Mom’s Blueberry Muffins

How could I say no to “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” blueberries at the supermarket last week when I knew I had the perfect recipe for them?  My mom has the most delicious blueberry muffin recipe, and after waiting a couple days for her to email me the recipe (my recipe binder is with my in-laws in Connecticut with the rest of the stuff we couldn’t fit in our cars!), my Man also understands why we needed to buy blueberries last week.  Plus, it gave me the chance to use my new KitchenAid mixer!

Mom’s Blueberry Muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½  teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup milk
2 cups blueberries
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease & flour 12 muffin cups and grease tops of the tins between the cups.(Or, do what I do: Use baking cups instead.  It’s much, much easier)
2. Mix together flour, powder, and salt.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, beat butter a few minutes until fluffy. Beat in sugar until well blended. Beat in the eggs thoroughly; add the vanilla.
4. Stir in the flour mixture about half at a time, alternating with milk, half at a time. Stir in 2 cups of blueberries.
5. Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling them to the top. Sprinkle with the nutmeg sugar.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden. Let muffins cool about 30 minutes in pan before removing. (Or not…I’m pretty sure I didn’t…)
   
7. Enjoy!

Peach Walnut Granola Bars

Continuing with the Mark Bittman theme, I made granola bars last night based on the ones in  How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I’m not sure why I felt the pressing need to do so; I’m sure we have a giant Sam’s Club box of Quaker Chewy Granola Bars in the basement and I like those just fine.  But the recipe really intrigued me, so I went for it.

Bittman offers several variations on his No Bake Granola Bar recipe, and I combined a couple of them.  It should be mentioned at this juncture (its surprising that it hasn’t come up sooner, really) that I am pretty close to obsessed with peaches and peach flavored things.  So, given all the options, I had to select dried peaches as my fruit of choice, but any dried fruit will work.  Now, without further ado,

You’ll need:
1/4 cup oil (I used Canola; Bittman recommends grapeseed or corn)
2 and 1/4 cups granola (whatever looks good to you, I used the plainest I could find)
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (granola and nuts combined should total 3 cups; adjust amounts to taste)
1 and 1/2 cups dried peaches (or other dried fruit)

1.  Using a food processor, combine the peaches and oil until smooth.  Add water as necessary to achieve this.  I felt like I needed to add a lot of water to get my peaches to form something close to smooth.  I’ll spare you the photo, because it doesn’t look appetizing.

2. Warm the peach mixture in a small saucepan on the stove so that it becomes even softer.

3.  Mix the granola and walnuts in a large bowl.  Add the peach mixture a bit at a time and coat all the granola.

4.  Press into an 8 or 9-inch square pan with your fingers. Trust me, I tried pressing them with the spatula and they did not stick together.

5.  Cool in the refrigerator.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

They’re pretty tasty.  I don’t eat cereal, so I’m thinking this is going to be breakfast for the next few days.  I’m already brainstorming the other variations I want to try–apples, chocolate, cranberries, coconut…