Blueberry Muffins

Saturday mornings on the boat are usually lazy, unless we have a major boat project we're working on which, at the moment, we blessedly do not.  We cover the V-berth hatch with some of that insulated foil sandwich stuff so the sun doesn't wake us up and we sleep in late. We make some iced coffee in the summer, or hot coffee in the winter, and then I poke around lazily making some muffins or coffee cake. It's wonderful to have the boat filled with baking goodness - cinnamon, nutmeg, and warm blueberries...can't you just smell it wafting past your nose? Fortunately they don't take long to make. This recipe is a heavily modified one from The Pioneer Woman which, if you've never visited is worth the time. By the way, if you think you're seeing a lot more organic ingredients in my pictures, you're right. The more research I do on the food allergy issue I mentioned in my post In Search of Real Food a while back, and the more meals I prepare with organic foods and experience the taste difference, the more convinced I am that it's the right way to go. Once we're on the boat it may even be easier to get organic fruits and vegetables because of local fruit markets. We'll see.

Ingredients:
1 cup white flour
1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 heaping cup of plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries


Topping:
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sliced or chopped almonds
2 tablespoons cold butter
Dash cinnamon

Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease with butter. Mix topping ingredients together in small bowl using fork or small whisk to cut butter into mixture until it looks like small crumbs. Set aside.

Mix together flours, soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar in bowl.

In another bowl mix together oil, egg, yogurt and vanilla.

You need to have everything ready in their separate bowls because once you begin to mix the wet and dry ingredients together  you have to move fairly quickly. good, tender, moist muffins are the result of evenly distributed ingredients mixed quickly.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just till the dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet ingredients. Fold in blueberries. Sorry, no pictures here because I was distracted by my Captain who is learning Spanish and had some questions. Do not overmix - if you overmix the batter your muffins will be dense and tough. Spoon into muffin tins - 24 for small muffins, 18 for medium muffins or 12 for super-huge-better-not-be-on-a-diet muffins. Top with a spoonful of topping mixture. Bake 400° for 20-35 minutes. The time depends on the size muffins and your oven, so set it for 15 minutes and begin to check them until you get a feel for the time you need. Enjoy!