Muffin Break

I have been exploring some great food blogs over the last couple of months, what I have enjoyed is their passion for food, being told through their skills in photography, and wonderful  story telling.  These people so  love what they do, they graciously give so much of their time to their readers.   How awesome is that !

I don't have a sweet tooth, but my husband does, so there is baking most of the time around the house, just not made by me.    But the last month or so, what has been in the house has been made by my loving hands.   It's really not that hard, I thought baking was some mysterious force that I just didn't care to investigate.  Not saying I know everything, but I'm not scared to try it now.

I have found a blueberry muffin recipe I wanted to share with you, as it has been the favourite for the last week.    It's not a healthy or unhealthy sort of muffin, but I'm starting to believe  when it's made by your own hands it's healthy in so many levels of your being.   Everyone benefits.

Perfect Blueberry Muffin

 

I hope you give these a try, especially great in the evening with a cup of tea.  Enjoy !   This recipe was copied from Smitten Kitchen Blog, which is the link I have if you click on the heading under the picture.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Muffins are really best on the first day (another argument for halved recipes) but I’ve never met one I couldn’t resuscitate split, toasted and patted with salted butter.
My major changes: As always, attempted to rewrite this into a one-bowl recipe (because muffins should just not require a lot of work), halved the recipe and added weights.
Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.

Now, on a knitting note, I have finished a super beanie/toque for my husband.  I had knit this pattern before for him, but he has lost his first one.    But at that time, probably 2 yrs ago, I didn't belong to Ravelry, so I don't have any notes on how I did it.   Somehow this one appears to be a lot bigger, and Jim says it's also itchier.    So, the lesson is..keep good notes !!!   

The pattern is  Turn a Square, by Jared Flood,

My notes are here on Ravelry:  
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ADheartknitting/turn-a-square

Back view

Give the muffins a try as they are super simple to make and you probably have most of the ingredients at home, the only thing I didn't have was the sour cream, so I'm warning you now, put that on your grocery list, you'll need it.

The toque is a must as winter is coming on, so if you are not knitter, this is a good starting project.  I hope it inspires you to start.

Alice xox