Blueberry Muffins with Sugar Lemon Crust

The other day I volunteered to bring blueberry muffins to a breakfast birthday celebration at work.  And since many of my coworkers know about my food blogging, I didn't think I could phone it in with some bakery muffins or even muffins from a box!  Obviously, I needed to start from scratch.  But there was one problem -- there are approximately seven million recipes for blueberry muffins out there in the internet universe.  How's a girl to sift through all of those ideas?!  At the end of the day, I decided to smash together two muffin recipes, one from Barefoot Contessa and one from Cooks Illustrated.  The result was delicious!  Barefoot Contessa's muffins were heavy and almost cake-like in their consistency (probably why they were titled "Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins") and to be honest, I think I liked the fridge-cooled leftovers even better!  They were kind of dessert-like in texture.  Instead of fresh blueberries, I opted for frozen, and I doubt it made any real difference. 

But the sugary lemon topping courtesy of Cooks Illustrated was key.  The sugar crisped up in the oven, creating a crust on top of the muffins.  And the hint of lemon zest on top added an extra punch of flavor, kicking up these muffins to another level.  Served warm with butter, they are a fantastic breakfast.  Served cold with wine, and you've got a pretty good dessert!  You can do no wrong! 

Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Sugar Crust
Makes 16-18 muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz sour cream

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

2 tbls sugar

zest of one lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare two muffin tins with either paper cups or by spraying with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar using an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition.  Add the vanilla extract, sour cream, and milk, and mix until combined. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, mixing to combine.  Pour in the blueberries and fold into the batter with a spatula. 

Using two spoons, spoon the muffin batter into the pans.  The batter should be at or just above the height of the muffin cups. 

On a cutting board, zest the lemon into the 1/4 cup of sugar.  Mix together.  Lightly sprinkle the sugar/lemon mix on the top of each muffin.

Bake until lightly browned, about 25 minutes.  Let cool (if you can) and then enjoy!

Easy Squash Bowls for Lunch

Work lunches are my least favorite meal.  It's always sadly reheated leftovers that are never as good as dinner the night before, an overpriced meal out that makes me feel entirely too full, or something lame from the cafeteria downstairs.  (The introduction of food trucks really spiced up my workday lunches!)  But last year at the Farmers' Market, I learned something that would brighten up my workday lunches by a factor of ten.  You can microwave personal-sized squash and have it for lunch in five minutes!  Whaaaaat??  I might be the only person in the world that didn't know that already, but enough people at work stare at me in confusion to make me think this is not a well-known squash trait.  It's insanely easy to make squash at work as long as you have a microwave.  And a really large knife (do this step at home if you have to walk through a metal detector at work!)  Any personal-sized squash will work, but the best ones are those with a flat bottom.

this variety of squash is my absolute lunch favorite!

Ingredients
1 personal-sized squash
1 tbls water
1 tbls brown sugar
1 pat of butter
Pinch of cinnamon

Directions
Cut the top off of the squash and scrape out the seeds and stringy flesh.  (Do this step at home if knives are in short supply at work.) 

Fill the inside of the squash with the tablespoon of water.  Replace the top of the squash and heat in the microwave in high for five minutes. 

Once the squash is cooked through and the flesh is soft, let the squash cool with the top still on.  Then add the butter, sugar, and cinnamon and scrape down the sides of the inside of the squash.  You'll have a little bowl with delicious squash inside.

Mix it all together and add more toppings if need be.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy your amazing workday lunch.  And this is only just the beginning.  Just think about the other toppings you could add to your personalized squash bowl.  Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that some vegetable broth, salt, and a bit of curry powder would be another stellar combination.  As would any leftover stuffing you have from the holidays.  Be creative!  But definitely head to your local farmers' market to pick up some personal-sized squash for your next workday lunch.

New Blog Design!

Welcome to my new blog format!  I don't know if it's the fall season, but I was getting distracted and slightly irritated by my previous design.  I wanted the food to be the focus, not the crazy colors and background!  I'm thinking that I will update the color scheme with the seasons....we'll see!

Let me know your thoughts!  What do you think?