Blueberry Muffin

This summer, I’ve been learning more about in-season produce.  In the past, I assumed that fruit grew all summer long. I knew certain fruit tasted better during certain months, but didn’t realize that you couldn’t find fresh strawberries, for example, in late June.  I learned this lesson the hard way, as I showed up every weekend at Tower Grove Farmers’ Market looking for strawberries…and instead found overflowing pints of blueberries.  I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that it took me three weeks before I realized that strawberries were gone for the summer…and they weren’t coming back.

I’m not complaining, though.  I bought one of the overflowing blueberry pints on a whim, and realized that I had a great excuse to try many of the blueberry recipes I’ve been saving up.  A few weeks ago, I made Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies.  This week, I went traditional and made Blueberry Muffins.

Blueberry Muffin Batter

These muffins were moist, fluffy, and chock-full of Farmers’ Market blueberries.  I sprinkled the top of each muffin with a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar, which reminded me of the cinnamon-sugar toast I used to eat when I was little.  I didn’t use muffin or cupcake liners, and looking back I wished I had…There were so many berries in the batter (2 1/2 cups) that during the baking process, they began to pop and explode.  This made for delicious muffins, but also a very unappetizing-looking baking pan (photo note: see blackened blueberry juice on the upper right-hand corner).

Blueberry Muffins Post-Bake

However, liners or no liners, the muffins turned out well.  I like muffins best when they’re right out of the oven, but these muffins retained their buttery goodness days later.  I brought them into the office on Wednesday, and people kept taking one for a mid-afternoon snack (one woman even tried to hide a couple from her co-workers).  If you have an abundance of fresh berries in your refrigerator, and want a delicious excuse to use them, you may have met your recipe match…

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from here)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, at room temp
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

For Topping

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, mixed with
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon