very berry muffins

The coffee is percolating on the stove and you open the oven door, ever so slightly, to release a tuft of very berry muffin steam in your face. “Good morning,” it speaks to you. Gently, your fork releases the muffin from its home in the tin. Your teeth crunch into the outer, jam encrusted layer and into the soft, tart inside. “Ah yes,” you think. “Today is going to be a good day.”

What can I say? Muffins make me poetic! 

Very Berry Muffins

adapted from this recipe and this recipe

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup fresh (or frozen) berries

berry jam (1 teaspoon per muffin, about 12)

Heat the oven to 375°. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and line it with paper or foil muffin cups if you like. Mix together the dry ingredients. Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter in another bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating and stopping as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but quite moist. Stir in the fresh or frozen berries (without defrosting). Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about two-thirds full and handling the batter as little as possible. Put a teaspoon of jam on top of each muffin and blend into the batter with a toothpick. Bake for 20 minutes. 

You are all going to wax poetic once you take a bite out of these muffins, I guarantee it. Prepare the ingredients tonight so you can wake up early tomorrow morning and throw them together. It will be Saturday morning breakfast heaven. 

Buon weekend, my friends!