Blueberry Muffins

Yesterday I managed to make both homemade blueberry muffins and Chicken Divan for dinner. I've never made either of those. If I've ever made you blueberry muffins they came from a box. No hard feelings.

This muffin recipe comes from Mrs. Paula Deen's staff. I have to say, it turned out pretty well, though I would probably add more sugar next time, because I have a sweet tooth. I found the recipe from a link she posted on Facebook, here. Anyone really think Paula herself posts those updates on Facebook? Me neither...but sometimes it's fun to pretend. Heck, maybe she DOES post some/all of them, you never know.

I've got lots of pictures from this recipe, too!

I had to gather my ingredients:

LOTS of blueberries. Translation: 2.5 cups fresh blueberries. These were some huge ones.

Sugar! 1.25 tazas (cups en espanol)...

Plus 2 tsp sugar, kept separate.

2 huevos (eggs)

I can't find our regular size muffin pan, but we just got this "Texas Size" one that would be perfect for this. The eggs are there to show some scale.

It didn't occur to my genius self that we'd have to get XL muffin papers, too. I happened to see these on clearance at the party outlet while gathering birthday party supplies. Great! I bought two, naturally.

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt. I used to just leave salt out, thinking it would be better for our health, but I have heard from a particular consumer too often that things need more salt...so I guess I'll put it in in the first place. I don't really notice a difference, but I haven't paid too much attention.

1/2 Cup milk. At the zoo today they were feeding a baby gorilla. I wondered for a moment just what kind of milk they were feeding him. You don't wonder these things until you have a baby yourself...most of the time.

1 stick of butter. Translation: 1/2 cup.

Mixin' it up. I want it to be smooth-ish when I add the sugar.

Then I poured the sugar in and gave it a good, long mix.

There's something almost whimsical about mixing by hand. It reminds me of being a young kid and being excited to get to help cook.

Then I added the eggs...

From this point, I had to mix in the flour and milk. The recipe instructs us to alternate the two.

Mixing, mixing, mixing...

It's getting smoother...We're also warned to "be careful not to over mix." What can this possibly mean? HOW in the world do I know if I've over-mixed, or better yet...how do I know when to stop mixing? I wonder this every time I see those words, but I try to think of it as not beating the air out of it so it can stay light and fluffy. I remain cautious, but try to let my worries go.

Now I can fold in these humongous blueberries. Perfect for our humongous muffin pan.

I had to switch to a spoon to keep from breaking the blueberries.

It's starting to get that familiar smell to it.

Time for the muffin pan.

It looks kind of questionable, but it will all work out.

Filled to this capacity, I should have known they would overflow.

Remember that extra 2 tbs sugar? Here it is:

Drizzled over the top. Again, next time, I'll add more. Yum. Diabetes runs in my family, maybe I should leave the extra sugar out. One day.

Ready to bake!

I set the timer...

And find this thing to stand in front of. That kitchen can get hot after a while of cooking.

Oops...I didn't notice how dirty it was until I saw this picture. It's stored outside in the cooler months and in our haste to get the house cooler we didn't clean it before putting it in...I need a bucket of soapy water and a vacuum.

I had to bake them an EXTRA 23 minutes!!! I didn't account for that when I decided to use this pan. That's a total of 48 minutes. They are worth it though.

I ate one before taking this, just because I couldn't resist. I must say, they are delicious. I'm not opposed to using the Jiffy mix again, but I will probably use this recipe once more this season. At least.