Strawberry and Blueberry Muffins with a Streusel Topping

Our CSA continues to delight us with more berries than we can keep up with!  While I love the thought of frozen berries to enjoy later this year once the summer bounty diminishes, it seems such a shame to not use up as many as possible while at their peek of freshness.  With a double batch of berries in hand, I could think of no better idea than to play around with a few muffin mixtures.

The end result is a hodge podge of three recipes I tinkered with.  The batter is thick, almost the consistency of co



okie dough.  At first I found this a bit frustrating, particularly when I attempted to fill the muffin tin.  But in the end the thick batter resulted in muffins evenly studded with fruit, instead of a mess of berries submerged at the bottom.

A sprinkle of sugar spiked with lemon zest makes a bright wonderful topping, but I am a sucker for a good streusel.  Nothing really beats the Better Homes and Gardens version...

Inspired by Alton Brown, Confessions of a Baking Queen the BHG cookbook and Smitten Kitchen

The Ingredients:
for the muffins
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sliced or quartered strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries

for the topping
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp butter

The Process:
preheat the oven to 380

Line a 12 ct muffin tin with paper liners or generously mist each cup with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy.  Beat in the egg until well combined.  Mix in the yogurt, milk, vanilla and zest.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix in half of the dry into the wet until well combined.  Sift in the remaining dry ingredients in to batter, until just mixed.  Fold in the berries.

For the topping, in a small bowl combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, fill the cups of the muffin tin approximately 3/4 full.  Sprinkle with topping.

  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pan once while baking.

Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

Eggless Blackberry Boy Bait

I love alliteration, don't you?

I know. I know...egg-less doesn't fit in with the beautiful bounty of b's.  But it is the reason I first came upon the recipe.  You see, I had an itty-bitty box of breathtaking blackberries and nary a use for them.  They had been glowing, at their peak of ripeness.  I couldn't let these beauties go to waste.

Only, I didn't have any eggs.  Nada.  Zilch.  Ross made frequent offers to run to the store at 9 pm to gather what I lacked, but I vehemently refused.  We had planned our grocery shopping for the next day and I refused to let him make the extra trip for one ingredient.  I was determined to find an egg-less dessert. 

And I had wonderful success courtesy of the husband and wife team at Chef In You.

So what is a boy bait?  From what I've gathered among various sources, a 15 year-old girl submitted a butter-loaded blueberry cake a Pillsbury bake-off in 1954.  She dubbed it boy bait for its ability to lure in the opposite sex.  I'd go so far as to say this cake could lure in almost anyone.  It won second place.  To what?  I'm not sure.  Pillsbury's website is sadly lacking any reference to boy bait..

The treat is reminiscent of blueberry muffins--indeed it is traditional made with blueberries--but baked up in a single layer, allowed to cool and cut into squares.  This version earns its egglessness thanks to the addition of yogurt.  But all of the buttery goodness remains...

adapted from recipes at the Chef In You and Smitten Kitchen

serves 12+

The Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tsp
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blackberries
1/4 cup cinnamon-sugar

The Process:
Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars, beating until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Beat in 1/2 cup of the yogurt, 1/4 cup of the milk and the vanilla.  Fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Add the remaining yogurt and mix well.  Fold in another third of the flour, followed by the remaining milk.  Add the remaining flour and mix until just combined.

Toss 1/2 cup of the blackberries with 1Tbsp of flour. Gently fold the berries into the batter.  Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Distribute the remaining berries over the batter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for at least twenty minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan to a serving tray and allow to cool completely (if you can!)  The cake will be far easier to slice once cool. 

The Review:
My first attempt at this recipe was incredibly tasty.  But I did a very stupid thing.  Instead of using the 9x13 pan recommended, I reached for my 9-inch cake pan.  The batter filled the pan almost to the brim.  I feared an overflow and placed a cookie sheet on the rack below, lest the cake ooze all over the bottom of my oven.  I had to add nearly 15 minutes to the bake time.  The toothpick came out clean. 

The toothpick test deceived me.

The center of the cake quickly collapsed into a pile of nearly raw batter.  You can barely tell from the photos.  We still enjoyed it.  Well...most of it...

Attempt no. 2 was a much bigger success. My husband insists this treat is laced with crack...

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles

I appear to be on a waffle kick recently.  Perhaps the rarity of two lazy Sundays in a row with my husband are to blame.  It's not often both of us are off of work in the morning together.

So far every waffle I've attempted has been a wonderful success. Why stop now?  This recipe offers a completely different base than the previous waffles I've tried. Fresh blueberries are the featured star.  Oh blueberries...how you taunt with thoughts of summer warmth when the weather outside lingers around 13 degrees...

adapted from Nicole's' recipe at Baking Bites

yields 6-8 Belgian style waffles (depending on the iron used)

The Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup fresh blueberries

The Process:
Preheat oven to 250 and warm up the waffle iron.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolks, vanilla and melted butter until smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and whisk until well combined.

In a separate mixing bowl with an electric beater, or by hand with a strong wrist action, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.  Fold the whites gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.  Do not over mix!  The batter should retain as much air as possible from the whites.

Gently stir in blueberries. Allow batter to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Brush or mist the waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter into waffle iron, spreading quickly with a spatula to cover the entire griddle surface (amount varies depending on waffle iron, mine uses just over 1/2 a cup). Cook according to iron manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

Serve warm, garnished with additional blueberries and topped with powder sugar or syrup 

The Review: 
Another successful waffle! And quite a bit different from the previous waffle recipes I've tried recently.  The batter was very thick and a bit sponge-like, making it tricky to spread over the griddle.  For those with in interest in chemistry in the kitchen, this is a good recipe to try.  You can see the effects of baking soda, baking powder and buttermilk...acids and bases...bubbling up to make the batter dense, yet air. The reaction accounts for the spongy look of the batter.

The batter was a good indication of how the waffles would turn out.  The waffles were light, but the texture much denser than both the pumpkin and plain waffles.  Also, the extra moisture added as the blueberries burst opened and steamed up the griddle prevented the beautifully crisp outer layer I adore on my waffles.  But i doubt there is anyway around that when you use fresh fruits to cook.  Beautiful purple juices sputtered and dripped over the side of the iron as the blueberries swelled and burst, sizzling away on the hot surface.  Be prepared for extra clean up!

But the flavors were divine...just sweet enough to compliment the blueberries, with just a hint of vanilla.  A hint of buttery flavor.  A burst of alternating tart and sweet berries...

I could get used to a Sunday morning waffle tradition...