Muffins with homegrown raspberries

I don't remember where or how did we obtain our raspberry plants. What I notice is that there are two different varieties that grow together in the same spot. How do I know? Well, one matures in the summer with smaller but sweeter fruit and the other one is ready in the fall with bigger size and less intense sweetness.

We have been snacking on these raspberries and putting them in salad (with homegrown salad of course!). One day, I looked at the pint of raspberries sitting in the fridge and there was also a small container of sour cream, and I decided to make some muffins. After searching on the net for recipe, I settled down on this one and quite satisfied with the result:

Topping

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees. For topping, in medium bowl combine brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. Rub with your fingers to form coarse crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. To make muffins, butter a 12-cup muffin g mpan. In medium bowl, whisk 1 1/2 cups flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. In large bowl, usinixer, beat egg and medium speed until frothy. Add sugar and melted butter. Beat until pale yellow for 1 minute. Beat in sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest until blended. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until almost blended.
3. In bowl, toss the raspberries with remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Using spatula, fold in raspberries into batter. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter and sprinkle with topping from refrigerator. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and let cool.

I skipped the topping as I intended to freeze these muffins.

Apple tartlet from homegrown apples

The pastry dough is based on Sugar's (Anne Olson) recipe. Originally, the tartlet recipe, which I had made before with great success, is from the Cooks Illustrated magazine. However, the CI's pastry dough is cream cheese based, and I don't have cream cheese at home, so I had to pick a different dough recipe to work with.

The crust turned out amazingly flaky. (I had to add an extra 3 tbsp of water to make the dough comes together). Hubby just made homemade coffee ice cream. What a winning dessert!