Its July, which means it is blueberry pickin’ time!

 I love taking my boys to pick fresh berries, it’s such a fun way to spend a summer morning. This year we planted ten blueberry bushes but they didn’t produce many berries which was to be expected.

 

The small amount of berries that did show up in our backyard didn’t stand a chance! Especially against the birds and my three year old! Not ONE made it to my kitchen, so I knew we had to go pickin’!

 How sweet are these little ones filling their coffee cans with berries? A couple of my girlfriends and I got together to take our kids picking at a local blueberry farm.  Although it took a little time for the kids to find their rhythm (there was some chicken chasing before pickin’) the three of them seemed to be enjoying themselves by the end of it.

Bennett enjoyed pickin’ berries, of course this was after he was done chasing the chickens around the farm.

  There is so many things I enjoy blueberries in but the first thing that comes to my mind is blueberry muffins! They were a favorite food of mine growing up and lately I have been on a lemon and herb kick. So I thought combining the herbs and lemon in the blueberry muffins sounded delightful!  These scrumptious muffins met ALL my expectations!

I grow lemon thyme in the garden and each year it comes back smelling just as lovely as I remember. The lemon thyme brings nice flavor and beautiful color to these muffins but if you don’t grow lemon thyme in your garden you could always use just thyme, rosemary or basil as a substitute.

Ingredents:

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tbsp of baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup of melted and cooled butter

1 cup of sugar

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

1 cup of milk ( you could use any kind of milk I used 2%)

1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries

Streusel Ingredents:

1 tbsp of flour

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tsp of melted butter

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

2 tbsp of fresh lemon thyme

Start by combining your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. I like to take my whisk and stir ingredients. Its kind of the lazy way of sifting your dry ingredients, taking out the large clumps and helping to achieve a smoother batter. Set bowl aside. Then in a mixer combine sugar, melted and cooled butter and mix until combined.  Then add eggs and milk and mix again until incorporated. Add lemon juice, vanilla and combine.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Take your bowl with your dry ingredients and combine with your wet ingredients and mix until they are fully incorporated. Then fold in your blueberries.  Line your muffin tin and spoon batter into each muffin liner. This recipe yields 12 muffins.

 

Now in a small separate bowl combine flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, lemon thyme, then stir with a fork.

Take your streusel and sprinkle on each muffin. You can also sprinkle some extra lemon thyme if you would like. I did!

Place in your oven at 425 degrees for 5  minutes. Leave the muffins in the oven  and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees continuing to bake for 15-20 mins or until your muffins are golden brown. If your not sure if your muffins are done, take a toothpick and stick it in the center of the muffin. If they are done the toothpick should come out clean.

  

Allow to cool for 10 mins before serving. These can be served with butter or honey but are absolutely divine without! They are moist and flavorful! The perfect recipe to use up those sweet fresh blueberries and herbs in the garden this July or August!

  Grow it. Pick it. Cook it. Eat it.

Chantelle