VMBURNS: I'm currently working on my Baker Street Mystery book #6 and blueberries play a big role in this book. So, I need to test one of my recipes. I've made baked goods with blueberries before, but I am a bit heavy handed with my mixing, which doesn't work well with blueberries. Pretty much everything I've baked has come out blue. If you burst the berries, your baked goods will be blue. They still taste good, but the color change isn't appealing. A little bit of blue is unavoidable. Some of the berries will burst during the baking process, but my goal was to minimize the color bleed. So, this was my challenge. DON'T BREAK THE BERRIES!
For the first time EVER, my blueberries remained in tact.
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Ingredients
- 2/3 Cup of sugar, plus 2 Tablespoons for the top
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 Cup milk
- ½ Cup melted butter
- 1 ½ Teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 ¼ Cup flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Cup Sour Cream
- 1 Cup fresh blueberries
InSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375*F. Lighly grease a muffin tin and insert muffin liners.
- Combine sugar, egg, butter, milk, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir until well combined.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet. Stir to combine, but don’t overmix.
- Stir in the sour cream and GENTLY fold in the blueberries.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared muffin pan, and sprinkle the tablespoon of sugar over the tops.
- Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- READERS: What's your favorite blueberry baked good? Do you like muffins, pies, scones? Do yours come out blue? Or, are you gentler when mixing than I am? It's okay. You can tell me. It won't hurt my feelings if I'm the only one with blue food. Let me know in the comments below. Leave your email address to be included in the drawing.
MURDER AT FIRST SLICE (ARC)
As Maddy’s wedding day approaches, friends and family descend on the little town of New Bison, Michigan, to celebrate—so much so that Maddy wonders if there might be another happily-ever-after in store for her widowed father and innkeeper Mrs. Law. Unfortunately, she also has to deal with an unhappy couple: feuding cousins Hannah and Dorothy, who haven’t spoken in decades. Maddy can only hope the spectacular wedding cake crafted by her head baker doesn’t wind up as ammunition in a food fight.
But she doesn’t have to wait long for a wedding disaster to strike. When the imperious Dorothy crashes the rehearsal dinner—with several uninvited guests in tow—and starts battering everyone with constant complaints, the drama reaches reality-show levels. And the next day, Dorothy is dead . . . with Hannah standing over the body, bloody rolling pin in hand.
Nobody in town believes Miss Hannah could commit murder. But a detective newly relocated from New York doesn’t know the sweet, memory-challenged Hannah the way the locals do—and the evidence seems open-and-shut as an oven. Now, with her sous-sleuths the Baker Street Irregulars, the bride-to-be is busy digging into Dorothy’s past to catch a killer before she cuts the cake . . .






Your blueberry muffins look so good. I have baked many blue batter muffins. The muffins look pretty after baking though! My favorite blueberry treat is muffins and scones. 🫐 Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletejarjm1980(at)hotmail(dot)com
Glad I'm not the only ones with the blue batter! LOL I LOVE scones, too. I'm not sure if I should press my luck and try for blueberry scones or quit while I'm ahead.
DeleteBlueberry Muffins are my favorite Blueberry baked goods so good. Your Blueberry Muffins look good
ReplyDeletedon.stewart@zoominternet.net
Thanks. They were delicious and it didn't take me long to finish them off.
DeleteA tasty addition to blueberry muffins is a heaping tablespoon of lemon curd mixed in before adding the blueberries.. I use Trader Joe's brand or any British variety available at the grocery store...Yummy!
ReplyDelete(email: huggid@aol.com)
YUM! That sounds amazing. I am working on a blueberry lemon scone, and the lemon curd sounds like a great idea.
DeleteThank you for the Blueberry Muffin recipe. Over the years, I’ve found to put the blueberries in last and to just barely stir to have then through out the batter.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things to make with blueberries is Blueberry Crunch. It’s super easy and oh so yummy. Here’s the recipe.
Blueberry Crunch
Ingredients
Butter cake mix
20 oz can crushed pineapple – unstrained
3 cups blueberries
1 stick butter
1 cup chopped pecans (grew up where if 1 cup was good then 2 was better – meaning I use 2 cups of chopped pecans)
¼ cup sugar
Directions
Spread pineapple & blueberries in 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle with ¾ cup sugar. (I mix pineapple and sugar in a bowl and then pour into pan. Then top with the blueberries. I have used frozen blueberries in this recipe quite often. Just rinse in a strainer to get any ice off and partly to thaw a little bit.) Spread dry cake mix over fruit layer and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with pecans and ¼ cup sugar. (I take an additional 2 tablespoon or so of melted butter – can’t have too much butter LOL - and mix toss with pecans and then stir the sugar to coat stirring lightly and then sprinkle it on top of).
Bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. (I find that it take longer to cook. Cook until browned on top and doesn’t have that “raw” look to the cake mix on top. If pecans start to brown too much, turn the temperature down some.) Afte the first 25 minutes cut through the mixture in several places with the side of a spoon. (I cut through with a spoon about every 10 minutes after the first 25 until done.)
The person that gave this recipe to me said she made it all the time with Splenda instead of sugar. I have never tried it.
