Blueberry Muffin Murder. Joanne Fluke
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cup blueberry pie filling
2 cups plus one tablespoon flour (no need to sift)
½ cup milk
Crumb Topping:
½ cup sugar
1⁄3 cup flour
¼ cup softened butter (½ stick)
Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan (or line the cups with cupcake papers). Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar. Then add the beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt, and mix thoroughly.
Put one tablespoon of the flour in a plastic bag with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries, and leave them in the bag for now.
Add half the remaining two cups flour to your bowl and mix it in with half the milk. Then add the rest of the flour and milk and mix thoroughly.
Here comes the fun part: Add ½ cup blueberry pie filling to your bowl and mix it in. (Your dough will turn a shade of blue, but don’t let that stop you—once the muffins are baked, they’ll look just fine.) When your dough is thoroughly mixed, fold in the flour-coated fresh or frozen blueberries.
Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bread loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.
The crumb topping: Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with hard butter using the steel blade.)
Sprinkle the crumb topping over your muffins and bake them in a 375ºF oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (The tea-bread should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)
While your muffins are baking, divide the rest of your blueberry pie filling into ½-cup portions and pop it in the freezer. I use paper cups to hold it and freeze them inside a freezer bag. All you have to do is thaw a cup the next time you want to make a batch of Blue Blueberry 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 blueberry flavor will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.
Grandma Ingrid’s muffin pans were large enough to hold all the dough from this recipe. My muffin tins are smaller, and I always make a loaf of Blue Blueberry tea bread with the leftover dough. If I make it for Mother, I leave off the crumb topping. She loves to eat it sliced, toasted, and buttered for breakfast.
Chapter Five
Once Connie Mac, Janie, and Norman arrived at The Cookie Jar, there was a flurry of activity. While Lisa showed Janie how to operate the kitchen appliances and Norman took Connie Mac’s picture, Hannah loaded Lisa’s car with the cookies they’d baked so that she could drop them off at Jordan High on her way home.
“Okay. Janie’s all set.” Lisa came out the back door just as Hannah had finished stacking the last box of cookies in her trunk. “These cookies go to Mrs. Baxter’s room?”
“Right. The girls will help you unload them. They’re all working late, making sandwiches for tomorrow. They’re going to have ham and cheese, and egg salad.”
“At least they won’t have to worry about the mayo going bad in weather like this,” Lisa said with a shiver, opening her car door and sliding into the driver’s seat. “See you tomorrow morning, Hannah.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh? Are you taking the morning off?”
“No, you are,” Hannah told her. “You did the lion’s share of the work today, and I’ll pick up the slack tomorrow morning. The earliest I want to see you here is a quarter to twelve.”
A delighted grin spread over Lisa’s face. “Dad’s been wanting to go out to see the venues and I just didn’t have time to take him. But are you sure you can spare me, Hannah?”
“Sure, I’m sure. We shouldn’t have much business. Almost everybody in town will be out at the venues. I’ll have plenty of time to bake, and when you come in I’ll run the cookies out to the warm-up tents.”
“Okay,” Lisa agreed, smiling broadly. “Thanks, Hannah. Dad’s going to be so excited when I tell him.”
Once Lisa had left with her sugary cargo, Hannah went back inside. The sight that greeted her when she opened the door made her blood pressure go through the roof. Her whole kitchen was in the process of being rearranged, and Connie Mac hadn’t even bothered to ask her for permission!
Norman walked over to her, carrying his bulky camera bag. “Come on, Hannah. Let’s get out of here.”
“Just a second,” Hannah said, heading over to the counter to grab her purse before Connie Mac could rearrange that, too. Then she turned to Janie, who looked as if she could use a dose of blood-pressure medicine herself. “Do you have everything you need, Janie?”
“Yes. Thanks, Hannah.” Janie moved closer and lowered her voice. “Don’t worry. I’ll put everything back and make sure your kitchen is spotless before we leave. And if there’s ever anything I can do for you, just…”
“The mixer’s in the wrong place, Janie.” Connie Mac interrupted their conversation. “You know I like to stand in the center of the work space.”
Janie dutifully moved the mixer, but there were no electrical outlets at the center of the work island. “The cord doesn’t reach, Mrs. MacIntyre.”
“Then get an extension. Honestly, Janie. It doesn’t take a college degree to know that.”
Hannah pulled open a drawer, got out an appliance extension cord, and handed it to Janie. “Good luck,” she muttered under her breath.
“Thanks,” Janie whispered back. “She’s on a real tear tonight.”
Connie Mac clapped her hands to get Janie’s attention. “Let’s go, Janie. I know you’re on overtime and you want to get in as many hours as you can, but I’m not going to pay you if you don’t work.”
Hannah followed Janie to the work island and stepped right up to the Cooking Sweetheart. “Excuse me, Connie Mac.”
“Yes, Hannah?” Connie Mac put on a smile for Hannah’s benefit.
“I need to give Janie some last-minute instructions and then I’m out of your hair.” When Connie Mac nodded, Hannah gave Janie’s arm a comforting squeeze and drew her away to the far end of the kitchen. She’d seen enough of Connie Mac to know that it couldn’t be pleasant to work for her. “Okay, Janie. When you’re all through, leave by the back door. Just push in the button to lock it behind you.”
“Don’t worry, Hannah. I’ll test it to make sure it’s locked.”
“Thanks. Goodnight, Janie.” Hannah shrugged into her parka and headed back to Norman, deliberately ignoring Connie Mac. When she got to the door she turned again, almost tripping Norman, who was close on her heels. “One more thing. I baked Blue Blueberry Muffins this afternoon and they’re in the pantry.”
“The same muffins you used to bake when I stayed overnight with Andrea?”
“That’s right. Just help yourself if you get hungry.”
“Janie can’t eat sweets,” Connie Mac warned, giving Janie a stern look. “She has to lose at least