Berry Crumble Muffins

**Just a quick sorry to any followers getting this post twice in your e-mail! I was trying to figure out how to schedule a post to publish later and accidentally published it early. Funny note thought – when my mom read the recipe she called me to double check because she thought I had a typo in the crumble section. She said “I think this must be a mistake…no way the crumble and the muffins both have 12 tablespoons of butter!” My mom is cute! She was worried that I had made a mistake but in fact, yes, they both do have that much butter and yes, they are both delicious! Thank for checking though Mom!**

So when my boys were little they would crush blueberry muffins. Seriously, my mom would also make my dad get like 4 giant blueberry muffins from the grocery store every time we came to visit because she knew my boys would devour them. Lately, they haven’t been so into blueberries or blueberry muffin (once introduced to the chocolate chocolate muffins from Costco- I lost them) but, that doesn’t stop me from continuing to try to pull them back from the dark side. I really thought I would win them over with the yummy crumble on these muffins. Sadly, they ate the crumble and left the muffins behind, but everyone else loved them! I gave them away to some friends and received some great feed back. I hope you make these and treat yourself and your friends or family with some fresh blueberry muffins that are light, not too sweet and topped with a yummy crumble.

As usual, begin by preheating your oven to 350 F degrees. The first part of the recipe to prepare is the crumble topping. In a medium bowl combine – 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup of lightly packed dark brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt. The recipe called for some spices in the crumble, I left them off because I wanted the flavor of the blueberry to really shine, but I think next time I will add some cardamom or cinnamon. Mix the dry ingredients all together and then add 12 tablespoons of melted butter to the mixture and mix it all together with a fork until it is moistened and crumbs form. Then, try not to eat it all before it goes on your muffins.

For the muffins you will need – 12 tablespoons of room temperature butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 3 room temperature large eggs, 1 cup of room temperature sour cream, 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or paste, the zest of 1 lemon, 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt and 1/2 pint of fresh berries. I used blueberries but the recipe also said that you could use blackberries, raspberries or diced strawberries.

To get fully prepared, I lined 24 muffin tins with paper liners. I also mixed together my dry ingredients and then took 2 spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and tossed them with the blueberries until they are covered. This helps the blueberries not to sink to the bottom of the muffins. Next, I creamed together the butter and sugar on medium speed for a full 5 minutes in my mixer. After it was light in color and nice and fluffy, I added eggs one at at time and turned the mixer up for about 2 minutes to make sure they were mixed in all the way. I scraped the sides of the bowl to get everything from the bottom and sides. Then I added the vanilla bean paste, the lemon zest and the sour cream. I mixed it all and scraped down the sides of the bowl and added the dry ingredients all at once. I mixed them on low, just until I could no longer see any big streaks of white flour.

Next, I folded the floured blueberries into the batter very gently. I used my large oxo cookie scoop to place one scoop of batter into each muffin tin. I ended up with about 21 regular sized muffins and 1 very small muffin. Then I used my fingers to break up the crumble and topped each muffin with crumbs. I think that I will make the crumbs a little smaller next time that I make them. I put the muffins in the oven and checked them at 25 minutes. I ended up adding 2 more minutes to them and they were perfect. I immediately transferred each muffin out the tins and onto a wire rack to cool.

I really enjoy how light and fluffy the cake portion is of these muffins. The lemon zest add a brightness to the blueberries that helps make them taste like spring and you cannot beat a good crumble on a muffin! Especially if you are my kids and that is the only part you eat anyway.

Recipe: Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Ingredients:

Crumble:

• 1/2 cup (255 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (75 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (105 g) lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 g) fine sea salt
• 12 tablespoons (170 g) melted butter

You can also add in spices to your crumble, cinnamon, all spice, cardamom or ginger would all be nice – no more than 2 teaspoons (7 g) total

Cake:

• 12 tablespoons (170 g) room temperature butter
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 3 large room temperature eggs
• 1 cup room temperature sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 1/2 cups (325 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt
• 1/2 pint fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or diced strawberries)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees and line 24 muffin tins
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put 2 spoonfuls of the mixture on top of the blueberries in a smaller bowl and mix to coat the blueberries.
3. Make the crumble mixing together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar and salt then add the melted butter to the mixture and stir with a fork until it comes together
4. Make the cake by creaming together the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Be sure the mixture is light in color and texture. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time and mix for about 2 minutes at a higher speed to be sure they are all incorporated. Scrape the bowl.
5. Add in the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest and mix in.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix on low, just until the big streaks of flour disappear.
7. Take the bowl off the mixer and use a spatula to gently fold the coated blueberries and any extra dry ingredients into the batter.
8. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins and top with the crumble topping.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, be sure to start checking your muffins at the 23-25 minute mark. They will be finished when their centers spring back when pressed gently with a finger.
10. Remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a cooling rack or serve warm with a pat of butter.
11. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark at New York Times Cooking