I usually make these in the summer, when berries are plentiful and bursting with flavor. I gather the berries and put all the ingredients out the night before, and it takes but a few minutes to whip up the batter. Then there’s time to go for a swim and work up an appetite while the muffins bake. If you have family and guests around, just double the recipe. This more modest amount will give you a dozen mini-muffins, which I prefer, plus two regular-sized ones that I bake in small Pyrex cups. If you don’t eat them all, they freeze well.

Ingredients

　　1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

　　Good pinch of salt

　　1 large egg

　　1/2 cup milk or cream, or part milk and cream

　　2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

　　2 tablespoons melted butter, plus soft butter for greasing the muffin tins

　　1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

　　3/4 cup blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or gooseberries

　　Topping: 4 or 5 crushed sugar cubes, preferably cubes that have been stored with a vanilla bean (see page 224)

　　Toss the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Break the egg into a bowl, and beat in the milk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Don’t over-mix; a few lumps are welcome. Fold in the berries. (If you are using gooseberries, crush them slightly first, and roll them in at least 2 tablespoons more sugar, because they are very tart.) Butter a twelve-cup mini-muffin pan plus two Pyrex cups—or, if you prefer, eight cups of a standard muffin pan—and spoon in the batter. The mini-cups can be filled to the top; the regular cups should be three-quarters full. Bake in a preheated 400° oven. The minis should be done in 20 minutes; the regulars, 25 minutes. Sprinkle the crushed sugar on top. Eat warm with sweet butter.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.