Tasty Tuesday: Lemon-Blueberry Oat Muffins

Back in July, I posted a recipe called The Best Blueberry Muffins. I was mistaken. I have since found a blueberry muffin recipe that I enjoy even more than those and have decided that they are now the SECOND Best Blueberry Muffins. Here are the BEST blueberry muffins:

Lemon-Blueberry Oat Muffins

Not my photo

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup all-purpose flour*

1/2 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 egg white

1 cup fat-free milk

2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries*

TOPPING:

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, softened

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the egg, egg white, milk, butter, lemon peel, and vanilla; mix well. Add to dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in berries. Coat muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray or use paper liners; fill two-thirds full with batter. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400 for 20-22 minutes or until top is lightly browned and springs back when lightly touched. Cool 5 minutes; remove to wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen.

Nutritional Analysis

*Note: I use whole-wheat flour, frozen blueberries, and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice instead of the peel, because I don't keep lemons stocked in my fridge. I have not tried these muffins made as directed, so I don't know if my substitutions change anything.

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry "Cowboy"

The boys and I were able to go blueberry picking recently, leaving me with a plethora of blueberries to bake with. In addition to some delectable muffins, I also baked a blueberry cobbler, or blueberry "cowboy" as Owen calls it. I came across the recipe on my favorite recipe site, Taste of Home, while looking for ideas as to what I could make with the berries. I had all of the ingredients on hand and it looked simple enough, so this recipe won out. Please be forewarned, that if you are on a diet, or in any way watching what you eat, this may not be the cobbler for you.

Blueberry "Cowboy"

T

If only mine looked this good!*

  

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1-1/2 cups sugar, divided 

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Whipped cream or whipped topping**

In a saucepan, combine the berries, lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil; remove from the heat. Set aside. Place butter in a 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish; melt butter in a 350° oven.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar with flour, baking powder, salt, milk and egg. Pour over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon reserved berry mixture over batter. Do not stir.***

Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream or whipped topping. Yield: about 10-12 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 231 calories, 9 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 40 mg cholesterol, 256 mg sodium, 37 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein. 

*This photo is from the Taste of Home website. My camera battery died before I could get a picture of my own. 

**I did not use the whipped cream on mine.

***This sounds a little upside down/backward, but the blueberries actually sink and the crust part rises to the top. Another incentive for me to want to try out this recipe.

Tasty Tuesday: The Best Blueberry Muffins

(The muffins won out!)

Muffins are one of my favorite things to bake, and eat! These blueberry muffins are some of the better ones that I have made. The boys really enjoy helping me make these muffins, especially when they get to sprinkle the oats on top. I'm sure that there are probably much better recipes out there, but I'm done looking for them. This recipe is another from the same cookbook that I found "Sam's Favorite Muffins" in. They are originally called "Very Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins". I like my name better.

The Best Blueberry Muffins

6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2-1/2 cups blueberries, washed and stems removed

Preheat the oven to 375 and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and stir in the milk and vanilla extract. In another bowl, sift* the dry ingredients. Stir them into the butter and sugar mixture, then fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups almost to the top and bake for 25 minutes, or until light brown. Makes 12 muffins.

Note:  These muffins were made with our fresh blueberries from our blueberry picking experience this past weekend.

*I skip the sifting step and just mix them together.

Booooberries!

We stopped by my dad's house yesterday for what was only supposed to be a quick visit, but turned into a 5 hour one, complete with 4-wheeler rides, dinner and blueberry picking!

It turns out that they have a lot of blueberry patches on their property, so my dad's girlfriend is encouraging all visitors to pick their own blueberries. I have never picked blueberries before, so it was a new experience. Let me rephrase that; it was a long, tedious, back-aching, experience.

Blueberries, blueberries everywhere!

Four of us started out picking: myself, my dad's girlfriend, Sam, and Owen. The boys were super excited to be able to pick the blueberries. They each had their own bowl, and in the beginning, Owen was eating more than he was putting in his bowl.

 

"Hmmmm. Which one looks the tastiest?"

Found it! Yummy!

Both Sam and Owen enjoyed bending down to search for the blueberries and finding the ones that were ripe enough, for about 10 minutes that is. Then we lost Sam. He decided he'd rather go hang out with Daddio, Ben and Grandpa.

But Owen kept at it. For 5 more minutes. Then he got distracted looking at the deer poopies and trying to pick flowers for Mommy. He also had to pee in the trees a couple of times and felt the need to weed the blueberry patches. At some point Sam returned, but it was only to go exploring the various paths among the "woods" with Owen.

 "I need to pick this weed."

Half an hour and multiple bug bites later, we ended up with two bowls full of blueberries.

T

 This was only a quarter of our loot.

"Look how many I have!"         "They're all mine."        

Now all we have to do is to figure out which comes first, blueberry pancakes or blueberry muffins?