Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

If it's the end of the summer in New England, then it's the season for Maine blueberries! Boston Organics - which delivers organic fruit and veggies to my door - was offering a 5-lb box of fresh, organic Maine blueberries...and of course I couldn't resist. I love blueberries. However...what was I to do with so many blueberries?

To start, I made the most delicious blueberry muffins with a cinnamon crumb topping!

just add coffee for a delicious breakfast

a light and tender crumb but bursting with flavor

I adapted my blueberry muffins recipe from this Food & Wine recipe. Their recipe seemed a little bland for me, so I added spices and some citrus zest...and the muffins were flavorful and with a very tender crumb.

The recipe has two parts: the cinnamon crumb topping and the muffins themselves. Both recipes are below.

Cinnamon Crumb Topping
1 c all-purpose flour
3 T light brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch salt
6 T unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, mix well with a fork or small whisk. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the butter is mixed throughout and the topping forms small clumps. Set aside while you make the muffin batter.

mise en place for the cinnamon crumb topping

melted butter is added

and the topping is mixed until small clumps form

Blueberry Muffins
2 (to 2 1/2) c blueberries, rinsed and set aside to drain
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
pinch cardamom (cardamom is very strong, so I recommend only using a pinch or no more than 1/8 t or you'll taste it too strongly in the finished muffins)
2 T citrus zest (I used grapefruit because that happened to be the only citrus fruit I had. I'd recommend using lemon or orange zest.)
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted then added to the canola oil
3/4 c whole milk
1 t pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line (or butter well, if not using liners) 18 muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the white and brown sugars, and the citrus zest. Mix to combine. Add the eggs, and the canola oil and butter mixture. Mix well. Add in the milk and vanilla and whisk well (or use a rubber spatula) until everything is combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar-egg-milk mixture and stir (use a large spoon) until just combined. Do NOT overmix and don't worry about the lumps (there will be lots of lumps...but seriously, don't worry at all). Overmixing will lead to tough and dense muffins. Finally, gently fold in the blueberries.

Using a large ice cream scooper or measuring cup, fill the 18 prepared cups. Fill each muffin cup to about 3/4 full; I used slightly more than 1/4 c of batter per muffin cup.

Spoon the cinnamon crumb topping evenly over the batter in each of the muffin cups. You don't want the topping to be in huge clumps, so break up the clumps with your fingers, if need be.

Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate your pans. Bake an additional 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached. Transfer the pans to a cooling rack for about 8 minutes. Then carefully remove each muffin and let cool completely on the cooling rack...although you may need to try one warm (just to be sure)!

The muffins are best the day they are made. However, I found that you can also freeze them in a plastic zipper baggie for about 1 week (that's as long as mine lasted!). Thaw overnight in the fridge and then let them return to room temperature before serving. Yum!

wow...5 lbs of blueberries!

hmmm...that is a LOT of berries! What was I thinking?

one of the changes I made to the original recipe was to use 1/2 canola oil and 1/2 butter

I also added some grapefruit zest

mixing the flour and spices

I added brown sugar for depth of flavor

and zest, which I thought would go well with blueberries

after the eggs and milk are added to the sugars, the dry ingredients are added
don't overmix the batter at this point!

...and don't mind the lumps! Look how lumpy my batter is. Trust me though, it won't matter.

fill with the batter and then add some of the crumb topping to each

golden brown fresh out of the oven...smells amazing

yippee...muffins for everyone!

Bye for now...
 

Homemade puff pastry becomes...apple turnovers

I used half of my homemade puff pastry recipe to make these flaky, delicious apple turnovers. They were so pretty and professional-looking...but very easy. I definitely recommend trying these! You could also add raisins, nuts or use other fruit. The baked turnovers lasted about 3 days; next time I make them I'll freeze them when assembled (but unbaked) and then baked as needed, so we can enjoy them fresh out of the oven. They would be amazing with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream!

I used this bon appétit recipe (my slight adaptations are below) for Chaussons aux Pommes (French apple turnovers). Delicious!

so beautiful!

Ingredients
2 Granny Smith apples
2 other tart, firm apples, such as pink lady (or just use 4 Granny Smith apples)
1/4 c. water
3 t. sugar
3/4 t. fresh lemon juice
zest from one small lemon
1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 t. cinnamon
pinch of salt

1/2 recipe homemade puff pastry, approx. 15 ounces (or, use store-bought frozen puff pastry, thawed)
1 egg, lightly beaten
a few teaspoons of granulated sugar

the filling is so simple - apples, a bit of water, lemon, zest, sugar, salt, and spices

can I peel the apple in one go?

