Double Blueberry Muffins
I’m trying to steer TSM away from his normal breakfast of a cup of coffee and cereal bars claiming to have all sorts of nutritious grains, but they’re really just High Fructose Corn Syrup, preservative, artificial colors, flavors and GMO delivery systems. Thankfully, he likes scones, which we’ve made plenty of lately so I thought I’d try my hand at making homemade muffins. Turns out, these homemade muffins are easy and fabulous!
Yes, I *do* have a from scratch recipe for muffins from culinary school, but it’s one of those overly heavy, super dense, almost gummy types of mammoth muffins, and that’s not happy food in my opinion. I like my muffins to be somewhat light and fluffy and moist. Let me guess…you HATE the word moist. Well, I’m sorry, but telling you these muffins are juicy or wet or un-dry just doesn’t work and my thesaurus isn’t very helpful either. The fact is these muffins are moist, without being overly dense and they’re certainly not gummy! They’re double blueberry muffins and they are splendid.
I scored a bag of organic wild blueberries from Trader Joe’s as well as a bag of dried organic wild blueberries to use in homemade scones. I had more than enough left over after using them in other recipes and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the remaining berries when suddenly a light bulb went on over my head and I said to myself “Shaniqua, gurlll, you IS brilliant!”… and the idea to add some of the dried blueberries as well as the frozen ones to the batter was born. Wham! Double Blueberry Muffins!
I can neither confirm nor deny if the sky parted and Angels started singing, so you’re just going to have to agree with my alter ego, Shaniqua, and understand that adding two types of blueberries to this muffin makes them extra yummy, and extra happy. Who doesn’t need a little more happy and yummy in their lives? I know I do.
This recipe is a fantastic base recipe for any type of muffin you could dream up. After reading roughly 2,000 reviews on a muffin recipe online, I took notes on all the tips offered and played around with the recipe and am pleased with the final result. I didn’t top the muffins with anything even though the original recipe calls for a sugar and butter streusel because this muffin doesn’t need it. The batter had great flavor so why mess with greatness? If you like having a little sumpin’-sumpin’ on your muffins, add a little sanding sugar or sugar in the raw crystals to the top of each muffin before they go into the oven. Simple, but it will look pretty and won’t detract from the taste of the muffin.
Remember, we’re baking so have all your ingredients room temperature. Place your egg (still in the shell) in a container with warm water for a few minutes, and warm your milk/buttermilk to about 68 degrees before using it in the recipe.
These are WAY better than any store bought muffin or store bought muffin mix!! You will probably want to double the batch and keep half in the freezer for another day. They’re that delicious!
- 1-1/2 cups organic unbleached All Purpose flour, sifted. (measure then sift)
- 3/4 Cup + 2 TB organic cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. organic baking powder
- 1/3 cup organic sunflower oil (You can also use melted Butter OR Leaf lard)
- 1 large organic egg- well beaten
- 2 TB organic sour cream
- Approx 1/3 cup organic milk (or buttermilk) See step #2 below*
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3/4 tsp. organic lemon juice or 1/8 tsp lemon extract
- 1 cup frozen Organic Wild Blueberries (these are the small/tiny blueberries)-rinsed well so you don't turn your muffins blue. If you buy large berries, only use 3/4 cup of fresh berries
- 1/2 cup dried organic Wild Blueberries
- 1/4 cup Sanding Sugar- Optional
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. If you're using a muffin tin with wells larger than the standard muffin size, grease or line 8 wells and add 1-2 TB water to the empty wells.
- Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. *In a 2-cup measuring cup add the oil, beaten egg and enough milk to equal 1 cup of liquid. Add the vanilla, lemon juice or lemon extract, and 2 TB of sour cream to the milk mixture.
- Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until just combined.
- Gently fold in the frozen and dried blueberries.
- Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and sprinkle with a thin layer of sanding sugar if desired.
- Bake for 15-25 minutes depending on muffin size, rotating halfway through baking. Muffins are done when a toothpick stuck in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from your muffin tin.
- If you'd like to add some brightness to these blueberry muffins add a tsp. of lemon zest to the batter.
- Substitute dried strawberries for the blueberries. I would cut them into a small pieces and use about 1-1/2 cups. Slightly soften them in hot water for a few minutes before folding them into the batter.
- Add some toasted walnuts if you'd like. If you use fresh strawberries, cut them into small pieces and let them rest on some paper towels for 30 minutes to remove some of the excess moisture and dust them in flour before folding them into the batter.
- Dried or fresh peaches, or raspberries with almonds and a little bit of almond extract vs. the vanilla extract would be very yummy. Heck, add some cranberries and orange extract and orange zest to the batter for Cranberry Orange muffins.
- Whatever you decide, this muffin recipe is a great go to base recipe that you'll be glad you have in your recipe box!
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6 Comments
Ruth
Are we supposed to put the vanilla and lemon juice into the muffin batter or do we save it for an icing? Maybe with the sanded sugar?
Kristine Cocchiarella
Hi Ruth,
I’m so sorry that I omitted that step from the recipe. I checked my original draft and it’s written there, but some how didn’t end up here. I apologize. I’ve updated the recipe for you. 🙂
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Kacey Cocchiarella
Peaches, I just saw this reply! I don’t have an issue with the word moist when it pertains to food, but many people are grossed out by it.
I agree- I like my muffins unadulterated by glazes and toppings.
I love you back my dear friend. 🙂 Thank you!
Peaches
Sounds uber yummy!!
1) I’ve never had a problem with the word ‘moist’ and don’t understand why anyone would.
2) I also don’t understand the need for glaze or sugar topping on muffins. Cake, yes. Doughnuts, yes. Muffins? What’s the point?
3) I love you. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
In the finished product, can you tell the difference between the formerly dried and formerly frozen blueberries? I love both, so am excited about this recipe, but just curious.