Tasty Tuesday: Struesel Blueberry Muffins

I decided this week to do something a little less healthy, but possibly a lot more brave. I have always been a fairly good baker, and thought I would challenge my skills a bit to show you all that a little determination can go a long way. The recipe I chose this week can be found here, but for convenience I have included it below as well.

Streusel Topping
3 T white sugar
3 T brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
5 T melted butter
Muffins
2 cups (or less if you are me!) fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups  plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 1/2 cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Struesel Topping: Mix all ingredients together until small pea shapes are formed and set aside.
Muffins:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Prepare standard muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries, water,  and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing the berries with your potato masher or fork several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced by about half.  This will take about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and well combined. Slowly mix in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix.)
• Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle struesel evenly over muffins.
• Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, approximately 20 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

The Preparation: I found this recipe needed some prior baking knowledge and skill. Not so bad you need to be on Iron Chef, but enough that you know some technique. I also found that an electric mixer is almost necessary. Your hand will be extremely tired if you don't.

The Taste Test: While these muffins were incredibly delicious, I found them teetering over the line of too sweet for a muffin. I tend to like a more mild taste in my muffins as I generally eat them in the mornings. This could be remedied by using less sugar or using a sugar replacement such as Stevia or Splenda.

The Switch Up: I decided with the last two muffins I had left on the weekend to try and french toast them. This ended up being extremely decadent and could even pass as a dessert with some fresh whip cream and/or powdered sugar. 

My sister has also requested I make the same recipe using strawberries, so I will let you know how it goes when I attempt that.

Update on Last Week: Thank you so much for loving last weeks Caulifredo recipe. It was my most commented on post so far (facebook comments). I did end up trying the sauce with rice and some garlic mushrooms and it was fantastic as a side dish with some simple chicken and broccoli. Can't wait to make it again.

Let me know in the comments if you try these muffins and how you found them! Also I need some ideas for future Tasty Tuesdays. Talk to you tomorrow!

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