If you like the taste of preservatives and fillers, this recipe is not for you. It is full fledge flavor for unadulterated muffin lovers. Does it have calories? Yes. But let me let you in on a little secret: when you make your own food, you don’t have to be as concerned with calories. Want to know why? There are two main reasons. 1. You know exactly what is going into them, and the extra calories that come with the preservatives and additives has been eliminated. You’re left with pure ingredients. (Do you remember our ancestors being on weight watchers? Sure, for some of them it might have been a good idea, but this leads me into reason #2…)
2. When you make your own baked goods/treats, a crazy thing happens– you don’t want to eat three of them in a row. You know exactly how much work went into them and you savor the effort. You don’t want to have a good amount of work gone in 60 seconds. You relish in what you just did, bite after bite. Also, you want to share them because you love to hear the recognition of a job well done. Everyone does, don’t deny it. But when you share, it’s less for you to eat, but you’re still getting the fulfillment. Just without the calories and it feels better. You nourished someone and they liked it.
This is how our ancestors lived and look at the health difference. Look at the food difference. The attitude in which we consumed food was different. It was about sustainability and nourishment. Food was made around crafting food for your loved ones, and spending time with them over a meal. Today it’s about quickness. The handmade effort is dissolving, and replacing it is fake ingredients thats slowly ruining our bodies. It’s when mass production came about that our health went down the tubes. Not only physical health, but our health in the household. This is one of our biggest passions: Bringing families back to the table with food that’s good enough to feed a chef and easy enough for a household wife to make.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a BIG lemon fan. Lemons lemons er’day. I am not however a blueberry fan, UNLESS they’re a in a muffin. Healthy. I know. I think my mouth gets bummed out when they don’t taste like grapes. But surround them in flour, sugar, butter, and eggs and we’ll call it good. Is that weird? My daughter can eat them by the literal carton. I honestly get concerned that I’ll have a Violet Beauregard on my hands one day.
Do you remember my blog post of my lemon loaf muffins? Gosh those were good. For people that might not like that much tartness, this lemon muffin might be the better option for you. It’s delightfully light and has the perfect amount of lemon flavor. One of our clients was looking for a good breakfast muffin, and I tried this recipe out on them. They’ve asked for them every time! I honestly don’t blame them. These are turning into one of my favorites.
One of the things I love about these muffins is that I can make them without a kitchen aid mixer. I use a large bowl for the dry ingredients and a smaller bowl for the wet ingredients and mix it by hand. I find recipes like that way less intimidating and I have no idea why. A kitchen aid is one of my best kitchen helpers, but knowing that I can do it without, just makes me feel like I can get them done quick. Does anyone else feel like that?
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 11/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 T baking powder
- ½ t baking soda
- ½ - 1 tsp salt
- 1½ cups plain Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 handfuls of fresh blueberries
- 8 Tbsp butter- melted
- 1/4 c flour
- 3 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp butter- cubed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a large bowl. Add in blueberry's now so you don't forget! When they have flour on them they are less likely to sink to the bottom.
- In a medium bowl whisk together yogurt and eggs. Add in lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.
- Combine yogurt mixture to flour mixture. Once they're incorporated, pour in butter. Mix until just incorporated.
- Prepare the strudel topping by whisking the butter and sugar into a small bowl, and cut the butter in with a pastry cutter, or break it up with your hands, until it's bean size lumps or so.
- Line a muffin tin with muffin liners. Equally measure out the muffin mixture into the liners. Top with strudel topping. Bake for 20 min or until the tops of the muffins are slightly springy, and are lightly golden.
- Cool for 3-5 min and remove them from the tin. Cool completely on a cooling rack. ENJOY!
Our new tagline: Remember, a bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate. Proverbs 15:17
We had it read at our wedding and it’s become The Chef’s favorite verse. HA!
–The Everyday Chef and Wife
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