Lemon Blueberry Crunch Cupcakes

Last weekend, Mike and I went blueberry picking.  We found this adorable blueberry farm about 20 minutes from our house where blueberries were only $1.80 per pound and the owners flat-out told us that we "couldn't eat them out of business, so taste and try the berries as much as you want."  Don't have to tell me twice!  We picked about 4 pounds of berries (only about 3 of which went into my bucket (Anyone remember Blueberries for Sal?  That's pretty much how I felt...).  

Well, Mike doesn't like blueberries (weird, right?), so besides eating them with every meal, I decided to come up with something to bake with them.  I broke out my favorite cupcake cookbook and found these Lemon Blueberry Crunch Cupcakes.  No, I did not create this recipe, but I thought it was fantastic enough to share.  

Lemon Blueberry Crunch Cupcakes
Taken from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 sugar, plus 2 tbsp for topping
4 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3/4 sour cream
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the 3/4 cup sugar and butter together until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).  Then, add in the egg, lemon extract, and zest, and beat on medium speed until combined.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and the sour cream, beating until just combined.
5. Fill the muffin pan 3/4 full.
6. Arrange blueberries in a single layer on top of the batter and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar.
7.  Bake for 18-20 minutes (until the blueberries burst and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the toothpick comes out clean).

For the icing: I tried to make Shelley's egg white buttercream and failed miserably.  Honestly, this cupcake doesn't need a whole topping of frosting anyway, but her buttercream (with 1 teaspoon of lemon extract added) did turn into a nice icing.  Anyone have a fantastic not-too-sweet buttercream recipe?  This is one thing missing from my recipe cards.

 The recipe only made about 12 cupcakes (and yes, I left 2 without the blueberries for Mike), but even he said the blueberry ones were delicious).  I highly suggest this recipe!

Linking up for all of my favorite Tuesday food link-ups (Two Cup Tuesday, Try A New Recipe Tuesday, Delicious Dish Tuesday, and Tasty Tuesdays)!