Sunday Brunch – Blueberry Muffins

This week for Sunday brunch we had blueberry muffins. It seems we are on a fruit kick for our Sunday mornings!  The fruit is so fresh and delicious now I just can’t resist using it whenever I can.

Why Blueberry Muffins?

I got up Sunday morning with no overnight casserole in the refrigerator ready to cook and no plans for brunch.  I began to rummage around in the refrigerator and found a bag of blueberries that I had frozen last week.  The easiest thing I could think to make was blueberry muffins.

(Of course, you know that the first thing I did was make coffee.  Then I sat down and drank half a cup.  Then I got hungry.)

There are hundreds of recipes for blueberry muffins.   I looked at one or two that I have used in the past and a couple of new ones on the internet.   I combined two to use the ingredients that I had in the pantry.

Making Muffins

Making muffins from scratch is easy.  First assemble your ingredients, measuring tools, and mixing bowl.  Preheat the oven.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee.

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and mix the egg, oil, and cream in a separate bowl.   Combine the two bowls, mix, and then fold in the blueberries.  Divide the batter among the holes in the muffin tin.  The picture below shows the batter without the streusel topping.   Take a sip of coffee.

Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter in a small bowl with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly.  Cover the tops of the muffins with the streusel and bake.  You can drink at least two cups of coffee while the muffins bake unless you insist on cleaning up the kitchen during that time.  (Not a good use of your time!)

The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Oh, yum!

Allow them to cool for a few minutes.  I have burned fingers from ignoring this one little sentence.  Lesson learned.  No sneaking a pinch!!

So good!  This calls for more coffee.

My Take on It

I used heavy cream because I had no milk in the house although the recipes I consulted called for milk.  The muffins were a little sweet for me.  The next time I will cut back on the sugar in the batter from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup and cut back on the sugar in the streusel topping from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup.  I prefer blueberry to be the main flavor above the sweetness of sugar.

It took about 45 minutes start to finish to make this recipe.  Those of you who are experienced cooks or morning people will probably be able cut that time to about 35-40 minutes.   I admit I had to have coffee throughout the process and I had to take pictures.  (My iPhone is quite floury and sticky, as a result.)  I used the cooking time to drink coffee and to sprinkle flour around the counter and on myself so my husband would think I had really been working hard.  Then I had more coffee.

The hardest part of all of this was waiting for the muffins to cool a few minutes.  I burned my fingers just the tiniest bit trying to pick a crumb or two off the muffins while they were cooling.  A word to the wise:  do not do this.  Let the muffins cool!  They are also easier to remove from the muffin tin after they cool just a little.

Easy, Special, Delicious?

Easy, special, and delicious are the criteria for a Sunday Brunch.   Blueberry muffins are definitely easy and these are delicious.  They are special to us because I don’t bake muffins very often, although I may bake them more now that I am trying new Sunday Brunch recipes each week.  Hmm.  Will that make muffins less special?  I’ll have to ponder that question, but I’m sure I can find a loophole somewhere.

Easy Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar*
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (or milk)*
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Streusel Topping Ingredients

• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar*
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease muffin cups or use muffin liners.
2. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder.
3. Beat egg and mix with vegetable oil and cream (or milk).
4. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and mix well.  Fold in blueberries, gently.
5. Fill muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel mixture.
6. To make streusel, mix  1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, butter, and cinnamon.  Mix with fork or pastry knife until well combined and crumbly.
7. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool and enjoy.

Makes 12 muffins.

*For starred items see My Take on It, above.

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