Individual Blueberry Grunts
Yeah, I’d never heard of a blueberry grunt, either. Until I became friends with Sandy. Every since we became friends, I couldn’t use the word “blueberry” without her saying “Mmmm, blueberry grunt…” eyes half-closed and smiling. I knew it was one of her favorite desserts, but I couldn’t bring myself to make something called a grunt.
Until, that is, I had four cups freshly picked blueberries.
A grunt is in the cobbler family, and it’s a traditional East Coast maritime dessert. It’s perfect for people who might want something like a pie, but are too lazy make an actual pie. So that means it’s perfect for me!
Blueberry is a popular flavor for grunts, but I imagine you can use pretty much any berry or fruit. They’re a great way to use up bountiful–but fleeting–summer fruit. The most common way to make a grunt is to boil berries with water, sugar, and lemon juice, then add biscuit dough to the top, cover with a tight lid, and steam. It’s a one-pan, stove-top operation. I chose to bake mine because I had these ridiculously cute gratin dishes that I’d been dying to use for a blog post. I’ll give directions for both methods of cooking.
Recipes for grunts are all pretty standard, I adapted and veganized this simple recipe.
Blueberry Grunts
Makes four individual grunts, or one large
Blueberry Filling
Four Cups Fresh Blueberries (or frozen)
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 tsp Each Cinnamon and Nutmeg, optional (I left them out)
Simple Biscuits
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine, or veg. shortening
3/4-1 Cup Soymilk
Add all of the ingredients for the blueberry filling into a large skillet. If you’re going to be making one large grunt and steaming the biscuits, make sure this skillet has a tight fitting lid. If you’re going to be baking the grunt, preheat the oven to 400º F.
Boil the berries for 10-15 minutes until the mixture has thickened a little.
Meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients for the biscuits. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the margarine/shortening into the dry ingredients. If you’re berries aren’t done yet, go ahead and stick the dry mixture in the fridge or freezer to keep the margarine cold until you’re ready for it.
When the berries are ready, add the soymilk to the dry mixture to form a soft biscuit dough. The consistency is pretty forgiving, a slightly too-soft or too-firm dough won’t make a difference in the final product. As long as it holds together, but is soft enough to break apart into clumps, you’re good to go. Don’t over-mix the dough, or the biscuits will be tough. But you knew that!
For one large, steamed grunt:
Break the biscuit dough up into small, bite-sized pieces. Place the pieces on top of the hot, still-cooking berries, spread evenly across the top. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid, reduce the heat slightly, and steam for 15 minutes without peeking. The biscuits should be puffed up and cooked all the way through. Serve warm.
For one large baked grunt:
Follow the instructions for a steamed grunt, but place in the oven to bake at 400º F (without a lid) for 20 minutes. You can sand the biscuits sugar before baking if you like! Serve warm.
For individual baked grunts:
Transfer berry mixture to individual ramekins or gratin dishes, filling only half-full. Add biscuit mixture on top. Sand with sugar and place all the grunts on a baking sheet (this will help you take them out of the oven with burning yourself). Bake for 20 minutes, serve warm.
Here’s what my individual grunts looked like before baking:
These are great just as they are, but you can also serve them with some ice cream if you want. I invited Sandy over to try them, and she said that not only were they delicious, but they “taste exactly like a non-vegan grunt.” So if you’re looking for a simple, but elegant dessert to use up summer berries, I highly recommend this one.
I won’t blame you if you call it a cobbler, though.
I love blueberries and biscuits, which makes this dish perfect for me (even if it IS called a grunt, which I agree is kind of strange). Yum!
I’m like drooling right now, these look so good! Is there any way to use something else besides butter? Would applesauce work?
Hi Shelby! I think vegan margarine or vegetable shortening is essential for the biscuit dough. Sorry!
BLUEBERRY grunt??? Oh yum.
Here in Calif I use olallieberries or blackberries but I haven’t made a vegan one — yet! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh lordy, that looks so good! And I don’t even like blueberries usually!
Does the margarine need to be kept in the freezer, like for pie dough, or can it just be chilled in the fridge?
Mine was just fridge-chilled, yes, but the freezer certainly wouldn’t hurt! It’s a pretty flexible recipe. :)
OMG!! That is yummylicous!! I had never heard of grunt before your post and if i had heard it, i don’t think i would have guessed it to be a wonderful looking dessert! Amazing recipe :)
this looks AMAZING! i am definitely passing this link to my friends! yum!
these look adorable and delicious. I will have to make these for my british father who adores any baked fruit and dough!
A rose by any other name is just as…delicious!
I recently bought some blueberries from the farmer’s market and they were handing out free recipes. One of them was for blueberry grunt. I didn’t make it, but now I wish I had. All the blueberries I bought have long since been consumed, but that biscuit stuff looks awesome!
Fruit desserts are the best. You really hit the nail on the head when you mentioned pairing the grunt with ice cream. Mmmm…..heavenly.
looks so so so so yummy
mmmm
nice action shot on that lemon squeeze!
also, these look awesome.
I sort of made a guest appearance on the blog! Yay!
Everyone, they were delicious. I ate two. Because I am a blueberry grunt hog.
Grunt, Slump, and Buckle! I love them all! Thanks for highlighting the goodness and glory that is a grunt.
