It’s time to give this blog a little reboot. I had no idea how much my disfunctional camera was affecting my desire to blog until I started telling Andy the other day. When I told him I’d ordered my Fire, I confessed that I was hoping the camera was nice. My old Kodak Easyshare was dropped one too many times. It had gotten to the point where I would hold the camera and have to take ten pictures in order to get one or two. Most of them were a mis-fire. The camera would take a black, blank picture, and of course this wasn’t an instant process either. Sometimes I’d have to pull the batteries in and out to get it to work as well. All told, it probably took a good ten, fifteen minutes to take one picture. By the time I’d have a photo of dinner, my food would be cold.
And then we’d have the process of getting the photo off the camera and onto my computer. I am not exaggerating when I say that sometimes I would literally be at the computer for a full hour trying to get the camera and the computer to cooperate…for just ONE picture. By the time that was done I would completely lose interest in discussing said photo. And food blogging without photos is practically pointless!
But here we are, it’s a brand new day, and I hope a brand new season. In addition to having new technology, I’ve also been having a bit of fun in the kitchen as of late, and it’s been a shame to not share it.
So I hope you won’t mind if I kick off this new season with a repeat recipe. One of the hazards of having been blogging for so many years is running out of new things to make. But when I look at my recipes over the years, those that have stood the test of time deserve to be repeated and featured more than once. These Blueberry Muffins from King Arthur Flour are just such a recipe. No matter how many blueberry muffin recipes I try, I always come back to this one. It’s quick and easy,and they taste as good as any bakery muffin. The key is crushing half a cup of the blueberries- that gives the muffins the bright blue color and flavor throughout. They are tender and absolutely loaded with blueberries. They also happen to be good the next day, should you have one or two extra.
Classic Blueberry Muffins
1 stick butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups blueberries- fresh or frozen. If frozen, thaw 1/2 cup 2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar or turbinado sugar for topping.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium-sized muxjng bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and salt until light. Add the eggs one at a time,beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition. Mash 1/2 cup of theblueberries and add them to the batter. Stir in the vanilla, along with the whole blueberries.
Mound the batter into 12 lightly greased or paper lined muffin cups. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or turbinado sugar, if desired.
Bake the muffins for 30 minutes,or until a cake tester inserted near the middle of one comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the pan for five minutes before removing them from the pan.
Makes 12 muffins.