blueberry muffins

i made the yummiest blueberry muffins yesterday.

it was very cold yesterday — didn’t get above freezing — and sort of wet. in otherwords, a perfect day for baking.

these muffins were sooooo easy to do. i mixed 1-1/2 cups of flour (i used all purpose unbleached; next time i’ll try using stone ground whole wheat), 1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons of mixed lemon and orange zest. in another bowl i melted 1 stick of butter, and gradually whisked in 1 cup of whole milk (the first time i didn’t let the butter cool enough first, and the milk curdled… it was nasty) and 2 eggs. i added the liquid to the dry ingredients, stirred just enough to get it combined, and added 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries that my mom brought me a few weeks ago.

i piled this mixture into 12 paper-lined muffin cups, pressed a few more blueberries into the tops of each muffin, and sprinkled the tops with just a tiny bit of sugar. i baked it at 375 for about 25 minutes, until they were puffy, golden on top, and a toothpick stuck into the middle one came out clean.

the cornmeal makes them crunchy! i was apprehensive at first but now i’m sold on the cornmeal muffin concept. the original recipe called for double that amount of sugar, but it seemed like a lot, and i’m glad i didn’t do that because these are really sweet even with half the amount of sugar.

i think this recipe will go in the next book. maybe i will add a bit of nutmeg next time too.