Blueberry-Lime Muffincakes

Well, one thing to discuss first is the word, "Muffincakes"  I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to come up with this word, but I was pretty proud of it either way.  Basically, a cupcake and a muffin got together and made nice. Real nice. The batter is all cupcake style, but because there isn't any frosting I was compelled to call it something else. There.

So these Blueberry Lime Muffincakes came from my 500 Cupcakes Cookbook. So simple! It called for self-rising flour and if you don't have that at home you can easily add 1 tsp. of baking powder and salt for 1 cup of flour. My ratio might be a little off there, but I tell you what, there wasn't anything "off" about these muffincakes.

I had all my ingredients out on the counter, ready to mix in the dough.  When working with superfine sugar, you want to be sure you don't let the mixture separate.  It will look a little different than most batters but once you add the flour SLOWLY you'll begin to recognize the consistency.  I found that is it important to beat the sugar and butter 1st, then add eggs & milk and of course, always add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly.  Once you have you base batter, fold in the blueberries. Gently, you want the heat from the oven to burst the berries, not your mixing.

I made these because I had blueberries in the fridge that were starting to get wrinkly, nothing wrong with them but they are no longer super fresh.  Make sure you pick out any that are super soft and gooey - very technical terms here on Ali Can Cook.  While the muffins are baking, switch gears to making the glaze.  This part of the recipe also calls for superfine sugar but you can do half & half to make the sugar more manageable and less likely to burn/over cook.  When a recipe calls for a gentle simmer, that doesn't mean turn the heat all the way up and quickly down.  Simply start heating on med-low and keep an eye on your mixture.  You want the sugar, juice, water and peel to simmer slowly, again we're dealing with heated sugar here so don't be distracted with anything else!

You are looking for little bubbles in the mixture and keep stirring, once the liquid resembles one step below the thickness of maple syrup you're all set - this usually takes 3-4 minutes once the mixture has begun to simmer.  The glaze will thicken slightly as it cools!

Here they are! Fresh from the oven, berries poppin', lime crackin muffincakes! They smelled so wonderful, it was hard to wait for them to cool "slightly" before we tried them.

They don't look that pretty to be honest...a friend of mine thought they should be dubbed "Shrek Muffins." I didn't take too kindly to that but I guess if they come out with yet another movie I'll be able to market their strange look...
These muffincakes were a little sticky but really worth it, the lime! oh the lime! I have some strawberries in the fridge and an abundance of lemons...I think it's time to push this recipe to the next level! Here's the recipe with my notes! Enjoy!