Columbus Foodie

I’m not sure exactly why, but over the past couple of weeks the price of blueberries has been down a bit, with the prices for a pint about at the same levels they were last summer when they were seasonal. Of course, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, so once I used them in the recipe I planned, I still had a little over a quart of berries left.

Considering that I had the better part of a bag of Meyer lemons also in the fridge needing to be used up, this recipe seemed like a no-brainer when I first saw it.

They came out tasting as good as they look, incredibly light and moist and chock full of huge blueberries. My favorite part was the streusel topping – somehow it just worked with both of the other main ingredients.

Streusel Topped Meyer Lemon-Blueberry Muffins
recipe from Fifteen Spatulas food blog

Ingredients:
8 oz all purpose flour (about 1.5 cups)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Zest of 2 meyer lemons
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 extra large egg
1/3 cup milk
2 cups blueberries
Streusel crumb topping (recipe below)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Prepare the streusel crumb topping (recipe below).

Whisk to combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and meyer lemon zest. Take a tbsp of the mixture and toss it with the blueberries. This ensures that the blueberries stay suspended throughout the muffin, instead of falling to the bottom.

Place the vegetable oil, egg, and milk in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add that to the flour mixture, and remember, leave lots of lumps. If there aren’t any lumps whenever you are using the muffin method of baking, you have overmixed and invited more gluten (and toughness) to the party than was welcome. Don’t worry, a few lumps will bake out.

Dump in the blueberries, and fold them in gently. Use a disher to portion them out into the muffin cups, and sprinkle the crumb topping all over the tops. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with no wet batter. Let them cool, and enjoy!

Streusel Crumb Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
2.5 oz flour (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp cinnamon (cinnamon goes beautifully with blueberries)

Dice up the butter into cubes, and work all of the ingredients together with your fingertips, until it forms a bunch of crumbs and clumps. You can now sprinkle it over the tops of your muffins.