Blue Apple Muffins

Blackberry Pie Murder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position

## The Muffin Batter:

* 3/4 cup melted butter ***(1 and 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces)***
* 1 cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 2 beaten eggs ***(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)***
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries ***(no need to thaw if they're frozen)***
* 2 cups plus one Tablespoon flour ***(no need to sift - pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 1/2 cup apple pie filling ***(I used Comstock)***

## The Crumb Topping:

* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1/4 cup softened butter ***(1/2 stick)***

## Directions

* Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan ***(or line the cups with double cupcake papers – that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar.)***  Melt the butter.  Mix in the sugar.  Add the beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt.  Mix it all up thoroughly.
* Put one Tablespoon of flour in a plastic food storage bag with your cup of fresh or frozen  blueberries.  Shake it gently to coat the blueberries and leave them in the bag on the counter for now.
* Add half of the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk.  Then add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Mix thoroughly.
* Put the contents of the can of apple pie filling in a bowl and chop up the apples with a sharp knife.  ***(You will want some apple pieces in each muffin so the pieces have to be fairly small.)*** Measure out 1/2 cup of pie filling and add it to your muffin batter.  Stir it in thoroughly.

**Hannah's note: You will have approximately 1/2 cup of apple pie filling left over. Put it in a small freezer bag, label the bag, and stick it in the freezer with the rest of the frozen blueberries that you didn't use. Then you'll have the fruits together the next time you want to make Blue Apple Muffins.**

* Fold the frozen or fresh blueberries into your muffin batter. Mix gently so that the blueberries will stay intact.
* Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have any batter left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bread loaf pan and fill it with your remaining batter.
* To make the Crumb Topping, mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and use a fork or a knife or "cut" it into the dry ingredients until the resulting mixture is crumbly. ***(You can also do this in a food processor. Just layer the dry ingredients with chilled butter that you've cut into chunks, and then process it in an on-and-off motion with the steel blade until it looks like coarse cornmeal.)***
* Fill the remaining space in the muffin cups with the crumb topping. Then bake the muffins in a 375 F. degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. ***(If  you had muffin batter left over and put it in a tea-bread pan, it should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)***
* When your muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. ***(The muffins need to cool in the pan for easy removal.)*** Then just tip them out of the cups and enjoy.

***These are wonderful when they're slightly warm, but the apple and blueberry flavors will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.***