Gluten Free Blueberry Boy Bait

My brother is gearing up to deploy again.  If he’s CONUS during the summer, he’ll be homeward bound.  Nothing can keep the man from spending time in his beloved Midwest.  Rumor has it, as soon as his plane landed he was headed to Gates BBQ to start his five day tour of BBQ.  There’s a special part of his body that was built for BBQ that never seems to get it’s fill.

We managed to sneak in all sorts of fun in the short amount of time he was here.  Thankfully, my sister-in-law and nephew spend summers here so we were all together again.  We attended opening night of Royals vs. Yankees.  Kauffman stadium was recently renovated and the changes are spectacular.  The stadium is a far cry from the one I remember of  my youth, just like me, it’s all grown up.

After spending the night at our house, the next morning The Husband planned to take my brother up in the plane.  We piled into separate cars and made our way to the airport.  My nephew was so excited about the possibility of flying with his Uncle and Daddy that he sat in the plane the whole time they ran through the  maintenance checks, fueled it up and towed it out of the hanger.  My beautiful sister-in-law, nephew and I watched as The Husband and brother took to the skies.  The circled around, landed and taxied to us.  My nephew was strapped in and given his uncle’s helmet.

My sister-in-law held her breath until they landed safely, but nothing could swipe the smile from my little nephew’s face.

That evening, we went to a barbecue hosted by people from our lives pre-military days.  The stories.  Oh, Lord, the stories.  I guess that’s the good thing about being so close in age with my brother, we really did grow up together.  So many times, where you’d find one of us, the other wouldn’t be too far away.  We also knew when the other was in trouble… still do, in fact.  All I have to do is think ‘I need to talk to my brother’ and he calls within 24 hours.  Craziness, I tell you.

What does Blueberry Boy Bait have to do with my brother?  No idea, other than I made it for his going away family dinner.  The recipe is from Deb at Smitten Kitchen.  With the exception of the flours, I made it exactly as she wrote it.

Blueberry Boy Bait
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Using sorghum flour makes everything slightly darker, it’s grainy and brown, but I don’t mind..  I love the way sorghum flour packs a punch with protein and fiber but remains pretty non-nondescript in the flavor department, allowing the stars of your dish to be what is intended.

2/3 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup sweet white sorghum flour
2/3 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup raw sugar*
1 teaspooon cinnamon
1 pint blueberries, divided (if frozen, do not defrost)

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ baking pan.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the flours, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder for 90 seconds.  In a stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy and thick, about 2-3 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl, reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of the flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of the milk.  Beat in another third of the flour, then remaining milk and finally the remaining flour.  Gently fold in 1/2 of the blueberries.  Spread batter into prepared pan.

For the topping:

Scatter blueberries over top of the batter.  Stir cinnamon and sugar in the raw together in a small bowl and sprinkle over batter.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.  Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

*I used sugar in the raw because I wanted a little crunch on top.  This was great for the first day, but the crunch was gone by day 2.  Feel free to substitute with plain old sugar.