Monday, June 18, 2012

Blueberry Donut Muffins


Are you as shocked as I am that summer is really here?  The weeks and months tick by with or without my approval.  I mark the passage of time with the arrival of weekends and the denial of the restart of the work week.  Holidays, birthdays and anniversarys pass.  I fill up my 7 day medication dispenser with vitamins and such each Sunday evening (dang I feel like an old lady saying that).  (I thought about erasing that last bit about the medication dispenser by the way.)  And once a month I participate in Secret Recipe Club.  Something I look forward to.  It's a fun group to be a part of, but it also means another month has zipped by when I wasn't looking. 

The best thing about the monthly arrival of SRC is trying out a new recipe.  This month I was assigned Denise's blog, Creative Kitchen.  I always have a blast browsing through a new blog, and Denise's was no exception.  She has been blogging since 2009, she's busy with a family of five and focuses on making meals made with "real" whole foods.  Creative Kitchen has a variety of sweet and savory dishes, all made with love and as few processed foods as possible.  I admire Denise's committment to feeding her family real food, but keeping it in balance with the reality of our modern processed food society.  It's a concept I'd like to incorporate more into my little family of two.  Reading Denise's blog made me smile.  She has an enthusiastic spirit that is evident in the stories she shares as well as the dishes she creates.  Creative Kitchen definitely has a new follower! 

Choosing just one recipe is always a challenge.  I was drawn to several, but ultimately decided it was time to tackle the donut muffin.  I am a fan of donuts.  I am a fan of muffins.  And a baked donut sure beats frying. 


This recipe is easy to throw together on a Saturday morning as most of the ingredients can be found in a well stocked pantry.  I thought my pantry was pretty well stocked, but as the donut muffins were baking, I realized I was completely out of butter.  That almost never happens.  I always have butter stashed away in the freezer. 

Not this time. 


The donut muffins require the top of the baked donuts to be dipped in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar.  What to do?  Go to the store at 7:30 am on Saturday morning in my yoga pants and bed head?  Nope.  Send Hubby to the store for me?  Um, he was still sleeping. 

Time to improvise. 

I had some fresh blueberries in the fridge and I had already been thinking about making a blueberry sauce to drizzle over the donut muffins.  Why not use that in place of butter?  It was one of those happy accidents that turned out really well.


The donut muffins have the texture of a cake donut.  Add in fresh blueberry preserves and a cinnamon sugar crunch on top and you have a tasty breakfast treat on your hands.  I enjoyed one or three with a cup of early grey tea.   Now that's the way I like to start my weekend.  Denise recommends doubling the recipe, and I see why.  These little babies go fast!  Thanks for the recipe Denise!

Now, let's see how quickly July arrives.  In the meantime...

Enjoy!

Blueberry Donut Muffins
adapted from Creative Kitchen

1/3 cup of shortening (CK used coconut oil)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (CK used whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup milk

Topping:
1/3 cup blueberry preserves (see recipe below or if using store bought, heat preserves in microwave about 30 seconds to 1 minute, until loose)
1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and spray muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with paper liners.  I used my mini muffin pan (which is a medium sized mini--as opposed to a small mini) and it yielded 12 muffins (I would plan on 6-8 full size muffins).

In a medium bowl whisk shortening, sugar and egg until fully combined.  In another medium bowl, stir flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together.  Stir flour mixture into shortening mixture in thirds alternating with milk until just combined. 

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes for mini's or 25 minutes for full size, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow muffins to cool and dip tops in the blueberry preserves and then dip in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Blueberry Preserves
from The Ginger Snap Girl

1 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook on medium high heat.  Boil mixture for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.  It will continue to thicken upon cooling.

36 comments:

  1. Wow! These look so light and moist...and a great save, love the blueberry sauce! I must try these. Great SRC choice.

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  2. This looks great! Denise's blog is fabulous and this improvisation is perfect for some blueberries that are languishing away in my fridge.

