A Muffin a Day

So Kyle (thats the hubby for those who don't know) was having his friend James over for an afternoon of FIFA.   For my American friends unacquainted with the phenomena of FIFA; its a soccer video game that every male in the entire United Kingdom seems to have played since more or less birth.   Alas in the cold, dark winter of Scotland playing actual soccer becomes pretty unpleasant, so the fervor and passion that most people would reserve for playing an actual sport all gets channeled into epic sessions of FIFA.  There is laughter, tears, shouting, hugging - and all from the comfort of our living room.

Needless to say these grueling marathons of video gaming require some fuel in the form of food.  Now as exciting and stimulating as playing video games can be I think its important to remember that these boys are sitting on the couch not ACTUALLY running around a field; thus perhaps their snack should be somewhat healthy.  The hubby suggested muffins arguing that muffins frequently contain fruit therefore they are clearly a health food.  While I liked the idea of getting fruit into the snack, I wanted to find a way to make a muffin that was a little more nutritious than being a cake with some fruit in it.  Now our friend James, is a blueberry muffin connoisseur.   This is a man who more or less eats a blueberry muffin daily; one who has probably had blueberry muffins from almost every place you can get a blueberry muffin in Edinburgh.  So this muffin had to be healthy, but it had to stack up to every butter and sugar laden muffin out there.  But how?

The answer my friends is some sneaky substitutions.  Use a little less butter and add some buttermilk - it will keep the muffins super moist but cut down on the calories.  Sneak in a cheeky bit of whole wheat flour instead of using all white flour and you add a little extra whole grain goodness.  And most importantly - if you are going to call a muffin a health food, then you better be damn sure you get all the fruit into it you can, so pile in those blueberries.  Volia - you've got a muffin so delicious the boys had no idea it was semi healthy.  Gabby 1 FIFA 0

Super Moist Blueberry Muffins (makes 9-10 muffins)

5 tbsp slightly salted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 buttermilk*

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/2 cup self raising whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 heaping cup blueberries (I used frozen and found I liked the results better!)

Cinnamon sugar to top (I just mixed some cinnamon with some light brown sugar, personally I like a lot of cinnamon but go with whatever amount tastes right to you)

1.  Preheat your over to 375°F (190°C) and either line your muffin tins with cupcake liners, or butter them, or spray them with a nonstick cooking spray

2.  Cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy 

3.  Add the egg, vanilla and the buttermilk and beat until smooth and evenly mixed

4.  Sift the dry ingredients (the white flour, the wheat flour, the baking powder and baking soda) into the wet ingredients and mix until combined.  Your batter should be fairly thick; more like the consistency of cookie dough rather than cake batter.

5.  Stir in your blueberries

6.  Fill each muffin cup 3/4 of the way full and then top each muffin generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture

7.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean! 

8.  Let the muffins cool in their pan until they are cool enough to touch and then remove them from the pan and let them finish cooking on a wire rack

Enjoy :-)

P.S. Special shout out to Chris Dobson for the excellent photo!!! He is a much better food photographer than I am!