I hate to let things go to waste.  I really shouldn’t tell you how much pleasure I get from disguising leftovers into a meal the next night!  Anyway, when I recently bought a flat of berries at Costco it was wonderful the first day or two, but then the kids got tired of munching on them and I decided to throw them into a muffin recipe that I love.  The recipe is technically a blueberry recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but I thought it would work with raspberries and blackberries.  And my hunch was right!  These turned out SO good!

I don’t like a cakey muffin.  I prefer more of a crunchy topped hearty muffin…like a cross between a muffin and scone.  I feel like the texture really holds up to those big ol’ berries!

These are also great to freeze for later.  I made a double batch, and although my boys are hungry all the time, we can’t get through all 24 muffins in a few days!  I end up pulling them out of the freezer and packing them into the kids’ lunches.  It’s a healthy alternative to something pre-packaged.

Smitten Kitchen’s “Perfect Blueberry Muffins”

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)  I used the same amount of raspberries and blackberries.

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 and zest. 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 (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. 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, 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 (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.