'Best of two worlds' Blueberry Muffins with Orange Topping

This is my first recipe this year and I really hope you enjoy it as much as we did. In past posts I have expressed my family's love for blueberries, whether fresh or in baked goods (like in a bread, muffin , pie) or in pancakes or as jelly.

You might be curious as to why these muffins are termed "best of two worlds" ...right? Here is the answer. A couple of months ago I read a baking related article in which an enterprising young baker performed some experiments using different kinds of fats like oil, butter, shortening and margarine on her cake recipe to compare the outcomes. Her results proved that oil-based cakes were really moist and butter-based cakes tasted great. Who doesnt like the taste of butter right???? But when we start counting those buttery calories it does sometimes make us shy away from these delectable goodies. 
So I thought to myself, why not just shave some of those calories off by utilizing a little bit of both oil and butter, thereby utilizing the "best of both worlds". I topped it with a zesty orange topping with made it taste even better. After a few trials, here is the outcome that I think worked, being both moist and tasty and surely worth trying.

Yields : 12 Muffins
Ingredients
2 Cups - All purpose flour
3/4 Teaspoon - Salt
1 Tablespoon- Baking powder
1 Cup- Sugar
3 Tablespoon- Butter, at room temperature
1/4 Cup - Oil
3 - Eggs
1/2 Cup - Milk
1 Teaspoon - Vanilla
2 Cups - Blueberry

Orange Topping
3 Teaspoon - Orange zest
3 Tablespoon - Whole Oats
1 Tablespoon -Sugar
1 Tablespoon - Flour

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Place liners in muffin pan
• Sift salt, flour and baking powder and keep it aside
• Beat the sugar, butter and oil together.
• Add egg one at a time and beat until the mixture is incorporated.
• Mix in the milk and vanilla.
• Now add the dry ingredients(in 3 batches ) to the wet and whisk
• Fold in the blueberries
• Scoop the batter into the muffin tray
• Mix all the ingredients mentioned under orange topping and sprinkle this over the muffins
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean

Notes and Tips

• Please note that this recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of baking powder and not 1 teaspoon.
• Sift the flour before you add it to the batter. Sifting incorporates air to the flour and makes your baked good more fluffy, so don't skip this step.
• Lemon zest will also work as a great topping.