Cookin' the Books: Barbara Hahn's Berried Medley Lemon Streusel Muffins

Inspired by the Soup's On Challenge and the recipe-laden books I have been reading lately, I've decided to try out a new feature: Cookin' the Books. This is where I try a recipe from a book and let you know how it turned out. I'm not the greatest cook in the world, so this may be more of a comic feature than anything else. We'll see ...

I'm going to start with a recipe that appeared in Karen MacInerney's murder mystery, Dead and Berried (see my review here).

Barbara Hahn's Berried Medley Lemon Streusel Muffins

Streusel Topping

1/4 c. melted butter

1/2 c. flour

2 T. sugar

1 1/2 t. finely shredded lemon peel

Muffins

2 1/2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 1/3 c. sugar

1 T. finely shredded lemon peel

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. melted butter

1 T. lemon juice

1 1/2 c. (about 6 oz.) frozen berry medley (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and red raspberries) slightly thawed

1 T. flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stir all streusel ingredients together in a small bowl to form a soft crumbly dough. Set aside.

Whisk dry muffin ingredients and lemon peel together in medium-sized bowl. In a separate medium bowl, combine all liquid ingredients. Add in dry ingredients and stir until almost fully incorporated.

Cut slightly thawed large berries in pieces. Leave small berries whole. Toss berries with 1 tablespoon flour to coat, then gently fold into dough, handling only enough to incorporate berries.

Line large muffin tin with paper muffin liners. Fill each muffin tin 1/4 inch from top. You will only use 9 out of 12 muffin holders. Fill empty muffin holders with water to 1/2 inch full.

Crumble streusel topping over each. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for anther 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and muffin springs back when pressed lightly with fingertips. Cool for 5 minutes in muffin tin and then serve on platter.

Makes 9 large muffins.

My thoughts on the recipe: These were good, although I usually like sweeter muffins. I liked the streusel topping, but I think I will add more sugar to it next time.

Since I didn't have a "jumbo muffin tin," I used a regular-sized one and filled the cups as full as I had to to use all of the batter. They ran over, so it's probably important to use the tin size suggested in the recipe :) I have to say, though, I'm glad the muffins ran over because they formed a sort of crisp muffin top, which I LOVED. It tasted sort of like a toasted VitaTop, except with more sugar and less fiber. Yum.

If I had to rate the recipe and the result (keeping in mind that I'm not the best baker), I would give it a B. Try it and let me know what you think.