This week is Staff Appreciation week at our school. (It's also Teacher Appreciation Week nationwide.) In addition to a luncheon that our parent group organizes for Friday, we bring in goodies all week long. Today, I brought in two types of homemade muffins: Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins (recipe by Ina Garten) and Banana-Pecan Muffins (recipe by Tyler Florence). The banana muffins will require some tweaking for my altitude since they turned out a little on the dry side for my taste, but the blueberry ones? Perfect!
I have been on a quest for the perfect blueberry muffin for a while now. Most of the muffins I've made have been tough, dry, and just kind of meh. Even when I am very careful not to overmix and watch my oven like a creepy stalker. But these are moist, tender, and not overly sweet. They kept fine overnight, although the tops got a little sticky, so be careful how you cover them.
Streusel Blueberry Coffee Cake
I'm not sure why, but streusel is one of those words I can't spell without looking it up. Spell check wants to change it to strenuous, which it's really not. It's quite easy to make.
This recipe originally came from Land O Lakes and uses their brand of fat free half and half. I haven't tried it with regular half and half, but I imagine it'll probably work just fine. The cake is a little on the dry side, but if you bake it the day before and wrap it tightly, the blueberries will moisten the cake right up. Or you can just make sure to have a big glass of milk or coffee to go with its nutmeg-y goodness.
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