Weekly Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

A few weeks ago we visited a nearby farm for their annual Blueberry Festival.  We've gone a couple times in the past and Colin always looks forward to it so that he gets to pick his own blueberries!  The timing couldn't be more perfect because it's always the last Saturday in June, meaning it's always near his birthday.  He likes to think they're throwing him a special blueberry birthday party and who am I to doubt him?!

This year we came home with more berries than ever before because I was determined to do more than just eat them by the handful.  I wanted to bake, freeze, blend, and pop a few in my mouth along the way.  Well, unfortunately the heat had other plans and while we still got more than last year, we weren't able to get enough to freeze.  

We did get enough to bake with and even though I voted for a pie, muffins won out by a landslide 3-1 vote.  Luckily, I had discovered my new go-to blueberry muffin recipe back in May for my Mother's Day brunch, so I was set.  This is really the only blueberry muffin recipe you need.  It's versatile in that I swap out at least half of the all-purpose flour with 50/50 white-wheat blend, I don't use quite as much sugar as called for, and the blueberries can either be fresh or frozen.  The best part is that you can whip up the batter ahead of time and then just bake up fresh, hot muffins whenever you want!  There's nothing better than a piping hot baked good!

Blueberry Muffins

source:  King Arthur Flour

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
• coarse white sparkling sugar for garnish (optional)

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with papers, and grease the papers.

2) In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

3) In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand-held or stand mixer, until light, fluffy, and almost white in color. Start the mixer at low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, then gradually increase speed to medium-high until the desired color and texture are reached.

4) Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5) Add the vanilla and sour cream or yogurt, and mix until incorporated.

6) Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth. It will be thick.

7) Fold in the berries by hand.

8) Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, using a heaping 1/4-cup for each. Sprinkle with regular granulated or coarse white sugar, if desired.

9) Bake the muffins for 18 to 24 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack.

A few tips from King Arthur:

• If you're using frozen berries, mix them into the batter while still frozen. They'll turn the batter a streaky blue color. They'll also increase the baking time by as much as 5 minutes.
• Take the muffins out of the baking pan as soon as you can. Leaving hot muffins in the pan creates steam that will toughen the muffins as they sit.
• To make handling baked muffins easier, use a potholder to tilt the hot pan at a 45° angle. The muffins will tilt enough that you can lift them out of the cups easily. Place them on a rack to finish cooling.
• You can use any kind of fresh berry, dried fruit, diced peaches, bananas, or nectarines in this recipe. Canned blueberries are fine, but drain them well first and make sure you have 1 3/4 cups of berries.
• Substitute a flavored yogurt, like vanilla or strawberry, in place of the sour cream