Death Muffins
My grandma (mom's mom) died when I was in college. She had a recurrance of breast cancer that only took 10 days after her diagnosis to kill her. As one might imagine, not a fun time.
So it really stuck in my head when the family was gathered to plan her funeral and everything and my brother's friend Heather stopped by with a basket of blueberry muffins her mom had baked. I particularly remembered the shift of the vibe in the room as soon as we tasted them and they were so good, we all stopped thinking about our grief and requested/demanded the recipe.
When my dad was dying of colon cancer last fall I asked my sister-in-law if she could do me a huge favor: when my dad eventually does die, could she or my niece please bake a batch of these muffins to be delivered to my mom. Which she did.
So I've started thinking of them as death muffins. But they are also damned good muffins.
Ā½ c (120 ml) shortening 1 Ā¼ c (300 m l) sugar 2 eggs 1 c (240 m l) sour cream 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla 2 c (480 ml) flour 1 tsp (5 m l) baking powder Ā¼ tsp (1.25 ml) salt 1-2 c (240 - 480 m l) blueberries
Cream the shortening and sugar; then add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix together the dry ingredients and pour in liquids and stir until flour is moistened. Fold in blueberries. Bake in greased muffin tin at 375Ā° F (190Ā° C) for 20 min. Makes 18 muffins.
