Mint Red, White, & Blue-Berry Muffins

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 12 muffin/ cupcake liners
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence, (If you want to mess with half a vanilla bean, be my guest)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, washed, picked over, and drained well (I used 1 c. large blueberries & 1/2 c. small blueberries
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves, lightly packed, see directions below
• white cream cheese (Philly is patriotic, I guess)
• red jelly (hopefully) homemade

1. Prepare muffin tin. Paper muffin/ cupcake liners are recommended for this muffin. Butter the inside of liners for easy removal of muffins. rnHeat oven to 425u0b0F. (210u0b0C)
2. Combine flour, wheat germ, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar, mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a whisk, then add the melted butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
4. Mix blueberries and mint. Add both to the dry ingredients and stir in gently. Take care that the mint leaves don't clump together.
5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until all is moistened.
6. Spoon into full-size muffin pan. (Each muffin was about 85% full) rnBake for 15 to 18 minutes. (my gas convection oven took 13 minutes, hard to check with a toothpick because so many blueberries)
7. You can serve them hot but we liked the muffins cold which made the mint stand-out. Serve with white cream cheese and red jelly.
8. MINT NOTES: Pick mint before the flower buds begin to form. Throw away any leaves with blemishes. Mint will quickly develop blemishes from hitting, cutting, bruising in exactly the same way that basil or shiso leaves will, so prepare a bowl of cold water. Begin pulling mint leaves off, the little one go directly into the water. The medium sized leaves are ripped in half, and the largest leaves just rip into thirds. Quickly put into the cold water. Don't use any stems. (You can cut with a knife but it seemed to take more time, switching from pulling off stems, then washing to cutting. Use a stainless steel or ceramic knife) rnPut mint in the measuring cup, and if it's not enough, return the prepared mint back to the cold water bowl, then continue ripping more mint. Lightly pack the leaves. Drain right before mixing into the batter (Salad spinner works great).

butter, liners, flour, germ, ground flax, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, eggs, plain yogurt, butter, vanilla, fresh blueberries, mint, white cream cheese, red jelly

Taken from food52.com/recipes/18164-mint-red-white-blue-berry-muffins (may not work)