Without any birthdays or celebrations, I wasn’t sure what to make for this week’s recipe. As I thought about what I could eat that my family would appreciate, I realized that I’d always wanted to be like those families in the movies who always had warm baked goods for breakfast. A feast of croissants, muffins, and scones always fills the breakfast tables of typical cartoon families, and so I decided I’d do the same for my family.
Seeing as how making a buffet of breakfast pastries for my parents and siblings would be a bit excessive, I ended up finding a recipe for blueberry muffins. Not only are they healthy with fruits scattered inside, but for mornings where we’re cutting it close muffins are always a good on-the-go food. And, most importantly, blueberry muffins are pretty delicious!
Seeing as how this was my first time making blueberry muffins, or any muffins for that matter, of course I didn’t expect them to turn out perfect. Still, I honestly enjoyed them very much. Even though I was skeptical about the nutmeg, these turned out pretty well. Plus, they are easy to whip up, which is another bonus.
Although I am known for liking things on the bland side, I’ll admit these muffins had me wanting for more flavor. The blueberries gave the cake a nice juicy and sweet burst, but when I only put 2 cups as the recipe dictated I felt like the muffins were lacking. Because of this, I recommended adding another cup of blueberries to boost the flavor. Also, I think that next time I make these I may even add some crushed blueberries to the batter or some blueberry sauce to increase the fruity taste.
Still, if you are more partial to the cake part of muffins then you will adore this recipe. With just the perfect amount of sweet, the cake is fluffy without compromising the muffin texture. After all, when you are eating a muffin, you want a muffin. If the muffin is too fluffy, you might as well call it a cupcake.
For the raw sugar mentioned below, I always noticed that many pastries are coated with thicker sugar chunks but I never know they had a specific name. Called “Turbinado” sugar, apparently it can be found in most grocery stores, but seeing as how I didn’t have the time to run to the store I needed to find a substitute. While I was scrolling through the blogs comments, I noticed someone noted that he used the raw sugar from Starbucks because it was cheaper and pretty much the same thing. If you want to go buy the real sugar you can, but I opted for Starbucks raw sugar. If not, normal sugar should be fine. But definitely do add some sugar because it gives the muffins a crunchier texture.
All in all,I think these blueberry muffins earned my approval. Definitely try them because nothing beats a warm breakfast or afternoon snack. The best part about these muffins in my opinion is that they taste just as amazing right out of the oven as they did the next day. So prepare for early mornings with some blueberry deliciousness!
The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Heavy pinch of salt
- Dash of Nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 generous cup plain, unflavored yogurt
- 2-3 cups fresh blueberries
- Cap-ful? Vanilla Extract
- Softened Butter, for muffin tins (I used cupcake tins instead, so butter not needed)
- Raw Sugar or Pastry Sugar (“Turbinado” sugar)
- Preheat oven to 385 degrees.
- In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, cap-ful of vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10.
- Add blueberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and stir 3 times.
- Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining berries on top and press down lightly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top. (Brown sugar can be used instead.)
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.
Source:
Drummond, Ree. “The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins.”The Pioneer Woman. N.p., 27 2008. Web. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. <http://www.google.com/url?q=http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/08/dairy-contest-finalist-recipe-the-awesome-est-blueberry-muffins/&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGFHEmZnLmHqvQ9RwUnCRxA1HGChA>.
