blueberry and cinnamon muffins

Again, this is from Alton Brown's "Old School" Muffins. It's such a lovely recipe; the muffins are soft, sweet, moist, and have a thick crumb suitable for a big breakfast muffin. Largely I think it's the yogurt's fault.



These were filled with blueberries donated by my apartment-mate the Barefoot Zombie. The extra cinnamon was then added in her honor, because she is a cinnamon fiend.


Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Alton Brown's "Old-School Muffins"
Makes twelve (260 calorie/30 carb) muffins
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of salt

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter
1 egg plus one egg yolk
1 C plain yogurt
2 Tb buttermilk

struesel
1/4 C brown sugar
1/3 C flour
1 Tb cinnamon
3 Tb butter



Preheat your oven to 375. Line your favorite muffin tin with paper cups or grease them. (I'm a lazy cleaner; I use my paper cups).

Good bakers weigh their dry ingredients and sift them (or run them through a food processor; you achieve the same effect as sifting). I'm a lazy baker. But, hey, if you aren't? Take those dry goods (that would be the flour, the baking powder and soda, and the salt) and sift them into a separate bowl. Good job. I applaud you and your soul, which is a better one than mine.



Next, beat the sugar, shortening, eggs, yogurt, sour cream, and half n' half together for a few minutes. When you get bored of watching it spin around (or, if you've a hand mixer, when your arm gets tired) and everything seems incorportated, turn off the mixer. Dump the dry good (sifted and mixed... or not) straight on top. Mix on a low speed for a few seconds, or until everything is just barely incorporated. It's OK to have some dry flour hanging about. Overmixing muffins is a serious sin, folks. It kills the tenderness. Just stir until everything barely hangs together.

This is very stiff, thick batter; it's almost more like a sticky dough. Don't worry about it.



Fold the blueberries into the batter. Don't mix too much; just fold it a few times and let it be.

Now, spoon your stiff dough into 12 muffin cups. The cups should be full. I know this goes against all "fill-it-2/3-of-the-way-up" muffin logic we've been taught, but it works with this batter.

In a separate bowl, now, mix the struesel ingredients. I like smooshing them with a fork or a sturdy whisk. When it's crumbly enough to sprinkle, you're down. If it feels very moist and forms balls bigger than a pea, toss in a Tb or two of flour. Sprinkle on top of the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Remove from the muffin pan immediately to keep the bottoms from going soggy.

Let cool for as long as you can stand the gently wafting aroma of baked brown sugar and cinnamon. Then, yeah, you can eat them.