Blueberry BBQ Baby Back Ribs

My boyfriend and I bought baby back ribs about a month ago with high ambitions and they have been sitting in the freezer ever since.  It was a lazy Labor Day and we finally decided it was time to make them.  At this point, though, these ribs had been built up in my mind and we knew we needed to go wild and find a superior BBQ sauce.  I consulted my handy "Marinades & Sauces" Pinterest board and found a blueberry BBQ sauce that looked like it was going to change my world.  Oh boy, was I right!  I could have eaten this sauce with a spoon straight out of the blender! The best part is it can be saved in the fridge for quite some time once prepared so we still have a ton leftover!

Here's the recipe, adapted from Rock Recipes.

Blueberry BBQ sauce

Yield: about 3 cups

2 TB olive oil

3/4 red onion, finely chopped

1 shallot, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red apple, diced

3.5 fresh blueberries (could also use frozen)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 balsamic vinegar

1 cup ketchup

1 cup apple juice (could substitute 1/2 cup of bourbon and 1/2 cup apple juice)

1/4 cup brown sugar ( I used 2 TB Splenda brown sugar blend)

3 TB Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup strong black coffee

1 TB fresh ground ginger (could probably use bottled ground ginger but I've always wanted to buy a fresh ginger root and it did not disappoint)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper

1 TB smoked Spanish paprika

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, shallot, and garlic and sauté until soft and aromatic.  Don't let them brown.  Reduce heat, add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, and allow sauce to thicken.  Remove from heat, let cool, and purée in blender for a couple minutes until smooth.  Now your sauce is ready to go!

We marinated the ribs in this sauce for about half an hour, then put them on the grill at around 300F for  about 35 or 40 minutes.  Ideally, we would have slow cooked these for about 2 hours but the BBQ didn't want to stay at a low temp and we were hungry.  

Here is the finished product, in all its glory (with some corn on the cob).  I was licking my fingers after these bad boys, and we still have plenty of sauce left, for chicken, steak, whatever!  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!