Blueberry Buttermilk Cookie
Cookies for breakfast? Absolutely. Especially if they include fresh blueberries in the dough and a tangy buttermilk glaze. Move over blueberry muffins, there are no cupcake liners to fill or messy cupcake pans to clean, just lovely mounds of blueberry cookie dough. These cookies are easy to prepare and can be refrigerated overnight to bake the next morning. I love the smell of fresh blueberry cookies in the morning, but you can bake these cookies anytime. I make these as a sweet treat for my kids on weekend mornings, they have fresh fruit in them so I’m not going to feel bad for giving them cookies for breakfast.
Buttermilk is our star ingredient in these cookies. We use it not only in the dough but make a wonderful tangy glaze for the tops of the cookies as well. The buttermilk I am using in this recipe was by product resulting from my Cultured Butter recipe I made in another blog post. Feel free to reference that recipe if you would like to make traditional buttermilk but store-bought cultured buttermilk works great in this case as well.
Buttermilk is tangy, low in fat and has less lactose than regular milk. What does this mean for baking? Scientifically, the leavening agents we are using in our recipe, baking powder/baking soda, has a reaction with the buttermilk which produces a fluffier texture in the cookie. The buttermilk has less fat which means there is less resistance surrounding the flour structure, so we get to have that fluffier texture which results in a finer crumb in our cookies. It’s an interesting cookie meets muffin recipe, lighter than a traditional cookie but denser than a muffin. Truly a delicious experience. Because of the tangy flavor of buttermilk, it brings out the sweetness of the blueberries in the cookie and as a glaze it cuts through the sweetness of the vanilla scented dough.
The dough is incredibly easy to prepare but special attention should be given to folding in the fresh blueberries. You want to have a gentle hand as to not squish them. I switched from using a spoon to using my hands to carefully press the blueberries into the dough. Some of the blueberries might break but that’s fine, we just don’t want all of them breaking up, it will make your dough too wet, and you’ll lose those pockets of whole berries.
Dried blueberries can be used in this recipe as a substitute for fresh blueberries. I would suggest using a cup or less if you are substituting. I used dried blueberries when I was selling cookies out of my home bakery because they were easier to work with and the cookies would last longer. However, the flavor of fresh blueberries is far superior and also less sweet so I recommend using fresh if you can.
I used a 3oz cookie scoop for these cookies since I want them to be moderately sized for breakfast. You can certainly make them smaller or larger, just adjust your baking times accordingly.
The buttermilk glaze is what ties this whole recipe together. It is so simple to make, it only takes a few minutes of whisking and you have a sweet but slightly tart glaze for the tops of these cookies. The cookies by themselves are great, don’t get me wrong. They are not too sweet, a little cakey and have pops of fresh blueberry which add a fun texture and a little brightness. But when you add the buttermilk glaze on top, it can only described as: Game over. Life changing. Pure bliss. It adds a creamy element while also playing up the tangy flavor of buttermilk with blueberries.
Here in Texas humidity is out of control this May, so I would mix in your buttermilk a tablespoon at a time because you may not need the whole amount listed in the recipe depending on how humid it is. This batch took only 5 tablespoons and it was good to go. You are looking for a smooth but thick consistency, kind of like melted peanut butter. You want to be able to dip your cookies in smoothly. It usually takes 30 minutes or so for the glaze to set up on the cookies. But again, the Texas summer weather prolonged that by an hour for me during this recipe.
Cookie Tip: A trick I use if the glaze isn’t setting up because of the humidity is I pop them into the fridge for 20 minutes to help the glaze harden.
These cookies will stay fresh wrapped lightly on your counter for a couple days but should be consumed sooner than later since we used fresh blueberries. You can always save frozen unbaked dough in the freezer for up to 6 months to enjoy fresh when the craving hits.
Oh, and I couldn’t end the post without recommending stuffing these cookies with blueberry jam and vanilla bean cream cheese…but I guess I will save that recipe for another day.
Happy Baking!
Blueberry Buttermilk Cookie
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tspn salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbspn buttermilk
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 3 tbspn corn starch 1 tbspn separated to coat blueberries
- 1 tspn baking powder
- 1 tspn baking soda
- 3 cups flour
- 1½ cup fresh blueberries can also use ¾ dried blueberries as substitute. Do not use frozen blueberries.
Buttermilk Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup buttermilk add in buttermilk one tablespoon at a time until you reach smooth consistency.
Instructions
- In mixer with paddle attachment, mix butter, both kinds of sugar, and salt. Beat until creamy.
- Add in eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until mixture is well mixed and creamy.
- In a bowl toss blueberries with one tablespoon cornstarch. Set aside.
- Sift remaining dry ingredients then add to butter mixture and mix on low. Stop mixer as soon as the dough comes together.
- Take out paddle attachment and mix the dough by hand for a few turns. Very carefully, either with a spoon or clean hands, fold in blueberries into dough. Careful to not squish the berries.
- Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, take a 3oz cookie scoop and carefully scoop out 18 mounds of dough onto a baking tray.
- Allow dough to rest in fridge overnight or you can freeze for at least 3 hours prior to baking.
- Preheat oven to 375*
- Place cookie dough on parchment lined baking sheet with at least 2 inches spacing between each cookie.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or when the edges begin to turn golden brown.
- Allow to cool on baking tray for at least 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
Buttermilk Glaze
- Combine powdered sugar with buttermilk on low speed in mixer or with a whisk by hand.
- Mix until smooth. Use immediately.
- You can dip the cooled cookies in the glaze then place back on a cookie rack to set up for at least 30 minutes or, drizzle a tablespoon on top of each cookie after they cool. Either way is delicious.
