This recipe makes soft, sweet muffins bursting with blueberries.

In less than an hour you can have a dozen delicious blueberry muffins

Just the Recipe | 12 Muffins

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Softened Butter (unsalted)

1 Cup Sugar

2 Large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Lemon Zest (optional, see tips)

1/2 Cup Milk

2 Cups Flour, plus 1 TB extra for dusting the blueberries

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1 Pint (2 Cups) Fresh Blueberries

For the topping:

1 1/2 TBS Sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

From the Pantry:

Paper muffin tin liners (optional, see tips)

Pam or olive oil spray

Oven Temp: 375° | Dish: Muffin Tin (standard size)

Steps

Preheat the oven.
Prepare the muffin tins: add a paper liner to each (if using) and then spray each lightly with Pam or olive oil spray. Spray the flat part of the pan as well so the tops don’t stick. Set aside.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon topping in a small bowl. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Wash, pick over, and remove stems from the blueberries. Dry gently and toss with 1 TBS of flour. Set aside.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until well combined.
Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beat for about 10-15 seconds after each egg is added.
Add vanilla (and lemon zest if using, see tips) and mix.
Alternately add some of dry ingredients and then some of milk to the creamed butter/sugar mix and repeat until everything has been well mixed. (I add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then drizzle in about 1/3 of the milk and repeat two more times). Scrape the bowl as you go so the ingredients mix evenly.
Make sure the blueberries have been well coated in flour. Using a spatula, fold the blueberries into the batter, leaving out any excess flour.
Scoop an even amount of batter into each cup of the muffin tin.
Sprinkle each muffin generously with the cinnamon sugar toping until they are evenly coated; about 1/2 tsp each.
Bake for about 30 minutes until you can insert a knife into the center and it comes out clean (unless you skewer a blueberry! basically you don’t want to see wet batter)
Remove muffins to a cooling rack and allow to cool for about 30 minutes before eating (those juicy blueberries will be too hot!).

Store without putting in a sealed container or the muffins will get too moist from the berries. I keep them in my (cold) toaster oven or on the cooling rack with a tea-towel over them.

This recipe is based on Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins and was curated from New York Times Cooking. I lowered the sugar in the batter and topped with a more generous sprinkle of sugar, mixed with cinnamon.

Kitchen Acumen Tips:

I hate when I go to make a recipe that requires softened butter and all my butter is still in the refrigerator. And I’ve done that a hundred times. And the truth is that butter will be fine at room temperature for a few days. So no, the day I make the decision to bake (for me that’s on Wednesday or Thursday when I meal plan) I’ll grab the butter out of the refrigerator so I don’t forget (and trust me, I forget stuff all the time!). Growing up my mother would do the same, keeping a pound of butter on top of her large Cuisinart during baking seasons. I don’t bake as much as her, so I often keep just a stick or two on a plate in a cupboard or on the counter.
When it comes to granulated sugar, Turbinado is my sugar of choice . I also use kosher salt in all my baking recipes. I prefer the way these two ingredients taste in baked goods.
Lemon is a delightful flavor pairing with blueberry. You can add a tsp of lemon zest to this recipe if you want. It’s a great way to brighten them up.
The original recipe splits the blueberries into a 1/2 cup that you smash up with a fork and beat into the batter, and 1 1/2 cup that you keep whole and gently fold in. (See pictured above). This makes for a nice aesthetic when you cut into the muffins but makes no real difference in taste. Most important is to toss the whole berries with flour so they don’t sink to the bottom of each muffin.
My standard muffin tin is a little on the small size (it is the standard Calphalon Classic 12 cup muffin tin). For me, this makes 16 muffins. Since my pan is a littler smaller, this happens often with cupcake and muffin recipes. So I have two pans: a dozen and a half dozen. If you’re in the same boat and need to use more than one pan, be sure to put a little water in each cup that you don’t fill with batter to keep the pan from burning (see pictured above). Fill about 1/2 way and be very careful when removing the hot tin from the oven to not spill the hot water on yourself (or dip the hot pad in the water, speaking from experience).
You don’t have to use muffin tin liners, just grease each cup and the flat part of the pan very well so the sides and tops don’t stick.
A good ice cream scoop is perfect for measuring the batter into each cup.
Remove the muffins to cool on a rack or they will overcook in the tin. Plus, they are harder to get out after they cool. I like to use a plastic knife to loosen each if they need an extra nudge so I don’t scrape the non-stick coating of the pan.
Put your feet up and enjoy a nice cup of coffee while the muffins cool, you just rocked it in the kitchen!