Buttermilk Crumb Muffins {Tuesdays with Dorie}

Muffins and I have a long, happy history together.  They have long been my go-to breakfast.  Especially my Mom's favorite recipe.  Seriously good stuff.  And easy- in about a half hour you can mix, bake and have on the table a batch of beautiful and delicious muffins.  But recently, I have to confess, I've been cheating a bit on my beloved little quick bread.

It all started innocently enough with a simple scone recipe.  But one bite of that gorgeous scone and I knew muffins would never quite hold the same place in my heart.  Batch after batch rolled out of my oven to the delights of my two scone loving kiddos.  It's a good thing meyer lemons and cranberries have a short season or I'd be having those scones every day!

So I hope you'll pardon my skepticism when I saw that these simple buttermilk muffins had been the first choice for November's Tuesdays with Dorie.  I was hoping for a great pie, sort of a pre-Thanksgiving warm up.  I know that's what I'm searching for when I hit the blogs and Pinterest these days. (Just so you know, I made one of those pies anyway, which you'll be seeing here next week!)  But, ever the optimist, I decided to give the muffins a chance for no other reason than my three year old loves to help mix whatever I'm baking and this recipe was simple enough for him to mix with ease.

My skepticism was thrown out the window with the first taste.  Tender, light, sweet and crumbly.  Muffin heaven.  Once again, I was won over by a Dorie/Julia recipe that I was prepared to determine was just okay.  And maybe muffins might make their way back into my heart again.  Or maybe not, after all cranberries are in season again...

Check out the other fab Tuesdays with Dorie bakers, especially Alisa at Easier than Pie who is our host this go round and has the recipe for you.  Though I have a couple of recipe notes of my own.  The original recipe calls for shortening and I just couldn't make myself use it.  So I subbed an equal amount of butter with absolutely no problem.  As I was chowing down on these beauties, I found them calling out for chocolate chips.  Don't ask me why, they just did.  So next time I may sprinkle a few dark chocolate chips in the batter.  I know it will make the muffins sing.