Blueberry Muffins

There's a yiddish word, to kvell, that's used to express extreme elation. The best way to visualize it is as rainbows and butterflies bursting from your chest out of sheer joy. That said, I am kvelling at this very moment...because I am heading to New York tomorrow! One of the best of the best friends a girl could ask for, Ms. Gillian, is venturing up from beautiful Durham, NC to surprise her brother bear for his birthday.

Yeeeeeeahicantwaittoseeyoutomorrow,gillie!

I am skipping on up the coast to share in the birthday shenanigans, as well as to see a few faces that I miss oh-so-much. I needed a host gift for the owner (er, renter) of my roof for the next few nights, and blueberry muffins were the treat of request. I could hardly say no, right?

I sure hope these survive the trip up tomorrow - a girl cannot be responsible for her actions after a few hours on the road without supervision...!


Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup light greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Juice from half a lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt, zest, and lemon juice. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (I took mine out at 24 minutes), until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack.