Blueberries with Crème Fraîche is a love letter to one of the best summer desserts of all time: berries and cream.
I love berries and cream. I eat it during the summer, but also in the winter since the off-season is when I eat most of the fruit I've harvested. This simple dessert is one of the best wild blueberry recipes I have.
How to make it
You take some blueberries and cook them down until they become syrupy and delicious then. To add texture and freshness, you lighten it by tossing in a good cup of half-frozen blueberries.
The berries help thicken the cream so it doesn't get too loose, too fast. If you want to skip the freezing step it's fine, especially if you have fresh blueberries.
After you mix the berries up you toss them ever so gently with a good spoonful of creme fraiche or whipped cream. The key is to not mix it too much so it gets a marbled look. A few scrapes of lemon zest brings it all together.
Use wild or cultivated, fresh or frozen Blueberries
I harvest my blueberries in the pine barrens, but many grocery stores carry frozen wild blueberries. They're not as flavorful as truly wild ones, but they'll do in a pinch.
Flavoring the Cream
I like to flavor the cream with herbs. If you want to use whipped cream instead of creme fraiche you can skip it, but the technique is fascinating. It's one of the few pieces of my fruit chapter that wasn't cut from my book.
To flavor the cream, you take some aromatics and mix them with heavy cream and a splash of buttermilk. You leave the cream out in a warm place for a couple days until it thickens.
The herbs are discarded afterward, but their flavor remains in the cream. In the images here I've flavored the cream with Meadowsweet flowers, but you can use herbs like fresh basil, mint, or just a few scrapes of lemon zest.
If you want an almond flavor like the cream I use, you can add a dash of almond extract to whipped cream.
If you like simple fruit desserts like this you'll also like Wild Berry Frango.
Wild Blueberries with Crème Fraiche and Meadowsweet
Equipment
- 1 Quart mason jar for making the cream (optional)
- 1 small 2 quart mixing bowl
- 1 whisk, stand mixer or food processor.
Ingredients
- 3 cups wild or cultivated blueberries see note
- ½ cup thick crème fraiche or whipped cream
- 1.5 tablespoons maple sugar or 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- A few scrapes of lemon zest to taste
- Tiny pinch of kosher salt
Creme Fraiche (makes more than you need)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup buttermilk
Instructions
Creme Fraiche (optional)
- Combine the cream, a few scrapes of lemon zest, and yogurt or buttermilk, whisk and store covered with cheesecloth in a container like a mason jar, pushing the bouquet to the bottom of the jar ensure proper infusion at room temperature for 72 hours, or until creamy and thick, like sour cream. Refrigerate. The creme fraiche will tighten as it chills.
Assembly
- Reserve 1 cup of blueberries and put them in the freezer to chill for 20 minutes.
- Put the 2 cups of blueberries in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat with the pinch of salt until the pan is nearly dry and the berries are syrupy, about 15-20 minutes. Chill the berries completely, and keep the other 1 cup frozen.
- Meanwhile, whip the crème fraiche with the sugar to soft peaks.
- From here, the cooked blueberries and whipped crème fraiche can be chilled until serving time.
- To serve, transfer the cooked blueberries and their juice (scraping the container out with a spatula) into a bowl.
- Mix the berry compote with the frozen blueberries, then very gently fold in the cream. Do not completely mix in the cream, as the dish should have a marbled effect.
- Spoon the berries and cream into small mounds on 4 small, chilled dessert plates, garnish with a few scrapes of lemon zest from a coarse grater, and serve imediately. The half-frozen fruit will thaw quickly and helps the cream hold its shape.
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