Recipe: New England blueberry muffins.
After the success of last night's attempt at pad thai, I decided to break out a recipe I stumbled over on a tangent to last weekend's investigation into gardening (and, specifically, blueberry bushes). I adapted it a little bit because I'm so fond of putting certain spices in my baking.
One Dozen New England Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
* 2 cups flour (unbleached, all-purpose)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
* 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus 2 teaspoons (one five-fingered pinch in the sugar bag) for sprinkling on muffin tops
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (around two 6-oz. containers from the market will suffice)
* zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange (optional; I didn't put this in solely because I was lacking in citrus)
Method:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Put aside.
3. Cream butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well-blended. Add lemon/orange zest, if using.
4. Add flour mix and milk, blending until creamy.
5. Add blueberries. You may mash half or none of the blueberries ahead of time (I didn't, figuring that they'd get smushed a bit in the mixer anyways), to help bring out the juices.
6. Place paper muffin cups in a 12-muffin baking tin. (Alternatively, grease muffin tin with butter, including top -- batter will rise onto the top of the tin during baking.) Pile batter high in muffin tin (I used a spoon to scrape the mixing bowl of the last bits of batter, adding to whichever muffin hollow looked low). Sprinkle tops with 2 teaspoons sugar.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.
Makes, as the recipe name suggests, 12 muffins.
As I finish typing this, my muffins are about 4 minutes away from finishing. The leftover batter was incredibly tasty, and the aroma of the muffins baking is heavenly.
Just finished cooking them and I'm trying one now. It's quite good -- light and fluffy texture, still a bit moist from the baking, with excellent cinnamon taste and a bit of tartness from the blueberries. Overall, definitely worth the effort.
One Dozen New England Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
* 2 cups flour (unbleached, all-purpose)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
* 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus 2 teaspoons (one five-fingered pinch in the sugar bag) for sprinkling on muffin tops
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (around two 6-oz. containers from the market will suffice)
* zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange (optional; I didn't put this in solely because I was lacking in citrus)
Method:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Put aside.
3. Cream butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well-blended. Add lemon/orange zest, if using.
4. Add flour mix and milk, blending until creamy.
5. Add blueberries. You may mash half or none of the blueberries ahead of time (I didn't, figuring that they'd get smushed a bit in the mixer anyways), to help bring out the juices.
6. Place paper muffin cups in a 12-muffin baking tin. (Alternatively, grease muffin tin with butter, including top -- batter will rise onto the top of the tin during baking.) Pile batter high in muffin tin (I used a spoon to scrape the mixing bowl of the last bits of batter, adding to whichever muffin hollow looked low). Sprinkle tops with 2 teaspoons sugar.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.
Makes, as the recipe name suggests, 12 muffins.
As I finish typing this, my muffins are about 4 minutes away from finishing. The leftover batter was incredibly tasty, and the aroma of the muffins baking is heavenly.
Just finished cooking them and I'm trying one now. It's quite good -- light and fluffy texture, still a bit moist from the baking, with excellent cinnamon taste and a bit of tartness from the blueberries. Overall, definitely worth the effort.