It’s 8pm on a Tuesday in 1982. Lineup on television: Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Three’s Company.
In this particular episode of Happy Days, Richie Cunningham sings Fats Domino’s, “I found my thrill… on Blueberry Hill” whenever he feels particularly lucky.
Press Play to View Video Below:
Anyone out there who knows what I’m talking about can attest to the fact that after hearing Richie sing this song, you yourself sang it for the next three days…
Today, almost 35 years later, I’m the one feeling lucky and singing this song. I’m lucky my father let me stay up until 9:30pm on school nights to watch these shows with him. Trying to compete for parental attention in a house with 4 siblings (at 12-years-old) is a tremendous undertaking. I’m lucky because, on Tuesday nights, I won the competition. I’m lucky to have these memories. And I’m lucky that I’m able to share this story with you.
Now, I want you to go buy all the ingredients for this recipe. While you’re making the muffins, listen to the song…and sing it for the next three days.
RECIPE: “I found my Grill on Blueberry Hill” Muffins
- 2 Cups Blueberries, divided (not frozen)
- 1 1/8 Cups + 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 ½ Cups Flour
- 2 ½ Teaspoons baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Eggs
- ½ stick of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
This amazing recipe is inspired by America’s Test Kitchen!
- Preheat oven to 425°
- Grease muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduce to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl
- In another bowl, whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together until thick and batter comes together.
- Slowly whisk in butter, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla until combined
- Now fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture just until moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix
- Fill muffin tin cups, and then spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each cup of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion
- Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving. Makes 12 muffins
Optional: Cut muffins in half, generously butter cut sides of muffin and grill for 2 minutes on each side…delicious! We love using our 100-year-old Erie/Griswold Cast Iron Skillet…it works beautifully.
Tip from the New England Innkeeper:
Dotting a few berries on top before baking make the muffins look more attractive when they come out of the oven. The fruit’s natural inclination is to sink, so this ensures that there will still be something to see, however high the batter rises.
Fun Facts:
Blueberries protect against memory loss. A 2012 study suggested that eating at least one serving of blueberries a week slowed cognitive decline by several years. One possible explanation as to why is that berries might protect the brain by clearing toxic proteins that accumulate there. —HuffPost Healthy Living for Fun