I must be on a muffin kick…I saw blueberries in the market and immediately thought of muffins (not a buckle, cobbler, pancakes or smoothie). I’ve had trouble with blueberry muffins before, so I needed to find a great recipe that would put these blueberries to good use. I believe I found that great recipe.

Blueberry muffins need a little lemon zest. They also need a little sweetness but not too much so they feel like a dessert. They are supposed to be a breakfast food after all. And the crumble…oh the crumble. I am now sold on the idea all muffins should have a crumble topping.

My issues have been blue muffins and dry muffins…these are neither. They are moist, the right “muffin” color, and have a tye dye blueberry pattern. They make me want to wake up and eat one. Any muffin that can do that, is worth baking. I think we all know this, but they don’t need to be morning only muffins. They can be morning, noon and night blueberry muffins.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 cups flour (I used a mix of whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour)
• 2/3 cup milk

for topping

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

How To:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease 12 regular-size muffin cups.

For topping, mix together sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add in cubed butter and process with hands or with a pastry blender. Set aside.

Sift together baking powder, salt and flour; set aside. In a medium bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and lemon zest and mix. Fold in half of sifted flour mixture then half of milk; repeat. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon into muffin cups (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons topping onto each muffin. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.