Fresh Picked Blueberries = Incredible Muffin Recipe!

We have a blueberry farm right down the road from our house, and the other day was our very first trip to pick blueberries.  The girls had a great time picking blueberries.  In the hour that we were there, we managed to pick just over 9 pounds of blueberries. 

With so many blueberries, we decided to make a short trip to my mom's house and hand over one of the bags.

So with just over 5 pounds of blueberries, I knew that I had to come up with something good, no, great to make. 

Living in Rhode Island, you can't drive more than a mile or two without passing a Dunkin Donuts shop.  One of my favorite treats are their blueberry muffins.  Looking at so many blueberries, and thinking of those wonderfully delicious muffins, I knew that the first thing we had to make were Blueberry Muffins.  So here's the recipe:

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 6 large or 12 medium size muffins

Ingredients

1 Stick salted butter at room temperature

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups blueberries

1/2 cold milk

raw sugar (optional)

additional butter and flour for greasing and flouring the muffin pan

2 additional tbsp of flour for blueberry coating

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Grease and flour the muffin pan. 

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl.  Place blueberries in a separate bowl with 2 tablespoons of flour.  gentle mix together, coating all the blueberries with flour.  By doing this step, it will help  to keep your blueberries in place during the cooking process, instead of sinking down to the bottom of the muffins. 

Cream together softened butter, and 1 cup of granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  finally add in vanilla. Once combined, slowly add flour mixture, until evenly combined.  It is important to not overmix. 

Once combined, using a spatula, gently fold in blueberries.  Fill each muffin cup 3/4 of the way with batter.  Top each muffin with raw sugar.

Place pan into heated oven for approx. 25 - 30 minutes for large muffins, or 20 - 25 minutes for smaller muffins.  You can insert a cake tester into the center of several muffins to ensure they are done.  Cake tester should come out clean.  Transfer to wire rack once they are done to complete the cooling process.  (If you leave them in the muffin pan to cool, the blueberries may continue to cook, causing them to be slightly bitter.)

Once completely cooled, muffins can be individually wrapped and placed into freezer.  Otherwise, they will stay fresh for up to 3 days in an air-tight container. 

Enjoy!