Blueberry Muffins: Success!

I just got done baking a batch of blueberry muffins, and they look delish. I had too much dough for the 12 muffin cups in the pan, so I poured the rest into a small crock (like I'd use to heat up French Onion soup), cooked it in the toaster oven while the regular muffin pan was in the oven and viola! It's really tasty! I haven't popped the other 12 out of their pan since they're cooling now (no need to scorch my hands), but I'm excited for Buppy to try one when he gets home. They're oozing with blueberry goodness.

Blueberry Muffins
Slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 c. Imperial margarine
1 1/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 c. all purpose flour, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. buttermilk (I already had some on hand that needed to be used up, so it worked out well)
12 oz. fresh blueberries (I got a great deal at the produce market yesterday, yay!)
Extra white sugar

Line a 12-muffin pan with paper liners and preheat the oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar and salt. Beat in the 2 eggs until well blended. Add 1 c. flour and baking powder to the mix; mix until just blended. Add 1/4 c. buttermilk; mix until just blended. Add 3/4 c. flour; mix until just blended. Add remaining 1/4 c. buttermilk; mix until just blended. (You get the idea here? We're just alternating the flour/baking powder mix with the buttermilk to ensure even mixing.) Crush 1/4 of the blueberries and mix into the dough. Mix the rest of the blueberries (rinsed) with the remaining 1/4 c. flour and fold into the batter. Scoop equal amounts of dough into each muffin liner. Once complete, sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a small amount of white sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven for 29+/- minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes. They should begin to turn golden brown, and the tops should spring back when lightly tapped.

Note: I had extra dough, as I said earlier, so instead of overfill each muffin cup (which couldn't have possbily held any more dough), I poured the remaining dough into a crock (think French Onion soup crock that is oven safe) and cooked it in the toaster oven for approximately 15 minutes or so at 350F. It was much flatter and so cooked much faster. If you don't have a toaster oven, feel free to bake it along with or after the original pan is finished cooking. Make sure to watch it so it doesn't burn, however.

These were relatively easy to make, are very pretty and the dough (and part of the lil' crock) taste great so far. All in all, I think I have a pretty good muffin recipe on my hands. Now I just can't wait to find raspberries on sales so I can sub them in. Enjoy!

*This is linked to Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursdays for 2/24/11. Pop over for more great recipes!