Blueberry Birthdays

So, at work, I'm the girl in charge of celebrating the crew birthdays every month. Some people have tried to avoid me knowing their birthday like the plague but AH HA.. I am too quick for them. In September we had five birthdays to celebrate AND it was my first event up to bat for this at my current job. Here, in a nutshell, is how I screwed up and then redeemed myself deliciously.


- The week of Fri Sep. 2
Annie's thoughts, "Too early to celebrate- we'll do it later in the month"


- The week of Fri Sep. 11
"I'm too busy to plan and bake some awesome, gotta move out of H-land Apartments over the weekend"


- The week of Fri Sep. 18
"Moving out this week, brain is fried, bakeware is packed!"


- The week of Fri Sep. 25
"Aha, I know, we'll throw an 'Emergency Meeting' and freak everyone out! Then it'll really be a surprise birthday bash with cupcakes." Good thinking, Annie. ZOINK, cue Production Emergency and suddenly this meeting is not so clever and in bad taste. Cancelled.


- Monday Sep. 28
"Now, I got it - at the last minute - but I got it. I'll surprise everyone with OJ and freshly baked blueberry muffins!"


...Anybody know what Monday, September 28 was this year? Yep, it was Yom Kippur. The Jewish Day of Atonement. Definitely had to be out of work all day to fast and atone for my sins. Add one more sin to the list: screwing up on celebrating September birthdays...


But, hark, is that hope on the horizon? Yes, it is. On Monday, October 6th - I did manage to redeem myself with made-from-scratch-melt-in-your-mouth-can't-believe-how-much-blueberries-cost-these-days muffins at our weekly crew meeting! They were so craveable that no one complained that it was, in fact, October. I topped everything off by sharing anonymously-submitted "favorite things" about each of the Birthday people. It was a rockin celebration in the end.


Here is how you can make these wonderfully redeemable muffins the next time you almost screw up like I did:


Blueberry Birthday Breakfast Muffins
excerpted from this recipe on AllRecipes


8 Servings


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done. 

Annie additions/changes

• Add vanilla- a lot if you like it. I'm a big fan.
• Sub some of the white sugar for brown, it's much more interesting.
• I added cinnamon to the muffin mix as well.
• Have your lovely boyfriend be your Crumb Topping topper!