Blue and White Muffins

This week we will be celebrating the 73rd birthday of the greatest state on earth. 

73 years ago on May 14, 1948 ה אייר תש״ח the state of Israel was established and in honor of this joyous day, a special muffin had to be created. 

The colors of Israel's flag are blue and white so it's only appropriate to make a blue and white muffin using blueberries. I also think blueberries are great to symbolize all that Israel has gone through in 73 years. Blueberries are a delicious mix of sweet and sour and that is what Israel's history is all about. There are a lot of difficult sour moments in the history of the Jewish homeland, but there are also beautiful sweet parts of our history. Both the sweet and sour make up our history and who we are as Israelis. 

A delicious blueberry muffin is great, but I needed to make it extra special to celebrate 73 years of a Jewish state. I thought about ingredients that work great in sweets that are also intrinsically Israeli. So I turned to two of my favorite ingredients. Two foods that I use practically every day, techina and silan. Techina is made from crushed sesame seeds and used in so many Israeli dishes, I drizzle it on pretty much everything. Silan is a sweet and sticky syrup made from dates something that grows in abundance here in Israel. Israel is known as the land flowing with milk and honey and that isn't referring to bee honey it's talking about silan, the honey of dates. Silan is a great cheaper alternative to honey or maple syrup just make sure that you are purchasing jars marked as 100% dates with no added sugar. 

Techina and silan work really well together, the nuttiness of the techina with the rich sweetness of the silan are a great combination. I mix the two together and drizzle over roasted vegetables for a delicious lunch, but for these muffins, I mixed them together with some flour to create a yummy crumb topping. 

Happy birthday Israel! You're looking really good for 73! 

Blue and White Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour 

1/2 tsp salt  

2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional, but highly recommended)

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 egg 

1/2 cup milk of your choice 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries tossed with 1 tablespoon of flour. If using frozen do not thaw them. 

Crumb Topping 

1 cup flour 

1/8 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup tahini 

3 Tbsp silan 

Preheat oven to 400º F/200°C 

Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and lemon zest until well combined.

In a liquid measuring cup or medium-size bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, milk, and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture along with the sugar  

Mix together until just combined, being sure not to overmix as this will result in a dense muffin.

In a small bowl toss the blueberries with 1 Tbs of flour. This will help them not sink to the bottom of the muffins during baking. 

Gently fold the flour-coated blueberries into the batter. 

In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients for the topping. Add the tahini and silan and mix with your fingers until you have large crumbs. 

Scoop the muffin batter into prepared tins and generously pack the crumb topping on top. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield: 12 standard-size muffins