Oversized Muffins with Crunchy Tops

Blueberries are good, right? Healthy, anti-oxidant, dye your mouth fun colors...Still doesn't make them good as chocolate chips. This recipe was for blueberry muffins, but seeing as blueberries are not nearly as delicious as chocolate, and a lot more expensive, I switched them out. :-) I think it turned out really well. I left the recipe as the original, but if you want to switch things up like me, use about half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. Or, use a little of both and get the best of both worlds!

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, melted
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 pint blueberries, washed and well drained
• turbinado/sugar in the raw for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and continue whisking until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the melted butter while whisking vigorously. Whisk in the lemon zest and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture and sour cream alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. The batter will be stiff. Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups (the batter should reach the rim of each cup). Sprinkle the tops generously with turbinado sugar. Bake the muffins for 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops are golden brown.

NOTES: To make apple cinnamon muffins, add 2 tsp ground cinnamon to the flour in the first step. Omit the vanilla and lemon zest and substitute 1 cup diced apples for the blueberries.

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 40 min
Serves 12

Recipe from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz