Purple Berry Crumb Cake Muffins

Here's what you'll need: 

• 1.5 cups of mixed blueberries and blackberries
• 1 1/8 cups, plus 1 teaspoon of sugar 
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted 
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup whole or buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Crumb Topping:

• 3 tablespoons of white sugar
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup flour (or more as needed)

*You'll need a standard 12-cup non-stick muffin tin to prepare. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees, and adjust your baking rack to the middle of the oven. 
2. Take out a muffin tin and place your paper liners or coat with cooking spray. 
3. Put a small saucepan over medium heat on the stove. Drop in 1/2 cup of the berries, the water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bring to a simmer.
4. Allow the berries to cook for a few minutes, then mash the berries with a fork or potato masher. Simmer for another 3-5 minutes until the mixture thickens.  
5. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature. Set aside. 
6. In a separate large bowl, prepare your dry mix and whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
7. In another separate bowl, combine your wet mix. Whisk together sugar and eggs until smooth. Next, add in melted butter and oil. Lastly, whisk in milk and vanilla until all is combined.
8. Using a spatula, fold the wet mix into the dry mix in the large bowl. (Do not over mix, you want the batter to be lumpy with a few spots of dry flour.)
9. Once complete, fold in the remaining cup of berries. 
10. Divide the batter equally among your muffin cups. (Don't worry, the batter should fill up the cup and slightly overflow.)
11. Next, spoon a small amount of the cooled, cooked berry mixture in the center of each muffin. Using a small butter knife or chopstick, swirl around to mix in with the batter. 
12. Next, prepare your crumb topping by combining all of the ingredients in a bowl, adding your butter last, and gradually. You'll need more or less depending on your cooking environment. (If you find after adding all of the butter it is too wet, add more flour.)
13. Bake the muffins for 18 minutes, or until golden brown on the top. Careful not to overbake. 
14. Transfer to a cooling rack. 

After doing a bit of research on traditional blueberry muffins, I combined a few recipes, added on a crumb topping and dropped in some blackberries. I can't call this an original recipe, but can't credit any one recipe for these over-the-top-muffins. In that case, I will just throw out a blanket THANK YOU to all of the bloggers and cookbook authors out there that contributed their baking knowledge to these delicious treats.