The Best Blueberry Strudel Muffins (and chocolate chip if you have a non-fruit eater)

I found this recipe recently and thought since I had all of the ingredients, I should quickly make it because it was cold and snowy outside.  Plus her raspberry muffins looked amazing!!!  I wanted to have something nice and warm for breakfast and this seemed like the perfect answer since I don't normally have sour cream on hand and I had lots to spare.  Isn't that the best reason to have a warm, yummy muffin?  Okay, any reason is a good one!!

I mixed the topping in a small bowl with all of the dry ingredients. I used some lemon zest that I had in the freezer.  I am going to tell you that this recipe was so successful that I made it a second time to try out some other ingredients and since I didn't have any lemon zest left, I used orange zest.  Although not a tangy, it was still tasty.  Great lesson to freeze zest when you have fruit because you never know when you might need it and use what you have!

 Then, I melted the butter in the microwave and mixed up all the dry ingredients.

I added the melted butter to the ingredients and mixed.

The topping was done and I set it aside.  Looks like batter right?  I wasn't feeling really good about the topping but I was hoping that the recipe wasn't going to steer me wrong.  I promise you that it didn't since I already gave away the answer that we made them again.

On to the actual muffin preparation, I started with the dry ingredients for the muffins in the bowl. 

 I mixed the wet ingredients in another bowl and mixed them together.  I decided to use only two eggs so I added a little extra sour cream to cover the added moisture.  The second time that I made the recipe, I used all blueberry greek yogurt instead of sour cream and it also worked...although I liked the sour cream one better.  I didn't think that the muffins would need 3 extra large eggs and I was trying to stretch my eggs to make it to the next sale and get a few more recipes out of them.  Mission accomplished and they turned out fine.

I added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  The second time that I made the recipe, I didn't add the batter exactly the same way and they turned out a little tougher because the batter needed to be mixed a little more to incorporate so make sure you mix the wet ingredients together before putting them in the dry ingredients.

I mixed it together and got a thick batter.

I measured out 2 cups of blueberries in the measuring cup that I melted the butter in to save on dishes.  I use mine right from the freezer and don't worry about defrosting them.  It helps because they don't smush up and you end up with whole berries.

I spooned some of the batter into greased muffin cups (you can use paper muffin liners but I don't like to use them because I feel like I loose some of the muffin on the paper).

Then, I put the blueberries on top of the batter.  This is brilliant!  I always mix the blueberries in to the batter and then they fall to the bottom when cooking.  These didn't do that and they were super tasty.

Add the topping to the muffins.  I spread it around a little but I don't think that it really mattered much because it spreads while cooking.

I also decided to make three chocolate chip muffins because my son doesn't like fruit (unless disguised) and while I was making the muffins, he came up and asked for one of the chocolate chips in the measuring cup which were blueberries.  I offered and he said .... "Ahh, no thanks" as he backed away.

Here are the finished blueberry muffins which were worthy of Starbucks or a nice bakery.  They were much more moist then the ones that you normally get at a bakery and way cheaper.

Check out this muffin which was the first one that I got to eat.  I loved the big blueberries mixed with the strudel on the top.  It had that little bit of lemon flavor from the zest which was great.  It added to the fancy flavor of the whole muffin.

My husband said..."Umm, ahhh, ummm." and I said would you like to say, "From now on, that is how you make muffins?"  to which he responded "YES!"  He didn't know how to say that he loved them without being ungrateful for our normal muffins.  We both loved the muffins and ate them way too quickly.  I did make a few chocolate chip ones for my son but he wasn't the biggest fan of them.  I think that is great because it left more for us.  They were amazing and when they were hot, I cut and put on butter.

Here is a picture of my son's chocolate chip version which was exactly the same without the blueberries and using chocolate chips instead.

 When they were cold, they were just as good and moist.  Sometimes muffins are only good hot out of the oven but think that these were good any way you ate them.  I couldn't wait to make them again....so I did!  I hope that you like them as much as we did!!  Try the recipe here and see how your family likes it.  Check out the original recipe here at Three Little Blackbirds.  She made some wonderful looking raspberry muffins which I can't wait to try when they are in season again.

The Best Blueberry Strudel Muffins

Topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 granulated sugar
Grated lemon zest (zest of 1/2 to 3/4 lemon or any other citrus fruit)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, melted

Muffins:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (can also use raspberries or black berries)

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put paper liners into standard muffin tins
2. Make the crumb topping: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and lemon zest.  Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
3. Make the muffin batter: Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended. Make a well in the center of the dry mix and add the wet ingredients.  Mix until smooth.
4. Add 2 heaping tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup
5. Cover the batter evenly with berries
6. Sprinkle the strudel crumb topping over the batter and berries until completely covered
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean
8. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan then remove muffins and cool on a wire rack

  Shared on Homemade Monday by Frugal By Choice
and Follow Our Thrift by Cleverly Simple
and  SNF Recipe Link Party