As the summer bounty of fruits and vegetables are slowly coming to an end. I find myself preparing as many dishes as I can, cooking and baking with my favorites. I also find myself, continuing to schlepp my bags back and forth to work even though it is too hot to schlepp anything except myself and a cup of coffee to work. Yes, Christians also schlepp. I am a big schlepper and if you are in doubt as to my skill level. I have a few Jewish friends that would be happy to be a reference as to my incredible schlepping skills.

Why do you care about my schlepping? Well, you see even though I have no time at work to read a cookbook. I schlepp a cookbook or two amoungst other things each day, just in case I should need it and whatever else I decide to schlepp. Yesterday was a 10 1/2 hour day, so I brought 3 cookbooks to work. We had pouring down rain that went till closing. This matters because……..

Frankly, I am not a skilled enough schlepper to carry a heavy purse ( did she really say purse, no one says that anymore), a heavy tote with cookbooks, my lunch sack ( oh, my gosh she takes her lunch to work in a sack-nobody brings lunch to work) and carry a huge stadium umbrella while open to shield me from the pouring rain. So, I left my heavy tote at work. This means I don’t have the recipe for these delectable Blueberry muffins with a caramelized pecan streusel topping to share with you at this moment.

My intentions were to use my mother’s recipe that produces a grand blueberry muffin, until…………….

I came across this Southern recipe and decided to give it a try (sorry, mom). Wonderful decision and I was glad that I was adventuresome. I will say, I decided to savor the time making muffins instead of rushing while mixing my ingredients. It is good to know that I am not to old to learn a lesson- bake with love and care and you will be rewarded-at least most of the time. Rush, and you will loose……….So, I gently mixed the batter and carefully folded in the fruit.

As soon as I was done, I could tell that my batter was going to be extraordinary and that the ultimate muffin was going to be produced.

Don’t you just love it when you are right? I know I do, and the husband has excepted the fact that I am usually right. Which is why he gave me a little statue saying, “Yes dear, you are right”. Just so he doesn’t forget this little tidbit of information, the statue is proudly displayed near by, so that he can be reminded of this well known fact. “Yes dear, you are right”.

So, right again I was, as I instantly knew while putting on the topping- pleasure was on it’s way. Just as soon as I could get these in oven. I heated the Streusel mixture over the stove. Making the Streusel in this way seemed odd at the time and I wasn’t quite sure how I would manage keeping it on top of the muffins to bake. Luckily, despite my efforts for the topping to stay on top, some of the Streusel ran down the sides of the muffins. This little glitch added to my culinary pleasure.

Here’s what I got- a topping that caramelized in the oven and at some junctures caramelized with a few of those big juicy blueberries that went into the muffins. Keep in mind that not only was the topping extraordinary, but the muffin batter was the lightest and fluffiest I have ever had. Cake like, they melted in my mouth and I needed a plate in order to catch the crumbs. If you care to fore go your manners, then by all means just grab one and skip the plate.

Expect a knee-buckle response when the aroma fills the room during baking. Hold on to the counter when taking a bite of these muffins while warm from the oven-both knees are libel to buckle on you.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because I did. This is a slight adaption of James recipe.

Hootie’s Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

James Villas, The Glory of Southern Cooking

For the topping-

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup finely chopped nuts

For the Muffins-

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( I prefer white lily, if you can find it)

2 teaspoons of homemade baking powder or use a fresh can of powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons sweet butter softened to room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon homemade vanilla or pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cups fresh blueberries

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan with melted butter and set aside.
• To make your topping, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat on the stove. Stir till the mixture dissolves. When melted, take the streusel off the heat and add your cinnamon and chopped nuts.
• To make the muffins, sift your dry ingredients together (flour, salt, baking powder) into a bowl.
• Using a larger bowl, cream together your softened butter and sugar by hand or using an electric mixer till the mixture is light and fluffy. ( I did this step by hand amd couldn’t imagine it being any lighter)
• Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat the mixture till all is well blended.
• Add the flour mixture and milk, alternating, mixing well after each addition. Be careful to not overbeat the mixture when doing this step and use the hand method at this point.
• Gently fold in the blueberries into the batter till they are evenly distributed.
• Fill the muffin cups each to about 2/3 full of the batter, making sure that each muffin gets it’s fair share of blueberries.
• Using a tablespoon gently place on top a spoonful of the Streusel topping on each muffin. You don’t need to press it in, just place on top as the Streusel will melt in with the muffins.
• Bake till golden brown, about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them, as you want golden brown not brown.
• Let the muffins sit a minute or so before you take them out of the pan. These muffins are light so it took a little patience to lift them out of the pan. I used a fork and my fingers being ever so careful not to bust them as I set the muffins on a rack to cool.
• Serve hot and if you have any leftovers they are great at room temperature as well.