Blueberry Muffins

There are always foods that are just 10 times better when they're made from scratch instead of from a mix. Some can get away with it... mac and cheese, corn bread, even cake mixes are usually fine for me.

One that I used to think sort of "got away with it" was blueberry muffins... That is, until I actually made them from scratch.

And now, I'll never go back.

These muffins are seriously by far my favorite. They are sweet and soft with a sugary topping, but have a nice slight tartness every once in a while with some of the berries. They are so good that whenever I make them, they're gone by the next morning. No joke. My family loves these muffins.

So, for these blueberry muffins, I actually found the recipe online for double blueberry muffins after blueberries went on sale. We bought too many and had to freeze a bunch of them. I've actually tried making these muffins with blueberries from the bag in the freezer section and I definitely DO NOT recommend doing that. A lot of the berries turned out hard or flavorless after being baked and there was a decent amount of green berries in the bag as well... No, for these muffins, they need to be fresh... and then frozen... That's the best way to get them to turn out delicious every time.

As I mentioned doing in the past, I usually freeze blueberries if I buy them and am not planning on eating them all in the first few days. This way, I don't waste them and they're always ready for whenever I want to bake blueberry muffins!

The only thing I do differently from the recipe when I make them is that I keep them frozen. I just let the mixer smash the first group that I add and then I stir the rest in with a spoon (still frozen). This leaves a lot of intact blueberries in the muffins that makes them way better than if they were all smashed up. It also lets you mix the batter a little better since you aren't so worried about ruining all the blueberries!

To make these muffins, combine 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter and 1 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add 2 eggs and mix. Next, mix in 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined before adding the blueberries.

Next, add 3/4 cup frozen blueberries and mix them with a hand mixer or stand mixer. This will mask them up a little and turn the batter a blue/grey color.

Now, add 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of milk half at a time so it doesn't spill over. Once combined, use a spoon to fold in 1 3/4 cups frozen blueberries.

Fill greased or lined muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and sprinkle the batter with cinnamon sugar. Bake the muffins at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before taking them out of the muffin tin.

Anyone that makes these muffins will know why I just can't settle for the box mix at home anymore. So, I guess any advice I have today would be... "don't settle". Lol.