Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread: A Sweet Streusel Delight for Any Occasion
Prepare to be enchanted by this incredible **Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread**, a quick bread recipe that promises an unforgettable taste experience. Imagine tender, subtly sweet layers of bread, generously filled with a fragrant spiced streusel and bursts of juicy, fresh blueberries. Each bite is a symphony of flavors and textures, elevated further by a glistening, slightly tart lemon glaze drizzled over the warm loaf. This isn’t just a bread; it’s a culinary masterpiece you’ll want to bake repeatedly, perfect for a special breakfast, brunch, or an indulgent dessert.
As spring blossoms and warmer days arrive, there’s no better way to celebrate the season than with this vibrant homemade sweet bread. Its bright lemon notes and fresh blueberries perfectly capture the essence of spring. This delightful glazed bread also makes for an exquisite treat to surprise Mom this Mother’s Day, whether it’s served as a centerpiece for brunch or a charming dessert after a celebratory meal. While often called a scone loaf due to its rich, scone-like texture, this pull-apart bread offers a fun and interactive way to enjoy its zesty, fruity flavors.
Beyond this sensational pull-apart bread, if you’re exploring other captivating spring desserts, be sure to try my Lemon Whippersnappers or the refreshing No Bake Fruit Tart. Both offer delightful ways to embrace the season’s fresh flavors.
What Makes This Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread So Special?
This exquisite pull-apart bread boasts a rich, tender texture thanks to its quality ingredients. Enriched with eggs and butter, and carefully balanced with flour, it develops a fantastic structure that’s both fluffy and moist. These components work in harmony to create a bread that’s wonderfully soft and tears apart effortlessly, revealing layers of deliciousness. The star fruit, fresh blueberries, are highly recommended for their vibrant flavor and juicy pop, though frozen blueberries can be used if fresh are unavailable, ensuring you can enjoy this recipe year-round.
Achieving a beautiful, even golden crust is a clear indicator that your pull-apart bread is perfectly baked. Once it’s had a chance to cool slightly and absorb that luscious lemon glaze, you can store any leftovers in an airtight container to maintain its freshness. For the best flavor and texture, it’s recommended to enjoy this homemade blueberry lemon bread within five days. Its incredible taste and unique presentation make it a popular choice for brunches, sure to impress anyone who gets to sink their teeth into a slice of this magnificent sweet bread.
A Culinary Collaboration: Freaky Friday Blog Hop
I am absolutely thrilled to share this incredible Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread recipe with you today. However, I can’t take all the credit for this masterpiece! This recipe comes to us from The Wimpy Vegetarian, my assigned blog for this round of the Freaky Friday Blog Hop.
For those unfamiliar, Freaky Friday is a cherished tradition, a good old-fashioned blog hop that I’ve been organizing for about seven years now. Here’s how it works: I secretly assign each blogger in our group another blog to cook from. Then, on a specific “reveal” day (which is today!), we all simultaneously unveil the recipe we’ve made and the blog we cooked from. It’s a fantastic way to discover new blogs, challenge ourselves with different cooking styles, and share amazing recipes with our audiences.
Discovering The Wimpy Vegetarian
When the names were drawn from the hat, I was delighted to be assigned Susan’s blog, The Wimpy Vegetarian. Susan, who resides in Northern California, shares a charming story about her culinary journey with her husband. Shortly after they were married, she embraced vegetarianism, a lifestyle shift her husband didn’t immediately take to.
I chuckled reading her anecdote about his declaration that “he has incisors for a reason” and that she needed to keep the meat stocked! However, over the years, Susan, leveraging her impressive culinary school talents, has transformed his perspective. She’s successfully made him a believer that “horse food,” as he playfully refers to it, can be incredibly delicious and satisfying. Her blog is a testament to flavorful and inventive vegetarian cooking that appeals to everyone, even the most dedicated meat-eaters.
More Tempting Recipes from The Wimpy Vegetarian
Don’t let the name “vegetarian” deter you from exploring this fantastic website. It’s a treasure trove of glorious recipes that are sure to tempt your taste buds! While I ultimately settled on her amazing Blueberry Scone Bread, I was equally captivated by her other offerings. Consider trying her Dutch Baby with Strawberries for a light and fruity breakfast, these comforting Orange Cinnamon Rolls, or the decadent Frozen Mudslides for a cool treat. For those who enjoy a savory kick, her recipe for Jalapeno Mac & Cheese Bites is a must-try. In the end, the blueberry bread felt like kismet because, the day after Easter, I had exactly one cup of fresh blueberries left, practically begging to be used in this delightful recipe!
