like the picture as all of the blueberries had amalgamated in the centre of the buckle and had burst and formed a jammy consistency.
I found that the recipe gave me 3 good-sized portions of the buckle, but this could have been doubled to 6 portions when the ice cream was added. I served mine with vanilla ice cream, but I thought that it would be lovely with either pouring custard or pouring cream. When ice cream is served with a warm buckle, it melts and gives a similar effect as custard or pouring cream. The dessert is chewy with crunchy edges.
When I read this one-bowl blueberry buckle recipe, I thought there was no way it would turn out. As I was mixing the recipe up, I thought there was no way it would turn out. No creaming butter and sugar. No eggs. Just melt, mix and bake. Well, I am glad I was wrong because it is a super easy, almost magical dessert that comes together in minutes with buttery crispy ends and soft jammy fruit.
It’s a little sweet for my taste so when I make this again (and I will) I plan to experiment with cutting back the sugar while keeping the intention of the recipe. Yes, my fruit sunk to the middle and bottom but who cares because you will be serving a scoop of the buckle from top to bottom anyway. Please do serve warm with lots of vanilla ice cream! (I would eat this warm for breakfast with a big spoonful of vanilla yogurt, too!)
Joy, blueberry buckle joy. A buttery caramelized crunchy exterior that is followed by a lovely soft crumb and then a layer bursting with jammy blueberry goodness. You’ll take one bite and savor that until you can take the next and then the next. And while you are standing there, forks in hand, eating, fighting for the last crumb, you’ll think, I have to make this again. Right now!
Not only is it ridiculously delicious, but it’s also ridiculously simple to make. It all takes less time to mix up than it does for the oven to get to temperature. We ate this on its own but it would be lovely with a scoop of ice cream or served at breakfast with a dollop of yogurt.
I love this buckle! I made it last night using approximately a cup of toasted coconut in the batter and a cup of pineapple tid- bits drained. A pina colada buckle! Spectacular.
I love the way you’re thinking, Raymond! A pina colada buckle does sound incredible.