Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

Can you believe it, another month has passed and it is time for another Crazy Cooking Challenge. The Crazy Cooking Challenge is sponsored by Tina from Mom's Crazy Kitchen. This month the challenge is blueberry muffins. This challenge was a little scary for me, because I don't usually make muffins from scratch. Yes, I have made them in the past, but to be honest it has been years and years since I have made a muffin from scratch.

In the past when I have made muffins they have turned out coarse and just plain not good. So I have turned to making muffins from a box, which my family likes. But a challenge is a challenge so I set out to find a recipe that would turn out half way descent for me. I went to Pinterest and started looking at the blueberry muffins, there were many that looked delicious, but when I saw the recipe from A Cook's Quest I knew it would be the recipe I would be baking for the challenge.

The name of the recipe is Best Ever Blueberry Muffins, now how could anything with a name like this turn out  not to be delicious. And I was correct, these muffins were perfectly delicious. I think that part of the secret to why these were so spectacular was that you cook some of the blueberry and made a sauce which was added to the muffins before they were baked. They were not course and dry like the ones that I made in the past, these were light and fluffy. I know that these are on my list to make again and again.

Please check out The Cook's Quest, she has some wonderful recipes on her blog that I am sure you will enjoy. Also thank you Tina from Mom's Crazy Kitchen for hosting this month's challenge once again. I know that it is a lot of work for you.

Best Ever Blueberry Muffins (From ~A Cook's Quest)
Streusel Topping:
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
5 tablespoons butter

Combined ingredients and mix until the mixture is the size of peas and set aside.

Muffins:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Prepare standard muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries, water, and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing the berries with your potato masher of fork several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced by about half. This will take about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and well combined. Slowly mix in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup of blueberries into the flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with a few spots of dry flour; do not over mix).
Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (fill muffin cups about 2/3 full). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle with streusel evenly or muffins.
Bake until muffins are golden and just firm 17 to 19 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, before serving.

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