Very Berry Muffins @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I was craving blueberry muffins last week and came across a good-looking recipe at Once Upon a Chef. I followed her recipe, with a few tweaks—some strawberries instead of all blue since it’s that season in our garden, a little less salt, and cinnamon in the sugar topping. So delicious! And it turned out that they are red, white and blue, so perfect for the Fourth of July!

I made these twice, once with an electric beater and once in my food processor. The second was definitely easier, but be careful not to over-beat at any stage—it’s easy to do that with a machine. And I think you might be able to tell that in the strawberry batch, I forgot to sift the flour over the berries before mixing them in.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup milk

2-1/4 cups fresh blueberries, or combination with strawberries

2 tablespoons coarse sugar 

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350.

Let the ingredients come to room temperature, then cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each. Mix in the two extracts.

Combine the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the dry alternately with the milk, beating lightly after each.

Sift a bit of flour over the berries, and then fold them into the batter. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar.

Spray a muffin pan with oil, and then place paper muffin cups inside. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. 

Bake for 26-30 minutes, until tops are golden brown. (I took mine out after 26.)

And T-bone would like to let you know that THE KEY LIME CRIME will be out as a trade paperback on July 13. You can order it here.

And please take a look at my brand-new gorgeous website, LucyBurdette.com