Essential Ingredients for Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread
Crafting this irresistible pull-apart bread requires a thoughtful selection of ingredients, each playing a crucial role in creating its unique flavor and texture. Here’s what you’ll need:
For the Irresistible Streusel
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides the essential structure for the streusel, preventing it from sinking into the bread while baking.
- Brown Sugar: Contributes to the streusel’s delightful crunch and adds a deep, caramel-like sweetness.
- Granulated Sugar: Balances the sweetness and enhances the overall flavor of the topping.
- Ground Cardamom: Aromatic and slightly citrusy, cardamom perfectly complements the blueberry and lemon, creating a warm, inviting spice profile in the streusel.
- Heavy Cream: Binds the streusel ingredients together, giving it a moist, creamy texture that melts beautifully into the bread.
- Fresh Blueberries: These are key for their vibrant flavor and juicy bursts. While fresh is preferred for optimal taste and texture, frozen blueberries can be used as a convenient alternative.
For the Tender Pull-Apart Bread
- All-Purpose Flour: The foundational ingredient, providing the necessary structure and body to the baked bread.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dough and aids in the overall texture development of the bread.
- Baking Powder: This leavening agent is crucial for giving the bread its impressive lift and light, airy texture.
- Sea Salt: Preferred over iodized salt, which can sometimes impart an undesirable flavor. Sea salt enhances all the other flavors in the bread.
- Fresh Lemon Zest: Adds a bright, aromatic zestiness to the bread itself, perfectly complementing the lemon glaze.
- Ground Cinnamon: A warm spice that pairs beautifully with vanilla and berries, adding depth to the bread’s flavor profile.
- Cold Butter: Incorporating cold butter helps create a higher rise and contributes to a longer shelf life, while also making the bread wonderfully flaky.
- Heavy Cream: Essential for making the bread exceptionally fluffy and soft, contributing to its melt-in-your-mouth quality.
- Large Egg: Acts as a binder and also assists in the bread’s rise and rich texture.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Infuses the bread with a classic, sweet, and comforting flavor that enhances the other ingredients.
For the Bright Lemon Glaze
- Powdered Sugar: Forms the sweet, smooth base of this simple yet impactful glaze.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Provides the essential tart and bright lemon flavor that cuts through the sweetness of the bread and streusel.
How to Create Your Own Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread
Making this delightful Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread is a rewarding experience. Follow these detailed steps to achieve a perfectly layered and flavorful loaf:
- Prepare the Streusel: In a medium bowl, use a fork to combine the flour, ground cardamom, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well mixed. Pour in the heavy cream and continue mixing with the fork until all dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened and a crumbly streusel forms. Gently fold in the fresh blueberries, being careful not to crush them. Set this mixture aside.
- Prepare the Bread Dough: Begin by preheating your oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Generously butter the bottom and sides of a standard loaf pan to prevent sticking.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, sea salt, lemon zest, and ground cinnamon. Pulse these dry ingredients together a few times until just combined.
- Add the cold butter, cut into small pats, to the food processor. Pulse about 8 or 9 times. The goal is to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture, but small, pea-sized chunks of butter should still remain visible. This helps create pockets of steam for a flakier texture. Transfer this mixture to a medium-sized bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, large egg, and pure vanilla extract until smooth. Pour this wet mixture into the bowl containing the flour and butter mixture.
- Using a sturdy spatula, gently combine the wet ingredients with the dry until a shaggy dough forms. Be careful not to overmix. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Section the Dough: Knead the dough a few times, just enough to bring it together. Then, using your fingers, flatten the dough into a rectangle approximately 6 inches by 14 inches.
- To prepare for layering, slice the dough into 12 equal pieces. First, divide the rectangle in half lengthwise, creating two long strips. Then, divide each long strip into 6 squares, resulting in 12 uniform dough squares.
- Spread half of the prepared streusel mixture evenly over 6 of these dough squares. Take the remaining 6 plain dough squares and stack them directly on top of the streusel-covered squares. Finally, spread the remaining streusel mixture over the top of these stacked dough squares.
- Assemble and Bake: Carefully arrange the stacked dough squares into your prepared loaf pan. Place them two at a time, standing up on their ends, creating a layered effect. You might find it helpful to lean the first few stacks against the side of the pan or a small bowl to hold them upright as you add more. Don’t worry if some streusel falls off during this process; simply scoop it up and sprinkle it over the top of the bread dough in the pan.
- Bake the pull-apart bread for 50-55 minutes, or until the top of the bread is a beautiful light golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool slightly in the pan on a wire rack.
