Banana Blueberry Muffins

The blueberries are just incredible this year....plump, sweet, plentiful and inexpensive. I've been buying pint after pint of New Jersey blueberries and have yet to be disappointed. We had a couple of bananas that were turning brown on the counter and my husband suggested I make some muffins before they went bad. Just so happened I had two pints of blueberries in the fridge too. In my book, homemade blueberry muffins can't be beat. I committed myself to taking care of the over-ripe bananas and blueberries with a single recipe.

BANANA BLUEBERRY MUFFINS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries (or more, if you so desire)

Muffins are quite simple to make, but there is a secret to getting the perfect fluffy and tender texture. You must not under any circumstances over-mix this batter. Let me repeat that so it really sinks in. DON'T OVER-MIX THE BATTER. If you over-mix the batter, your muffins will be dense and rubbery. For the love of all things delicious, don't over-mix the batter. Don't do it. Just don't. The batter will look lumpy, but resist the urge to keep mixing.

Preheat your oven to 350 and put those fancy little paper liners in your muffin tin. You can do this without the paper liners, but they make muffin removal and clean-up so much easier. I like to spray my paper liners with a little cooking spray, just to make sure the paper releases from the muffin.

Mix the dry ingredients first. It is not necessary to sift them together unless you feel like it. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to a small bowl and mix them up a little bit with a fork or a whisk. In a larger bowl, mash the bananas up until you can't see any big lumps.  Add the egg and whisk it into the bananas until it is well incorporated.  Add the melted butter, sugar and vanilla and mix well.  Then fold in the dry ingredients. AND DON'T OVER-MIX!!! Don't let your O.C.D. get the better of you - don't listen to that nagging little voice in the back of your head telling you to mix until its smooth. The batter will be lumpy and that's just fine. Stir in the blueberries and spoon the batter into the cups so it comes almost to the top. I like my muffins to rise up in the oven and have a nice healthy dome on top. To achieve that goal, you have to fill the muffin cups up to the rim of your muffin tin. Bake them for about 30 minutes, rotating the pan once in the oven. Use the toothpick test to make sure they are done before you take them out.

Now, when I made this recipe, I was a little distracted. As soon as I placed the pan in the oven, I licked a small blob of batter off my finger and realized that I'd forgotten to add the sugar. DUH! I quickly snatched the pan out of the oven (it had only been in there for about 30 seconds) and did my best to remedy the situation. I sprinkled about half a teaspoon of sugar on the top of each muffin and mixed it into the batter with the tip of a paring knife. Despite this somewhat major oversight, the muffins turned out just fine. The bananas were sweet, the blueberries were sweet and the small amount of sugar seemed to be just enough. I don't recommend making the same mistake, but I do recommend making a batch of your own banana blueberry muffins. It's what's for breakfast.