It’s blueberry season in New Jersey where I live and, while I love them fresh with Greek yogurt, I also like them in baked goods.

I was going to a potluck where I offered to bring dessert and thought….why not do something different than my usual Very Berry Cobbler and steam some of my Great-Aunt Eva Rose’s dumpling batter over bubbly, jammy blueberries? I made the dumpling batter the morning of the party and kept it refrigerated then I made the “jam” and cooled it then brought both items with me to the party and just steamed the dumplings when we were ready to eat dessert. Easy peasy!

I list the vanilla ice cream as optional, but come on, it’s sort of required on a hot berry dessert. You can skip it, but I don’t recommend it.

Dumpling ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. melted butter, cooled
• ¼ cup whole milk

Blueberry “jam” ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries (or you can use thawed frozen)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• Zest of ½ lemon
• Vanilla ice cream, optional

Dumpling directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Add egg, butter and milk to the flour mixture and mix to incorporate. Do not overmix. Dumpling batter will be lumpy.
3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.

Blueberry “jam” directions:

1. In a large saucepan with a lid, add all the ‘jam’ ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the “jam” is thick, stirring and mashing the berries a little as the mixture cooks. This can be done a couple hours before ready to make the dumplings.
2. When ready to cook the dumplings, heat the berries over medium heat. Lower heat to medium-low and drop cold batter by the spoonful over the berry “jam” so that there’s batter over most of the surface of the “jam”. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Serve with ice cream.

Makes 6 servings.