Last Thursday at 10 pm I had an entirely frivolous and over the top urge for home made blueberry muffins.  I brown bag every day to work, and had bought some frozen blueberries in the hopes of changing things up. This is a recipe for those urges. Not too much butter, not tricky in the least, you can put these together in just over a half hour.

Blueberry Muffin Bliss (adapted from Martha Stewart.com)

Yields 1 Dozen

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 cups whole wheat flower, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Butter a muffin pan and dust with flour, tap out excess and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk  flour, baking powder, and salt. Take a small portion of the mixture and toss with blueberries until they’re lightly coated. Set aside both mixtures.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time until combined. Mix in vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add flour mixture just until combined. Add milk, beating until combined – do not over mix. Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries by hand. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
   
5. In a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cardamom, & cinnamon – or any other sweet spices you prefer. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of muffin batter.
6. Bake until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick or knife blade inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean (25 – 30 minutes). Transfer out of pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes.

Tips

• The sugar and spice mixture makes the tops lightly crunchy and amazing! Don’t skimp on this part!
• I used soy milk because it has a deep flavour, slightly nutty taste, and I’m lactose intolerant. Cow milk will be just as good.
• When I put them in the muffin pan the dough didn’t look moist enough and it wasn’t resting in the pan like I thought that it would – but it worked out perfectly!

I think an elaborate late night snack just tastes better sometimes, don’t you? What’s your favourite late night snack indulgence?