Blueberry Lemon Bread

(This can be made into a loaf or muffins.)

¼ cup (2 oz. or ½ stick butter) plus 2 T., softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup whole wheat all-purpose flour

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Pinch salt

½ cup of milk (any variety) but I use 2 %

2 tsp. grated lemon peel (use a micro plane zester)

1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries (if using frozen berries, measure them and keep in the freezer until you fold them in, or you will have purple muffins!

2 T. sour cream (optional)

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

3 T. lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugar until light colored and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. (Break them into a small bowl first to make sure you don’t get any shells into your mixture.) In a separate bowl, add together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Whisk or stir with a fork well. Add sour cream (if using) and zested lemon peel to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Then alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture. Start with the flour mixture first. Add in 2 batches (each). This means add half of the flour, half of the milk, add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Mix just until combined, don’t over mix or you will have dense, dry quick bread. Fold in the blueberries very gently using a rubber spatula. Pour batter into a greased 8x4x3 inch loaf pan, or muffin pan with paper liners that have been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. If using paper liners, only fill ½- 2/3 full using a cookie scoop (or ‘disher’). Wipe off any spills off the muffin pan before baking.

Bake for 50-55 minutes if you’re making a loaf or 15-23 minutes if you are making muffins, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (don’t hit a spot with a lot of berries or it won’t come out clean, even if the bread is done!)

Combine the sugar and the lemon juice (juice the lemon used for the zest) and heat until the sugar dissolves. Puncture the top of the bread and brush this mixture on. Allow it to soak in for 15-30 minutes in the pan.

FYI- You can make these with all white flour.