Very Blueberry Muffins Recipe
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Packed with berries and finished with a sprinkle of sugar for a crunchy, sweet top, these tender, moist blueberry muffins are perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
Game plan: The muffins will last up to 3 days when stored at room temperature in an airtight container.
This dish was featured as part of our Recipes for Summer Ingredients photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 teaspoons for sprinkling
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for coating the muffin pan if needed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Place cupcake liners in a 12-well muffin pan; alternatively, coat the wells with butter. Set the pan aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl to break up any lumps and aerate the mixture; set aside.
- Whisk together 3/4 cup of the sugar, the melted butter, cream, eggs, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Add this and the blueberries to the flour mixture and stir until just evenly mixed (a few lumps will remain), about 30 strokes. (Do not overmix; the batter should be thick, but the ingredients should be evenly incorporated.)
- Fill the muffin wells completely, and then evenly sprinkle the remaining 2 teaspoons sugar over top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and serve.
Lemon and blueberries are just fab together. I use my peeler or zester to remove an inch of lemon zest and grind the zest into the sugar, using my mini food processor. This sugar topping really escalates the muffin's flavor exponentially.
You can also grate the zest and mix it into the sugar manually, but using the processor means you capture ALL the essential oils, some of which remains on a grater. I believe using strips of peel is less bitter than grating, but that may just be my imagination. It's a subtle difference.
During the summer, I make cups of citrus flavored sugars -- lemon, of course, but also lime and orange -- and keep them in the fridge for iced tea and summer fruit bakes, like these muffins. Really great to encrust biscuits for cobblers and shortcake.
Ummm, lime biscuits for mango shortcake....
Hope this inspires someone.
Excellent recipe...my go-to blueberry muffin recipe. I use all the recipe ingredients listed but do not melt butter but instead first cream butter and sugar like for a traditional yellow cake then add eggs and vanilla...then alternate flour, liquid, and finally, flour.
made them the other day, excellent! make sure you use fresh blueberries
Could I keep the batter in the fridge and only bake what I need for each morning?
Made these last night to use up blueberries about to go bad. Great compliments and very good, quick and easy. It only made me 9 not a dozen.
looks tastey
cuccubear: Baked goods like this will be stale within three days. Quickbreads go stale faster than cakes that involve creaming together butter and sugar. Scones go stale even faster, within about 12 hours!
I made these this past weekend. Wanted to use up my expired (but definitely NOT spoiled) buttermilk so I doubled the recipe. Didn't have butter so I subbed a cup of oil instead and eyeballed the salt to about 1 tsp. Muffins came out cakey and flavorful! I even think they improved the next day! I'm keeping them in a large tupperware in the fridge, perfect for splitting open and popping in the toaster oven for a few minutes. Lemon or orange zest might find it's way into the next batch. Delicious.
FWIW, he's a recipe I picked at a blog somewhere and I find these close to perfection. Also valed a Very BBerry Muffin by name (again credit to the originator whoever you are), and these only include a Half Tsp of Salt, Give them a whirl next time and compare and report back !!!
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp oil
zest of one lemon
1 egg
¼ cup sour cream
½ cup blueberry juice or milk
1 cup blueberries (or a little more), fresh or frozen
¼ cup dried blueberries
1 tbsp sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, lemon zest and egg for 1 minute or until smooth. Stir in sour cream and blueberry juice. Gently stir in dry ingredients until almost fully combined. Add the blueberries and continue mixing until just combined. Spoon mixture into muffin tins, filling each one 2/3 full. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 20 to 23 minutes at 350, until tester comes out clean and the muffin springs back when lightly pressed. Makes 12.
These rocked!
I added in a little finely chopped meyer lemon rind as well and it gave it a nice lemony kick
WOW! These muffins were good. Based on the posted comments, I reduced the salt even more and only used 1 tsp (kosher) salt. The butter was salted. Also, because I didn't have any cream I used skim milk but the muffins were still rich tasting. I might even reduce the salt to 3/4 tsp. Finally, because I didn't read the recipe properly, I sprinkled a tsp of cinnamon sugar on top. Thanks for the recipe, this one is a keeper.
Hey all, thanks for the comments. We've lowered the salt amount from 2 teaspoons to 1 1/2 for a more crowd pleasing recipe as not everyone is into salty-sweet. Do keep in mind that we are using Diamond Crystal kosher salt which has a different volume than other kosher salt brands and is double the volume of table salt. Thanks for the suggestions!
Amy Wisniewski
CHOW kitchen editorial
Very good muffins. I used buttermilk instead of heavy cream. If you aren't into the salty/sweet combo, skip the majority of the Kosher salt. I'm a salt addict and I still noticed they were a bit salty.
Very easy recipe and when using fresh blueberries (vs. the tiny frozen wild kind) the muffins will be packed with berries.
I was excited to get this recipe in my e-mail. I had 3 cups of blueberries left in the freezer from last summer. I made a batch and a half to take to work and there were no complaints. Everyone thought I had picked the blueberries that morning. My advice, don't skip the sugar sprinkle on top, it balances the sweet/salty flavors. I have pregnant co-worker and she didn't say anything about the salt. Enjoy!
