We always love it when someone in another part of the world embraces a regional Canadian recipe.
Typically, that means that someone somewhere is stirring up a Caesar cocktail, but today we're talking about Nova Scotia' beloved blueberry grunt. The simple dessert has captured the heart of TikTok personality Coinneach MacLeod, so much so that is has wound up in his debut cookbook Hebridean Baker: At Home - Flavors & Folklore from the Scottish Islands.
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The Scottish food personality started gaining notoriety in 2020 for posting wholesome, heartwarming videos online highlighting traditional Scottish recipes as well as heartwarming stories of being riased in the Scottish Hebrides.
"On my first trip to Nova Scotia on Canada’s beautiful east coast, I was served a blueberry grunt. Naturally, my first question was, ‘What’s with the funny name?’ Well, seemingly while the dumplings are cooking over the fruit filling, if you put your ear to the skillet, you will hear the blueberries begin to grunt! It’s very similar to a cobbler, but a grunt is traditionally cooked on the stove top and covered with a lid instead of baked in the oven," explains Coinneach MacLeod in the introduction to his recipe in his debut cookbook.
The classic Nova Scotia dessert is epitome of beauty in simplicity. With Canadian-grown blueberries available in the freezer section year-round, there's truly never a bad time of year to make it.
For the filling
-200ml (3⁄4 cup + 1 tablespoon) water
-100g (31⁄2oz) sugar
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
-700g (1lb 9oz) blueberries
For the dumplings
-240g (81⁄2oz) plain flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
-60g (2oz) cold butter, cubed
-225ml (3⁄4 cup + 3 tablespoons) buttermilk
-Pinch of salt
To make the filling, add the water, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon into an ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven. Once simmering, stir in the blueberries and allow them to cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes.
To make the dumplings, sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the buttermilk to make a dough.
Dollop heaped tablespoons of the dough over the blueberry mixture. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over a low heat until the biscuits are cooked through. Totally optional, but to add a little colour to the dumplings, place the skillet under the grill for 3 to 4 minutes until the dumplings get crispy edges.
Serve with ice cream or clotted cream.
- Yield:
- Serves 6
