Meyer Lemon-Blueberry Muffins!

So in Berkeley it's "winter," which means it's (sometimes) chilly at night and in the early morning, and in the middle of the day, most days, I've found myself more likely to want my tivas than my hoodie. This is taking some getting used to. The rain makes for gloomier days, but Cali's so-called "rainy season" has been rather sparse, which is bad for my grandma's garden and her water bill but lovely for me and my newly-rejuvenated biking habit. (I should point out that the only place worse to be, as a biker, than out of shape, is just beginning to get into shape, especially when getting into shape in Berkeley, which has, y'know, hills. Still, I'm trying. And Berkeley, although not as bike-savvy as Minneapolis,  is a very, very bike-friendly place to be.)

The point here is that "winter" in Berkeley (and yes, "winter" when talking about Berkeley cannot be written without quotation marks) is a season where meyer lemons grow and even ripen. So it was that, last week, I decided to take some from my grandma's tree and bring them to almost-nirvana in the form of Lemon-Blueberry Muffins. (Real meyer lemon nirvana=lemon bars, which I promise to make and post at some point in the near future.)

Muffins are some of my very favorite things to bake, because they come together so easily, keep relatively well, and are wonderful as breakfast or snacks or even dessert, depending how cup cake-like you make them. I tend to go for less cup cakey muffins most of the time, but I would call this recipe something of a compromise between a wholesome, wholegrain standby and a fluffy, sugary concoction. The trick with muffins is: fast as possible, hands off as much as possible. You need to mix for sure, but once wet ingredients touch dry you want to be as efficient in stirring as you can be. The more you mix the tougher they'll get. Plus,  the chemical reaction with the leavening agents will begin as soon as the ingredients are combined, so not getting them directly into the oven will hinder rising potential. So yeah: fast as possible, hands off. Got it? Good.


Ingredients (for 12 smallish-medium muffins)
-6 TB cold, unsalted butter
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-zest and juice of 2 small meyer lemons (about 2.5 TBS juice and 1 tsp. zest, but more is good too!)
-1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but any should work)
-1.5 tsp. salt (less if using salted butter)
-2 tsp. baking powder
-2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour (you could probably sub in some whole wheat pastry--I intend to next time!)
-2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I happened to have about 1 cup fresh and 1 cup frozen wild)

Procedure
-Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease or line a 12-muffin tin.
-Cream the butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy, then mix in the lemon zest and juice, egg, and vanilla. 

-In a separate bowl, whisk the salt, baking powder, and flour together and then gently mix in the blueberries. 
-Mix dries into wets, alternating with the milk, and stir until just combined. Some of the blueberries will burst. They will still taste great. Don't worry!
-Portion out batter into 12 muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry or with a couple of crumbs.
-Enjoy plain or with jam. Also tea. Yum!