Menu Idea Monday: Blueberry Struesel Swirl Muffins

We were out somewhere last week when we passed a bakery case featuring huge, gorgeous blueberry muffins. My husband commented that they looked great, and my instant (oh so humble response) was "Muffins are easy - I can do that."

Photo from Just Baked

So when we got home and I saw jar of homemade blueberry jam our neighbors had given us, I knew exactly what to do with it! Using the Cook's Illustrated recipe (via Just Baked), I whipped off a batch of Blueberry Swirl Streusel Muffins.

Note: Photo borrowed from Just Baked, seeing as we ate all our muffins before I thought to take a picture...

Opinion:
So very delicious. And fast. And easy. They bake up bakery-beautiful, especially if you use a jumbo muffin tin. I particularly like that you can sub jam for the fresh fruit here, allowing for lots of variety and an easy way to get taste of summer in the dead of winter. Try them!

My Modifications:
It's going to sound like I made a lot of modifications here, but they're all simple equivalents:
Coconut oil instead of veg oil
Jam instead of fruit & sugar
Plain yogurt instead of buttermilk

I also skipped the butter entirely and didn't miss it at all. I also subbed 1/4 cup of maple syrup for the 1+ cup of sugar called for and they were plenty sweet. I threw together my own version of streusel, as well.

Dietary Mod Friendly?
Yes and no. I have no idea if you could easily make a GF version of this using a baking mix, but otherwise it is pretty flexible. There are no eggs or nuts, and you could easily sub almond milk if the dairy was a problem.