blueberry muffin tops

I'm not always a fan of muffins for breakfast, but there's something about coffee and a muffin that makes sitting through a morning class a lot more bearable.  I found myself buying quite a few blueberry muffins this semester, but after a few purchases, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.

I almost always only eat the tops of muffins, because -- let's face it -- that's the only part REALLY worth eating.  Plus, I'm not a fan of a muffin top on myself.  Eating only part of the muffin is a decent compromise, health-wise, but it's not great.  First, it's a waste of food.  Second, it's a waste of money.  Third, even just the top of a store-bought muffin is far from healthy.  Finally, I had bought two muffin-top pans (on sale; I think for something like $3/pan) from Sur La Table last year when I was visiting my sister, and had yet to use them.  My sister thought I was hilarious for buying a pan for muffin tops (she may be in good company, hence the pans being on sale), but I was too excited to listen to her.  Finally, here was an opportunity to redeem myself!

Anyway, I found a recipe for blueberry muffin tops online, and I've followed it a few times, tweaking steps here and there until the muffins became healthier (still not a HEALTH food option, but not bad for a muffin) and tastier.

Makes about 9 muffin tops, although original recipe says it makes 12.  If you don't have muffin-top pans, you could also use this recipe for regular muffins, probably about 5-6 of them.  

Ingredients:

For Batter
- 6 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1/3 cup whole milk (I used skim and they were fine)
- 1 whole large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- zest of one orange
- juice of 1/2 orange
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (or you can do 3/4 of both, if you like both flavors)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (more or less is fine, to taste)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed (I use one small supermarket-sized plastic container)

For Topping
- 3 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (to taste)
- 3 1/2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

Directions:

1. Rub together the butter cubes, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour for the topping.  The mixture should be crumbly, not too fine and not too even.  Stick the mixture in the refrigerator while you mix the muffin tops.  
2. Grease the muffin top pans/muffin pans with butter or oil. 
3. Put oven rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Note: we recently installed a pizza stone in our oven and it appears to have made the oven more efficient; if your oven is particularly efficient, I'd recommend sticking to 350 degrees F and taking the muffins out after about 10-11 minutes tops.
4. Whisk together egg, egg yolk, extract, milk, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and oil in a bowl.
5. Add flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix until just combined. 
6. Add the blueberries and fold them in gently but evenly.
7. Divide the batter evenly amongst the cups, spreading as evenly as possible and making sure there's an even distribution of blueberries.  
8. Take the topping mixture out of the refrigerator and sprinkle evenly over the batter in the pans.  I like to use a teaspoon for this task.
9. Bake the muffins for about 12-15 minutes, turning the pans when half the time has elapsed.  Make sure you don't over bake; in my oven, they get done at about 10.5 minutes.  They are done when a toothpick inserted diagonally into the center of each muffin top comes out clean.  
10. Cool in pans on a rack for about 10-15 minutes, and serve the muffin tops warm (or reheat in a toaster oven for best results).

Recipe modified from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Blueberry-Muffin-Tops-108529