I’ve also halved the cake mix and all other ingredients and made it in a 8x8 inch pan since there are just the two of us now.
Thank you for the chance! Would love the opportunity to read and review.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Yummy!!!
DeleteThis looks amazing and I love pecans. I can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteYour muffins look so good! I usually end up with blue food with blueberries - I like the color change.
ReplyDeleteFavorite blueberry treats are lemon blueberry scones, lemon blueberry muffins or blueberry pancakes. Typing this makes me wonder how a lemon blueberry pancake would be - with blueberry syrup. Thanks for the chance to win. madamhawk at gmail dot com.
I am actually working on a lemon blueberry scone recipe for the book. I hope I can continue without making them completely blue. Fingers crossed.
DeleteMuffins or donuts are probably my favorite. And I don't mind if they're blue. In fact, I've seen a recipe that uses blueberry pie filling in addition to whole berries, to get more of the flavor throughout. It would definitely be blue but at least you can tell it's there. I don't like when some get stingy on the berries.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next Baker Street and Mystery Bookshop books!
kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com
I love the idea of leaning into the blue coloring and I do love blueberry donuts. Now that I know I'm capable of making them without bursting every blueberry, I might embrace the blue. LOL
DeleteI eat a blueberry muffin every Saturday and Sunday! My favorite is like Kay's, but I haven't made it in years. This makes me crave that! christy41970 at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to have a ritual that involves muffins. My only weekend ritual involves cleaning. LOL
DeleteI love blueberry muffins. I have always heard blue food is not appetizing. My berries always get mashed from my heavy hand and I don't care - it still tastes great. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only heavy handed baker here. And you're right. They still taste wonderful. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteBlueberry pie fan here, although I do love a blueberry muffin and sometimes they do have a blue cast to them, but I tend to add them last and stir the batter by hand to fold them in and that minimizes the blue. Excited to read Maddie's new adventure. It sounds fabulous! makennedyinaz at hotmail dot com
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of blueberry pie is that it's okay if it's blue. Although, I always find myself wearing a bit of it, too. Thanks for sharing. The next Baker Street Mystery releases in July. The blueberries will be in the book following that one. Fingers crossed I can get this done!
DeleteThese muffins look delicious, Valerie, and congrats on your upcoming release! Honestly I think it comes down to the firmness of the blueberries on whether they burst during mixing or not, but adding them in at the end is a must. Sometimes in a pinch I'll use frozen blueberries instead of fresh and there's no getting around having blue baked goods, lol.
ReplyDeleteI would love to attribute my blue baked goods to whimpy berries, but I suspect it's more due to my lack of finesse. Frozen is probably the best solution. Next time.
DeleteLove blueberry muffins.
ReplyDeleteKit3247@aol.com
Thanks Rita. I still love carrot cake muffins, but these were so good, they have moved up to second place.
DeleteSounds so good!
ReplyDeleteThey were delicious. Next time, I might try adding lemon to the mix. I love that combination. If nothing else, my blue muffins, mixed with lemon may turn out green! ROFL Not sure that's an improvement.
DeleteI like everything made with blueberries. But my top favorite choice is, Blueberry Muffins. Mine come out blue, because of blueberry pie filing, which is used in addition to blueberries. Of course the muffins are a little darker after baking, than before. But so delicious! johnlong83rocketmail.com
ReplyDeleteI love that. Adding the blueberry pie filling makes the blue color much more intentional. Good idea!
DeleteThose blueberry muffins look delicious, Valerie! I have to confess that I have only made blueberry crumble before, but never made muffins, pies or even my favorite: scones! Blueberries are not as plentiful here in California, and the prices had been sky high until this week, so I have been using fruits that we have in our ranch, like strawberries and rhubarb. Next will be mangoes...we have huge quantities coming this year...last year we had very few. In honor of you and Maddy I will make an effort to bake blueberry muffins! Thank you so much for all the fun reading and eating! JOY!!! Luis at ole dot travel
ReplyDeleteI make blueberry muffins and I like a peach and blueberry cobbler. My son made the muffins and they turned out blue I know better and stir gently. Deborah deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI like blueberry muffins and scones. And I don’t mind if they’re blue.
ReplyDeleteWskwared(at)yahoo(dot)com
I like blueberries any way you can make them.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is blueberry pie--pre-baked pie shell, raw berries, lemon/sugar/water glaze. NOT baked. All piled high with freshly whipped cream.
libbydodd at cocmast dot net
I'll echo Libby in saying that while I enjoy blueberry muffins, pies and crumbles, I also like many blueberry treats that are not baked, such as unbaked and cold Mango Tango Pie with blueberries. Also good are blueberry smoothies, and lemon-blueberry trifles. My very favorite treat that I really miss were my husband's blueberry pancakes. His were the best!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy blueberry muffins. I don't bake much, so I don't have a problem with blue batter. Blueberry muffins are amazing even if the batter is blue, especially in blueberries season.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
I love to make and eat blueberry muffins. I'll admit, I have baked many blue tinted blueberry muffins over the years. Mixing them does take a feather light touch! Good luck to us all!
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
Blueberry muffins are my favorite. Thank you for the chance to win AlAm22@msn.com
ReplyDelete