Feeling Blue

Gertrude wants my recipe for Blueberry Muffins.

She eats blueberry muffins every day. Sometimes two or three of them. She buys them from various questionable sources, such as the Food Emporium. But they're so easy to make, I think she should make her own and have an unending supply of superior Blueberry Muffins.

Deluxx Blueberry Muffins

- muffin -
2 cups white flour, divided
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

- topping -
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar (I prefer dark)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tsp. cinammon (optional, I suppose, but I like it)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter muffin pans (or use paper muffin cups). Toss blueberries with 1/4 cup flour, set aside.

Mix remaining flour, baking poweder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, and butter, stirring only enough to dampen the flour; the batter should not be smooth. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon into the muffin pans, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

For topping, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon thoroughly. Rub butter in with fingers or cut in with pastry cutter or two table knives until mixture has the texture of coarse bread crumbs. Squeeze the mixture together into "clumps" and gently press clumps into the top of muffins, filling muffin cups (it will be a generous application of crumbs).

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until crumbs are lightly browned. Cool on rack.

Note: you might want to stick a piece of foil on the lower rack under these muffins as they bake; crumbs have a tendency to fall off as the muffins rise and they'll burn on the bottom of your oven.