Blueberry Muffins

I love the box mixes for blueberry muffins -- don't you? You know what brand I'm talking about. I could sit down and eat 4 at a time. Wait, that's just me? Dang, I'm a little embarrassed. But then again, I've had a passion for baking since I was in the single digits. That's not so normal to begin with...

So as I sit and open the box, stir in the obscene amount of oil, the water, and the eggs, that reminiscent aroma of muffin batter fills my nose and I barter with myself to only have a few spoonfuls of batter and save the rest for the intended end result.

Then once I sit down and have those 4 muffins at a time, I start to feel a bit guilty. I look at the nutrition on the box and the ingredient listing and feel even worse. Artificial ingredients, high sodium, etc.

So why is it that every time I try to make a better, more wholesome, homemade version of blueberry muffins they taste nothing like the one's I've come to love??? So frustrating!

But have no fear -- I think I finally figured it out! The key is to use sprinkling sugar (shout out to Wilton's sugar sparkles), almond extract, and to coat the blueberries in cornstarch before mixing in. Here's the DL on how to make them (a little bit more healthier) yourself:

Blueberry Muffins

1-1/2 C. all purpose flour

1/2 C. sugar (I like vegan cane sugar)

1/4 C. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 C. vegetable oil (I know, I know)

1 egg

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/2 C. buttermilk

2-3 tsp. cornstarch

1 C. fresh blueberries

Sparkling Sugar (the big chunks of sugar crystals)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups.

Sift together the flour, sugar, powdered sugar, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the oil, egg, extract, and buttermilk together. Carefully stir in the flour mixture until barely incorporated (2-4 stirs).

In a separate bowl, toss the blueberries with the cornstarch. The blueberries should be slightly damp (hopefully you washed them!) so the cornstarch will coat them nicely.

Again, carefully stir in the blueberries to the batter mixture (use a spatula at this point) and stir a few more times until incorporated. The more dry pockets of flour mixture there are within the batter, the better.

Use a measuring cup or ice cream scoop to fill the baking cups (3/4 full -- I hate dinky muffins, but this is a science to master because they can also overflow and ooze if too full. I have faith in you though.) Then sprinkle the top of each muffin with sparkling sugar and then place in the oven. Batter should be thicker than the box mix that you're used to. Bake 13-15 minutes until barely golden around the edges. Cool on a rack and enjoy! Makes 11 perfect muffins or stretch to make 12.