Blueberry grunt is guaranteed to make you happy the name alone will make you giggle. Its silly moniker dates back to the early settlers in the Maritimes who named this delicious mixture of blueberries and biscuit-like clouds of dough after the sound the berries made while they simmered in the pot … grunt, grunt, grunt!
Now, “down home” in Cape Breton, where Kev’s family hails from, mom might ask the kids, “Jeet?” (translation: Did you eat?) and they might reply, “No, jou?” (No, did you?). And if the kids were keeping sweet that day, she just might lay out a pot of blueberry grunt, to which they might excitedly say, “Gway wit ya!” (No way, really!).
Grunts belong to the cobbler, crumble, crisp, and buckle family a family sometimes so indistinguishable that it feels like you need a PhD to distinguish between them: which one has oats and which does not, which is baked with the crust on the bottom and which on the top. Rest assured, this grunt is quite possibly the simplest dessert in the entire book. Absolutely perfect for a casual weekday dessert treat, maybe not as fancy as you need when the in-laws are in town. Delicious served hot right out of the pot with a nice scoop of coconut ice cream melting on top.
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (preferably wild)
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon organic sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, chilled
- 0.66 cup soy or coconut milk beverage
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the blueberries, ½ cup sugar, water, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to a gentle boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut in the chilled butter with a knife or pastry blender until the mixture takes on a sandy consistency. Add the milk and vanilla and mix with a wooden spoon or fork until a soft dough is formed.
- Using your hands, loosely form 2½-inch-wide biscuit shapes out of the dough and drop these onto the blueberry sauce, spacing them as evenly as possible so that they cover as much of the sauce’s surface as possible. Cover the pot and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. After 15 minutes, take a peek inside—the biscuits should be a toasty light brown on top. If they aren’t, replace the lid and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes before checking again.
- Serve hot, dished into bowls with a nice scoop of coconut vanilla ice cream.