Peter Hunt's Blueberry Muffins

The very first vacation I went on with Eric was to Cape Cod. We stayed in Wellfleet, and had a lovely - albeit rainy and unseasonably cool - time cycling on the bike paths, eating our weight in fried seafood, exploring Provincetown and stopping at every little bookstore that we found along the way. I can't remember exactly where I found this little cookbook by Peter Hunt, but I was drawn to the charming illustrations, Hunt's folksy tone, and the picture he painted of his social circle and culinary adventures on the Cape in 1940s-50s (the book was published in 1954). He includes many traditional Portuguese recipes - there was a large and thriving Portuguese fishing community in Provincetown - "Old New England" recipes, and what I imagine to be "Cape-centric" recipes which include a lot of fresh fruits that grow on the Cape, like strawberries, beach plums and of course, blueberries. 

               

                                                   

This is a very simple recipe that is probably delicious as-is, but that I altered because I wanted to use up some different flours I had on hand. I am sure if I had access to a basket of sun-warmed Cape blueberries these would be really incredible, but I had to make due with a combination of fresh and frozen blueberries (both from Trader Joes, though the "fresh" blueberries there are really not that great). I used a cup of blueberries as Hunt instructs, but as you can see from the finished result, the blueberry-to-batter ratio seems a little scant. When I try these again, I might up the blueberry content to 1 1/2-2 cups if I can. These muffins are very light, fluffy, and tasty. 

2 cups flour (PH calls for pastry flour. I used a combination: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup pastry flour, 1/2 cup almond meal)

3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk 

4 tablespoons melted butter 

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400. Mix and sift dry ingredients. Stir eggs, milk, butter, almond extract and blueberries together, and mix with flour mixture. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes.