Last month I discovered a wonderful public television show called America’s Test Kitchen (which I can’t believe I’ve never seen before!) It’s a great concept; three dozen cooks testing recipes until they understand everything there is to know about each dish, including why they work or don’t work, to finally arrive at the what they determine is the absolute best recipe. How’s that for a great concept?
Anyone that knows my hubby and me, understands our immense love of blueberries. So much love that two years ago, we started our first annual blueberry day. No exaggeration, everything we ate or drank had to have blueberries in it! Well I have found what’s going to be on next year’s menu. I am thrilled to share their, “Best Blueberry Muffin” recipe with you, and they really are! Swirled with a mix of blueberries and a jam that you’ll make gives you tons of berry flavor without weighing the muffin down (too many berries or berries only sink to the bottom). No soggy bottom blueberry muffins, ever again.
Ingredients makes 12 muffins
Lemon-Sugar Topping
- 1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon
Muffins
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
- 1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-teaspoon table salt
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk (If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
1. For the topping: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.
2. For the muffins: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1-cup blueberries and 1-teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. (This thick jam concentrates the blueberry flavor and eliminate excess moisture.)
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix.)
4. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
5. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.
