Blueberry Muffins

During a quick shopping trip with my sister to the 99 Cent Store for some cleaning supplies, I ventured into the produce section. Now, before you think that they don't have yummy, un-expired things there, believe me when I tell you they do. I discovered their produce when I was throwing a bridal shower. After returning home from Costco with a large fruit tray that was over priced, I realized that there was not enough of the fruits that most people enjoyed i.e., grapes and strawberries. A relative recommended that I try the 99 Cent Store. With some hesitation I went and purchased the above mentioned fruits and headed over to the bridal shower. At the end of the shower, to my surprise, the fruits I had purchased at a "discount" were completely gone, and the platter I over paid for was still half full. So, lesson learned, discount doesn't always mean expired or that no one wanted to eat them in the first place.

What does this have to do with blueberry muffins? Well, back to my quick shopping trip at the 99. As I wandered the produce section, I came upon blueberries. They looked fresh, smelled great, and my favorite part was that they were, of course, 99 cents each. (Compared to the 1.99+ that the regular super markets charge, I figured that was great.) Couldn't hurt to try them, so I bought 2 packages. After scouring Pinterest, Martha Stewart.com, and all of my cookbooks, I came up with two options: blueberry buckle and blueberry muffins. My wonderful Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (see details on the side bar) also lists the nutrition info for each recipe. The muffins won because they had less than half the fat, calories, and sugar content of the buckle. Here's what you've all been waiting for, drum roll please!

Blueberry Muffin Recipe - Better Homes and Gardens
Makes 12 muffins and total prep and bake time is about 30 minutes.
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/4 cup cooking oil (I used Canola)
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel into batter
1 recipe Streusel Topping (Recipe to follow)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease or line a muffin tray.
In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt.
In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be a little lumpy).
Fold in blueberries.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin pan about 3/4 full.
Add about 1 tbsp of Streusel Topping to the top of each muffin.
Bake 18-20 minutes at 400 F

Streusel Topping Recipe -
In a small bowl, stir together 3 tbsp all purpose flour, 3 tbsp packed brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tbsp butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Optional: Add in 2 tbsp pecans or walnuts (I didn't add nuts.)
A pastry blender worked great to get the "coarse crumb" look, but a fork would also work. It takes 5-10 minutes of mixing to get the butter small enough. DO NOT melt the butter first.

What I learned from this?? Previously, when a recipe called for a small amount of lemon (or another citrus) zest, I simply omitted it because I either didn't have the lemon or the zester. (Note: A cheese grater works great.) After eating these delicious muffins, I will never again leave out the lemon peel/zest. It added such a wonderful flavor to the muffins, that was not overpowering.