Lemon and blackberry muffins

Happy New Year! After a busy holiday season with many miles driven (over 4500 actually) to visit friends and family, and much food and drink indulged in, we have finally returned to Chicago to settle in for a new year. Naturally, I received several new cookbooks for Christmas and have been eagerly poring through them, looking for new things to try. I decided to start off with a fresh-tasting treat (with some vague hope that this will symbolically enable a fresh, lively start to the year), namely lemon and blackberry muffins from the muffin tome 750 Best Muffin Recipes, which has some pretty hysterical muffins I'm eager (and slightly afraid) to try.

Recipe

from 750 Best Muffin RecipesMakes 122 cups all-purpose flour2 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp salt1/4 tsp baking soda3/4 cup packed light brown sugar2 eggs3/4 cup buttermilk1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted1 tsp grated lemon zest3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided1 tsp vanilla extract1 cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) blackberries2 tbsp granulated sugarPreheat oven to 375 F. Grease 12 cup muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar and eggs until blended. Whisk in buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, 1 tbsp of lemon juice and vanilla until well blended. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Gently fold in blackberries.Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 28 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to the rack to cool while you prepare the glaze. In a small saucepan, heat remaining lemon juice and granulated sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Brush warm muffin tops with lemon syrup. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving or let cool completely.

Musings

A few notes on preparation: I used fresh rather than frozen blackberries. I ran out of (usable) light brown sugar, so I mixed in 1/2 cup light brown and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar.A lovely first foray into muffin-land. They were a fine balance of sweetness and tartness, with a great texture: a slight crunch from the lemon glaze to the gooey pockets of blackberry. I suspected these would be tasty tarts from the fabulous lemon-blackberry combination we discovered in making lemon souffles. They made for an excellent after dinner dessert, but, more importantly, they will make for a great on-the-go breakfast.