Best Source

Were taking a break from our bathroom remodel to have a snack......I really look forward to the arrival of June every year because of the abundance of sweet, juicy blueberries that begin showing up at farmers markets. Around our home, we eat lots and lots of them in the summer and Im always trying to come up with new ways to use them.
This recipe is my favorite. I used to think that a blueberry muffin didnt need anything added to it to make it special but this strawberry butter has changed that for me. When paired with this muffin, they become amazing.
Heres a little muffin tip......you can whip up your favorite muffin batter, pour into a muffin pan and freeze.  When frozen, remove the frozen batter from each cup and place them in ziploc freezer bags and store in the freezer.  Then whenever your muffin craving strikes, just place any number of the frozen batter molds into a muffin pan and bake according to the recipe you used.  You might need to bake for another 5 minutes since theyre frozen.   That way, you can always have fresh baked, warm from the oven muffins at your fingertips.
Heres my recipe:

Blueberry Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12 cup or 6 large cup muffin pan or line each cup with a paper liner. I use unbleached parchment paper that I tear into 8 in x 8 in squares and press into each cup with a small glass, for a more rustic look, its cheaper, I always have parchment paper and I dont have to wash the pan.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla.
4. Combine with the dry ingredients, being very careful not to overmix. Only mix until combined. Lightly fold in your blueberries.
5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling until almost full. Bake until risen and golden 25 to 30 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack and serve warm.
To make the strawberry butter, start with a stick of room temperature unsalted butter. Add a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar and 2 or 3 mashed strawberries. Combine and keep in the fridge until your ready to slather it all over your warm muffin. Or just eat it by the spoonful.....just kidding....maybe...
How do you use your blueberries in the summer?

Having documented my build with about 150 photos, Ive spent some time playing with them in Picasa. As it integrates so well into Blogger, I use Picasa for all my Penultimate Woodshop photos.

A Picasa generated collage of all 165 photos.

The first thing I did was make a collage. With Picasa thats as easy as selecting any number of photos and then hitting the collage button. If you dont like the way it arranges the images, you can have it re-arrange them automatically, or you can drag and drop them anywhere you like. Once youve settled, hit save and it turns the collage into one photo. The image above was made by selecting the whole photo and having Picasa re-arrange the images once automatically.

The next thing I did was make this video. Its really just a slide show of all 165 images, but I think its cool because it takes the viewer thought the entire process (could just be cool to me, since I lived the build). I could (should) have added music. Pleas forgive the fact that I didnt have my audio library connected to the computer when I did this.

If fancy collages and slide show videos dont do it for you, then just check out the Build Challenge photo folder.

How do you document your builds?

The Sawdust Chronicles 2010 Build Challenge, Part I
The Sawdust Chronicles 2010 Build Challenge, Part II