I love to cook, I mean really, really love to cook. I own more cookbooks than I care to share. I have printed enough recipes off the internet to kill a couple reams of paper. I also consider myself an adventurous eater. Unfortunately, my family does not agree with my adventurous side, so I am constantly looking for recipes that provide a slight change to the doldrums of the regular recipes.

One of my favorite meals is breakfast. You can eat sweet or savory all in one meal. Of course, working full time with a kindergartener and a three-year-old also means I need those quick breakfasts the kids will be excited about eating.

Enter in Sandra Lee’s cookbook, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Desserts 2. Yes, it says desserts, but muffins are those desserts that can be breakfast items as well. And as with the title, there are many desserts (or muffins) in this book that start out with store bought items such as Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix. So this means it is taking the dull, everyday recipes and adding just a little bit more to increase flavor and increase the chance of my kids (and mostly my really picky husband) of eating them.

When I first received this cookbook, I glanced through to see if there was anything I had all the ingredients for at the moment. My oldest loves blueberries and they are often on hand, so I decided to give the Blueberry Muffins a shot.

Ingredients

Nonstick spray for baking

2 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

½ cup canola oil

1 cup fresh blueberries

1. Move oven rack to lowest position in oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray twelve 2 ½ inch muffin cups with spray for baking and set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and oil. Pour into flour mixture and stir together just until combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling each two thirds full. Bake in preheated oven for 26 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from cups, cool completely on wire rack.

A few notes on the recipe:

- You can make your own buttermilk with milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice. Place a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line and let it stand for five minutes.

- I did not sift together the dry ingredients. In fact I used one bowl, doing the wet ingredients first and then adding the dry.

And the verdict? Pretty darn good blueberry muffins. They were those muffins that the top was perfectly round, even without my sifting the dry ingredients. They freeze well also. Just pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds straight from the freezer.

And the kids’ review? We are making our second batch in less than a week tonight. Great for lunches and breakfast.  

Amy, a Mom2Mom featured blogger emeritus, starts writing about food today. You can always see her at A Family Story.