- Prepare the Lemon Glaze: While the bread is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice until you achieve a smooth, pourable consistency. If the glaze is too thick, add a tiny bit more lemon juice; if it’s too thin, add a little more powdered sugar until your desired consistency is reached.
- Serve: Generously drizzle the warm bread with the prepared lemon glaze. Allow the bread to cool completely for the glaze to set. Then, pull apart the delicious layers and enjoy this homemade masterpiece! Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature and consume within 5 days for optimal freshness.
Love it? Pin it!
Don’t let this mouthwatering Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread recipe get lost! Be sure to save it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest so you can easily find it whenever a craving for sweet, fruity, and lemony bread strikes. Pin it now and add a touch of homemade magic to your recipe collection!
Other Delightful Recipes You Will Enjoy
If you loved this Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread, you’re in for a treat! Explore these other fantastic recipes that offer similar comforting flavors and baking joy:
- Cinnamon Streusel Banana Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls
- Pumpkin Zucchini Streusel Bread
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- Crack Bread
- Lemon Icebox Pie
- Cinnamon Spice Coffee Cake
- Pink Lemonade Cake
- Lemon Ice Cream
- Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
- Lemon Sweet Rolls (pictured above)
Discover All the Recipes from Our 2022 Freaky Friday Spring Edition
The Freaky Friday Blog Hop is a fantastic way to discover new culinary delights. Here’s a full list of all the incredible recipes shared by our participating bloggers during the 2022 Spring Edition, hosted by An Affair from the Heart:
- An Affair from the Heart – Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread (that’s this delicious recipe!)
- Aunt Bee’s Recipes – Baked Asparagus with Parmesan
- The Carefree Kitchen – Carrot Cake
- The Culinary Compass – Dunkaroo Dip Recipe
- Devour Dinner – Fruit Charcuterie Board
- Family Around the Table – Fresh Strawberry Milkshake
- Feast + West – Frozen Grasshopper Martini
- Home Cooked Harvest – Rocky Road Brownies
- Hostess at Heart – Honey Bun Cake
- Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog – Homemade Sour Cream Funfetti Cupcakes
- Off the Eaten Path – Beer Margarita Recipe
- The Speckled Palate – Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon and Walnuts
- Sue Bee Homemaker – No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bites
- Take Two Tapas – Crab Dip
- The Wimpy Vegetarian – Texas Trash Dip Warm Bean Dip
Now that you’re armed with this fantastic recipe and all the tips, let’s get baking and create some delicious blueberry lemon streusel bread! Enjoy every single pull-apart, flavorful bite. Happy baking!
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Print Recipe
Blueberry Lemon Pull-Apart Bread
Equipment
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Whisks for Cooking, 3 Pack Stainless Steel Whisk
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Manual Juicer Citrus / Lemon Squeezer
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Citrus Zester
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Rubber Spatulas
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Loaf Pans
Ingredients
- FOR THE STREUSEL:
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- FOR THE BREAD:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- zest of one large lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 Tablespoons cold butter cut into pats
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- FOR THE LEMON GLAZE:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
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PREPARE THE STREUSEL: with a fork, combine flour, cardamom, and sugars. Mix in the cream until the dry ingredients are completely moistened. Gently fold in the blueberries and set aside.
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PREPARE THE BREAD DOUGH: Preheat the oven to 375˚F, and butter the bottom and sides a loaf pan.
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In the bowl of your food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and cinnamon together. Add in the cold butter, and pulse about 8 or 9 times until the butter is incorporated, small chunks will remain. Transfer it all into a medium sized bowl.
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In a separate small bowl, whisk together the cream, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Using a spatula, combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Form a ball, and place it on a lightly floured surface.
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Knead the dough a few times, and flatten it into a 6″ X 14″ rectangle using your fingers.
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Slice the dough into 12 pieces by first dividing it in half, lengthwise, into 2 long rectangles. Then dividing each long rectangle into 6 squares.
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Spread 1/2 of the streusel over 6 of the squares. Then stack the dough squares without streusel on top of the ones with streusel. Spread the remaining streusel on top.
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Arrange the dough squares, two at a time, standing up on end into the loaf pan. I leaned mine against a bowl to get the right angle. Some streusel will fall off, just scoop it up and sprinkle that over the top of the bread dough.
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BAKE: for 50-55 minutes or until the top of the bread is a light golden brown. Remove the bread from the oven and cool slightly.
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PREPARE THE LEMON GLAZE: Whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. Add more or less juice until you get your desired consistency. Drizzle over warm bread.