Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Perhaps it's the blueberry season in New Zealand as I found lots of New Zealand Blueberries on sale at the market recently. I bought few packets and here I've made some muffins with those little blueberries. I just realized that blueberries are a rich source of vitamin C as well as powerful antioxidant phytochemicals (plant chemicals), which help protect the body from illness. I would normally eat the blueberries straight or make it as fruits salad with yogurt. But this time I'd like to add it into my cakes.

I reduced some sugar for this recipe as I want to bite the natural sweet from the blueberries. I baked ten muffins and kept half in the freezer so that I could have it anytime I want. What I did is cling wrap the muffins after it completely cool down and kept in an airtight container then tuck it into the freezer while it's still fresh. For breakfast, I took it out from the freezer and just tuck it into 120'C oven for about 15 minutes. By the time I finish my washing and ready a cup of coffee, I've got a fresh and yummy blueberry crumble muffins. The muffins stayed soft and fluffy with the crumble topping that had given it extra texture and flavor. Without that much of sweetness from the muffins I could really taste the natural sweet from the blueberries.

Recipe for 10 muffins:

100g butter

90g sugar

2 eggs

200g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

120ml milk

some blueberries (6 blueberries for each muffins)

For the crumble:

25g ground almonds

70g plain flour

40g polenta (not quick-cook)

70 butter (cold)

20 Light muscovado sugar

splash of water

How I made it:

1. Beat the butter with sugar until light and fluffy and the sugar completely dissolve. Add eggs one at a time until well combine then add pinch of salt.
2. Mix half the shifted flour and baking powder into the batter and then mix in half the milk.
3. Fold in the rest of the flour with the milk by a spatula until everything just combine.
4. For the crumble topping, place the almonds, flour, polenta, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs.
5. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly - it should be quite clumpy.
6. Fill half the muffin cups with the batter then add three blueberries. Fill some batter again then top with another three blueberries. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the each muffins and bake at 170'C preheated oven for 30 minutes.