Blueberry Muffins have always been one of my favorite breakfast muffins!  In college, I often bought them on my way to morning classes. Now let’s make some! 

Chief ZooKeeper and I recently celebrated our 11^th birthdaversary.  This is the combination of his birthday and our wedding anniversary.  He wanted us to be the same age when we took our vows, so we set a date shortly after his birthday.  It didn’t take long for us to coin it our ‘birthdaversary’.  I like being silly and making stuff up, somehow I managed to suck him into this one and it stuck.  I’m pretty pleased with myself. Haha.

So, the first thing we did on our birthdaversary was to fix breakfast together.  He made the most fantastic omelets for us and I made Blueberry Muffins from scratch.  I must apologize as he refused to let me take pictures of his omelet.  He deemed it not worthy.  If you could have tasted it, you would have sided with me, it was amazing! Since I couldn’t share it, you could check out this Indian Omelet if you like, it’s great too!

I had never made Blueberry Muffins so I was a little nervous and was extra careful not to create too much gluten so they wouldn’t be tough.  I wanted them to be perfect for our day.  They turned out just right and I was stoked!

Before I get started with the recipe, I would like to point out that our birthdaversary chalkboard mural was done by my friend.  I was super grateful as she is an awesome artist!

Blueberry Muffins

This recipe made 2 dozen delicious Blueberry Muffins!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c melted butter or margarine (we used dairy free)
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp grated lemon rind
  • if you’d like a lemony flavor, use 2 tsp lemon juice instead
• 3 c all-purpose flour
• 1 c fresh or frozen berries
  • if using frozen, thaw them under running water
  • you can use any berry, chocolate chips, or whatever you desire in place of the blueberries
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp soda
• 1 1/4 c orange juice
• 1/2 c chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter and sugar in bowl.  Mix together.
3. Add eggs and lemon rind (or juice), mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour , salt, baking powder and soda.
5. Add to egg mixture alternating with orange juice, mixing carefully.  At this point, if you over mix it will make the muffins tough so I suggest mixing about 3-4 times each time and then folding the entire mixture rather than stirring.
6. In a separate bowl, dust blueberries lightly with flour.  This will keep them from sinking to the bottom.  Wherever they are when you put the batter in the muffin tin, they will stay!
7. Fold in pecans and blueberries.
8. Place batter into a greased muffin pan.
9. Bake 15-20 minutes, using a toothpick to ensure they are done in the middle.
10. Cool in pan for five minutes then move to wire rack to cool completely.

Have you got any tips on muffin making to share with us?

I’d also love to hear what you do on your anniversary to make them extra special?  After 11 years, we sometimes feel like we’ve done everything to be done!  haha