Wild Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins - and a Virtual Baby Shower for Jan of Family Bites!

Happy Virtual Baby Shower, Jan!

Today, we are celebrating you and that gorgeous belly bean of yours. 

And we couldn't be more thrilled to do so. 

For those of you that don't know Jan, she's the kindest, most gentle person I know; she's all sorts of lovely. Jan is also about to give birth to her third son after raising two gorgeous teenaged boys. Since her foodie friends couldn't be together in person for this happy occasion, we wanted to shower her with love the best way we know how - a virtual baby shower! You better grab the tissue box, girl. You're in for a very emotional morning.

Jan is the author of the popular blog, Family Bites and also writes for SaavyMom.ca. I met her two years ago at a food blogger conference where bonded over the fact that our parents thought having a McDonald's birthday was the best experience they could have given to us as children. We laughed over the orange drink they served and how Grimace used to scare the shit out of me. 

She's so talented too. She recently released a cookbook, Gatherings: Bringing People Together with Food, co-written with the ever lovable, equally talented, and freakin' hilarious, Julie Van Rosendaal of Dinner with Julie. The Pear and Cardamom Cream Cheese Tart I made from the book is exceptional and highly recommended. 

My contribution to this shower are these Wild Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins. They are the perfect morning snack with a hot cup of tea or coffee. They're also amazing to throw into a lunchbox and they freeze beautifully. And of course, perfect for any baby shower. 

We wish you all the love in the world, Jan! We can't wait for Baby Family Bites to make his grand debut into the world and take it by storm. 

And you, Mama? You so got this. 

Piece of cake.  

XO

Please check out these other fabulous foodie friends and what they're bringing to the shower!

Mardi from eat. live. travel. write made Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

Julie from Dinner with Julie made Meyer Lemon Scones with Lemon Drizzle

Heather from The Tasty Gardener made Cream Puffs with Caramel Cream and Chocolate Pretzel Top

Isabelle from Crumb: A Food Blog made Blackberry Meringue Bars

Jennifer from Seasons and Suppers made Baby Blueberry Beignets

Christina from Strawberries For Supper made Chocolate Madeleines

Aimée from Simple Bites made Roasted Turnip Hummus

Liliana from My Cookbook Addiction made Mini Cupcakes

Carole from The Yum Yum Factor made Tea Sandwiches

Charmian from The Messy Baker made Piglet Muffins

Amy from Family Feedbag made Marmalade Cake

Brittany from My Daily Randomness made Caramel + Pumpkin Trifle

Meg from Sweet Twist of Blogging made Carrot Apple Loaf

Louisa from Living Lou made Maple Walnut Cookies

Libby from Libby Roach Photography made Butter Baked Goods Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie

Robyn from Planet Byn made Milk & Cookies Shooters

WILD BLUEBERRY BUTTERMILK MUFFINS

Muffins:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs, beaten

¾ cup unsalted butter, melted, browned and solidified again

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups wild blueberries, fresh or frozen*

Streusel Topping:**

½ cup brown sugar

⅓ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup unsalted butter, cold

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ cup rolled oats

*Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not take them out of the freezer until you are ready to mix into the batter. This will help the batter from turning completely purple. 

** These muffins are fantastic with or without streusel topping. 

To start off, in a small saucepan, brown butter. Trust me, browning the butter for these muffins take it to a whole other level. Click here for tips on how to brown butter. Be sure to cool butter completely and chill before using. 

Prepare streusel topping, if using. Combine all ingredients together into a mixing bowl and begin to carefully massage together, creating coarse crumbs, fluffing mixture as you go. Once coarse crumbs have been established, place bowl in the refrigerator. This will help maintain that gorgeous 'lumpy' look once baked.

To make muffins:

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with either spraying tin with a non-stick cooking spray or lining with paper liners.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and both brown and granulated sugars.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, browned butter and vanilla together really well. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry and mix only until incorporated. Fold in blueberries, taking care doing so. If they streak, it's fine, but use a gentle hand or you will squish blueberries and the entire batter will be bright purple.

Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin using an ice cream scoop with a retractable mechanism. Generously sprinkle streusel topping on top and pop in oven.

Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve warm slathered with butter.