Smittened by Blueberry Muffins
The last few weeks our favorite blueberry vendor has been at the local farmer’s market. These sweet, plump, juicy nuggets have made their way into salads, breakfast yogurt with granola, or popped straight into my mouth like candy. My bounty of blueberries had me delving into the archives for blueberry recipes. Favorites like Blueberry Hand Pies, Blueberry Boy Bait Cake, Cornbread Cake with Blueberry Balsamic Glaze (delish), and Vivian Howard’s decadent Blueberry Cobbler with a Cornmeal-Sugar Cookie Crust will definitely make an appearance this summer.
This past Sunday was their last day for the season so I went crazy and bought a boatload of berries. I got home and thought, I have quite a few blueberry recipes but not one for blueberry muffins! What’s with that? As if reading my mind, what should pop up on Instagram? Smitten Kitchen’s Perfect Blueberry Muffins. Yep, perfect timing.
Berry Easy and Berry Delicious
Smitten Kitchen’s Blueberry muffins are quick, easy to make, and berry-licious. The recipe starts with melted butter, no creaming of butter and sugar. This is one-bowl baking territory. Add sugar, sour cream, egg, and lemon zest to the melted butter and whisk to combine. I also add a touch of vanilla extract to the wet ingredients. Cause that’s how I roll. Next, add baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the mixture, and stir to combine. Finally, fold in the flour and blueberries. Reserve some of the berries to stick on top of the batter after you have filled the muffin tin. The berries on top highlight the muffin, just a nice visual.
The batter is fairly stiff, like a soft dough. This helps keep the blueberries from sinking, genius. Sprinkle the muffin batter with raw sugar or the crumb topping before baking. The raw sugar topping adds some sweetness and a whole lot of crunchiness to the muffins while the crumb topping is sweet and buttery with a hint of cinnamon and a softer texture. My family is in the crumble camp, both add a nice finish to the muffins.
That’s how the muffin crumbles…
Blueberries are definitely freezer-friendly. Extra berries can be tossed into storage containers or Ziploc bags and stored in the freezer for approximately 10 months (this according to the National Blueberry Council, lol) Ahh blueberries in the off-season, life is good, berries any time of the year.
Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Dough
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 70 grams
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams
- Finely grated zest from 1/2 a lemon or orange would be good too
- 3/4 cup sour cream or full fat yogurt but Sour Cream is preferred
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 7 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 195 grams
- 1 1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost) SK recommends 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cup of berries. I think 1-1/4 cups is plenty. Reserve some berries to add to the top of the batter after filling the muffin tin.
- 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar in the raw sugar
Crumb topping:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar I like to do half and half
- 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter slightly melted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1 tablespoon chopped nuts optional
Instructions
For the Muffins:
- Heat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 9 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.
- Melt butter in the bottom of a large bowl and whisk in sugar, zest, sour cream or yogurt, and egg, until smooth and vanilla if using. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda and, salt until fully combined, then lightly fold in flour and berries. Batter will be very thick, like cookie dough.
- Divide between prepared muffin cups, press a couple of the reserved blueberries into the top of the batter, and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar, which will seem over-the-top but will be the perfect crunchy top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then the rest of the way on a rack.
For the Crumb Topping: (optional)
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Add cinnamon, if desired. Slowly drizzle the butter into the bowl while stirring the crumbs with a fork. I like to start with 1.5-2 Tablespoons and add more as needed until the crumbs form. Do not over-mix (you do not want this to become like a dough).
- Place in freezer while making muffins remove from freezer and break it up using Sprinkle across muffins, quick breads, or pie.