Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Muffins...I have a bittersweet relationship with them really. Bitter cos I never found the perfect recipe that yields me light, fluffy muffins that I can enjoy one after another. And sweet cos I love their airy light texture with a slight hint of sweetness without being too heavy on the palate or overpowering in taste. Hence, I've shunned from baking muffins most of the time, well, until I found this lovely recipe from allrecipes.

As you might already know, I'm a huuuuuuge fan of chocolate, hence most of the sweets I bake will more or less include some form of chocolate in it. I'm a recently-converted blueberry fan though, especially after devouring dozens (yes you read it right, dozens) of blueberry muffins from a local muffin place. And it provided the impetus for me to get off my butt and start searching for that illusive muffin recipe.

I have to admit, this recipe was inspiring. Though not perfect, it yielded light and fluffy muffins just how I'd like it. The crumble topping was new to me, and I totally loved the crispy tops that came out from it...sweet and delicious! The ground cinnamon added a nice, flavourful touch as well.

My only grouse in my latest muffin experiment is that the batter overflowed from the cups. I've had problems with these paper cups before and the recipe called for the batter to be filled to the cup's brim. It's not a good idea to do so. Filling it two-thirds full will be your best bet, allowing sufficient space for the batter to rise, and yielding pretty, domed-shaped muffins. Some of mine are rather flat due to the overflowing batter, which I shall learn from and work on having perfect muffins next time. Nevertheless, preparing this was easy and fuss-free. You can pretty much mix everything by hand with a mixing bowl, without the need to mobilise the stand mixer. Looking at the recipe, I thought it was a little odd to leave out the vanilla extract, so I added them in anyway! Though there's not much need for it as the cinnamon smell was dominant in this recipe. These muffins taste best when warm, I especially loved them when they came straight out of the oven! I'd prefer it if they look a little less brown, though it's mostly due to the brown sugar I've used in place of the white. Colour-aside, these are finger-licking good!

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries

For crumb topping:
1/4 cup white sugar (I used brown instead)
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cold butter, cubed
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to  200 degrees C. Line muffin pan with liners.

2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk vegetable oil, egg and milk in a cup. Mix this with the flour mixture. Fold in blueberries.

3. To make crumb topping:, mix together the sugar, flour, butter and ground cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4. Fill muffin cups up to two-thirds full, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Yields 10 medium muffins.