Blackberry Muffins for My Girl, Paula!

I will admit, as much as I love Paula Deen, I have only had mixed success with her recipes. This recipe, however, was well worth the (very minimal) effort. When I saw this on the list of August recipes, I was looking forward to making it because I knew there had been an abundance of gorgeous blackberries at the local farmer's market (if you can consider 3-6 tables set up on the sidewalk outside the courthouse a "farmers market") lately. So, Saturday after Ty's karate class, I drove buy to see if there were any berries left unclaimed, and sure enough, there was a quart of them calling my name! I promptly rushed home and got out my copy of The Lady & Sons, Too! and got to work. These muffins are outrageously simple to put together. and I had them in the oven in no time.
These turned out so lusciously moist, I had to eat two, and as big as the Texas muffins are, that's making a statement. I'm really thinking that for the next batch, I might try just making it in a square baking dish with a crumb topping...how yummy does that sound? They didn't puff up very well, but I think my baking powder might be at fault for that.
Blackberry Muffins

1/2 stick melted butter

1/2 c. milk

2 large eggs at room temp.

2 c. flour

1-1/4 c. plus 4 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blackberries or frozen blackberries, thawed and drained.

Preheat 350 degree oven

Line 18, 2-1/2 in. muffin cups or if you prefer, grease tins well.

In a bowl stir together melted butter, milk and eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, 1-1/4 cups sugar, baking powder and the salt.

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture all at once; stir until blended, the batter will be lumpy, don't overmix.

Fold in the berries.

Divide batter in muffin tins and sprinkle the remaining 4 teaspoons of sugar over the batter.

Bake for about 25 min. or until golden.

**notes: I used my Texas muffin pans, so I had to let mine bake a little longer, and I sprinkled the tops with a hearty helping of cinnamon sugar, but other than that, I stuck to the recipe.

All in all, this one is definitely a keeper...I may have to make another batch this week!