It’s blueberry season here in the Pacific Northwest, and we are big fans of all the local u-pick farms. Needless to say, we are fully stocked on blueberries.
While a lot of them just get eaten right of the branch, we also froze a lot for winter, and are baking up a storm as well. After trying many different recipes, and lots of tweaking, I think I finally found my favorite iteration of the basic blueberry muffin.
The recipe is pretty simple, but I did change it up a little by browning the butter before adding it to the batter. You don’t need to (and the amount remains the same in the recipe if you choose not to), but I think it adds a nice depth of flavor.
Also I should forewarn the recipe makes too much crumb topping, but we like lots and I would rather have too much than not make enough for the recipe.
I should also warn that the crumb topping is toddler bait. I found Cameron up on the counter trying to pick it off the muffins…
Enjoy!
Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 ½ cups fresh blueberries
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a standard muffin pan with paper cups.
- Brown the butter in a saucepan. If you have never browned butter before, you will add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted it will begin to foam and then subside. The color will progress to a golden, and then light brown color. Once it is light brown, and smells nutty, it’s all done. Remove it from heat and allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until well combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Beat in the baking powder, salt, and vanilla.
- Add the flour alternately with the milk, beating gently just to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries. Add the mashed and whole berries to the batter, folding in until just combined.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Don’t fill the muffin cups all the way- you will want to leave room for the crumb topping.
- For the crumb topping, combine all ingredients together (by hand works best) until a crumble forms. Top each muffin with a spoonful.
- Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, until they’re light golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven, and after about 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.