Blueberry Haul

There was an abundance of blueberries in the shops this week and as they are in season they didn’t cost the world - hooray. So trotting home with a lot of blueberries in hand, I was thinking of baking something delicious, of course, but also something that kids could join in with whilst they are on their summer holidays.

They make a wonderful breakfast treat when they are still warm from the oven. I’ve made a crunchy, topping including cinnamon which give them a lovely spiced flavour. Also if you fancy a little twist, add in the zest of one orange when beating the sugar and butter.

Blueberry Muffins

385g plain flour

250g golden caster sugar

85g unsalted butter, softened

350g blueberries

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 large free ranged egg

2 large free ranged egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Topping (optional)

80g plain flour

35g golden caster sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

50g unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases
If making the topping do this step first. In a large bowl, sift in the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt then stir through the melted butter. Mix until it forms clumps, if the clumps don't come together and you have more of a paste, then pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up and then mix again.
For the muffins, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the vanilla extract, egg and egg yolks and beat again until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
Add a heaped tablespoon of flour to the eggy mixture, then briefly mix, followed by a third of the milk, then repeat this step until all the milk is mixed in. Then add the remaining flour and fold through by hand.
Add the blueberries and stir them through.
Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cases and if you are using the crumbly topping, sprinkle this across the top of each one - be generous!
Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, turning the muffin tray around half way through baking. Leave to cool in the muffin tin before munching.

The last two blog posts are also great ones to do with children, but I have shared more in the past, to find them, click on the ‘kids’ tag on the blog homepage and it will bring them all up.