Buttermilk Recipes

The first I knew of buttermilk was when I moved to the South and
would see people eating crumbled cornbread with buttermilk on top.
It didn't sound or look good, although my usual childhood breakfast
was crumbled graham crackers with milk and sugar. I guess I had
preconceived notions that buttermilk would taste funny. After eating
buttermilk biscuits and pancakes, I started buying buttermilk to
make my own and then needed to find some recipes to use up the extra
buttermilk. One taste of a buttermilk salad dressing, and I began to
realize its fresh taste and many uses. Note: Most often you will
find lowfat buttermilk sold in your everyday grocery store; however,
if you can find the full fat, it is even more delicious. So, here are
two recipes out of many in my current buttermilk file to use up that
extra buttermilk after you've made pancakes or biscuits. Always
shake buttermilk well before pouring.

Buttermilk Herb Dressing

1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 Tbsp. parsley
1 clove garlic
1 green onion, white and green parts
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in a food processor is the easiest way. You could do it
by hand, but if so, make the parsley, garlic, and onion really fine.
You can also substitute a shallot for the green onion, or try different
herbs such as basil, oregano, or thyme. If you are a blue cheese fan,
you could add some crumbled blue cheese and use lemon juice instead
of lime. This is just a basic idea -- make it your own.

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

1 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbsp. butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. fresh blueberries
1/4 c. finely chopped nuts of your choice, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and flour a round cake pan.
Mix first four ingredients. (For baking, don't pack the flour into
the cup -- spoon it in and level it off.)

In separate bowl, mix flour and sugar until creamy, about 2 min.
with a mixer. Add vanilla and egg and mix well. Add some of the
dry mix, half of the buttermilk, some more of the dry mix, the rest
of the buttermilk, and then the last of the dry mix, until just
combined. If using finely chopped nuts, stir them in now.
I like almonds with this.

Spoon into pan and scatter blueberries evenly across the top.
Sprinkle the top with another 1-2 Tbsp. of sugar. Here you can
have fun with some specialty sugars. I like raw sugar for this;
you could try turbinado, demerera, vanilla sugar you have made
yourself, or just more plain sugar.

Bake 25 minutes or until cake starts to pull away from side of
pan and/or toothpick tester comes out clean.

I haven't yet tried this with frozen blueberries although, if I
did, I would add them frozen, not thawed, and toss them with a
bit of flour, just like in pancakes, to keep the berries from
staining all of the batter.