This was a great weekend, sleeping in, hubby making omelet breakfast, no chores to run, finishing up my book (Gone Girl – I was so upset about the ending for a couple of days, fortunately now I am over it and started a new book – An Anonymous Girl), spending time with the dogs, picking blackberries and my favorite – turning my bounty into delicious, satisfying food – well desserts.

I know that baking muffins seems like a lame choice for a recipe entry, but I really didn’t want to make pie or cobbler and end up with a big blob of fruit with a dry “biscuit” on top of it. I am really not a muffin lover, but these muffins won me over, they are light, fluffy, moist, not too sweet and have a streusel crunch with a tiny bit of a glaze – if they would sell those in a bakery, I would buy them. I used the fresh room temperature blackberries in the batter, which turned the batter purple. If you don’t want your muffins look purple make sure you use frozen blackberries, that will keep your batter golden/yellow and not purple. Also put a LOT of streusel on the top since the “muffin top” will expand and thin out your streusel topping.

And since we had an abundance of blackberries and time, we also baked a Blackberry Cream Cheese Cinnamon Crumb cake, which is a little bit more substantial than the fluffy muffins.

Murphy has no preference if cake or muffins as long as he gets a piece, laying on his charm, then trying googly eyes, to begging, and last resort… stealing…

Blackberry’s are the “last” of the berries in the summer season, which means fall is approaching fast. So make some of these delicious pastries, freeze the leftovers and pull them out on a cold fall morning or afternoon to be reminded of the good parts of summer!Blackberry Streusel Muffins – makes 18 muffins

Ingredients:

Muffins: 

• 3 c. all purpose flour
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 c. blackberries
• 1 Tbsp. flour

Streusel: 

• 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 4-6 tablespoons of butter (cold)

Icing:

• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Prepare 18 muffin cups with cupcake liners OR cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together yogurt, eggs, and milk. Add to flour mixture.
5. Stir in melted butter.
6. Toss blackberries in 1 Tbsp. flour; stir into batter.
7. Divide batter evenly among 18 muffins cups.
8. Prepare streusel topping by mixing everything together with a fork or your fingers and make sure you get little pea like streusels. Sometimes you have to press the dough firm together and then lightly break it apart so that you get little “streusel balls”.  Once done, divide evenly among muffin cups.
9. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes.
10. Cool completely.
11. Combine ingredients for glaze and drizzle over cooled cupcakes.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar, divided
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 and 1/3 cups (166g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping cup (125g) fresh or frozen blackberries (do not thaw)
• one 8-ounce block cream cheese, softened to room temperature

Crumb topping:

• 1/3 cup (67g) packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1/2 (62g) cup all-purpose flour 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease and lightly flour a 9 or 10-inch springform pan.
2. Make the cake: Beat the butter and 3/4 cup granulated sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. On medium-high speed, add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and sour cream. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Turn the mixer on low speed and beat until completely combined. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon,fold in the blackberries.
3. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.
4. Beat the cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar together until combined. Spoon and spread over cake batter. It’s a thick cream cheese topping, so do your best to spread around. Set aside.
5. Make the crumb topping: Combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Cut in the chilled butter with a pastry blender or two forks (or even with your hands) until the mixture resembles pea sized crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over cream cheese layer.
6. Bake the cake for 60-65 minutes or until it no longer jiggles in the center. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out *mostly* clean. A few moist crumbs are ok. I like to loosely cover the top of the cake with aluminum foil at the 30 minute mark to prevent over-browning.
7. Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Guten Appetit!