Lemon Blackberry Muffins

Hi everyone!

I am still here and still pregnant.  We are currently 36 weeks and my brain has turned into oatmeal.  The plain bland kind that everyone hates.  Every drop of creative inspiration has been sucked out of me.  It really blows.  What ever happened to nesting?  I thought all women turned into nesting monkeys in the third trimester.  Making blankets, deep cleaning, decorating, ect…  I was kinda looking forward to that.  I just sit around on the couch most of the day knitting baby vests and watching Julie and Julia (gotta love that movie) or reruns of Top Chef Masters (Go Kerry, Go!).  Oh well, I am sure you will all understand if I post less frequently over the next couple months.  It’s not that I don’t want to post, just that I can’t seem to come up with anything witty to say, I can’t find the desire to pick up my camera or even my iphone and honestly I hardly have the energy to cook.  I have eaten way more than my share of taco truck tacos this month.  Of course, I should probably just post more often and not worry about pretty pictures, witty comments or helpful recipes.  Lets try that instead.

So on that note, today I want to share a muffin recipe that we have been enjoying.  I have made these four or five times in the last month and everyone loves them.  The recipe belongs to the ultimate culinary genius and my favorite chef Alton Brown.  I took his recipe found in I’m Just Here For More Food and added blackberries, lemon juice and zest to it because those two flavors just seem to pair so well together and I have a horde of frozen blackberries to go through.  Thank god because the blackberries in the backyard are literally rotting on the vine because I can’t find the energy to pick them.  I am also sick of getting itchy scratches, but mostly my lazy butt just can’t get up and pick.

A quick side note.  If you are making berry muffins and do not want them to turn purple or blue then I suggest freezing your berries for a few hours beforehand.  I learned that during round 1.  If the berries are frozen and tossed with the flour before mixing with the wet ingredients they will not break apart and color your batter.  Tada!  Perfect golden muffins with whole berries right where they ought to be.

Blackberry Lemon Muffins

Recipe by Alton Brown

Makes 12 muffins

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large whole egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 large lemon, zested and juiced, seeds removed
• 2 cups of frozen blackberries

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Place paper muffin cups in your muffin tin or butter each cup well.

2.  In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

3.  In a medium sized bowl stir together everything else except the blackberries.

4.  Toss the blackberries in the flour and coat evenly.  Then make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients.  Stir about 10 times making sure to scrape the bottom, but don’t overmix.  You will want to stir more, but as long as most of the flour is mixed in it will be ok.  Over-mixing will result in dense muffins.

5.  Use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into the muffin tins.  Bake for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.  Store in a zip top bag on the counter.