Who doesn’t love a good muffin? Moist, fluffy, overflowing with carb-y goodness … muffins are truly the queen of breakfast pastries. While I am still on the hunt for my favorite recipe for banana nut muffins, I have settled on my perfect blueberry muffin.

The cool thing about these blueberry muffins is that they heavily feature lemon as well, hence the name, lemon-berry muffins! Now, want to know the surprise secret ingredient?

Cinnamon!

I know — sounds bizarre, right?

I swear it pairs well with the berries and lemons. And when you add a sweet and crumbly streusel topping, nobody who’s tasted them can get enough. Especially Dear Husband. Ask him what his favorite baked good I make is, and he will probably answer with these babies.

These muffins are also pretty easy to make. Really, the only finicky part of the recipe is the streusel topping, which is made of softened butter, sugar, flour, finely chopping walnuts, and lemon zest.

About five years ago, when I was still on the hunt for the perfect blueberry muffin recipe, I came across Emeril Lagasse’s  blueberry-raspberry muffins, which are the strong basis for this recipe. I made a fair number of changes: I added ground flaxseed, omitted the raspberries, increased the blueberries, swapped out the orange for lemon, added a heavy dose of cinnamon, and increased the streusel.

And let me tell you, if you’ve never made streusel before, heed the instructions carefully: the butter must be softened to room temperature. There is absolutely no short cut by popping it in the microwave. Melted butter — even semi-melted butter — absolutely will not work. Just remember to put out the butter and leave it on your kitchen counter for about an hour before it’s time to make the streusel. Otherwise it will not work, I promise. I learned the hard way. Learn from my mistakes!

So tell me, what are your favorite type of muffins? Do you have a favorite blueberry muffin recipe? Dear Husband and I love these because they are thick and moist, but barely sweet at all. (We do not really like sweet things that much). And the streusel — oh my word! That sweet crunch of a topping is amazing.

The recipe is below. Enjoy!

Until next time,

xoxo Charlotte

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Lemon-Berry Muffins

Yields 6 extra-large muffins, or 12 large muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

Streusel Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tbsp butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and grease or line muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry muffin ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, and lemon zest. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-mix! Fold in blueberries gently, to avoid bursting berries.

In a wide, shallow bowl, use a fork to combine all streusel ingredients. Knead dry ingredients into the softened butter by hand, if needed.

Fill muffin tin to to the brim, and sprinkle streusel liberally on each muffin.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.