Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Candace Simar, Author, Writer and Poet

Candace Simar is a poet and novelist from Pequot Lakes MN. She has received awards from the League of MN Poets, Will Rogers Gold Medallion Awards, Western Fictioneers, Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America. Learn more about Candace and her books at at www.candacesimar.com 

"Lilac Time"
by Candace Simar

Lavender cone heads
fragrantly slurping
from old pickle jars
on every
kitchen table
in town.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins  

Cook's Notes: These muffins are lemonlicious! And just perfection when adding  blueberries to the batter. Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest in the batter make a huge difference. Then for all those lemon lovers, the muffins are drizzled with a sweet lemon glaze, enhancing the lemon flavor. The addition of almond extract with vanilla extract prove to be a nice flavor balance. 

Recipe adapted from twopeasandtheirpod and makes 12 muffins.
Cooking Tips: Greek yogurt can be sustituted in this recipe. Best to use small blueberries and toss with 1 tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter. I used a small hand strainer for this step. The addition of flour help keep the blueberries from sinking in the batter during the cooking time. 

Do not overmix batter as muffins will become more dense.  

 Muffin Ingredients: 

• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (1/3 cup) 
• 3/4 -1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk or half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon each pure vanilla extract and almond extract
• 1/2 cup butter melted and cooled
• 1 cup blueberries, rinsed dried and tossed with 1 tablespoon flour

For the Icing:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Muffin Directions: 

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
• In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream or Greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, milk and melted butter together until well blended.
• Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently stir to blend. Don't overmix. Stir in floured blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Fill the batter almost to the top of the paper liners. 
• Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin. 
• To ice add a sheet of wax paper under the cooling rack to catch the spills.