Method
Peel the apples and cut into small, uniformly-size pieces.

Add the apple pieces, water, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and spices to a medium saucepan. Stir to coat the apples. Bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 8-9 minutes. Give the apples a periodic stir so they cook evenly. You want the apple filling mixture to soften, but still have chunks of apples...we're not making applesauce!

Let the apple mixture cool completely (or it will melt the butter in your puff pastry and ruin the layers before you bake).

cooking down the apples

the finished apple filling

Here is my full recipe of homemade puff pastry; I used half for the apple turnovers and the other half for my Thanksgiving apple tart.

my full recipe of puff pastry; half is needed for this recipe

To make the tarts, roll out your puff pastry to a just larger than 15" square (you shouldn't need much, if any, flour when rolling). You want it slightly larger so you can trim off the edges and have a nice, sharp edge, which will allow the pastry layers to "puff" when it bakes. You can see how much I trimmed off in the above picture.

Using a ruler and sharp knife or pizza/pastry cutter, cut your 15" square into nine 5" squares; see below picture.

my nine 5" squares

Carefully stack the 9 squares between plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

let the dough rest before filling and baking

After the dough has rested, you're ready to fill.

Lightly beat the egg with a fork and set aside. Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the bottom center of the dough then brush the edge of the bottom half with your egg wash and gently fold the top half over. Using your fingers, gently press the two edges of the dough together. Don't press too hard or you will force the egg out and over the cut edge. You want to avoid getting egg on the cut edges of the dough or it will seal together all of your beautiful layers when you bake the turnovers.

At this point, the turnovers could be frozen - this is what I will do next time so they can be baked individually for breakfast or a snack.

adding the filling and sealing it inside

After all of the turnovers are filled, give each of them an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. I used regular granulated sugar, but you could also use sanding sugar or turbinado sugar.

a quick brush of egg and sprinkle of sugar

Pop the filled, egg-washed turnovers into the fridge for another 20 minutes or so until they firm up a bit. This will chill the butter in the puff pastry and will help create better layers when you bake.

During this final chill, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

The final step before baking is to cut some slits so the steam can escape during baking (otherwise they might pop open during baking).

ready to bake!

Bake on two parchment paper lined sheet pans at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes or so, until golden brown. When you lower the temperature, also rotate the pans from front-to-back (if using two oven racks, also swap the pans from top to bottom).

gorgeous!

so pretty...and look at those puff pastry layers

Remove from the oven and, using a spatula, gently move to a cooling rack. Let cool for about 15 minutes; serve warm. They would be delicious with vanilla ice cream!

smells so good!

can't wait to dig in

flaky and delicious!

so good...I'll have to make these again soon...

Bye for now...

Blueberry Crumble

Another in my "blueberry series" recipes.

My granddad - I get all of my baking skills from him! - makes a delicious peach and blueberry crumble. I know I have the recipe somewhere but couldn't readily find it so I just winged-it in making this Blueberry Crumble. I get into the differences between crumbles, crisps, and other fruit desserts with toppings in my Blueberry Crisp post.

For this recipe, similar to the crisp, I mixed the blueberries with a little flour (to thicken the juices), sugar, spices, and lemon juice/zest. For the crumble topping, I used flour, a little semolina flour, brown sugar, spices, lemon zest, vanilla, egg, and melted butter.

fresh blueberries

adding the dry ingredients

mix until well coated and set aside. The sugar brings out the blueberry juices

mise en place...a bit of this, a bit of that

mix the dry ingredients together

cut in the egg until the mixture starts to clump up

spread over the blueberries in your baking dish

drizzle the melted butter over the top

and bake until the juices bubble up through the crust

so delicious!

Bye for now...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies. And, of course, they are best right out of the oven with the gooey middles still warm and melty...pure delight! I generally use the Toll House Cookie recipe since I know it by heart but I prefer to use better quality chocolate chips and I usually add some nutmeg.

Although I didn't add nuts to this batch, I also like to process the cup of nuts to a fine grind (instead of chopping them) because it gives the cookies a really nice texture and the hint of nutty flavor. And, finally, since chocolate chip cookies are best fresh from the oven, I will never bake up the full batch, but rather just set the unbaked cookies on a sheet pan and them freeze them. Once they are frozen I store them in a freezer bag and just bake up a few whenever I need a little chocolate fix.

Enjoy!

mise en place

creaming the butter and sugar

in go the eggs

then the flour

and finally the chips (and nuts) get stirred in

I use a mini scoop so all of the cookies bake evenly

the first scoop is the same size as the last

ready for the freezer

warm, gooey and delicious!

Bye for now...