It is officially summer.

And with summer, comes all sorts of fresh fruits to eat and make into treats.

Locally, blueberries are ripening up for the picking and can be bought at the Natchez Farmer’s Market.

Those blueberries come from Berrytown Blueberries in Meadville and are picked fresh as owner Barry Tyson receives orders.

Tyson has owned the farm for 14 years and has never applied a chemical of any sort to his blueberry bushes.

“We prune a third of our bushes every year so they have growth to produce the berries, and we won’t have to spray,” he said. “They are just the way the good Lord built them.”

The only year Tyson kept up with the farm’s production, he said they harvested approximately 4,000 pounds of berries, but generally they harvest less than 3 or 4 percent of what their 5,000 bushes produce.

Of the harvest, some of the berries are used by Tyson’s wife Susan in her everyday cooking. She makes muffins, jelly, pancakes, pies and more from the crop.

One of Barry’s favorite dishes uses a simple pie recipe.

It just takes one cup of sugar, one container of Cool Whip and one package of cream cheese. Once that is combined, pour it into a graham cracker piecrust over some blueberries, under some blueberries or with blueberries on top. Chill to let the filling set, and then serve cold. You can even jazz it up with other fruits and berries.

If pie is not the blueberry treat you are looking for, though, try one of the following to get your summer blueberry fix.

 

Blueberry pie cookies

Ingredients for pie crust:

2 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat pastry or all-purpose)

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup ice water

 

Ingredients for filling:

2 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sugar if blueberries are a little sour (If berries are more ripe, lower this amount.)

juice and zest from 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tablespoon cornstarch

 

Makes approximately 32, 3-inch pie cookies.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt together with a fork.

Cube the butter and “cut” it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until there are no butter bits that are bigger than a pea. Make sure you don’t go smaller than this, however, since you’ll start to lose flakiness if the butter is too small.

Add the ice water, a tablespoon or two at a time and use a fork to wet the flour/butter mixture.

Keep adding until the dough just starts to hold together.  You don’t want the dough too wet, and you don’t want to mix in the water too much. It’s useful to just use your hands to mix at this point.

Divide the dough in two parts, cover each half with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours at least (overnight is best). This is especially important with the whole wheat pastry flour since it makes the dough a little easier to work with.

Toss the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest, butter and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Line the bottom of a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Remove one of the covered dough halves from the refrigerator. Divide this in half and roll out on a floured board.

Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut eight circles out of the pie dough. Place these on the parchment paper, evenly spaced.

Spoon a small amount (5-6 blueberries and a little sauce) into the center of each pie circle.

Cut eight more circles out of the pie dough (you may have to gather the scraps and re-roll it out). Place each circle on top of the blueberry-topped bottom circles. Press down the edges with something thin (the top of a paintbrush or pen would work). Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar.  Cut some small slits in the top.

Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Repeat in three more batches with the rest of the pie crust and filling.

 

Raw, vegan, gluten-free blueberry bars

Bottom layer:

3/4 cup oat flour

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon oil (palm shortening works, though you may use coconut oil)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon molasses

 

Blueberry layer:

1 cup pureed organic blueberries (frozen is fine but be sure to thaw first)

1 1/2 cup oat flour

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons molasses

3 tablespoons oil

 

Begin with bottom layer.

Melt shortening in microwave and combine with other ingredients. Mix well.

Press into a thin layer in an 8-by-8 pan. Place in refrigerator.

For blueberry layer, puree blueberries in a food processor. Melt shortening and combine all remaining ingredients.

Press on top of bottom layer.

Garnish with cocoa power or chocolate shavings. (Note the fresher these are, the more vibrant the color.) Enjoy now or freeze for later.