Friday, December 30, 2011

Making Blueberry Muffins with Grammy

What a long drive round-trip from Montreal to Toronto for Christmas, with two little ones under 20 months!!  However, I hope that everyone was as fortunate as I was to be able to spend this time of year with family.  The drive was well worth getting to spend time with loved ones (never mind getting to sleep in every morning while grammy got up with the kids!).  We had a lovely visit with everyone and got a chance for everyone to hang out with all three kids.

Grandpa with baby Chloé

The beautiful Maddykins in her Christmas gear

Cuter than the real Santa


Maddy and mommy on Christmas morning

Logan, discovering the joy of stockings


Auntie Kristy with all three monkeys



Daddy and Chloé

I guess I can't really complain about the drive, given that Chloé slept the entire way both ways, only waking twice each time to feed quickly.  Logan, on the other hand, spent much of his time on the way home alternately whining and screaming, waking Chloé up on occasion.  At one point, he was so tired, he was screaming "dodo, dodo" (which means sleep in French), but the poor guy just couldn't fall asleep. When he finally did (less than an hour from home), Chloé of course woke up to feed... grr... but we made it home safely and in good time.  I just wish that I'd brought a pair of ear plugs!

Logan still hasn't been eating much for the past few weeks, probably because he's been teething.  Well, that is, he hasn't been eating much other than the day that he ate 3 melting moments cookies for lunch at my parents' house.  This was his first introduction to "real" cookies other than when my sister gave him one months back, after which he immediately learned the word "cookie" (can you say motivation??).  In any case, the one thing that he will still eat is muffins, so I've been making sure that we always have some on hand. I'd brought home a batch of zucchini muffins with us, but he ate through those before we left.  So we dug through grammy's recipe books and fridge and quickly whipped up a batch of these blueberry muffins.

Logan, helping to stir the muffins

He discovers that he likes muffin batter about as much as he likes muffins.



Giving grammy a taste.

This recipe comes from Company's Coming Muffins & More. I first made the recipe as is.  I just don't bother mixing the blueberries with the additional flour, as I don't care if the batter all turns blue if the muffins are just for us.  I packed them away for our car ride home, along with some cheese, tofu spread and crackers and applesauce, for Logan to eat on our way home.  But when we stopped for lunch, Logan wasn't hungry.  We quickly packed the car back up to get back on the road.  And only maybe half an hour later, Logan was yelling that he was hungry and wanted a muffin.  And as I begun to dig for the muffins, I suddenly realized what the big thud we had heard as we had pulled onto the highway was... it was our blueberry muffins flying off of the top of the car, which is where I'd put them when I'd strapped them into his car seat.  And there began the fits... at least he finally cried himself to sleep.

So I whipped up another batch of these as soon as we got home and a bit unpacked.  This time, I used 1 C of all-purpose flour and 3/4 C of whole-wheat flour.  I also used only a 1/2 C of blueberries and used a 1/2 C of cranberries as well.  I probably won't make these a ton, as I typically prefer more hearty, healthy muffins.  But these were good and nice for a change.  And they were especially good served warm with a pat of butter on top.  They're more cake-like than the muffins I usually make, more like the ones you'd get in a store.  


1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 C butter or margarine
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
3/4 C milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour


1.  In a large bowl put flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir together thoroughly.  Make a well in centre.

2.  In another bowl cream butter and sugar.  Beat in egg until quite smooth.  Mix in milk and vanilla.  Pour into well.  Stir just to moisten.  Batter will be lumpy.

3.  Stir blueberries with flour lightly.  Fold into batter.  Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake in 400 degree Farenheit oven for 25 minutes until nicely browned.  

Makes 16 muffins.

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