BB: Blueberry Streusel Muffins

This month,Maria of  Close to Home selected Blueberry Muffins. And the Barefoot Bakers were given the option of picking one of Ina's two blueberry muffins, Coffee Cake or Streusel.

I didn't even have to think twice about what I wanted to do. In my opinion, one can rarely have too much streusel on baked goods.  So while I halved the recipe in order to have 1 or 2 to keep at home and the rest to dump on my coworkers who are rapidly becoming my culinary guinea pigs, I made a full recipe of streusel and packed it on the tops of the muffin dough until you had to take my word on it that there was a muffin below the streusel.

The words overmix always worry me a little when I see them in recipes as I suspect that I do tend to lean toward overbaking anytime I make most baked goods. And folding is one of those tasks that I guess at so I was a little concerned when I had everything pulled together and in the oven. But overall, I was pretty happy with how these turned out. However, I don't see myself being able to take them to work as due to putting too many blueberries into the batter, this was a very juicy and slightly messy muffin to eat. Plus, due to the excess blueberry juice oozing out and onto the pan, only a few actually make it out intact.

Messy they might have been, but yummy they indeed were.And they are even better the next day too.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints)

For the Streusel Topping

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a large bowl and blend with your hands.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs.  Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing  just until blended.  Fold the blueberries into the batter.  Don’t overmix!  With a standard (2 1/4″) ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full.
3. For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces.  Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly.  Spoon about 1 tbsp of the streusel on top of each muffin.  Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.