Saturday, July 4, 2015

Independent Women


Once again the Fourth of July holiday and Wimbledon tennis tourney coincide, and particularly well this year with American women making up 25% of the round of 16!! Venus, Serena, Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe will all be representing the USA in the fourth round. Get ready for Monday's epic sibling match-up of Venus and Serena, their 26th time playing each other. So exciting!

The American men aren't faring as well. John Isner lost to Cilic in the 3rd round so Denis Kudla is the lone American man who has made it through to the fourth round. Also of note: Rafa got knocked out in the 2nd round when he lost to Jamaican-German Dustin Brown (his second loss to Dustin on grass). Sorry, Rafa. (Stick to clay!) Fortunately we will be seeing more Federer! Go Roger!!!

Anyhoo, I am no sports reporter so the whole point of this post is my latest Breakfast at Wimbledon recipe. Instead of traditional scones, in honor of Independence Day and the American women still playing, I opted for the more all-American breakfast treat, blueberry muffins. I'm sure that none of these fabulous athletes would dare eat such empty calories during this tournament, so I will do it for them!

This blueberry muffin recipe is adapted from The Ski House Cookbook where I used sour cream to make a much lighter muffin with a more delicate crumb. Speaking of crumbs, I added a crumb topping that I swiped from the coffee cake recipe also in the book. These are great for breakfast or dessert. Or for winning a tennis tournament. Probably.


Super Sour Cream, Blueberry-Crumb, Fourth-of-July Wimbledon Muffins

Topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries


1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Butter a standard (12-cup) muffin tin and set aside. 

2. Prepare the topping: In a small bowl stir together the flour and brown sugar. Add the butter and using a pastry blender or fork, mix the ingredients until they are crumbly, resembling a coarse sand. Set aside until ready to bake.

3. Prepare the muffins: In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla and lemon zest if using. Stir in the sour cream.

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Do not over mix. Divide the batter evenly in the muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with the crumb topping.

6. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. (A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.)  Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan to a rack to continue cooling. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 muffins.