Bread: Old Fashioned Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

From Tracy Carey

Streusel Topping
½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Muffins
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
½ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan.

Streusel topping:
In a food processor, combine the butter, sugar, and flour. Pulse until the mixture is the consistency of oatmeal. Transfer to a bowl and work the mixture with your hands until it will stick together when squeezed between your palms. The streusel should be lumpy so you’ll have big streusel crumbs on your muffins. Cover and refrigerate while you make the muffin batter.

Muffins:
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, lemon zest, and salt. In another small bowl, combine the milk, heavy cream, and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, using and electric mixer set on medium speed, cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the milk mixture. Mix until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries, taking care not to break the fruit or overmix.

Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim. Sprinkle each muffin with some of the streusel topping, dividing it evenly among the muffins.

(Note from Shelly - I put the filled muffin (already topped with streusel) tins in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes, to keep the streusel topping a little chilled, as it seemed "pasty" when it came out of the food processor. Not sure if it helped, or not, but I would think that if I left it in the "pasty" consistency, that the butter wouldn't have stayed in a "crumb" shape, and would've probably just melted? Just a guess...)

Bake until golden and springy to the touch, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before unmolding.