Muffins. I know they're not considered dessert. But let’s be
honest—it is a large cupcake with a different name that allows us to justify
eating an inordinate amount of sugar first thing in the morning. And who
doesn’t love muffins? With this reasoning, I felt that muffins wouldn't be out of place here, thus lemon blueberry muffins with streusel topping and lemon glaze.
(Also, if you have ever had the Costco lemon blueberry muffins you’ll
see why I wanted to attempt to recreate them at home. They are amazing… They
also inspired me to make Lemon-Blueberry pancakes.)
Lemon
Blueberry Muffins and Glaze:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-blueberry-muffins-10000000444741/
Streusel
Topping:
http://www.food.com/recipe/streusel-topping-127724
I omitted the cinnamon and used half brown sugar and half white granulated sugar for the streusel topping.
Buttermilk
I managed to forget to buy buttermilk when I went to the grocery
store. Amazing since I actually wrote a list of stuff I needed and managed to
bring it with me… I had milk so I decided to Google “buttermilk substitute”.
Easy enough. 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice (I used lemon juice for
obvious reasons) to 1 cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Use as directed
in recipe.
Also, I did not use butter in the recipe. I used Smart Balance
Buttery Spread. The muffins came out fine. (I noticed that I didn't have enough butter for both the muffins and the streusel topping, hence the
substitution.)
After I poured the batter in a prepared muffin tin, I added the streusel
topping and baked.
Before glaze:
After glaze:
You may want to increase the amount of sugar in the muffin recipe if you decide to skip the streusel topping. I found that the muffins themselves could have been a little sweeter. Adding the streusel topping and glaze compensated a bit, but more sugar in the recipe would be desirable.
Science for the Day:
Why couldn’t I have substituted regular milk for the buttermilk? If you look at the
ingredient list for the muffins, baking soda is listed. Baking soda is a base
and in order for the muffins to rise, there has to be an acidic counterpart. Remember
the baking soda volcano? The vinegar and baking soda mixed together and formed
carbon dioxide gas. Buttermilk is slightly acidic and therefore will react with
the baking soda forming carbon dioxide. Baking powder is another leaving agent.
It is made up of baking soda and cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid.
Therefore, if you mix baking powder and water you will see bubbles but if you
mix baking soda and water you get a slurry that isn’t useful for anything
except cleaning or soothing bee stings.
