Blueberry Muffins-Barefoot Contessa Style

This was my turn to pick one of this month’s Ina Garten Recipes for Barefoot Bloggers.  Unfortuntely when I received the email we were out of town, but more importantly away from my cookbooks.  I could only think about the wonderful blueberry murffins I had made once and had never posted about.  Plus it is blueberry season in most parts of the country so I was thrilled to make them again w/o frozen berries.  As I am typing this post I keep going to the fridge to grab a handful of the berries we picked today.  For local readers, Swift Creek Berry Farm is still open for business and full of berries.

The recipe I chose was Streusel topped Muffins.
The first time I made them My husband kept asking me if I bought them!!

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints)

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a large bowl and blend with your hands.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs.  Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing  just until blended.  Fold the blueberries into the batter.  Don’t overmix!  With a standard (2 1/4″) ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full.
3. For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces.  Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly.  Spoon about 1 tbsp of the streusel on top of each muffin.  Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

The other Barefoot Blogger recipe was Greek Panzanella Salad which I will post about tomorrow.