I think they sound great, but I’m curious... While I doubt there would be any muffins left after three days in my house, what happens to them after three days that they become no good? I figure that’s just an estimated shelf life, but baked goods like this last longer in my experience?
I sub'd blueberry lemon perserves for the fresh blueberries and cut back on the liquid. Delicious!
To clarify, the rhubarb mush was the leftover vegetable matter from sieving the rhubarb syrup.
I actually made these this morning. With a few changes. First I cut the salt by half. Also, I didn't have any heavy cream. I went searching for sour cream but we were, alas, out. But I did have a container of left over rhubarb mush left over from making the delicious Rhubarb Syrup for cocktails (also on this site). Anyway, I added about 1/4 of the rhubarb mush and about 1/4 cup of milk. The results? FANTASTIC!!!!
I'm going to have to remember the substitution again, cause these muffins turned out GREAT!! And the healthful + is an added bonus.
Don't use salted butter in stead of salt in baking. This adds far too much salt for sweet dishes. I expect you could get away with it in breadrolls or in savoury short-crust.
I made these last night at midnight. Super easy recipe with delicious results EXCEPT for the quantity of salt. I wish I'd read the reviews first, although I did already cut back the kosher salt to 1 1/4 tsp. instead of the requested 2. Still too salty. Thankfully not inedible, but I can't imagine how they'd be with the full 2 tsp. Fascinating how the responses are so varied -- 'goes to show how all of our tastes are so varied, too, I suppose.
I have made these muffins twice, following the recipe exactly both times, using the 2 tsp of salt (Diamond Kosher). They turned out perfectly both times for me. Nobody in my family complained that they were salty.
These turned out so delicious, but i'll use only 1 tsp Kosher Salt next time. I used 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt and they were still on the salty side. Fantastic recipe though and will now be a staple for my family. Thanks Aida!
If you use salted butter, then could you leave out the salt? I am in the UK? Is Kosher salt like sea salt? Here we can get delicious French Breton butter with sel de guerande in it. It is amazing. Might try the muffins with that.
made the recipe and it came out great! made a few changes - lessened the kosher salt to 1 1/4 tsp (like other people, was afraid of too much salt), changed the heavy cream to 8 oz container of plain yogurt (didn't have heavy cream and was afraid it might be too rich), and added some grated lemon rind.
Very nice recipe. I used one tsp. of regular salt (the idea of two gave me the heebie jeebies) and milk instead of cream (heresy I know but I didn't have any), and baked them in a muffin-top pan.
brendastarlet, I never would have thought of putting p/b on a blueberry muffin, but it was very, very good indeed.
I totally cheat and buy Hodgson Mills' whole wheat muffin mix. Before I add the blueberries, I toss them in a little bit of the muffin fix and some cinnamon. They're super easy, they're whole grain, and I just polished off two for breakfast (with peanut butter.)
this recipie is sweet yet salty i loved it
These are quite tasty but I'd still definitely cut back on the salt if I made them again. The first thing you taste when you chomp into these is the salt (yes, I used the requested 2 tsp. of kosher salt). I'd think regular table salt would make it even worse since the same volume would contain more salt.
essie, i've worked in professional kitchens for over five years, and went to pastry school before that. I've ALWAYS used kosher salt in my recipes.
Don't use kosher salt for baking the salt crystles are too big!
Use regular table salt
Use kosher salt for soups stews etc not baked goods.
Ick!! Essie
we use Diamond Kosher salt for all recipes -- savory and sweet -- in the test kitchen, fyi.
Question:
I used to have a great blueberry muffin recipe from the Loaves and Fishes Cookbook (store in Sagaponack NY). I moved and lost the cookbook. Does anyone have it? It made the most unbelievable muffins. I will try this recipe and see how it is.
amazing. amazing. amazing.
fresh blueberries are key.
i didn't have the salt problem others did. Aida, what brand of kosher did you use? does that matter?
I once worked in a place that used Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. We changed owners and he switched to another brand of Kosher salt and all of my sauces suddenly tasted like seawater using the same amounts. The difference was really astonishing.
I also found this recipe to be a bit salty. (I did use kosher salt.) Both of my room mates also said they thought they were a bit salty, but that they were good.
This is a fantastic recipe and I plan on substituting the blueberries with other fruit. Very moist and delicious!
I did use kosher salt. My sweetie said they tasted just fine. I'm going to blame it on my pregnancy tastebuds.
Hmmm..even the piece of cheddar cheese I had this morning tastes surprisingly salty. I think we found our culprit.
miss dottie: did you use table salt or kosher salt? we use diamond kosher salt here in the CHOW kitchen which is measure for measure less salty than table salt.
I made these muffins this weekend. And they were def. moist and yummy, but a tad too salty. I did hesitate a moment before putting in the second teaspoon of salt thinking that it seemed like a lot, and in the end I found it to be a lot, but I must add the caveat that I am pregnant, so that might have impacted my tastebuds a bit, which shouldn't too surprise.
But overall a good success!