BLUEBERRY MUFFINS, FOR COMPANY

This is from “Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics” which, honestly, is mostly a rehash of her other cookbooks. And perhaps the recipes aren't so Basic, as I think this one calls for some extra effort. But I have enjoyed eating this muffins all week. After I changed the recipe a bit, of course. Her streusel had too much flour, and I added some nuts. I don’t know why my kids don’t like blueberry muffins, but I do, a lot, so I made them anyway. Morgan had a few bites here and there.

Muffins:
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups wheat flour
1 ½ cups sugar
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 ¼ sticks butter, melted and cooled
zest of one lemon
2 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel Topping:
¼ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ stick butter, cold, diced
1/3 cup pecan pieces

Measure first six (dry) ingredients into a large bowl and combine with a whisk. In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then beat in milk, then zest, then melted butter. Stir the wet stuff into the dry stuff until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Scoop the batter into (preferably paper muffin cup lined, but if not, buttered) muffin pans. (She said this made 20, but I made more than that -however I made mini muffins too, so I can’t tell exactly how many regular muffins this makes.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place all streusel ingredients except nuts in another bowl and mix together with a pastry cutter until the butter is in very small pieces, then mix in nuts with a fork or your fingers. (She has you use a food processor for this part, but I don’t like to use loud appliances in the morning. Except for the coffee grinder, I guess.) Sprinkle over muffins. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, until golden brown and tester comes out clean.