Tea and Blueberry Muffins, Revisited

I've spent much of this past week entertaining, and being entertained by, my oldest and dearest friends. My favorite part, aside from exploring the city with fresh eyes, is what to serve them with tea for breakfast.


I wrote an article on domestic olive oils about a year ago, and while doing the research, came across many recipes using it in baking in place of butter. While there's no danger of the bottle replacing the creamy, pale-golden sticks in my fridge, my first experiment with it is reminding me of olive oil's range.

Like tea, olive oil can certainly be appreciated on its own, and different types' terroir produces surprisingly varied tastes. And these qualities can be appreciated in a new way when you bake with it.

These lemony, cornmeal-studded, surprisingly rich olive-oil muffins were the ideal summery foil to some iced Dragonwell, at least according to my guests.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Makes: 12 muffins.

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 scant cup milk
1/2 cup mild olive oil (I used Robbins Family Farm)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Rind of one lemon, finely grated
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup medium or coarse cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup blueberries, washed

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In measuring cup, mix lemon juice into milk and let sit 10 minutes. In medium-sized bowl, stir together oil, sugar, lemon rind and egg.

3. In small bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt. Stir in blueberries.

4. Stir milk into oil mixture. Pour dry ingredients into oil mixture and mix gently until just blended (some lumps may remain). Pour batter into prepared cups.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for five minutes; turn out onto rack to cool completely.

Tea and blueberry muffins may sound a bit conventional for breakfast, but with ingredients like these, no one will be complaining- their mouths will be too full.