Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins (with recipe)

Thing #5 loves to bake!  Seriously.  She asked Santa for her own baking set last Christmas.  He delivered and we all benefit!  She loves watching Food Network and doesn't like cooking so much as baking.  I think this is her brilliant plan to eat more sweets in this organic household. :-)  Good plan.

I found an amazing recipe online posted to one of the blogs we like to follow and decided to print it out for Thing #5 to try.  I made some recipe notes of our own at the bottom.

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold is fine
1/2 cup sugar
Finely grated zest from 1/2 a lemon (previously: 1/2 teaspoon zest) (we left this ingredient out because Thing #5 is only 9 and .... we'll get to lemon zesting later)
3/4 cup plain sour cream
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries, frozen (we like our berries frozen when we bake - they hold their shape better!)
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 375°F.

Line a muffin tin with 9 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.

Melt butter in the bottom of a large bowl and whisk in sugar, zest (if using), sour cream and egg until smooth.

Whisk in baking powder, baking soda and salt until fully combined, then lightly fold in flour and berries.

Batter will be very thick, like a cookie dough. (truth!)

Divide between prepared muffin cups and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon brown sugar, if you go over, don't worry, it will be delicious!

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean. (we use toothpicks)

 Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then the rest of the way on a rack.

Our Recipe Notes:

• We used paper liners and the blueberries leaked through - not a big deal, we were eating them at home and just used plates under each one.  But maybe the paper liners...not such a good idea.  It's also possible that Thing #5 put in a bit more blueberries than the recipe called for :-)  Hard to know.
• This recipe makes EXACTLY 9 muffins.  

The family's assessment?  DELICIOUS!  Thing #3 and Thing #4 scarfed them down and Thing #3 went back for more!  These didn't last long in our house :-)

Thing #5 was incredibly proud of herself!  "They're healthy, mom!  All organic!"  Well....sure. :-)

Little Wuesten German Foods - Albany, OR (Review)

We've visited Little Wuesten a couple times now and I am just in love.The atmosphere of this little space is so homey and fun!  The radio plays 40s music, the owner is cheerful and sweet and I can tell she just loves her restaurant!  She comes out from behind the counter to visit with customers, will give you recommendations and is just the most adorable lady I've ever seen!

The first time we visited, we wanted to try the pastries and coffee.  We had heard that they focus on locally sourced, non-GMO ingredients; right up our alley!  The coffee they serve is from Longbottom Coffee & Tea right here in Oregon and it's so rich and flavorful. I ordered the lavender honey latte and Brownie had the mexican mocha (had a little kick to it - very nice!).

All of their pastries are beautiful and fresh, we just want to go back again and again so we can try them all! Brownie had a Salted Walnut Caramel Sticky Bun, I had a Marionberry Almond Roll - both were warmed up for us and were the perfect compliment to our coffee while we ate; I was tapping my toes and swaying to the music on the radio.

On our second visit, we wanted to try some of their warmer breakfast options, but we arrived just as lunch was beginning, so we sampled those options instead!

We did get one Spinat Küchlein, a savory spinach and feta tart that we enjoyed very much.  This made our experience technically
brunch instead of lunch ;-)

Brownie ordered the German Sausage Plate; your choice of German sausage (frankfurter, wiener, bockwurst or chicken) with mustard, roll, and sauerkraut.  It had good flavor, the mustard was sweet with little zing to it and the sauerkraut might have been his favorite part of it all.



I ordered the Beef on Kümmelweck; thinly sliced roasted beef on a house-made, toasted caraway rye roll with a horseradish/sour cream sauce.  The beef was tender and juicy and the flavors worked well together.  I don't think it would have been the same without that caraway rye!  And I just love horseradish so...there's that.  It also came with the most delicious cheesy spaetzle.  I had to take a picture of the real cheese this pasta was swimming in!  It was beyond delectable!  We just kept saying how much our kids would love it.

This little place has only been open for a few months and it's taking off!  The first visit, it was quiet and sweet, but our second visit was bustling and busy and a line at the counter came and went!  And that fabulous music coming from the radio ... did I mention that I love this!?

Still some glitches to work out service-wise when it's overwhelmingly busy but nothing out of the ordinary or that wasn't corrected immediately.  This is a unique little gem in downtown and I hope it becomes a permanent part of Albany!

We gave Little Wuesten 4 stars on our Brownifer Scale - this will be a regular haunt for Brownifer and once you try it, it will be one of yours as well!