Blueberry Muffins at Bargain Prices

Five dollars for a 2 pound carton of blueberries...  That's the bargain I found at the local grocery store.  That's pretty much the lowest I've ever seen, so we had to grab a carton and bring it home.

My oldest had never tried a raw blueberry, so we washed one and handed it for him to try.  Yeah... there's a big difference in a cooked and raw berry to the kindergartener's palette.  So for the whole family to enjoy it, we had to use them in a number of dishes.  First option, we added them to the smoothies we're been making.    Second, I froze a few cups so I could make one of our Superberry Pies, for which the recipe will be posted in the next few days.  You'll have better results freezing berries if you wash them, then lay them out flat in single layers on cookie sheets or in ziploc bags so they don't stick together.  Once they're frozen, place them in those ziplocs and store them anywhere you want.  Third, we crushed a few, added a few whole berries and poured them over ice cream. You could make ice cream using the blueberries, just know that they will most likely break if you place them in whole.  It's probably best to crush half of them and add them at the beginning of the churning process, then add any whole berries at the end.  Some may survive, but there are no guarantees.

But after all that, we still had about a cup of them left.  So I threw together a batch of blueberry muffins.  The recipe is pretty simple and since we're using fresh whole blueberries, a few will pop and ooze blueberry juice all over the place.  It makes them look great and taste even better.  

When making any type of muffin, there are some specific rules that must be followed for the best outcome.

1.  Mix the dry and wet ingredients in different bowls - Mixing them all together at once will turn the batter will cause everything to congeal into a mass more like a roll than a light airy muffin. 

2.  When you add the wet to dry, stir no more than 30 times - The key to a light muffin is not over mixing them.  It's OK to have some lumps, even a few small dry areas.  The more you stir, the more it becomes like bread.  Overworking a flour dough creates more and more gluten, the protein that makes good pizza dough chewy and french breach crunchy on the outside.  That's the last texture you want for your muffin.  So stir it enough to combine, but not enough to beat it together.

3. GENTLY fold in the fruit - Especially with blueberries, delicate fruit has a tendency to pop.  The juices will spill into the batter and color it.  So unless you want a baby blue batter, gently fold the batter just enough so the berries are mixed in, probably about 10 strokes.

This recipe does include a strussel topping, which is completely optional.  I think it makes them look better, but some people don't like it.  So use it if you'd like.  Also, they will keep in a ziploc bag for a few days, so you can make some on Sunday morning, then have a great breakfast to go for the next couple of days... if they make it past Sunday morning. 

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 9 regular sized muffins

Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup whole blueberries

Strussel topping (optional)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Clean and strain your blueberries.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in one bowl and mix.  In another bowl, add the milk, oil and egg.  Beat it together for a few seconds until it's loosely blended together.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir it about 30 times, no more.  Add the all but about 15-20 blueberries into the mix and just fold them into the batter, careful to not rough the berries, keep them intact.

Line the cupcake tin with cupcake papers.  Add enough batter into the cups to almost fill them.  Decoratively place the blueberries you held in reserve on top of the muffins.

If you want the strussel, add the sugars and the flour to a bowl and mix.  Cube up the butter, add it to the mix and break it up with your fingers like you would a pie crust.  Coat it in the mixture, then press the butter into small bits.  Keep doing it until the whole mixture is the consistency of cornmeal.

Sprinkle the strussel on top of the muffins.  Place the muffins in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they look the way you want.

Remove and serve with lots of butter.

So make a batch of these muffins and enjoy some great muffins for breakfast.  Make two batches if you can, one for the morning and then rest for other days.