The World's Best Fresh Blueberry Muffins

My baby (6'1") turned 14 today. When I asked what kind of cake he wanted, he asked for blueberry muffins. Since it was for his bd, I wanted to make something extra special.

I found this recipe on The Bitten Word. I've made dozens of blueberry muffins over the past 30 years. Same old , same old .

These are different. Here's what sets them apart: Home-made blueberry "jam" on top of the muffin. Seriously yummy. Top that with sugar and a heavy dose of fresh lemon zest. Fit for a birthday treat.

Happy bday Jake. Love, your Mother.

The World's Best Fresh Blueberry Muffins

Cooks Illustrated

printable recipe

Yield: 12 muffins

Lemon-Sugar Topping

1/3 cup sugar
2-3 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins

2 cups (about 10 ounces) fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups (12½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk *
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

*If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.

FOR TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

FOR 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 ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until combined, 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.)

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 small spoon, gently swirl berry filling into batter. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

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.

Tips:

-I just mixed all of the dry ingredients in a bowl, then mixed the wet ingredients together, and folded the dry into the wet ingredients. Then folded in the blueberries.

-I was concerned that the mixture would overflow, but they baked up perfectly.

-Best when eaten warm or with in 12 hours of baking.

-This recipe makes 12 large beautifully shaped muffins.

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