CLASSIC BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Blueberry muffins are the summer breakfast of champions. Speaking of champions, we all know that the star of a blueberry muffin (and any muffin for that matter) is the crunchy, golden brown top. This recipe puts emphasis on this sacred part of the blueberry muffin and yields large, gorgeous, blueberry-dotted muffin tops with a sugary crunch. The rest of the muffin isn't too bad either.
Total time: 50 minutes
Active time: 25 minutes
Bake time: 25 minutes
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
2+1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2+1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I used Fage 5%)
1+1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1+1/2 cups fresh blueberries, plus 1/2 cup for topping
1/4 cup (ish) raw or coarse sugar
Instructions:
1.) Thoroughly grease a 12-muffin tin with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Wipe some oil across the top of the pan as well to prevent the tops from sticking. Preheat a standard oven to 425° F with a rack in the position above center.
2.) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk briefly to combine. In a separate medium bowl, combine eggs and sugar, and whisk until fully combined. Add the melted butter in four additions, whisking to combine between each addition; this ensures the batter doesn't separate or "break." Add buttermilk, greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest and whisk until all ingredients are combined.
3.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry bowl along with 1+1/2 cups of blueberries. Use a spatula to fold the ingredients together, turning the bowl as you go to eliminate any large flower pockets. Once you don't see streaks of flour, stop mixing to prevent tough muffins! The batter will be thicker than you might expect.
4.) Spoon the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups (about 1/4 cup each). The cups will be full, and potentially slightly past full; this is okay, as it's going to create large, gorgeous muffin tops, which experts agree is the best part. That said, if you have extra batter, don't force it to fit by overfilling.
5.) Press 3 or 4 of the remaining blueberries into the top of each muffin, and thoroughly sprinkle the entire surface of each muffin with raw sugar; don't be shy here, as this is going to give the muffin tops a much desired sweet crunch.
6.) Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are puffed, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Check them halfway through; if they're browning more on one side, rotate them. Once they're done, let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then gently remove them from the pan, loosening the tops with a knife if need be. Let them cool out of the pan for another 10 minutes or more; they'll taste even better when slightly cooled. As always, enjoy.