Christmas Gift #8: Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Thank goodness we have had no snow so far this winter.   (Watch it—I know I just jinxed it.)

Last winter I was home-bound for about a week because of the weather.  I went on a baking binge.   Thanks to a lot of great foodie pals who post fantastic recipes, I kept quite busy.   One of my favorite things to come out of my baking binge was a Streusel-Topped Banana Mufins at In Katrina’s Kitchen.   I loved this streusel topping from Katrina and I decided to top off some blueberry muffins with this same topping.

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

6 T. butter
½ c. 2% milk
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
¼ t. vanilla
1 ½ c. flour
¾ c. sugar
1 ½ t. baking powder
¼ t. cinnamon
¾ t. fine sea salt
2 c. blueberries (individually frozen is best)

For topping:
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and generously butter 12 large muffin tins.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over moderately low heat; remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Add milk to butter and whisk.   Add egg, yolk, and vanilla and whisk well to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt).   Add milk mixture and stir until just combined.   Gently fold in blueberries.

Fill tins ¾ full.

Make topping.   Whisk together flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Add melted butter and stir together with a fork.  Topping will be crumbly.

Top each muffin with a generous amount of the topping.   Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.   Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then carefully remove to wire racks.

(The basic blueberry muffin recipe also came from my beloved yellow Gourmet cookbook.)

I placed these muffins in a wooden box lined with toille paper I bought at Williams-Sonoma many years ago.   You can find some cool wooden boxes at some hobby stores.   I am reusing a box that held some great olive oil and balsamic vinegar that was given to us as a gift. I don’t know where you stand on re-gifting, but reusing is acceptable at Christmas!

(We will see how my early morning meeting crew likes these muffins along with the Yogurt-Flax Muffins from my last post.    And, if you chocolate and bananas, stay tuned for the next muffin installment.)