Sunday, March 22, 2009

Blueberry Shite with Hard Sauce


Don't let the name fool you, this dessert is a family favorite; and in my family we drop the "e" in shite. This recipe came from my grandmother. Rumors had circulated about her not giving out recipes in their entirety as to be the only one that could make it just right. After the experience I had this morning trying to put this "shite" together I feel I can attest to the fact she may have left some important details out of many a recipe. Here is the exact recipe I had to follow.



For the dough & crumb top:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup crisco shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon


For the filling:
1 pint blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
tapioca
cinnamon


Mix. (Ingreased dish @3500 for 35 min.) Pat crust on bottom & sides, add blueberries and crumbs on top.


You may be thinking to yourself, but Michelle, my oven doesn't go up to 3500! I know, mine doesn't either. Needless to say, this recipe needed a little help in the specifics department.

Here is what I actually did.

For the bottom crust and the crumb topping:

(Using a pastry blender mix the following)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup crisco shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Add in 2 egg yolks, this will be a "sandy" mixture, and quite dry. I reserved about 1.5 cups of this mix for the topping. I pressed the remaining mix into an ungreased 9"x 13" glass pan. Atop the crust I added about 2 quarts of frozen blueberries that I mixed with 2/3 cup sugar, a rounded tablespoon of tapioca and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Sprinkle the top with the reserved crumb topping. This did take much longer to bake than it said on the card, about an hour to be exact. I wanted the top and bottom crust to be brown and it took some time to get there.

For the hard sauce, I am sure some of you will freak out about this. If you have a bun in the oven or have health issues you may want to forgo the raw egg in this topping. The eggs do give the sauce a richness and a lightness, but how bad can butter and sugar be without some eggs?

Hard Sauce
1 stick soft butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Once this is blended add in 2 eggs beaten with 2 teaspoons of vanilla. I used the KitchenAid for this, and I got a nice light and fluffy mix. Refridgerate this sauce until you are ready to serve. You should also note this really isn't a sauce at all. It is a topping of sorts. It is "hard" as the name implys.

For service cut a piece of the blueberry shite, best when warm and top with hard sauce, I promise this is a great dessert, just not a well written recipe. Enjoy

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