We really love the house we’re living in right now. It’s minutes away from Derek’s office, spacious, has a beautiful sunroom, huge garage, MASSIVE closets, big ol’ yard, brand new oven, etc. Even though we were bummed to have to move last summer (from the cutest little house EVER), we’ve really enjoyed it here. Today we finalized details with a friend taking over the end of our lease, so we’re in the clear for leaving in April. Whew!
The only thing about this house that drives me crazy is that there are two doorbells — one in front, one in back — and they sound the same. I often find myself in the kitchen, which is closer to the back door, when the bell rings. I then have a freakout wondering which door to check first: do I check the backdoor, which is 15 feet away, and risk the person at the front door (which is more likely) getting irritated with my delay? OR, do I assume they’re at the front door, go the 70 feet to the front door, only to learn they’re at the BACK door and have to backtrack all that way.
Clearly I stress out about truly important details in life.
With all the snow we’ve been getting, I’ve taken it upon myself (as the executive snow-remover) to eliminate an option: I just don’t remove the snow from the front walk/steps, and that forces EVERYONE to come to the back! Hurray! This makes answering the door much less stressful! Except when I find it’s the police asking for me husband (true story, happened last week, FREAKED ME OUT). Don’t worry. He didn’t actually do anything wrong. That’s a story for another day…
If you’ve been a TKP fan for a while now, you may be aware of two things about Derek: first, he loves blueberries. Second, he LOVES muffins. Do a little math, and you can figure out that he goes a bit crazy for blueberry muffins. I have my standard recipe: brown butter blueberry muffins, which are always a hit, but sometimes I’m in the mood for a muffin that’s a little less cakey (i.e. a cupcake disguised as breakfast) and a little more hearty, or healthy, or something. These muffins are exactly that! The flax and oatmeal give these muffins a hearty, nutty feel that means you really CAN claim these as a breakfast food. And not in a “I’m an apple fritter which means I have fruit which means I’m healthy” kind of way. These are actually quite healthy!
Before I scare you too much with the healthy-talk, I should mention: these are also really damn addictive. I’m a sucker for anything with a crumb topping, and with the tiniest bit of icing drizzled over the top of these, they’ll trick your tastebuds into THINKING it’s a dessert. Win-win!
- For the muffins:
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ cup ground flaxmeal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- [b]For the crumb topping:
- ⅓ cup flour
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and butter a muffin tin.
- Combine the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the oatmeal, flour, ground flaxmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to fully combine. Add to the wet ingredients, and mix until fully incorporated.
- Drop one spoonful of batter into the bottom of each muffin tin, then add a few blueberries, then cover with more batter and more blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among 12 tins.
- For the crumb topping, combine the remaining flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Evenly distribute among the muffins.
- Bake until a cake-tester comes out clean — about 13-15 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Combine the powdered sugar and milk, to make a glaze. Drizzle glaze over all of the muffins.
- Enjoy!
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Can whole wheat flour be used in this recipe?
Hi Wan Ying! It can — it’ll be a bit denser, and perhaps require a little more liquid, but it will work! Enjoy! xo