Sunday Blueberry Muffins

From Daryl aka Avery:

Gack! My bad. I had a guest scheduled and I completely forgot to remind her to send me her post.

So, today, you are stuck with me.

But, luckily, I have the perfect Sunday food. Muffins.  Yay! Breakfast, brunch, snack? Oh, yes!

Blueberry muffins. I love them. They're so easy. So delicious. A perfect mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick-me-up. And for me, as a writer, I often need that. Do you? You just feel a little "off" and soemthing sweet, but not too sweet, can change your whole outlook.

I know, I should simply choose a fruit, but often times, it's not the season for that perfect fruit (like peaches - always my favorite fruit). Blueberries, however, are in stores almost all year round. Probably because we're able to get them from a variety of regions and they travel well in their boxes. Probably because they don't need to be perfect when shipped.

I like them because they don't have to be super sweet when used in a muffin. They're in them for color and texture, but the sugar you add seems to be enough to make these little gems just right.

For me, of course, I need these gluten-free. So I offer you a gluten-free recipe!  But if you can eat regular flour, substitute regular flour for the gluten-free flours and don't use the Xanthan gum. It's that easy to convert.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins (see note below for regular version)

Preheat oven 375 degrees

Ingredients:

½ cup plus 2 T. milk

½ cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature (I melt it in microwave)

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract (vanillin is okay)

2 ½ cups blueberries

2 teaspoons GF baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon salt

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 cup sweet white rice flour

(Reminder note: if you want to do these with regular flour, use regular flour (for all the flours) and eliminate the xanthan gum; use regular vanilla extract and regular baking powder. It really is that easy to switch to gluten-free!

Gluten-free folks: you can use 2 cups of your regular GF flour mix if you don't have these specialty flours!!)

Directions:

Mix the milk, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.

Mash 1 cup of the blueberries. Add the berries and the GF baking powder to the mix.

Stir together the gluten-free flours, xanthan gum and salt. Add the flour to the egg mixture.

Add 1 ½ cup MORE blueberries, whole (not mashed). Fold together.

Pour into muffin cups (makes 12 very full muffins) The trick, I’ve learned is to make the muffin cups about 2/3 full so they don’t overflow.

Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy the entire day.

*****

Daryl Wood Gerber also writes as Avery Aames, 

author of the Agatha Award-winning,

nationally bestselling CHEESE SHOP MYSTERY SERIES 

The 1st in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series is coming July 2013!!

FINAL SENTENCE.

You can pre-order the book HERE.

The 4th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series is out! 

TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE
You can order the book HERE. 

You can learn more about me, Daryl by clicking this LINK. "Like" my page on Facebook and "follow" me on Twitter. And if you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list

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