Celebrating National Blueberry Month

I've been told that July is national blueberry month. What better way to celebrate than by baking blueberry cupcakes, right?

I found this Blueberry Hill Cupcake recipe on epicurious.com. Many of the reviews mentioned that this is essentially a blueberry muffin recipe. I, personally, believe that there is a fine/squiggly line between cupcakes and muffins (one is frosted, one isn't... right?), and as long as they taste good, who cares?

I did actually make a slight modification to this recipe. I'm not a huge fan of maple (unless it comes on my pancakes), so I didn't add maple sugar to the frosting. I also didn't add salt to the frosting.

Here are my pictures:

Muffins or Cupcakes? It is a valid question.

Whatever they are, they look pretty darn good.

I love how the blueberries were oozing out of the tops.

Ahhh - now they look like cupcakes!

(It really is all about the frosting)

These are quite pretty.

The cake was perfect... except that I was disappointed in the lack of blueberries.

That one little blueberry was the only one in this cupcake. :(

My first thought was that this recipe needed more blueberries...

... and then I ate another. :P

Apparently, I just didn't distribute the blueberries equally.

Here is the recipe:

Makes 24

INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk or low-fat yogurt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries, frozen for 4 hours

Frosting
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons (or more) whole milk

1 cup chilled fresh blueberries
Fresh mint sprigs (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. 

Sift flour and next 4 ingredients into large bowl. 

Whisk melted butter and oil in medium bowl.

Add eggs; whisk to blend. 

Whisk in buttermilk, milk, vanilla extract, and peel. 

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just to blend. 

Stir in frozen blueberries. 

Divide batter among liners.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. 

Transfer cupcakes to racks; cool.

Frosting
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. 

Add 4 teaspoons milk. 

Using electric mixer, beat until well blended and fluffy, adding more milk by teaspoonfuls if dry (small granules of maple sugar will still remain), about 4 minutes. 

Spread frosting over top of cupcakes.

Garnish cupcakes with chilled berries, and mint sprigs, if desired. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)