One Snow Day, Four Sticks of Butter

Today is a snow day. This is a joyous occasion for the entire family, as none of us are required to go anywhere now. Al Roker does not frequently predict snow in our neck of the woods, so this is an exciting holiday, requiring extended local news coverage. They (my local news station) put a camera and a very excited newscaster in a 4-wheel drive SUV. Every few minutes they document his treacherous journey across our snowy streets. I've been on the edge of my seat watching him drive up and down an icy hill. Live! In real time! A hill with compact snow and ice! Will he make it? I almost peed my pants with excitement.

The view outside my front window.

Needing to wind down from the real-life drama on my television, I decided to divert my attention to my Gourmet Cookbook. I found recipes for blueberry muffins, chili, skillet cornbread, and brownies. So I cooked each one. All told I used four sticks of butter today. Impressive.

A quick word about the Gourmet Cookbook. I love it. I worship it. I literally read it for pleasure. I also read it to baby JAR. He loves to hear the descriptions of each dish. Seriously. He laughs and shrieks. Here's the intro for Jellied Borscht. "Staggeringly simple and good, this is a perfect starter, or even a light lunch, on a sultry day. And it's beautiful too, served in cool white soup plates." Baby JAR is frantically waving his little plastic spoon in the air. "Bababababeets!" he screams. Now I'm not crazy about beets, but I want some jellied borscht when I read that. Immediately.

So I took the Gourmet recipe for blueberry muffins and turned it into a coffee cake because pouring the batter into individual muffin tins sounded tedious. It was delicious. Warm, moist and crumbly with juicy berries and a sweet streusel topping. I threw some bacon and eggs in the pan and family breakfast was on.  

Blueberry Muffins (or cake)

From the Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl

Batter:

6 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups blueberries

Topping:

3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup flour

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Melt the butter over the stove. Remove from heat and add the milk, egg and yolk, and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the melted butter mixture and stir just until combined. Then lovingly fold in the blueberries. No need to crush the little dears. And the batter is done. So easy! Pour it into muffin tins (if you wish) or a 9-inch round cake pan. 

Combine all of the ingredients for the topping in a bowl and mix together with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle this on top of the batter. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes for muffins or for about 35 minutes for cake. It's done when it's beautifully golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

I recommend this warm and tasty treat while wearing thick socks on a day free from responsibility (i.e. work).