Blueberry Muffins

What a perfect way to start the morning!  I love breakfast foods, but I am so not a breakfast person.  I usually can't eat until I've been up and going for a few hours.  Otherwise food just makes me feel gross.  So I usually go for a mid-morning snack like muffins.  And these muffins were wonderful!

I love that they had lots of blueberry flavor, but they weren't over doing it on that front either.  There was still enough muffin.  And the blueberry syrup on top!  Mmmmmm.  Like I said: Perfect way to start the morning.

BLUE BERRY MUFFINS
Posted at: http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com
Originally from: A Cook's Quest

• 2 cups fresh blueberries (I used 2 packages from the store)
• 1 1/8 cups  plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 1/2 cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Prepare standard muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries, water,  and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing the berries with your potato masher or fork several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced by about half.  This will take about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.


Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and well combined. Slowly mix in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix.)


Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. 


Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.