Brenda's Incredible Blueberry Muffins

1 cup butter

1 - 1 1/4 cup sugar (I used 1 cup, some recipes for these muffins call for 1 1/4 cups)

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups blueberries*

sugar for top (I used "sugar in the raw")

*the extra 1/2 cup is optional, I didn't add them

Preheat oven to 375 F.

With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture alternately with milk and vanilla.

Optionally, mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries, and stir in by hand (this will turn batter a light shade of blue and add a touch of blueberry flavor, but this step may be skipped, if you wish). Gently stir in the remaining 2 cups blueberries (if using frozen blueberries, you may want to toss them with a bit of flour to avoid them sinking to the bottom of the muffins) by hand. Grease muffin tins well, including tops of pans. Pile mixture high in each cup. Sprinkle sugar on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.