HSWM ISO your best blueberry muffin recipe

Cafe Society
1

A friend gave me some blueberries a couple of days ago, and I’d like to make muffins out of them. I’m a good cook, but I haven’t done much baking, so I’m setting up this All Dope Blueberry Muffin Cage Match to pick a recipe. Many will enter; only one will leave. Or, rather, enter, actually, i.e. my oven. Anyway.

I have the Cook’s Illustrated Best Recipe book; here’s their take on it:

  • Preheat oven to 375F.
  • Whisk together 3 cups AP flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt.
  • Cream 10 tbsp unsalted room-temp (soft) butter with 1 cup minus 1 tsp granulated sugar.
  • Add 1 tsp lemon zest to creamed butter, beat thoroughly.
  • Add 1 egg to creamed butter, beat thoroughly. Repeat with 2nd egg.
  • Add half of dry ingredients, beat thoroughly.
  • Beat in 1/3 of the yogurt.
  • Beat in half of remaining dry.
  • Beat in 1/3 of the yogurt.
  • Beat in remaining dry.
  • Beat in remaining yogurt.
  • Dust 1 1/2 cups blueberries with 1 tbsp flour, fold into batter.
  • Butter muffin tins, pour in batter, bake for 25-30 minutes.

Looks pretty good. Yogurt instead of buttermilk is interesting. On that point, I note that Alton Brown also uses yogurt, but that instead of butter and the creaming method, he uses oil.

Me, I like a tangy muffin, so I may use 1 cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup buttermilk. I’ve also enjoyed muffins that are baked with a little dollop of sweet cream cheese right on top, but I don’t know if there’s a trick to it.

What say y’all? Who’s got a kickass muffin recipe they want to share?

2

I should have specified, this was 1.5 cups plain lowfat yogurt to begin with.

3

No recipe, but buy some of this and add a half teaspoon to your batter. Terrific in blueberry pancakes, too.

4

Here’s the one I like to make:

Blueberry Oat Muffins

1 c Quick oats
1 tb Lemon juice to sour milk
1 c Milk, less 1 tbsp
1 c Flour
1 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Salt
3/4 c Brown sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c Melted margarine
1 c Blueberries or cranberries*

Instructions

* Frozen berries mixed in without thawing.

  1. Add milk to lemon juice in 4 cup measure. Let stand, combine oats.

  2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar in mixing bowl, stir well.

  3. Add egg and melted butter to oat mixture. Mix well.

  4. Add oat mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just until all ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in blueberries.

  5. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400F for 20 min or until top springs back and is lightly browned.

5

Sorry to interrupt, but what does “HSWM ISO” mean?

6

Here’s the recipe I use. I substitute plain non-fat yogurt for the sour cream, and use lowfat milk. I also add about a tsp of grated orange rind.

The same recipe works well for strawberry muffins. Instead of the orange rind, I add 1/2 - 1 tsp almond flavoring along with the vanilla.

I also tend to be more generous with the fruit — more like 2 cups instead of 1 1/2.

7

Cervaise, I use a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I think may be more recent (and simpler). It’s from the October 2001 issue of the magazine. I make these a few times a year – just made some last week. They’re not a really dense muffin, but very good.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1-1/4 cups sour cream
1-1/2 cups frozen blueberries, preferably wild

(I find the wild blueberries better for this since they are smaller than the large ones you normally find in the produce section.)

  • pre-heat oven to 350
  • whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl
  • whisk egg in second bowl until light colored, about 20 seconds
  • add sugar and whisk until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds
  • add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine
  • add sour cream in 2 steps, whisking to combine
  • add frozen blueberries to dry ingredients and gently toss
  • add sour cream mixture and fold (gently) until batter comes together, 25-30 seconds (don’t overmix)
  • fill greased muffin tin about 3/4 full
  • bake 25-30 minutes

Makes 12. I usually do a double size batch.

8

Hungry Single White Male?

9

Close. Hungry Sorta-White Male. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the feedback, y’all. I like seeing the different approaches; my kitchen technique is to peruse a variety of recipes and mix-n-match as I go. Like I said, I’m less experienced with baking, which seems more finicky than cooking to me, so the information is useful.

Oh, and Chefguy’s baking spice looks neat. I’ll have to pick some up.

10

Whole wheat blueberry muffins.

250ml wholewheat flour
250ml unbleached white flour
125ml brown sugar
15ml baking powder
2ml salt
2ml cinnamon
125ml melted butter or margarine
125ml milk
2 eggs
2ml vanilla extract
500ml Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Oven 425F/220C 20 minutes. Makes a dozen

Grease and flour muffin tins.

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately and combine at end mixing just until moist. Add blueberries.

If using frozen blueberries, leave frozen and toss with a couple tablespoons flour before adding to mix.

You can vary the amount of whole wheat flour to white flour. I’ve made all whole wheat and all white flour ones. I prefer the 50/50 mix myself. These are easily the best blueberry muffins ever.

11

Dont overmix it otherwise it will turn out chewy. Just mix it until it barely comes together. It’s okay if there are lumps in there, the lumps will cook out.