Blueberry Crumb Muffins

For at least the past 2 months I've been craving homemade blueberry pie.  A big slice of slightly warm lattice-topped pie with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream just sounds so good!  Every time I'm in the grocery store lately I walk through the produce section hoping to find blueberries that haven't been shipped all the way from Chile.  No offense to Chile of course, but the winter blueberries at my store rarely look good, and I've found they're often pretty flavorless.  I was so excited to finally stumble upon berries from Florida a few days ago.  I only bought a half pint, mainly to test them and make sure they were good before I went crazy and stocked up on enough to make my pie.  Fortunately, they were, so I will definitely be heading back to the store soon :)  (I know, I could have substituted frozen blueberries and made the pie months ago but for whatever reason I just haven't had good luck with frozen berries in my pies.)



This morning we're heading to Providence bright and early for the Cox Rhode Races.  Shane's running his first marathon of the year, and I'll be watching and cheering him on along with his parents.  I used my little half pint of blueberries to whip these muffins up so I could grab a quick breakfast as we're running out the door at 6 am.  The recipe noted a yield of 12 muffins, but I halved it and wound up with 8.  You'd have to really fill the tins to the top to match the noted yield.  Whatever you decide to do, these muffins make a terrific breakfast.  They're sweet with a tender interior that serves as a contrast to the crunchy crumb topping.  I like a lot of blueberries in my muffins and since I made a few more muffins than the recipe intended, I might up the quantity of blueberries just slightly next time but otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing.  I tend to forget how much I love blueberry muffins until I take that first bite.  I'm glad I made these now to remind myself - something tells me I'll be making a lot of muffins this summer when the juicy berries are plentiful!



Blueberry Crumb Muffins
adapted slightly from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri

Crumb Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Muffins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line muffin pans with paper liners.

To make the crumb topping:  Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon to a medium bowl; stir with a fork to combine.  In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the brown sugar to the pan, using a rubber spatula to combine with the butter.  Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over the flour mixture and use the fork to stir until all of the flour is moistened.  Set aside while you make you muffin batter.

To make the muffins:  Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until pale in color, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.  With the mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the flour mixture then the milk and finally the remaining flour mixture, beating only until just combined.

Scrape the sides of the bowl then add the blueberries, folding them into the batter.  Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the muffin pans, filling each about 3/4-full.  Break the crumb topping into small pieces and scatter over the tops of the muffins.  Bake for about 22 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the muffin pans to a wire rack and let the muffins cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan to the rack to cool completely. 

Makes about 16 muffins