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  3. WOW - these look amazing. I love your photos.

    My recipe from SRC today was wonderful! Come check it out! http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2012/06/german-chocolate-cracker-candy-secret.html

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  4. I love those happy accidents, don't you? These turned out beautiful and they sound delicious!

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  5. Gorgeous little mouthfuls - love blueberries in everything!

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  6. These look amazing! Our house is muffin crazy.

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  7. Good thinking, the blueberry preserves for dipping was a brilliant move! I've yet to try doughnut muffins but I so need to. Yum.

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  8. P.S. Thanks for keepin' it real on your vitamins. :)

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  9. These look delicious! I love how you made the blueberry sauce--great addition!

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  10. The blueberry top looks delicious! Good change up and good pick!

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  11. I love the idea of donuts in a muffin form...this could be very bad, haha!

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  12. I agree about time passing way to quickly. But Gloria I love your substitution for butter. What a beautiful looking sweet! Great SRC pick.

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  13. wow they look fabulous! definitely making these! great SRC post!

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  14. Aww...thanks SO much!! Your words brought a huge smile to my face. I love the blueberry idea! Can't wait to peruse your blog. Thanks again!!

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  15. How stunning!! I love that you running out of a key ingredient resulted in the use of another ingredient that really took these up a notch. The colour just pops. Great choice for SRC!! :)

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  16. Your substitution of the blueberries was brilliant and makes for beautiful donut muffins.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group "A" SRC entry: Candied Popcorn.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  17. Yum, I'm definitely going to try these - absolutely love the preserves and sugar topping - really looks delish! Gorgeous photos!

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  18. hm, how did you got your tops so high and rounded? mine turned out quite flat!

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    1. Hi Louise, I portioned out the batter using a medium cookie scoop. They weren't quite 2/3 full so I used a little extra adding a smidge more to each cup, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full. Maybe your baking powder is old? That can prevent the batter from rising. Hopefully they still tasted good!

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  19. I too am shocked that summer is here! These look amazing!

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  20. These look amazing I wanna try soon (my name is gloria too) lol

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  21. I could have used a few of these this morning! Love the purple tops!

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  22. Wow look at that vibrant color! I've seen many donut muffins and bookmarked them for a future try but never have I seen one made with fruit! I'm supposed to bring breakfast to work tomorrow and this just might make the cut. Thank you for sharing and glad to be in Group C with you.

    By the way, let me know how it goes if you end up making the Brat Burgers with Drunken Onions for your husband!

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  23. These look so good, I could totally eat through about a dozen right now! I too have quite a few donut muffin recipes marked off to try and just haven't made any yet, I will have to remedy that with these!

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  24. What a genius idea to use the blueberries on top - plus it looks really cool! Donuts in any form are always a welcome breakfast here :)

    PS - thanks for all of your comments on my site, they always make me smile!

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  25. What a great alternative to the usual blueberry muffin. The texture looks great!

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  26. they look simply amazing! so light and delicious
    Mary x

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  27. I just made these and they turned out wonderfully. I substituted strawberry preserves for the blueberry, and half my flour was whole wheat. What a great, fool-proof recipe. They look very impressive and pretty. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Ruby, I'm so glad to hear they were a success! Strawberry sounds delicious. I love all the options with this recipe.

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  28. Oh my, I can just imagine the different textures of the smooth blueberry gel, granules of sugar and soft pastry. Mm, YUM!

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  29. Wow. I really can't get over how fun these look! And I love the way the topping works as that really opens up all kinds of fun things to try. This just got on my 'things to take to work' list. Thanks!

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    1. They are fun! But I will say, the color starts to lose it's vibrancy after a day. I would say they are best served shortly after dipping them in the blueberry topping.

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  30. Lovely! I'm going to give a go at making this both gluten and dairy free as they look so good! I think it will be worth the effort! Thanks for a great recipe!

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  31. These muffins look awesome! I love the pop of color and that you thought so quickly on your feet.

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