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.

Book 104: Luscious Berry Desserts

by: Lori Longbotham

This recipe calls for tiny, wild blueberries - even suggests using the intensely flavored dried blueberries if you don't have access to the wild ones. The dried blueberries I have purchased in the past, were indeed intense in flavor - almost too much - not to mention they have added corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and sucrose. I prefer my dried fruit to be just that - fruit. Dried.

Well I had just purchased three quarts (last of the season) of fresh (not wild) blueberries from the farmer's market. Being they are larger than the wild berries, I used less than the three cups called for in the recipe. I did not measure, just eye-balled it, so I can't give you the amount I used.

The batter alone had the most heavenly scent from the lime zest and fresh thyme. I purposely did not wipe the bowl clean with the spatula as I normally do. I wanted to make sure there was a little (OK, a fair amount) left in the bowl for a wee little taste. Yum. This was going to be good.

My plan was to make, bake, and take this cake to my sister for her to bring into work the next day. Unfortunately, the cake stuck in the pan. This cake wasn't going to be going anywhere other than the trash. I don't know why it stuck like it did. I buttered and floured the pan as instructed. The same pan turned out this beautiful cake just a short time ago.

Even though I knew that I would be tossing it, I still went ahead and brushed the lime juice mixture over the cake, until it started to basically disintegrate, so I stopped. I was hoping for at least one slice of cake for a photo-op and taste test.

Without the lime juice mixture, the cake is very dry. You would not want to skimp on adding it - all of it. I grabbed a good chunk of this pitiful cake and dipped it in the juice for a taste. I do think this would have been a decent cake had it turned out for me.

 amazon

 Thyme infused milk.

 The aroma and flavor of the batter was delightful.

 Can't wait..

 Excitement ensues..

Oh man..

The majority of the berries sunk to the bottom of the pan - which in turn is the top of the cake once unmolded. Doesn't look half bad from this angle - believe me, it was pretty sad looking.

 Yeah, not so pretty..

I almost did not post on this recipe. I thought who would want to read about a failure? Then I thought why not? I believe we should all share our fortunes, as well as our misfortunes. Because we all know that not everything works out like we hope it will. And for me, I like to see that others have issues besides myself; there are others (even the pros), aren't there?