Sometimes you just have a craving. And suddenly that craving coincides with a new recipe you've just discovered. And, even better, that recipe coincides with ingredients on hand. And that's how these blueberry muffins came to be.
It was late Monday night and I was catching up on my DVRed cooking shows (of which there are too many!). One of my favorites is America's Test Kitchen, simply because they THOROUGHLY test each recipe within an inch of its life. And there it was - the world's most beautiful blueberry muffin. Jeff and I both agreed it was the most wondrous thing we had seen in ages.
I started to calculate in my head - yes, I have frozen blueberries. Yes, I have milk and yogurt. Yes, I have butter. Yes, I have lemon. Oh the delight to realize that I could make these muffins and not make a special trip to the store!
Here they are, in all their glory.
Great recipe. Easy on the eyes and tastebuds. And yes, making a quick blueberry jam does make all the difference!
From America's Test Kitchen
Best Blueberry Muffins with Frozen Blueberries
from the Episode: Best Weekend Breakfast
If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk
or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk. Our favorite brands of
frozen blueberries are Wyman's and Cascadian Farm.
Makes 12 muffins
Lemon-Sugar Topping | |
| 1/3 | cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces) |
| 1 1/2 | teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon |
Muffins | |
| 2 | cups frozen blueberries |
| 1 1/8 | cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon |
| 2 1/2 | cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces) |
| 2 1/2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 1 | teaspoon table salt |
| 2 | large eggs |
| 4 | tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (1/2 stick) |
| 1/4 | cup vegetable oil |
| 1 | cup buttermilk (see note) |
| 1 1/2 | teaspoons vanilla extract |
1. FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.
2. FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ΒΌ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Rinse remaining cup berries under cold water and dry well. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Toss dried blueberries in flour mixture. Then, using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into blueberries and flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
4. Following photos below, use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
5. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.
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