Blog Adoption

I believe I've mentioned this before but, prior to me starting up Occasional Sugar, I spent a few months just reading other blogs, seeing what they were all about, getting inspiration for layout and photography, just becoming immersed in this world I would soon be joining. Around that time, there was a blogging event taking place called Adopt-A-Blogger. This was great! It gave me a list of great foodie blogs to check out, without having to do the research to find them on my own. Adopt-A-Blogger is the brainchild of Kristen of Dine and Dish. In a nutshell, a "newbie" blogger is paired up with a "seasoned" blogger to mentor them for a few months. They form a mutually beneficial relationship to help each other learn new and exciting things to apply to their own blog. It was almost a year ago when I stumbled on Adopt-A-Blogger and now Kristen is organizing a 4th round of the event.

I have eagerly waited for my chance to participate in the next Adopt-A-Blogger all year. For this new round, I have been paired with Allison of Act of Sweetness. She does some amazing custom cakes and has recently completely updated the layout of her site. I can't wait to learn more about her and grill her on things I can do to make Occasional Sugar a sweeter spot for all to visit.

This morning, while browsing through her blog, I came across a simple recipe for blueberry muffins. I thought, what a perfect way for me to introduce my new mentor - by featuring one of her recipes! These muffins turned out great. I didn't have any frozen blueberries (because I really don't like blueberries) but I did have some frozen raspberries left over from when I baked this cake. They are soft, moist, melt-in-your-mouth perfect.

I used these silicone baking cups that Eric got me for Christmas for the first time. They were fun to use and easy to clean. I don't know why I've waited so long to try them out! They are heart-shaped, so cute.


Berry Muffins
from Act of Sweetness

1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh berries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin pan with paper liners.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Place 1/3 cup vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the measuring cup up to the 1 cup line. Mix this with flour mixture. Carefully fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture*.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

*for my crumb topping, I combined 1/3 cup butter (cold), 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 Tbsp flour. I blended it together with a pastry cutter and sprinkled about a tsp on top of each unbaked muffin cup.