#14: Blueberry Muffins

I LOVE breakfast foods. All kinds. Pancakes, cereal, scrambled eggs, french toast, waffles... so naturally, one of my goals was to find the perfect muffin recipe. As a kid, I was deathly afraid of blueberry muffins. One Sunday, following Sunday School, I stuffed my face with at least three muffins, which now doesn't seem like very much, let's be honest. It was a hot, sticky June morning, and I remember dripping with sweat when I decided to throw those muffins right back up (I'm sorry, completely inappropriate for a baking blog, but you guys had to know where I was coming from!). ANYWAYS, needless to say, I blamed the muffins for my upset stomach, just like I spent the last 16 years running from Lucky Charms (that's another story in and of itself). Starbucks is what helped me overcome my fear of blueberries. Probably about four summers ago now, our big promotion at the store was our blueberry teas and various muffins. In order to sell the product, I had to relearn to trust the berry... and luckily I did. So much so that blueberry muffins are now one of my favorite Saturday morning treats, and this recipe might be one of the best I've found.

#14: Blueberry Muffins (as found in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, go pick it up, it's wonderful... although the pistachio mocha wedding cake terrifies me)

My Muse

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a standard 12 cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside.

     - Call me crazy, but I went ahead and just used paper muffin liners in the pan, it has always worked for me!

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Working over the bowl, toss the blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and blueberries.

     - I loved this step. I never knew that tossing the blueberries with this mixture would help keep them from sinking to the bottoms of the muffins while they baked. Genius, and such a pretty step.

4. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in the vanilla.

5. Add the reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined; do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.

     - That milk was much needed. The batter was much more of a cookie consistency before I added the milk, so I was a little nervous that I had completely messed up the muffins. Again, this was a pretty step...

6. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. 

     - Before baking, I sprinkled a little sugar on top of them (it was a suggestion along the side of the recipe). SUCH A GOOD IDEA. It made the muffin tops sweet and crunchy... and the muffin themselves were warm and gooey... oh yum...

The only thing I'd change about these guys are the berries I used for the muffins. I LOVE my blueberries a little under-ripe and tart, but they didn't work as well in muffins. I guess I'll get the squishy ones for my next blueberry muffin rendezvous. Here are the finished muffins:

Sorry... picture wouldn't rotate, tee hee.