Image: FoodandWine.com

Food & Wine magazine has some awesome recipes… and this is one of them. If you’re in the mood for a nice blueberry muffin with a gorgeous crumb topping give these a shot. To lighten things up I used half applesauce and half canola oil, the results were pretty darned good… but no doubt, they probably are better with the full 1/2 cup of canola oil… you can click THIS link to take you to the Food and Wine recipe so that it’s quick to print, or you can see below…

ACTIVE TIME: 20 MIN  TOTAL TIME: 1 HR   MAKES 18 MUFFINS

These muffins are easy to make: Simply mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, and then combine them. Since the baking powder, which lightens the muffins, is activated by moisture, get the batter into the oven immediately. For soft edges, use liners; for crisp edges, use a well-greased, unlined pan. You can easily replace the blueberries with other kinds of fresh fruit, such as raspberries or peaches (chopped into small pieces). In the off-season I used IQF (individually quick-frozen) fruit; there’s no need to thaw.

INGREDIENTS:

CRUMB TOPPING

                   1 cup all-purpose flour

                   3 tablespoons light brown sugar

                   2 tablespoons granulated sugar

                   1 teaspoon baking powder

                   Pinch of salt

                   6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

MUFFINS

                   1 ¾  cups all-purpose flour

                   2 ¼  teaspoons baking powder

                   ½  teaspoon salt

                   1 cup granulated sugar

                   2 large eggs

                   ½ cup canola oil

                   ¾  cup whole milk

                   1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

                   1 ½  cups blueberries   

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 18 muffin cups with paper or foil liners or spray 2 muffin tins with cooking spray.

MAKE THE CRUMB TOPPING: In a medium bowl, combine the flour with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the melted butter, and then pinch the mixture until it forms pea-size clumps.

MAKE THE MUFFINS: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and canola oil and beat with a handheld electric mixer at low speed until combined. Beat in the whole milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and beat at low speed until the batter is smooth. Stir in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into 18 of the cups, filling them about three-quarters full. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each one and bake for about 30 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the blueberry muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes before serving.

MAKE AHEAD Once cooled, the blueberry muffins can be kept overnight in an airtight container.

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Well, give them a try, let me know what you think… weren’t they FABULOUS?? Catch you back here tomorrow…

In the meantime, if you get a break check out my daily blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !