Pretentious Blueberry Streusel Muffins

What? you ask, How can there be anything pretentious about so simple a dish as a blueberry muffin? Easy– the name of this dish wrote itself as I started to explain how the recipe came about:

So, the other day I decided to make blueberry muffins to take to my lawn bowling league but it turned out that I was practically out of cow’s milk. I just happened to have some goat’s milk on hand, though, so I used some of it in place of the normal milk.

Now, come on, who just happens to have goat’s milk on hand? That’s so ridiculous of a statement as to be, well, pretentious. But the truth of it is when I was shopping at the food co-op, I got held up in the dairy section for an extended stay while my wife investigated odor removers to eliminate the dog smell from our new used couch. I started poking around my options and thought, well, I like goat cheese, but I wonder what the milk tastes like–so I snuck it into the cart when she wasn’t looking.

As it turns out, goat’s milk goes quite well with blueberries. It adds a certain, subtle tanginess to the muffin that otherwise wouldn’t be there. My tasters at the lawn bowling league all thought the muffins were fantastic. They kept asking, “What’s in here?”  They’d say, “These muffins are great, did you put applesauce in here?”  

I had forgotten about the whole milk debacle so I couldn’t even ‘fess up about the secret ingredient, but that’s OK because I’m coming clean right here on the web for all the world to see. And I know that chances are you probably won’t just have goat’s milk on hand that you can use to make these muffins for breakfast tomorrow, but trust me–if you’ve got a chance to get some goat’s milk, it’s worth it just to make these muffins.

 Pretentious Blueberry Streusel Muffins yield: about 18 2-inch (standard size) muffins

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar, packed
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3/4 cup cow’s milk
  • 3/4 cup goat’s milk
  • 1/2 stick butter, melted but somewhat cooled
  • 1 pint fresh, local blueberries

Streusel Topping

This will make more topping than you need for the muffins, but it’s nice to have on hand.  Just store it in an airtight container in your refrigerator and use it to make fruit crisps or put it on top of a fruit pie instead of a top crust!

  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup quick oats
  • 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • dash of salt 

Preparing the muffins:

Preheat your oven to 400 F. 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a fairly large mixing bowl.  In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the milk and the butter together, then add the egg (already beaten with a fork in the measuring cup you used to measure the milks) and mix well.  Adding The egg last helps avoid the possibility of accidentally scrambling it with the hot butter. 

Make a well in your dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.  Mix until no flour shows, but the batter is still somewhat lumpy.  If you overmix the batter, you’ll develop the gluten in the flour, the result being a chewier, oddly-shaped muffin.

Gently fold the blueberries into the batter with a rubber spatula just until they are evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into your prepared (greased or lined) muffin tins, filling the cups about two-thirds full.  Add streusel topping to the top of each muffin and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top springs back when gently pushed.

If you’re not going to be serving the muffins immediately, they have better texture later if you remove them to a wire rack to cool.

4 Responses to “Pretentious Blueberry Streusel Muffins”

  1. Hungry in Pittsburgh Says:

    Dear C. Orange,

    What ever happened to your plot to dominate the world of savory waffles? I think that’s one of the most delicious ideas you’ve ever had.

  2. Vinnie Kowalski Says:

    I have to agree with HiP: I have been telling people here in the Land of Cleve about your adventures with Savory Waffles…they’ve been looking for signs of the revolution everywhere…

  3. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Peach & Blueberry Streusel Pie Says:

    [...] Here’s something else to do with the streusel topping you made for the pretentious blueberry muffins. It’s delicious for any meal of the day–especially breakfast. If someone tells you that pie’s not a breakfast food, have them consider the main ingredients: fresh fruit and oatmeal. Yeah, all right, there’s a fair amount of sugar in there, too–but I guarantee you that it’s a more wholesome breakfast choice than a toaster pastry and that it’s both tastier and lower in preservatives than a breakfast bar. [...]

  4. Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Cranberry Oatmeal Coffee Cake Says:

    [...] Combine dry ingredients thoroughly.  Mix together eggs, milk, and melted butter.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined.  Fold cranberries into batter.  Pour into greased 9 x 9 square baking pan.  Optional: top with streusel topping.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out dry.  Oven temperature: 350 F for dark pan; 375 F for glass or light-colored pan. [...]

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