TWD: Blueberry Muffins

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia

by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Rick Katz

This was a quick and easy recipe! I was able to bake these up and get in a couple of photos before my Saturday morning bike ride.

These muffins have a soft, light, airy texture, and a crisp flat top the day they are baked. These, like most baked goods are best they day of baking. I had one the next morning that was wrapped in plastic wrap and left on the counter overnight - the top no long crispy - my favorite part.
 
According to the recipe, you fill your cups 2/3 full. Being these are flat topped and not domed, I filled mine to the rim, hopping for a little more top - again, my favorite part. Doing this gave me a total of twelve muffins instead of eighteen the recipe states it will yield.

Cake flour is called for in these muffins to which I was short a quarter-cup-plus. I subbed in all-purpose flour with no problem. I also used non-fat milk (type was not specified in the recipe, but I'm sure it was full fat milk), and non-fat FAGE Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.  As suggested by another baker, I reduced the salt to one-half teaspoon, and I topped my muffins with some sliced almonds and demerara sugar.

The recipe instructs you to toss the blueberries in a few tablespoons of the mixed dry ingredients to help keep them suspended throughout the batter. This did not work for me. My blueberries still sank to the bottom.

You bake the muffins at 400°F for eighteen to twenty minutes - my muffins were browning rather quickly, so I dropped the temperature down to 375°F for the last ten minutes or so.

As far as blueberries muffins go, aside from the sunken berries - these were good. I could see myself making these again, if I did not have so many other recipes waiting for me.

Maybe I can pass these off as "Blue Bottom Cupcakes".

If you would like to see the outcome of these muffins from all the other talented bakers in our group, head over to the LYL: Blueberry Muffins link on the TWD website.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 18 muffins

1 ¾ cups cake flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tarter

1 tsp. salt (I used ½ tsp.)

1 pint fresh blueberries

¾ cup milk (I used non-fat)

¼ cup sour cream (I used non-fat Greek yogurt)

1 stick (4oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cups sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Butter or spray 18 muffin cups or line them with paper bake cups. (These muffins are best made in standard tins in which the cups are 2½ inches in diameter.) If you have 2 muffin tins with 12 cups, fill the 6 cups that will be empty in one of the tins with water – this will help the muffins bake evenly.

Sift the cake flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt together twice, and leave the sifted dry ingredients in the sifter or strainer; set it on a piece of waxed paper. Remove a tablespoon or two of the dry ingredients and toss with the blueberries. In a separate bowl, stir the milk and sour cream together and set aside until needed.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or work with a hand-held mixer), beat the butter on medium speed until white and pale, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture no longer feels grainy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the paddle and the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs and yolk and beat until the mixture is fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift half of the dry ingredients into the bowl. Add half of the milk and sour cream mixture and, using a large rubber spatula, delicately fold the ingredients together, stopping when barely combined. Add the remaining dry and liquid ingredients and fold in only until just mixed – don’t be concerned about getting everything evenly incorporated. Sprinkle over the blueberries and fold them in only to the just-mixed stage.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup at least two-thirds full (I filled my cups to the top and got 12 muffins), and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops, which will be flat, are golden and spring back when lightly pressed. Turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

The muffins will stay light and lovely for a day. If you are not going to serve them within a few hours of baking, pack them into a plastic bag; they’ll keep for 1 more day and will then be best sliced and toasted. For longer storage, wrap airtight and freeze for up to a month. Thaw, still wrapped, at room temperature.

Baking with Julia/Dorie Greenspan