Friday, August 12, 2011

Berry Muffins



The very first recipe we made in our high school home economics class was one for blueberry muffins. In an effort to illustrate how much better homemade muffins are than the ones made from a mix, our teacher had us do a side-by-side comparison. Unfortunately, we forgot to add the sugar to our homemade muffins. The boxed muffins won the vote by a landslide. Many years later, I finally got it....homemade muffins really are better!



A huge container of raspberries from Costco got me started on a muffin kick this week....

Last Saturday we made a visit to Costco and, while I much prefer the fresh fruit at all of the market stands we see here in the summer, I couldn't resist picking up some Costco fruit. Into the basket I tossed a big container of raspberries.

Have you ever noticed that when you find yourself picking up a seemingly great deal on fruit (only $3.99 for that big package), the fruit practically rots by the time you get it home? OK--so I exaggerated just a bit, but I swear those raspberries started going bad by day 2. I had to make something with them pronto. Muffins were the logical choice.... 





A little sugar on the top makes a nice sweet crunch.


I haven't made muffins for a while, so I did my Internet search for a good recipe and came up with one from Real Simple. Since I didn't vary any of the ingredients, and the recipe turned out to be very good, I'll just go ahead a post a link: Sugar-Crusted Raspberry Muffins.

It didn't take long to make these beauties...45 minutes max. They were still a little warm when I loaded them in a container and brought them over to my daughter's apartment. Why I didn't save a few is still a mystery to me.

With my muffin craving still intact, I decided that this time I wanted to make a classic blueberry muffin. Mindful of the disastrous blueberry muffin debacle of my youth, I was on a quest to find the perfect recipe. In the end, I made my own.

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins 

2 cups flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
6 oz lemon flavored Greek yogurt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.; line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, whisk 1 3/4 cups of the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar together; set aside.

3. In a separate small bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining 1/4 cup flour.

4. Add the milk, the egg and the yogurt to a large, microwave safe measuring cup. Use a fork to blend the mixture. Microwave for about 30 seconds, or just until the mixture is at room temperature; stir in the butter.
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir with a rubber spatula until just blended. Fold in the blueberries.


These 6 oz. cups of Greek yogurt gave my muffins a little lemon taste.

5. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack.


I'm forever battling to find enough light for pictures. I ran these outside to catch the last rays. 



The lemon yogurt adds just a nice taste of lemon. If you prefer more lemon, simply make a little glaze for the muffin tops with lemon juice and powdered sugar. You can omit the granulated sugar on top if you sub the glaze.



8 comments:

  1. the lemon is KEY! the cook's illlustrated recipe i use has lemon in it. i like the idea of using the yogurt to get the lemon in there.

    i like your new bkgr color. think you need a wider header. i'll try to get you a new one soon.

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  2. Those look delicious! I love lemon and blueberry! I bet that the yogurt kept these really moist

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  3. I love the look of these muffins! Why do I normally only think the only muffin is chocolate?!

    I have tagged you in my blog: http://live-love-laugh-and-eat.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-7-links.html
    I hope you join in!
    Vanessa

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  4. What glorious muffins. I love how FULL of berries both varieties are.

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  5. I am kind of in love with Chobani yogurt--going broke buying the stuff. I need to make raspberry muffins (we scored our own batch at Costco). These look wonderful

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  6. I have noticed that the fruit from Costco often rots before it ripens....irritates me to no end! Your muffins look wonderful. And Greek Yogurt kicks butt!!!

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  7. Delicious muffins, very nice, I like berries and more blueberries, hugs.

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  8. This is a delicious combination. The external sugar makes it so pretty.

    I hope you will link this to Bake with Bizzy.
    http://bizzybakesb.blogspot.com/2011/08/bake-with-bizzy_17.html

    ReplyDelete