Friday 24 August 2012

Blueberry Streusel Muffins!

I have been thinking about adding a blueberry bush to my garden and I think I just got the incentive after visiting my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house over the weekend for a BBQ. As I wandered through their backyard with the dogs, I came across a blueberry bush that was bursting with fresh ripe blueberries ready for picking! 


I asked my sister-in-law if I could take a bag of blueberries and she said sure, but under one condition...If I made something with them and shared. I said "of course!" and immediately thought of blueberry muffins! Everyone was excited, even Wee Bear, who said he loved blueberry muffins. 





Blueberry Streusel Muffins
*Recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:

Streusel Topping
3T white sugar
3T brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
5T melted butter

Muffins
2 cups or more (if you are me) fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1T water
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1t table salt
2 large eggs
4T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Directions:

If you are topping the muffins with the streusal, combine all those ingredients until it is the size of peas and then set aside.


 Heat oven to 400F. Prepare a standard muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or with liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries, water and 1 teaspoon sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing the berries with a potato masher or fork several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced by about half. This takes about 6 minutes. Take off heat and let cool to room temperature. 



Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and well combined. Slowly mix in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg mixture and remaining cup or two of blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups. The batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly. Spoon a teaspoon of the cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using a toothpick, gently swirl the berry filling into batter using the figure-eight motion. 



Sprinkle the tops with even amounts of the streusal. 


Bake until muffin tops are golden brown and just firm, about 17 to 19 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool another 5 minutes before serving. 


These keep well for several days. Just warm them in the microwave for a few seconds. Yum!

I am so excited for next week's blog! I am working on re-creating a well loved girl scout cookie! Please come back next Friday to see how they turned out.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend! ~Amy

3 comments:

  1. These muffins were delightful! Wee Bear ate every muffin she brought us, except for the one I snatched!! Moist and full off deliciousness!!

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  2. Excellent idea ... going to go farmer market this weekend and make this muffin recipe for my kids next week snack ... they love your pumpkin muffin recipe ... :)

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  3. Great Priscilla! I just asked Dustin about you, he said you were doing great! Hope you enjoyed the muffins! Thank you for commenting! JJ

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