This frequent indulging has required some culinary creativity on my part: finding new and delicious recipes to use all my goodies in. Searching for some kind of baked treat to use a billion pounds of blueberries in, I stumbled across the recipe for Gale Gand's Double Blueberry Muffins. After reading "double blueberry" in the title, I knew they'd be amazing...the batter turned out fluffy and moist, absolutely loaded with juicy blueberries. This was definitely the right way to go--yum.
I did a little recipe editing, which i recommend. I substituted plain Greek yogurt for the milk, and added about 1/4 cup more berries than called for. The secret is really in the mashed up portion of the berries, which is incorporated directly into the batter. The cinnamon-sugar topping in a great addition and brings a little extra flavor to these muffins without being overpowering or too sweet. My photos just don't do this recipe justice.
Recipe:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
2 cups flour
1/2 cup whole, 2%, or 1% fat milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin or line the cups with paper liners.
-In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth.
-Add 1 cup of the sugar and mix.
-Add the eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt and mix.
-In a shallow bowl, mash 3/4 cup of the blueberries with the back of a fork. Add to the batter and mix.
-With the mixer running at low speed, add 1/2 of the flour, then 1/2 of the milk, and mix.
-Repeat with the remaining flour and milk.
-Fold in the remaining 1 3/4 cups whole blueberries by hand until well mixed.
-In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon.
-Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
-Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar over the muffins and bake until golden brown and risen, 25-30 minutes.
-Let cool in the pan at least 30 minutes before turning out.
* Recipe found on www.foodnetwork.com *
