double blueberry muffins


(Kris, this is for you!)

King Arthur Flour calls these Classic Blueberry Muffins, but I call them Double Blueberry Muffins. They are delicious, I tell ya! These have become my favorite muffin this season, and the blueberries have been great this year. The muffins are light, with a really tender crumb, bursting with blueberries, and with a great crunch from the sugar on the top. The addition of dried blueberries (mostly an accident, since I had them on hand and was short on the 2 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries required) was a really nice touch. I also love how KAF tells you to mash up some of the blueberries and leave the rest whole. I'm not sure what it accomplishes, as I've never discerned a mashed versus a whole blueberry, but surprisingly, the batter does not turn purple.

I've made these as regular-sized and mini muffins, and although I prefer the size and calorie count of minis, the amount of blueberries overwhelms the size of the mini-muffin cup. So I'd either decrease the blueberries by about 1/4 to 1/3, use a bigger proportion of dried blueberries, or just go for the full-sized ones.

Double Blueberry Muffins
1 stick unsalted butter (or margarine, but I've never tried it)
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) flour
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups fresh or dried blueberries (or a combination)
demerara sugar (for topping)

Preheat the oven. The recipe calls for 375F, but I usually do 350F. In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt until light. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition, and reserving about 1 tablespoon of flour. Mash 1/2 cup of the fresh blueberries and add them to the batter. Toss the rest of the blueberries with the reserved flour (so they don't all sink.) Stir in the vanilla and the remaining blueberries.

I use a large cookie scoop to scoop muffin batter. It's a perfect texture for it and helps you get fairly evenly sized muffins. Fill the cups to the top so they'll crown up nicely. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. You can also press lightly on a muffin, and if your finger leaves an indentation, it's not done. The muffin should spring back.

Remove the muffins from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan onto a cooling rack. (Otherwise they will continue to cook in the pan which is not good.) They are best fresh - so they're a perfect early morning treat - but they're just fine the next morning as well. If I make them the night before, I put them in a tupperware but don't seal the lid - that way, the sugarand the top both stay crunchy. I betcha you could also make the batter the night before and pop these in the oven in the morning - muffins in 30 minutes!- but I wouldn't swear by it, so give it a try and let me know!

This is what happens when you let your 5-year-old near one. Obviously, hers is the one on the right.

Comments

Kris said…
Thanks for the post Jami! I love reading your blog, but I am always so hungry after! Needless, to say, I am eating chicken for lunch, but wish I was eating your blueberry muffins! Do I see a cookbook in your near future? xoxo