The Hippocratic Cupcake

I’m a huge muffin fan–especially blueberry ones. I know they’re not the healthiest of breakfast foods and that they’re really a cousin of cake, but really, I just love them. I blame my mom. We always had a supply of huge, buttery bakery muffins. To her credit, we would only eat a quarter at a time and sometimes she would make me eat the bran kind as well. Gross! Really though, there hasn’t been a muffin that I didn’t like.

I’ve tried numerous blueberry muffin recipes. My favorite stand by has always been this one from King Arthur’s Flour. I especially liked this recipe because you could save the batter for a week and bake them up one at a time. I’m always open to trying new recipes–especially muffins–as they’re so easy to make any time of year and I obviously like them so much. Some recipes use a sugar topping, others have a full on crumble topping, others try and make a healthier muffin. Through my trials, I’ve discovered that sour cream or yogurt is a must. It really imparts a nice crumb and gives the muffin a nice moistness without feeling heavy and buttery. This recipe uses sour cream, but I think what puts it over the top is the lemon zest. I was surprised when first reading through it that there was no vanilla. Well after making them once, I was convinced that the zest more than makes up for the vanilla. It make the muffin so bright and the flavor is amazing.

I know people claim that something or the other is the best, but these really are. I definitely have made a lot of muffins and even Rabi agreed that these were the best as he scarfed two of them down, still slightly warm from the oven. If you’re a muffin lover like me, you will completely appreciate these. Smitten Kitchen halved the recipe, which yields about 10. For some reason, I always get 11, but it I would recommend staying with the half recipe and having fresher muffins on your hand. I’ve only made these with fresh blueberries, but I’m sure frozen would be fine as well. Don’t defrost the berries, but do add a couple extra minutes to the baking time. Give these a try and see if they change your life. I’ve been making them on exam weekends and bringing them to the library. Nothing picks you up after staring at immunology for 4 hours like a yummy, bright muffin. See if they work for you!

Blueberry Muffins from smitten kitchen, who adapted it from Cook’s Illustrated

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375°F. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the sour cream and yogurt and the zest. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Alternately, you can combine them in a sifter. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined then add the second half. The dough will be pretty thick. Fold in the blueberries. Line a muffin pan with liners, or spray the tin. Fill each cup about 3/4  full. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Try not to eat them right when they come out of the oven–they are pretty hot!

Thursday, October 28th, 2010, 12:00 pm   |   Blueberries, Muffins  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback