Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins and The Time Travelers Wife

I just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Its so funny how you can feel attached to the characters of a book. You can feel their pain as if they were real people that you know or as if you were living through their experiences. Only a few minutes ago I was crying like a baby. The story really penetrated me and moved me to tears. I felt like such a ninny because I was starting to cry so hard! Muppet, my dog, was even startled by the sound of my sobbing. The look of alarm on his face made me laugh. He was staring at me like What is going on?! But I had the afternoon to myself and I was determined to finish the book before watching the movie. I had Matt order the movie via Netflix and my plan is to see it today. But I am so anxious to watch it. There is a small part of me that is a little afraid to see the movie. Am I going to cry again?



Last year everyone was reading this book—it was very popular. Obviously I jumped on the band wagon kind of late with this story—oh well.



If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it. It is heartfelt love story about love, longing, and absence making the heart grow fonder. Henry is a time traveler who involuntarily time travels due to a genetic malady. He meets Clare for the first time when he is 28. But Clare had met Henry for the first time when she was six. Henry travels to the past and sometimes to the future and at some point in time the two of them intersect and meet in “real time” only to fall hopelessly in love. The story follows them across time as they do their best to live normal lives. Although it may seem confusing, the author patiently and carefully guides the reader through the story by shifting between each of their view points. If you decide to give this one a try, I’ll be posting it on Swaptree.com. Swaptree.com is the easiest way to swap books, music, movies and video games for free. Here is the link if you want to swap books: http://www.swaptree.com/book/time-traveler-wife-audrey-niffenegger/isbn/9780156029438/The Time Travelers Wife.



Coffee Cake Blueberry Muffins

Batter:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems

Topping:
1/3 – 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.

Topping:
Mix flour and brown sugar. Add butter using a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly.

Batter:
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Do not over mix. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top. Sprinkle the topping on top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.

Source: Adapted from
Barefoot Contessa.