To die for blueberry muffins

Blueberry season has started, at least here in southern Finland. After one week of persistent rain the berries seem to have grown and ripened quickly. On a dry morning a few days ago, I went outside to pick enough for these gorgeous muffins. I have my own blueberry field just around the corner, or to be more precise it's almost a blueberry forest. Blueberry picking with my father was a childhood pleasure that still comes to my mind whenever I pick them. Such lovely memories, never to be forgotten. My kitchen assistant Bany (a black lab) liked eating the blueberries straight from the bushes. My darling went to dog heaven four days ago, almost 14 years of age and our house has never felt this empty.

 I came upon this recipe at the site www.allrecipes.com  and got interested because of the outstanding name of the muffins.

The recipe is easy peasy and the crumb topping turns these muffins into something out of the ordinary. I made a few changes to the original recipe and you'll find them in brackets.

1 cup=2,4 dl

Ingredients for 12 regular sized muffins/8 large ones:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar (I used a bit less sugar)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk, or more as needed (you can use buttermilk as well)

(1 tablespoon vanilla sugar)

1 cup fresh blueberries (a little bit more)

For the crumb topping:

1/2 cup white sugar (I used brown sugar and a little less)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used almost 3 teaspoons)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, (vanilla), salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and add enough milk to reach the 1 cup mark. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3. Crumb topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven or until done.

Enjoy the muffins with your afternoon tea or coffee. We went for two glasses of sparkling wine mixed with elderflower juice that I made a few days ago. Strong recommendation, especially for those who don't like the bubbles in the sparkling wine.