There are probably as many blueberry muffin recipes as there are….. people in this world to eat them! Everyone has their favorite, except me. That was until recently when I stumbled across a recipe for basic blueberry muffins in the King Arthur Flour baking cookbook.
Muffins have always been a challenge for me. Whenever I attempted them I would feel my heart start quickening, my palms would start sweating and I felt generally nervous. Odd I know, a simple little muffin, probably the first recipe taught in any junior high school home economics class. Maybe it was because my teacher, the one that first introduced me to the world of muffins made such a point about how the ingredients were mixed. The dry ingredients waiting in a bowl for “THE WELL”, that little hole that was dug out in the flour mixture to pour the wet ingredients into. Then there was the mixing, too much tough muffin, too little, flour chunks…..ugggg.
So over the years my muffins never turned out. Sometimes they were flat, other times they would rise up and over the tin. Seriously, it was some kind of war between me and the mix. No matter how I tried to prepare myself for the mix I never got it right, too much, too little.
So when I happened upon this recipe something caught my eye. It was a muffin revelation. Not once was I warned about over mixing. In fact the recipe called for mixing, serious mix master mixing! I was in love! Finally a muffin that I could beat the hell out of and it would still be edible. This muffin is more than just edible, it is the best tasting blueberry muffin I have ever had. Sometimes I mix raspberries in instead, or cherries, chunks of bananas and chopped up walnuts. No matter what I do to it the muffins ALWAYS turn out perfectly.
(hint: I have found that if I freeze the berries for a short time I can mix them into the batter without squishing them. Works great!!)
Classic Blueberry Muffins
8 T. Butter (1 stick)
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 large eggs
2t. baking powder
2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (I always use King Arthur)
1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. fresh blueberries (or frozen)
2 t. sugar for topping (optional)
Preheat oven to 375′F. Lightly grease or line with paper muffin cups a 12 muffin pan.
In a medium mixing bowl cream together until light the butter, sugar and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, beating (oh yea) well after each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, beating well after (oh yea yea) after each addition. Add the frozen blueberries to the batter then the vanilla.
Mound the batter into the muffin tim, filling each completely (even over the top the batter is so thick). Sprinkle with sugar if you would like and bake the muffins in the oven for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove muffins from pan.
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