blackberry muffins

What do you do when your backyard is surrounded by blackberry bushes heavy with dark, ripe fruit?

You invite your San Francisco friends to drive up to the "country" and pick them. (This makes city people really happy, by the way.)

What do you do when those friends fill bags and bags full of berries but they've barely made a dent in the crop?

You bake muffins -- big, fat, glorious muffins with berries so ripe it's like you've stuffed those muffins with jam.

And you make the recipe gluten-free so you can eat the entire batch without stomach issues.

Yes!

Gluten-free Blackberry Muffins
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Makes 12 muffins

Note: I love Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour. This blend of garbanzo flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, sorghum flour and fava flour can be substituted cup-for-cup for the regular all-purpose flour in a recipe. However, you will need to add some xanthan gum to help thicken and bind the batter -- xanthan gum basically does what gluten would normally do.

For the topping

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 Tbs. gluten-free all-purpose flour
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

For the muffins

• 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup buttermilk (I actually didn't have buttermilk, so I made my own by adding 1 Tbs. of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and letting it sit for 10 minutes -- this really works!)
• 2 cups fresh blackberries

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Line 12 standard muffin cups.

To make the topping, in a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

To make the muffins, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, mix the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Stir until fully combined. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until combined. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blackberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Try not to break up the fruit (and if this happens a little bit, it's OK).

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly. (The sugar will melt and produce a glaze effect.)

Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins.

These muffins are extra-awesome when they're warm and covered in butter! (Or randomly posed on my patio ledge overlooking the artichoke plant. Whatever.)