BLUEBERRY-CRANBERRY MUFFINS

Lauren Groveman is a food writer for the Larchmont Gazette, as well as a cookbook author and TV personality. So I figured her recipe for
"Loaded with Blueberries" Muffins would have to be good. I was disappointed, to say the least. Lauren uses cinnamon and nutmeg to flavor the muffin, and IMHO, those flavors don't work well here. Call me a traditionalist, but I still like lemon and orange zests the best for flavoring anything made with berries. The muffins also come up a little short on sugar, and you know I tend to go light on sugar. But these need a little more. In the rare event you might like to make these, I've adjusted the ingredient amounts below to make these a little sweeter. I added some broken pecans on the tops of the muffins, and I do like the texture and taste of the pecans on the muffin tops. But I won't make this recipe again.

Blueberry-Cranberry Muffins

Rating: 5 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:

Topping:

1/2 cup mixed blueberries/cranberries

1 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. broken pecans

Muffins:

1-3/4 cups all-purpose or white whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 large egg

1 Tbsp. oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar + 2 Tbsp. for tops

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups mixed blueberries and cranberries, frozen & unthawed

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray 8 muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray. (Or use a 6-cup standard muffin tin and a 12-cup mini-muffin tin.)

In a small bowl, mix all topping ingredients together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine first 6 ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine egg, oil, brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar, whisking till well combined and smooth. Whisk in applesauce and vanilla. Fold berries into dry ingredients, coating them thoroughly with flour mixture. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring with a spatula just till barely combined. Spoon lightly into prepared muffin cups, allowing about 1/4 cup batter for each. Sprinkle topping mix evenly over muffins, then sprinkle tops with remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar. Bake the minis for about 13 minutes; the standard muffins for about 19 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick near center of muffin; when it returns with just a few crumbs, the muffins are done. Cool in pans about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.