Do you know the muffin man?

Apparently, he lives on Drury Lane.
Too far, far away* for you?

Make your own muffin, man.

Lemon-Glazed Blackberry Sour Cream Muffins

by Sharon Graves

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Muffins are one of those morning breads that seem easy but are so hard to get right.  Too sweet and they're cupcakes, not sweet enough and they're boring. My husband was lucky enough to room with a pair of muffin making mavens when he was living in NY, and they set a high, high bar in my book.  I can't claim these are in that league, but they are tender and tasty and super easy to have on the table in under half an hour, especially if you have leftover sour cream in the fridge. Adapted, only barely, from this recipe. Try them with fresh blueberries or raspberries, orange instead of the lemon...you get the idea. They'd be awesome with chocolate chips, too.

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Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Generous grating ground nutmeg
• 1/2 pint (1 small container) fresh blackberries
• 1/2 c. sugar
• zest of one lemon
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus more for the glaze
• 1 c. (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs

For the glaze:

• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 Tbs. (or more, as needed), fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, or use muffin liners. You can also bake these as mini muffins - the recipe will make quite a few of the smaller version - but I happened to have nice big blackberries so the larger size worked better.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Gently stir in the blackberries and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest, using your hands to rub the zest into the sugar to release the flavor. Whisk in the lemon juice, sour cream, melted butter, vanilla and eggs.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the liquid ingredients in. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in just until combined, taking care not to crush the blackberries too much. Don't over mix, or your muffins will be tough. The batter will be thick.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full, and bake for about 15 minutes, until the tops are just golden and spring back to the touch.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze. Stir the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth and easily pourable, adding more juice/sugar as needed.

Cool muffins in the pan for 5 minutes or so, until still warm but not piping hot. Set a cooling rack on top of foil or waxed paper to catch drips, then carefully pull each muffin from the pan and dip the top completely in the glaze. Set right side up on the cooling rack. Drizzle with any remaining glaze.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

* Are we there yet?