Recipe | Home Baked

Saturday morning we packed up the kids and went to our first farmer’s market of the summer. I think it might have been the first time in eight years that we did not take a stroller. Another milestone. We came home with a bag of multi-colored fingerling potatoes, two big bunches of asparagus (some of which turned into this salad), and a pint of blueberries. After sampling a few (not a sour one in the bunch), I used the whole box in my favorite blueberry muffin recipe on Sunday morning.

The muffin batter is really just a means to bind the blueberries together, topped with a buttery crumb topping. These are not sturdy muffins that would survive a child’s backpack; these are delicate and tender, best still warm from the oven and borne gently to the breakfast table in a basket. (I bet Dad wouldn’t mind them, along with a cup of coffee and a handmade card, on his tray for Father’s Day breakfast in bed.) Frozen berries will not do. Save this recipe for the best fresh blueberries you can find.

Blueberry muffins
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:
2 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/3 cup flour
3 Tbsp. sugar

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups.

Melt butter in microwave or in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk in milk, egg and vanilla until well combined.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add liquid mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups.

Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and rub together with your fingertips until it begins to crumble and clump together. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the muffin batter.

Bake until golden and crisp, and a wooden pick comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of each muffin and carefully remove from the cups. Serve warm.

I’m not going to bother you with my regular old, everyday granola recipe. Just make this. It’s sweet, salty and fruity all at the same time. And if, for whatever strange reason, you run out of olive oil in your pantry, you can substitute vegetable oil or melted butter, and you will still have very good granola. But it won’t be this.

A quick Google search will reveal that every other food blog in the universe has already made a version of this granola, most of them based on the recipe given by Melissa Clark in The New York Times. I had a perfectly yummy granola recipe, developed from several sources, so it took me a while to try this one. So many wasted months….

My biggest change was to reduce the sweetness. I thought about reducing the oil as well (my usual recipe only has 1/4 cup), but I was afraid to lose the fruitiness of the olive oil, so I left it alone. Also, I like my granola in big clumps, so I’ll share my method, which has the added benefit of reducing the baking time. As always, granola is forgiving, so substitute your favorite combination of nuts and seeds.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups nuts (the original calls for raw pistachios, which I forgot to get, so I subbed almonds)

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas), hulled (mine were already roasted and salted, so I skipped the salt later in the recipe)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp kosher or sea salt (skip if your nuts or pepitas are already salted)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/3 cup maple syrup (or try honey)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the syrup and olive oil together in the measuring cup and pour into the bowl. Mix well. Spread mixture on two rimmed baking sheets lined with Silpats (parchment would probably work, too). Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring once halfway through. baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the baking sheets. Break granola into large clumps and store in an airtight container. Serve with yogurt (Greek yogurt is my favorite) and fresh or dried fruit. Or just eat it straight out of the container at random times during the day.

Get every last bit coated with oil and syrup.

I think I got the tip about the Silpat from my friend Sara–no more scrubbing the pans, and it’s easy to fold the mat and pour the last few bits of granola into your container.