A Kitchen Woodstove and Blueberry Muffins

The drizzle continues on this first day of November, but it’s warm–nearly sixty degrees. And it’s a good thing, too, because the furnace decided not to work. It appears now to be it’s annual thing. Sometime in November it up and decides it’s done. We coax it along, pat it gently, plead with it to give us another year, and it does. One of these days it will not be so easily swayed. But, thankfully, today was not that day. It only needed a new battery; an easy fix. But, I must say, my heart skips a beat each time it decides not to work. A furnace isn’t an easy (or cheap) fix. Which is why I would like to get that woodstove put in. Sort of a back-up for that furnace and a bit of peace for my mind (and, in these times, not a bad idea to have on hand). We bought one over the summer. A woodstove that is. It’s something out of the forties, all charming and decked out with as much chrome as it can handle. There’s even two burner plates on the top–more of a reason than ever to put it in the kitchen. The Farmer disagrees. He feels it belongs in the living room, and while I see his point, those burners clearly speak of the Kitchen. Besides, I’ve already made a place for it. There it will sit with a sheepskin rug carefully placed in front with two rockers, one on each side. Do me a favor: Tell the Farmer if you see him. Tell him the woodstove will do much better in the Kitchen.

Now, as it is a Tuesday, and not just any Tuesday, but a Tuesday in November, I need to come up with something warm and comforting to make for a largeish group. I’m expecting a dozen or so tonight, and that’s not including my own, so something of the casserole-variety feels like a good fit.

I’ve been in the spätzle-making mood lately, so I think that’s what I will do. Spätzle with cheese (think macaroni and cheese, only better). And maybe some blueberry muffins. Blueberries freeze well, and ever since I put that bird netting in, I’ve managed to get more than a handful of discarded berries. Yes. Something warm and cozy (spätzle and cheese) and something bright and fresh (blueberry muffins) will do just fine.

Now, I’m sure I’ve shared my spätzle and cheese recipe here before, so I’m not going over that again, but blueberry muffins are a different sort of story, so here you are:

One and three quarters cups flour is sifted together with a half teaspoon salt, and two teaspoons baking powder and set aside. In a mixing bowl, one cup sugar is beaten with one half cup slightly softened butter and once the two become one, two eggs are then added and the whole mixture is whipped together. In a(nother) bowl, a half-cup milk is mixed with a teaspoon and a half of lemon juice and left by itself until it curdles up a bit. Half of the flour mixture is then stirred into the butter mixture, followed by all of the soured milk, finally, the last of the flour mixture is stirred in until just smooth. Now, not too much, though–no one wants a tough muffin. Finally. Those blueberries. I put two cups in, still frozen, but first doused with a(nother) quarter cup of flour–this keeps all those blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin. No one wants that.

The batter is then scooped into a lined muffin tin (and by lined I mean the prettiest muffin liners you can find–no one wants a boring muffin liner) and placed in a three hundred and seventy-five degree oven for about thirty minutes. While they’re baking away, some of that lemon juice–about two tablespoons–is mixed with sugar–again, about two tablespoons, so that as soon as those babies come out of the oven they can be slathered all over, because brings out the brightness of blueberries like lemon.