Blueberry Muffins with Sugar Mace Topping

The farmer's market season official kicks of this weekend here along the South Shore with the opening day market for Hingham. Come June, more markets in the Plymouth and Bristol counties will be open for business. We're looking forward to this upcoming season and in celebration for the season, I decided to use up some of our last season blueberries to make room for more fresh, seasonal berries. The topping isn't a traditional sugar, crumb, or streusel. It's a mace topping, an ingredient that I usually use when making things with ginger to give it an extra bite! Enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients: 1 2/3 c flour, .5 c yellow cornmeal, 2 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp ground mace, .25 tsp sea salt, 2/3 c brown sugar (packed), 2 eggs, 1 c milk, 1/3 c butter (melted), 1 c blueberries, 2 TBSP granulated sugar, .25 tsp ground mace

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 400F and prep a 12-c or 6-c muffin pan with liners or cooking spray. (2) In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder and soda, mace and sea salt. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, milk, and butter until well blended. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Divide batter amongst prepared muffin cups evenly. (5) In a small bowl, mix sugar and mace and sprinkle over muffin tops. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*Sometimes when huckleberries are in season, I'll substitute huckleberries for the blueberries. They are a little smaller and less sweet than the blueberries. Also, wild blueberries also work.
*I always use unsalted butter and let the eggs come to room temperature before using them in any recipe.
*If you are feeling really indulgent, you can make a maple butter to spread on the muffins. Use .5 c of unsalted butter at room temperature and 3 TBSP of pure maple syrup. Cream the butter and syrup together until combined.