Best, Dee
I made this tonight (tripled) for the 10 person dinner party we’re having tomorrow. I used overriped peaches and blueberries and it came out AMAZING. So delicious!! Thank you thank you thank you
wow, those look tasty!
to Shelby, I’ve read about a group of people trying to make pie crust/pastry dough with applesauce or some other, less-fatty ingredients. They didn’t succeed, but I still feel like I’ve gotta give it a try sometime. I’ll share, if I ever find a way of doing it.
Secondly, can someone give me a heads up here- is there a more preferred way of making the dough, with Earth Balance or with vegetable shortening (taste-wise), as I’ve never tried EB in a pie/pastry crust before, only shortening.
Oooh, this looks to be half-way between a pie and a crumble. I normally make apple or summer fruits crumble – blueberry with a biscuity top sounds yum.
These are sooo adorable! I have some blueberries in the freezer just begging to be made into something….this would be perfect! Thanks for sharing! Blueberry GRUNT always makes me laugh…..:)
As usual with your recipes, these look delicious. As a mostly meatless person, and family, I was wondering how hard it is for you to find vegan bread or do you make it yourself. Your recipes make me want to go vegan….although I would miss things like milk, eggs, butter, and cheese! Someday…plan on making Hasperat this week!!
Lauren,
I’ve nominated you for a Brilliante Blog Award, for being so awesome! Check out my blog for details. Then copy the award, link to me as the person who nominated you…and then nominate 7 of YOUR favorite blogs!
What you put on the top of these is what we in New Zealand (and Australia and the UK) would call a “scone”. We normally serve these hot,traditionally with jam and whipped cream (if anyone has a vegan whipped cream recipe I’d love to hear it!). These would definitely go well with a side of vegan icecream.
I love this variation on a beautiful concept.
It sounds delicious and looks amazing. The picture of the blueberry grunt on top of the fork/spoon is mouth watering.
These look ABSOLUTELY amazing! I LOVE blueberry. I will have to try these asap!!
Wow – I can’t think of a better combination of dessert items (well, maybe peanut butter & just about anything, but I digress…).
Anyway, those blueberries & “biscuits” look sooo good together – I can’t wait to try this!
Thanks for the great recipe, Lolo!
I made this last weekend and it was SUPER YUMMY! I had just picked up some raspberries and blackberries at the farmer’s market so I decided to use those instead of blueberries. I served it over french vanilla ice cream and everyone loved it! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
I love your blog and look forward to all of your pretty little creations…thanks!
Not the most appealing name but, boy!, these things look good.
I need to get to my farmers market ASAP to pick up some blueberries. And then I am making this RIGHT. AWAY. I still can’t believe how gorgeous your photos always are.
Congrats, also, on the VegNews nom! Yay!
I tried out this recipe and it was a hit! Great work!
Made these last night with strawberries and it was a great dessert quick-fix! It didn’t thicken as much as yours, I think because I used half frozen berries which released a lot of water when they thawed. Still, very good!
Hi Lolo! I made this last night since they are selling flats of 6 large pints of local blueberries here in Seattle, and I just had to buy them after seeing your post. I made these for the discriminating in-laws and it was a super hit – I baked a large one in my leCruset fry pan and sprinkled sugar on top. Amazing! My fiance said that this was by far the best dessert I have ever made – and I have made lots! I served it with Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss vanilla ice cream…by far the best vegan ice cream ever – but only local here for now (from Portland). Thanks for the post and the amazing pictures.
These look fantastic, as does all of your stuff (only these are baked, and dessert, and therefore my favorite).
Where did you get the beautiful little (cast iron?) serving dishes?! They’re gorgeous.
these look absolutely delicious.
however, while i don’t want to be a party pooper, i’ve gotta point out that they actually are cobblers and not grunts. it’s only a grunt if it’s steamed on the stovetop in a covered pan.
Although this looks delish, what I really want to know is where did you get the really awesome mini gratin dishes?
I do not think I could make it without those! :)
It was great to meet you Saturday night! These look amazing – I’ll let you know if I make them!!!
Oh man, I made this and it was SO good and so so easy to make! Thanks for sharing that recipe! :) (check out my blog for a pic :)
i tried these and not only were they super quick and simple to make, they were delicious and a huge hit with everyone! =]
I made them! http://leisurelybreakfast.blogspot.com/2008/08/vegan-blueberry-grunts.html
I was surprised to find this recipe on your website and wonder what Sandy’s background is. This is a Native American recipe that, in my tribe, is called “Blueberry Slump” (similar to grunt, I suppose). It has probably been in my family for generations. We usually only made it once every summer in August, when blueberries were in season. It was even more special when my sister and I picked the blueberries ourselves. We topped it with fresh whipped cream and my mother used to top hers with real butter. It’s a very rich dessert.
Such cute little dishes! Biscuit topping on top of fruit is so, so, SO good! (And, I think the name “blueberry grunt” is fun to say.)
lolo,
these biscuits are fantastic :_) and the serving bowls, where did you find them ?
These are beautiful. I now need to formulate a blueberry-grunt cupcake!
I LOVE grunts. A relic of my Cape Cod child/teen years.
Definitely gonna make these. :)
I think this might be worth going to the store and picking up some Coconut Bliss for. I’m salivating just thinking about it. Mmmmm…
I made this to take to my in-laws for Labor Day today, and it really turned out well! I did everything but the soymilk, which I can’t drink. It was sooooooooo good!
Will be trying the pasta recipe this week when I can manage it, and am anxious for some new material!!!
whoa…these looks incredible! Your pictures are gorgeous!
I made this tonight with blackberries and strawberries. I will post pics up on my blog later. Thank you for this recipe!!
I am at work and drooling, and now very very hungry!!