Pinterest and I don’t always get along. It seems that when I search for a recipe, they fall short or the pin disappears for the next time I want to remake a new family favorite. Pinterest, you are losing me mom points! In a way, this space is curating for me a place for our family favorites to rest. I can send a friend my salsa recipe, or a quick dinner idea, with my own personally tweaks. Tried and true.
These sourdough blueberry muffins are no Pinterest fail. In fact, they may be a family heirloom recipe one day. We have made blueberry picking in July a family tradition with my mom. We eagerly look forward to fruit picking each summer, and see how long we can stretch frozen bits. (We made strawberries to December last year!)
Flavors like these, homemade and attached to memories, solidify each season for us. Instead of eating blueberries all year round, we anticipate July like never before. These memories are a gift to our families!
When are blueberries in season?
When you go to research when fruit is in season, you can always search by state or search by growing zone. A “growing zone” refers to the 26 different zones (13 zones A+ B) that sort different areas of the hemisphere based on plant hardiness in relation to frost. All this to say, your local grower will follow these zone guides to plant appropriate plants and that is how they will also know when fruiting ought to begin. (We talk a lot more about plant hardiness in our garden area!)
In this south, blueberries are ready in the heat of summer. We have read “Jamberry” by by Bruce Degen numerous times and have taught our kids: strawberries in April, blackberries in May, blueberries in June, peaches in July and raspberries come August. But Jamberry has solidified the concept…
What can you do with extra blueberries?
Blueberries are such a hit in our family that we pick north of 40 lbs. annually as well as supplement through summer with multiple 14lb bags of organic frozen blueberries. You heard me. These kids eat frozen blueberries like hotcakes in the dead of winter…
Needless to say, we do many of the following: smoothies, fruit leather, muffins, syrups, jams, coffee cake, frozen yogurt and more.
“The Farmer’s Daughter Bakes” by Kelsey Siemens is one of my favorite seasonal cookbooks for the use of fruit. Kelsey doesn’t overcomplicate things and allows each season’s fruit to shine. I appreciate the education on sweets that are alternate to chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.
Recipe
Our favorite sourdough discard blueberry muffin recipe is an adaption of the one from “Little Spoon Farm”. Makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients
2 c flour
¾ c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 TB cornstarch
Zest of a lemon
1 c blueberries
8 TB butter, melted
3 eggs
½ c sourdough discard
3 TB plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla, or vanilla paste
For the crumb:
3 TB butter, melted
½ c sugar
½ c flour
Directions
- Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl, omitting the blueberries.
- Add the blueberries to the dry ingredients to coat.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine. Do not overmix!
- Place into lined cupcake tins and bake for 30-35 mins at 350F.
- Allow to cool, and enjoy! Store in an airtight container for one week.
April Strawberries, May Blackberries, June Blueberries
And if you’re wondering more about “Moose”, you’ll have to read our suggestion, “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” by Laura Numeroff. For more tastes of the season, be sure to check out our Strawberry Jam Bars and Summer Reading List.
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