It took three trips to Brennan's for me to get my annual 10-pound box of blueberries - despite their sign, which read "Berry Bliss - Michigan blueberries are here". Brennan's had always just run out - "we'll be getting more tomorrow", they said, and when the berries were finally in, they were accompanied by the "limit 2 boxes per customer" sign. Nothing in the news says it's a bad year for blueberries, but I guess it's a bad year, a horrible year, for Door County cherries - I'll have to look for last year's frozen.

In honor of the season, here's my favorite bluberry muffin recipe:

Blueberry Muffins

* 2 cups flour - I prefer unbleached white, but you could use part whole wheat
* scant teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 tsp. baking powder
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1/2 tsp. salt (omit if using salted butter)
* 6 TBLS butter
* 1/2 cup sugar - again I prefer white, but you could try alternative sweeteners
* 1 egg
* approximately 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 1 heaping cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed)

Heat the oven to 375°, and line a 12-muffin pan with paper liners, or spray with cooking spray.

Measure the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl (can be your mixer bowl, if you have one). Slice the butter over the dry ingredients, and cut together with a pastry blender or the mixer. Break the egg into a spouted glass 1-cup measuring cup, beat lightly with a fork, and then pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup liquid. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the blueberries and liquids, and mix gently until all the flour is moistened. For muffins, it's better to leave the batter a little lumpy than to over mix .

Scoop the batter into the muffin pan, transfer it to the oven, and bake for about 25 minutes until puffed and firm. Eat warm; can be frozen.