Quick and Easy Blueberry Sauce

All summer long, my kids have waited patiently for the little green berries on our blueberry bush to ripen. It took incredible self-control for them not to pick the light purplish berries off as I constantly became the bearer of bad news. 

"Sorry kids, they aren't ready to pick," I would tell them often. But every once in a while, I would see a dark blue blueberry, which the kids would argue over who would get to eat. Last week, I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed not one but clusters of blueberries ripe for the taking. The kids picked as many as they could hold in the palms of their hands while careful not to drop one, because they were like precious jewels to them. The ripe ones were gone in a matter of minutes, and not much later, my kids were asking me to buy a few pints from the store the next time I went shopping.

Luckily for me, when I met a good friend for lunch a couple days ago, she surprised me with a large freezer bag full of ripe blueberries that she and her family had just picked. Their windfall of blueberries would become my good fortune. I knew exactly what I would do with them the moment she gave them to me.  I offered the berries to my kids first before turning on the stovetop to make a very simple homemade blueberry sauce. Blueberry sauce is a wonderful condiment to have on hand because of its versatility. Common uses for blueberry sauce include pouring it as syrup over warm pancakes, French toast or crispy waffles. However, blueberry sauce can be used in several ways.

Eight ways I like to use homemade blueberry sauce are:

• Fruit flavored mix-in with plain or vanilla yogurt
• Ice cream topping
• Spooned on top of cottage cheese for a quick breakfast, snack, or dessert
• Drizzled over slices of cake or cheesecake
• Syrup for club soda for a blueberry spritzer
• Canning blueberry sauce to give away as gifts
• Folded into buttercream for blueberry frosting
• Crepe or blintzes filling

Currently, my favorite way of serving blueberry sauce is over cottage cheese. Tonight we served it this way for dessert and everyone loved it, especially the kids. If you find yourself with more blueberries than you know what to do with, here is a very easy recipe for a homemade blueberry sauce that isn't too sweet, quick to prepare, and is easy enough for older children (ages 7+) to make with a little adult supervision. Feel free to share other ways you like to use the blueberry sauce in the comment section below. I'm always looking for new ways to use this summertime condiment.