SMURFBERRY MUFFINS

Today is my grandaughter's last day to visit,she loves bluberries- soooo I thought I would make her what my oldest daughter LaNae would call "Smurfberry Muffins"-Blueberry Muffins.  She called it that because the way we do it, the dough looks kinda grayish-purple, I guess just because it was a colored batter it generated her thought to the smurfs who at the time was quite popular, it just makes it fun.  Everyone loves these muffins, probably because there is more than a blueberry in every bite and the crunchy topping gives it that little extra ,soaring it over the top.
The thing about these muffins is you can prepare the topping mixture, wrap it and refrigerate it and mix the dry ingredients together the night before and it will be a breeze the next morning. How did this get started? Well, I always have loved muffins and a girlfriend Jenice  gave me a muffin book one year for christmas.  I liked the recipes and at the same time could come up with ways to make them better.  I found out that I prefer frozen  bumbucha (BIG) blueberries.  They are so much better in the batter, frozen keeps the berries from breaking up, juicy when baked and I found that  a lot of people used the really small blueberries I just did not care for them so wella this has been our trademark.  I also felt the muffins needed some crunch so what better than a crumb topping with a little cinnamon! We just love it- hope you do too!  So here it goes!



SMURFBERRY MUFFINS AKA BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Preheat oven to 375F

Mix together: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup cold salted butter, cubed.

Mix together until it is a crumb like texture. Refrigerate until ready to put topping on muffins.

In a bowl beat until creamy: 1/2 cup salted butter; add 1 cup granulated sugar mix until fluffy.

Crack two large eggs in a small bowl and one at a time add to butter mixture beating well after each addition.Next mix in 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt.

Cream the butter.

Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy.

Beat eggs in one at a time, mixing well.

The batter after the second egg addition.

Adding in the vanilla, BP and salt.

Next the smashed smurfberries(blueberries).

The beautiful color of the batter.

2 cups AP Flour and 1/2 cup whole milk.

Now mix in flour with rubber spatula, do not over mix.  Over mixing will give you muffins with mountain peaks, and you don't want that!

Do the same with the milk.

Batter after all milk and flour has been added.

Mix in the FROZEN blueberries. The coldness of the berries keeps the berries from smooshing up so much. It also keeps the batter together nicely when scooping into the liners.

Spoon heaping tablespoons of batter into greased liners. Should fill about 15 cups.

Sprinkle crumb topping on top using all the topping. I like to make a double batch of the topping and use it all up. When using muffin tins spray the top pf the pan also.

It depends on who I am making the muffins for, I either use foil liners or a little nicer cup liner and you can even add a tulip liner to put in the cup liner, which makes it very professional looking.

Bake in a  375F preheated oven. Usually 25-30 minutes, it will depend on your oven. Also I set my timer to 15 minutes then turn the pans around or if I have two pans in the oven I also switch racks. Set timer for remaining time and check to see if middle is cooked and topping should be a nice golden brown.

Meanwhile: CLEAN-UP! When you have help it's even better!

Granchildren are such a joy!

When the muffins are ready let them cool for about 10 minutes, to make them easier to handle especially having to get them out of the muffin tin.

So make this for your family and serve it with eggs and  applewood smoked bacon, or portugese sausage or fried spam or just regular link sausages.  Maybe just have it with a nice cold glass of milk or a really good hot chocolate, depending on the weather! Freeze it  and warm it in microwave for breakfast or a snack!  WE have enjoyed these so much, hope you and your family will enjoy it too!