January probably isn’t the time of year you think of for blueberry muffins, but for some reason the idea of making them has been stuck in my head all weekend. Maybe it’s because I just spent a long time at home and they remind me of walking to the bakery when I was little to get a “Boo Boo Muffin”, or maybe it’s just because blueberries were on sale at A&P earlier this week so they stood out to me. Either way, I decided to make them to bring to work tomorrow, since we have a faculty meeting and that usually means the staff room could use a bit of a morale booster.

The recipe I have is called “Cable Blueberry Muffins”. When my mom was redoing her kitchen a long time ago, I agreed to copy all of the recipes in her recipe box onto new cards so they’d be easy to find. I painstakingly went through the recipe cards, magazine clippings, and scraps of paper to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and this was one of the ones clipped out of a newspaper at some point, on a page with maybe three other recipes. I assumed it must be important if my mom had it in her special box, so I asked about it later, thinking they must be the best blueberry muffins ever, but she said she’d never heard of Cable Blueberry Muffins. Oh well.

Anyways, I apparently also at some later date copied it onto an index card for myself, and when I was cleaning my apartment yesterday, it was miraculously sitting on top of a pile of cookbooks as if it knew I was making blueberry muffins this weekend. So I used it.

First, separate the egg whites and yolks, and put the egg whites in a small bowl. Beat them with a hand mixer on medium speed, and add 1/4 cup of sugar, continuing to beat until foamy.

In a large bowl, cream the butter using a hand mixer on medium speed.

Add the vanilla, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, and egg yolks to the butter and beat until smooth.

In a medium bowl (I realize that you will likely use your entire set of bowls to make this recipe – it’s kind of satisfying when that happens despite the extra clean up), combine the flour and baking powder.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the main batter mixture (that’s the one with the butter in the large bowl), beating after each addition until completely combined.

Fold in the blueberries. I have one spatula that’s considerably sturdier than my other one, and I use it almost exclusively to fold things in. Definitely worth investing in.

Finally, fold in the egg whites, again using your sturdy spatula.

Spoon the batter evenly between 12 lined muffin tins. They will be about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool further.

Obviously, blueberry muffins are best enjoyed warm with a hefty pat of butter. However, they will also keep for a couple days at room temperature if you store them in an airtight container. Alternatively, if you want to always have emergency blueberry muffins on hand, they freeze and thaw pretty well, too.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries

Directions:

1. Beat the egg whites in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until foamy. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer on medium speed to cream the butter. Add the vanilla, remaining 3/4 cup sugar and egg yolks and beat until smooth.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
4. Add the flour mixture and milk in alternating portions to the main batter, beating after each addition until completely combined.
5. Fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatula.
6. Fold in the egg whites.
7. Spoon batter evenly among 12 lined muffin tins. Bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove to wire rack to cool.