Friday, January 13, 2017

It's Blueberry Muffin Time.


 

 Mr. Hawthorne came home with some lovely blueberries the other day and the first thing that came to mind was ...  Blueberry Muffins.  

These are some of the best I've had.  They have a lovely cake-like texture, they have a moist crumb, they're packed full of blueberry flavor from fresh juicy blueberries and fresh blueberry jam, they're tart and rich from buttermilk, and they're citrusy and sugary and crunchy on top.  It's a perfect combination.

This would be a welcome addition to your Sunday brunch menu.  Plus, they're just nice to have around anytime for a quick snack/pick-me-up/sugar-fix.  Now I'm thinking - slice a muffin, butter and toast it, then serve it with vanilla ice cream, maybe some sourwood honey drizzled over top. Maybe sprinkle toasted almonds on top. Oh my! 


Blueberry Muffins

Lemon and Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsps grated lemon zest
Mix together sugar and zest.  Set aside

Muffin Batter
2 cups fresh blueberries, separated
1 tsp sugar
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose King Arthur flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
4 TB melted unsalted butter
4 TB vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 425°.
Oil muffin pan.

For the jam:
Simmer 1 cup blueberries and 1 tsp sugar over medium low heat, squishing berries with a wooden spoon and stirring frequently, for 5-6 minutes, until the berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/4 cup.  Set aside.

For the batter:
In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, then whisk in remaining sugar.  Slowly whisk in butter and oil until well-combined, then whisk in buttermilk and vanilla.

Toss remaining blueberries with a tablespoon of the flour mixture.
Lightly fold egg mixture into flour mixture, then fold in blueberries until just moistened.  Do not overmix.

Divide batter equally among 12 muffin cups.

Spoon in about a teaspoon or so of the blueberry jam mixture in center of each muffin cup.  Gently swirl the berry jam into the batter with a skewer.

Sprinkle lemon-sugar mixture over tops.

Bake about 18 minutes, or until tops are golden and firm, turning halfway through baking time.  Cool in pan about 7 minutes, then remove to wire racks.


Sugar and lemon.
 
Mix together.

 
  Cook down the berries until ...

... they look like this.

  Spoon berry jam onto each muffin top.

Swirl jam into muffins.

Sprinkle sugar and lemon zest over top.

Bake until they look perfect.
Like this.

Cool a bit in muffin pan.

Then cool on rack.

 This is soooo Mr. Hawthorne. 
 He's picked out his muffin for tomorrow and set it aside, hidden.
And it took him quite some time
to pick out THE muffin.

Oozing juicy goodness.

Too bad you can't smell the house right now.





Perfection.
Found in a blueberry muffin.


    
Please enjoy!


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