“Don’t be blue” berry and sour-cream muffins

These muffins deserve an attention-grabbing name like “Blueberry breakup muffins” or “Don’t be blueberry muffins.” Because they can make the rainiest of days (like the entire South is experiencing this week)  a little bit sweeter.

My aunt and uncle own a blueberry farm in Arkansas. Growing up, I spent many summers in the sticky sun, picking buckets of blueberries for 50 cents an hour. Child labor! Perhaps that’s why I never liked blueberries – I don’t like blueberry pie, cobbler or pancakes.

But, for some reason, I love these blueberry muffins.

I got the recipe from Ina Garten as I looked for a way to use up 2 pints of old farmers’ market bluberries that Jesse’s brother bought a week ago. We happened to have some eggs, milk and sour cream in the fridge, too, so I had everything I needed to make them.

And that sour cream – whoa. As they baked, the muffins smelled like my mom’s cream-cheese sugar cookies that she makes at Christmas. The muffins come out light and fluffy, sticky with sugar and containing that extra bite from the sour cream. The tart blueberries are a nice burst of juice, of course.

I always thought you had to mix the blueberries in flour for muffins – so they don’t sink to the bottom of the muffins. But these didn’t include a flour dusting and the blueberries were suspended throughout the muffins. Maybe that was from the leavening agents?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. sour cream (about 1 cup – I had less than a cup but it turned out fine)

1/4 c. milk

2 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 half pints of blueberries (or more!), picked through for stems

Heat oven to 350. Line two muffin pans with paper liners.

Cream together the sugar and butter for five minutes, until light and airy. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla, sour cream and milk.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the egg mixture and blend. Fold in the blueberries.

Scoop the mixture evenly into the prepared pans. You should have enough for 2 dozen. Bake for 25-30 min. (mine took 28 minutes), turning the pan half-way through. They should be lightly browned and a cake tester will come out clean (toothpick inserted in center). Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy these with coffee for breakfast, or with a glass of milk after dinner. There is simply  no bad time to eat a great blueberry muffin.

Enjoy, friends! xoxo

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