Blueberry Soda

Folks-

Tonight I fixed my new Crab Rolls and served this Blueberry Soda with it. They went well together, but I expect the soda would be just fine by itself.

You first make a blueberry simple syrup, then mix that with club soda, Tonic Water, or similar in a 1:3 ratio. I recommend 1/3 cup syrup and 1 cup soda water. Ice is good in it.

Here's the recipe for the Blueberry Symple Syrup I got from Berly's Kitchen:

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and mash fruit immediately with a wooden spoon or potato masher. Allow to cool for 10-20 minutes, and strain through a mesh sieve to get the fruit pulp out. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Note: The blueberry pulp you strain out is wonderful on ice cream.

Baking Mix Blueberry Muffins

I tried to make blueberry muffins the way I remembered them from my childhood, but even using those recipes, they seemed dry, and not the way I expected. Modern recipes were too much like a yellow cupcake with blueberries in them. I eventually tried a recipe off of a box of biscuit and baking mix, and it was pretty much exactly what I wanted.
Of course I lost that recipe.
I later found one on Food.com that is probably identical. Being who I am, I've modified it a bit. Here's my version:

Baking Mix Blueberry Muffins
2 Cups Bisquick, Jiffy, or other biscuit and baking mix
1/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup milk
1/4 Tsp vanilla (or 1 Tsp vanilla sugar added to sugar before measuring)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Egg
3/4 to 1-1/2 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12 muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups, or line with parchment paper. Mix together all ingredients except blueberries until moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fold in blueberries. Divide blueberries evenly into the muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned around edges. Cool briefly and remove from muffin tins. Serve while warm.

Notes 2/2/2025: Today I tried a baking mix alternative with mixed success. I suspect you can replace the Bisquick with 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/3 cup shortening cut in, as long as you increase the sugar in this recipe to 1/2 cup and milk to 3/4 cup.