have faith, young grasshopper!

Have you ever gotten halfway through a recipe only to take a look at what you've done and question if it's even worth continuing? Sometimes my batter or dough looks so peculiar and unexpected that I begin to doubt a)the reliability of the recipe and b)my execution of said recipe (usually in that order--surely it couldn't be a mistake on my part...).


This was one of those instances. I very nearly took my mixed batter and transferred it directly to the trash can. Thankfully, wasting things goes against every fiber of my being, so I pressed on.

Here's the short story: I've made lots of muffins, and the batter is almost always pourable or, at the very least, easily spoonable. What I ended up working with here was more reminiscent of cookie dough, which certainly gave me pause. It was so thick that there wasn't even a glimmer of hope that it would spread out nicely in the muffin cup.


Regardless, I spread the sticky stuff out as much as I could and tried my best to mask the inevitable hideousness with blackberries and cinnamon-sugar. I then popped the tray into the oven and walked away, fully expecting to see ugly little mounds of cooked gunk upon my return.

Well, whaddya know, there's a happy ending to this story--everything worked out splendidly. The batter puffed and baked beautifully, resulting in something very similar in smell, taste, and texture to your typical bakery-style blueberry muffin.


I consider that success.

Gotta-Have-Faith Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
(inspired by this recipe)

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used blueberry-flavored Oikos)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup blackberries

Topping:
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with papers or appropriately grease.
In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and set aside.
In a larger bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and eggs. Beat in the yogurt and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir until combined.
Spoon and scrape the batter into the prepared cups. Push the stiff stuff down with blackberries and liberally sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon-sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes for mini-muffins and about 25 minutes for regular muffins, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.