I was recently inundated with a bunch of blueberries. Rather than freezing these little blue orbs of goodness or even worse, letting then spoil, I baked until I became a shadow of Martha Stewart. I decided on making two recipes; a batch of moist muffins and a delicious cinnamon crumble. Here are the recipes for your digestional enjoyment:

Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble Bars (special thanks to the Cake Mix Doctor)

This recipe is simple to make and resembles more of a gooey coffee cake when you're done. It pairs perfectly with a hot cup of coffee or a cool glass of milk. Most importantly, it has blueberries and oatmeal in it so it's inherently healthy no matter what the sugar and butter say.

1 package plain yellow or white cake mix
1 cup (2 sticks) of real butter, melted (you can substitute margarine but real butter is the BOMB!)
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (*special note* Pack it well and you'll burn off a few calories)
2 large cackleberries (eggs)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use Pampered Chef Cinnamon/Nutmeg/Yummy spices blend)
2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained (keep them a little moist because it helps the sugar to adhere better)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9X13 inch baking pan. Place the cake mix, melted butter, oatmeal, brown sugar, eggs, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or, get your cardio done and mix it by hand. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The mixture will be very thick. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the dough for the topping and then transfer the remaining of the mixture into the 9X13 inch baking pan. Using your fingertips, press the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan so that it reaches all the sides.

Now, take your damp blueberries and mix them with the granulated sugar, coating each plump Violet Beauregarde with sugary goodness. Pour the blueberries onto the dough crust and spread them out evenly with a spoon. Pinch off the pieces of the remaining reserved crust mixture and scatter them over the filling. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the cake is a light brown and bubbling. This will take about 40-45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cool it in the counter for about 30 minutes.

When you're ready to experience heaven, cut the cake into bars, chunks, or heck, just get the spoon out and a tub of vanilla ice cream. Eat and most importantly, enjoy.

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

Don't let the sour cream idea freak you out. It makes for a light and delicious muffin that you'll have a hard time just eating one of. Again, this muffin has blueberries and sour cream (which is a milk product - very important for the bones) so it screams, "HEALTH!"

This recipe is a little bit more difficult than what I'm used to because you really have to pay attention to how you add ingredients. It truly makes your muffins fluffier and a lot moister if you follow the given order. Don't make me send the muffin police after you for improper use of a recipe.

4 large cackleberries (eggs)
1 1/4 cup of white sugar
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (you may also add other spices like nutmeg if you want that sort of flavor)
2 cups sour cream (16 oz. container)
2 cups blueberries

Optional but a very delish addition:

Crumble Top

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
6 tbsp. cold real butter
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 24 muffin cups or line them with paper muffin liners. I did this plus had enough batter left over to make a pan full of 24 mini-muffins. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then gradually add in the sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in the oil. Stir in the vanilla. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.

Once everything is mixed, stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture alternating with the sour cream. Gently fold in the blueberries once everything is mixed up. Scoop the batter into prepared muffin cups. I use a large size cookie scoop so that my muffins are uniform in size. Gotta have a nice set of uniformed muffins ;-).

Once the muffins are ready to go, you'll have a pretty big decision to make...crumble topping or no crumble topping? I prefer the topping because I think it makes a more "homey" muffin. If you choose to do the crumble topping, all you'll need to do is place the crumb mixture ingredients in a bowl and using your fingers or a pastry blender, combine the ingredients until they are crumbly and then spoon over the tops of your muffin batter.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes and then cool them down for as long as you can contain yourself from eating them.

If you try these recipes, let me know what you think. Better yet, share your own blueberry recipes!