Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

A few nights ago, we went to the grocery store to get some fruit for snacking.  We’ve been on a blueberry kick lately and found ourselves being inexplicably drawn in their direction once again.  Weird, huh?  Blueberries must have some magnetic force that just pulls us to them, crying out for us to take them home and savor eat sweet berry as they explode in our mouths.  But, back to the blueberries in the store, they were on sale – buy one pint, get one free.  So obviously, we brought home even more berries than we bargained for and needed to find something to do with them!  I decided to make blueberry muffins.  I found a recipe for Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins from Ina Garten that sounded absolutely delicious.  However, when I think coffeecake, I think crunchy, sweet topping, so I added a streusel to them.  Boy was that the ticket to the perfect blueberry muffin!  Please try these; I really don’t think you will be disappointed!

Ingredients

Muffins

12 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 ½ Cups sugar

3 Eggs

1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla

8 ounces sour cream

¼ Cup milk

2 ½ Cups flour

2 Teaspoons baking powder

½ Teaspoon baking soda

½ Teaspoon salt

1 Pint blueberries, picked through for stems

Streusel

4 Tablespoons butter, softened

½ Cup flour

½ Cup brown sugar

1 Teaspoon cinnamon

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with muffin papers (the recipe made 20 muffins for me).  Let’s finish prepping so when the batter is done, the muffins can be baked.  We need to make the streusel.  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and cut the butter in so that you have pea size pieces of the mixture.  Now, we’re ready to make the batter…

Step 2

We need to cream the butter with the sugar.  Using a paddle attachment, beat them until they are light and fluffy (approximately five minutes).  Now add the eggs, one at a time.  Then add the vanilla, sour cream and milk and completely combine them.  Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until they are just combined.  Finally, add the blueberries and stir them in with a spatula, so they do not break.

Step 3

Scoop the batter into the muffins tins; I used ¼ cup of batter per muffin tin.  Then top each muffin with the streusel.  Bake the muffins for 25 – 30 minutes.  They are done when a tester or knife inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Let them cool slightly before removing them from the muffin tins.  Then enjoy plain or with butter – they are delicious both ways!

Gastronome's Note:  Try making them even more like a coffeecake by doubling the streusel recipe.  Then add half the batter, a streusel layer, the rest of the batter and more streusel!  Can you tell I like streusel?!