Illuminated Blueberry Buckle Recipe

In 2002, I got really into studying old books, really old books, the kind that were written by hand with a chiseled reed and burnt walnut shell ink, the kind that were painted on parchment or vellum with hand ground pigments of white lead, green malachite and blue lapis lazuli.    Most of what I studied were old religious texts, some dating as far back as AD 400.  After hours and hours of pouring over all of the books I could find on illuminated manuscripts, I learned to do calligraphy and how to glue real gold leaf to paper.  I wanted to make something similar to what I saw in books like the Book of Kells, but not being a particularly religious gal, I looked for some non-divine inspiration and found a recipe for a blueberry buckle, which I adore. 

I wish I knew who wrote it, but I don't.  It was ripped out of some home magazine in the late 1990s, and I won it in a party game with a mug of blueberries because I gave the best guess for how many blueberries were in the mug.   Here is my illuminated recipe for a blueberry buckle.  All that glitters is 24K.  It's a combination of ink and gouache on paper.  It's currently hanging in a fancy gold frame at my mother's house.

If you don't know what a buckle is, it's like coffee cake, with a crumble topping, and this one is overflowing with blueberry goodness.  Seriously, it's so good with all of that cream, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, flour, and blueberry goodness, I had to immortalize it in gold leaf with a rose vine, ivy, Celtic knots, and three different portraits of my late kitty, Boo.  If you like cooked blueberries, stop what you are doing and MAKE THIS RECIPE!  You won't be disappointed, unless maybe if you skimp on the butter and cream. 

By the way, if you click on the picture of the whole recipe, then right click, then click view, and click once more, you can see it large to get a better look at some of the details that are hard to make out at this size.  Thanks for looking.