Blackberry Muffins

I ended up with a package of blackberries and no reason to turn them into jam.  I've never made this recipe out of the Tea book because I wouldn't buy blackberries just to use them in muffins.  Having some foisted upon me, I decided to try it.

I was surprised that this uses regular flour.  For something so delicate and - let's face it - high in oil and sugar, I would have expected cake flour.  For my batch, I used one cup of cake flour and the rest regular.  It reduces the chance of over-mixing and creating holes, but still allows enough gluten development for them to rise without whipping the egg.  You could also use any kind of berry in this recipe, but adjust the amount of sugar to match the sweetness.

Full disclosure, I had extra blackberries and put a couple on top of each muffin before baking.  There are probably closer to 10 oz in mine, so don't be surprised if yours looks more sparse.

2-1/2 C flour
1 Tb baking powder
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1-1/3 C milk
6 Tb (1/4 C plus 2 Tb) vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
*6 oz fresh blackberries
2 Tb light brown sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan.

2.  Sift flour and baking powder into a medium bowl.  Stir in white sugar.

3.  In another bowl, beat together egg, milk, oil, and vanilla until smooth.  Add to dry ingredients and stir just until blended, no more than 5 strokes.  It's ok if there are still some lumps.

4.  Stir in blackberries, which will get rid of remaining lumps.  Let sit for 5 minutes for everything to hydrate evenly.

5.  Spoon batter into muffin pan.  Sprinkle tops with brown sugar (1/2 tsp per muffin, if you want to do the math).  Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until well-risen and golden brown.  Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out muffins onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 1 dozen

Difficulty rating π