blueberry muffins and a side of reminiscence

I visited my sister-in-law and her sweet new baby boy recently. Oh, I remember those first weeks of new motherhood like they were yesterday! All those feelings of foggy bliss, pure love, overwhelming raw emotion - wrapped up in one little package. We talked about how being a mama is the hardest thing we've ever done. I saw her lovingly fret over her baby - Is he too cold? Did he nurse long enough? Why does he hate diaper changes so much? - and I saw myself not so long ago. Time is an unusually fast teacher when you're a parent. But then just as you begin to feel a bit more comfortable and think you've got some things figured out, everything changes! The learning curve is steep, to be sure.

When you're a new mommy, consumed so completely by caring for someone else, sometimes what you need most is food that can be eaten with one hand. I remember that part well, too (probably because I live it some days still!) And so I brought with me some muffins, hoping they would come in handy as a late night (one-handed) snack.

Blueberry Muffins
~makes a dozen, adapted from How to Cook Everything

Ingredients: 
2 Cups flour (all-purpose or 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat)
1/2 Cup sugar 
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Cup milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon lemon or orange zest
1 Cup blueberries (fresh, frozen, or dried - soak dried blueberries in water for 5 minutes, then drain before using)

Method:

1. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter, milk, and egg.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and combine by folding the batter. Don't over-mix. The batter will be lumpy.

4. Fold in the zest and blueberries. 

4. Generously butter your muffin tin, and spoon in the batter. Each compartment should be about 2/3 full.

5. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 25 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the tin.