Blueberry Pickin'

Saturday morning we ventured out to Rice City in the Western part of Rhode Island to pick us a boatload of blueberries.

We've been picking blueberries here for the last 10 years.





This farm is nestled into the woods down a long dirt road.

Just where a blueberry farm should be.





It doesn't hurt that the surroundings are beautiful and the berries are plentiful.



We picked and picked and sampled, then picked some more and sampled a bit more too.



It had rained the night before, so the bushes were full of raindrops.

We all left with "granny fingers" as the kids call them.

They were all wrinkly and prunish, but we kept on pickin'.



We ended up picking 16 pounds of blueberries. Yup, 16 pounds.
In case you're wondering what 16 pounds of berries looks like, let me show you.

They fill up a really big bucket.



Now what do you do with 16 pounds of blueberries you ask?

Well first you spend oh....6 to 8 hours prepping them for the freezer so we can have muffins and pancakes and pies and other blueberry treats well into the winter.

With the 3 or 4 pounds you didn't freeze, well you use those to bake with.

You make the best blueberry muffin on earth. Which I did.



They are called To Die for Blueberry Muffins, and they really are. Everyone who puts one in their mouths declares them "the best blueberry muffin ever". Trust me, they are. I think it might have something to do with the irresistible crunchy topping.



I blogged about them awhile back, but since then I've tweaked the recipe just a tad and now it's absolutely perfect.

One of the nice things about these muffins is, you don’t need an electric mixer. Two bowls, a measuring cups and a few measuring spoons is all it takes to make these scrumptious muffins.

To Die for Blueberry Muffins
Printable recipe
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
enough milk to fill one cup
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cold and cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease the muffin cups or use muffin liners. This recipe made 11 muffins for me.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk to mix. Place the vegetable oil into a 1-cup measuring cup and add the egg and vanilla. Pour in enough milk to fill it to the 1-cup line. Pour this into the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix! Gently fold in the blueberries. The batter will be thick.

Fill the muffin cups to the top. I used an ice cream scoop and one scoop filled them perfectly.

To make crumb topping:

Mix together the brown sugar, flour, cubed butter and cinnamon. Using a pasty blender or a fork combine until the butter is pea sized. Sprinkle over the muffins before baking. I used a heaping tablespoon for each one. Trust me, heaping mounds of topping are a good thing.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes in a preheated oven or until they test done. Let cool 5 minutes in pan, and then remove from pan to cool on a rack. Eat warm if possible!