Blueberry Muffins

It’s that time of year when I start getting anxious to get some fresh, local fruits and vegetables.  Unfortunately living up north, we still have a wait before we’ll see any of those.  Luckily, I still am working though my stash of frozen blueberries from last season.  Hopefully I can time it so I run out of them just as I am able to get some more. 

You almost can’t get any better than a fresh blueberry muffin.  These are topped with a simple mixture of lemon zest/sugar.  So fresh and delicious and full of blueberry flavor – you would never know they were frozen blueberries.   Enjoy!

Ingredients

Lemon-Sugar Topping

• 1/3 cup sugar
• finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins

• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 1/8 cups sugar plus 1 tsp.
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

3. 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 about 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Rinse remaining cup berries under cold water and dry well.

5. 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. Toss dried blueberries in flour mixture. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into blueberries and flour mixture until just moistened.

6. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. 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.

7. 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.

Source: Cooks Illustrated

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