Blueberry Muffins

Every time we are at Starbucks, we want to have one of these. I never made muffins but have made cupcakes, I was like what the heck, what would be the difference? So I tried this recipe and oh my GOD! I loved it specially because of the topping which is made from lemon and sugar so it gave this zesty taste to it on top of the sweet taste of the blueberry itself.. The recipe says you can use either frozen or fresh blueberries, I just did not bother and got fresh because getting frozen would get a mess since I have tried before baking with frozen blueberries, but if you do not have fresh it is ok, get frozen, do not defrost them, just right there take them out of the freezer and soak them in AP flour and whisk around slowly. That's it! do not worry!!

My son loved it and I got rave reviews!! I tell you, do them as soon as you can!

Ingredients

Lemon-Sugar Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
zest from one lemon

Muffins:
2 cups frozen blueberries (or 2 cups fresh)
1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon of sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 cup of milk mixed in 1 tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice letting it rest for 2min)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

For the topping, stir together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

For the muffins, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 190C. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse one cup frozen berries under cold water and spread on a double layer of paper towels to dry well. Bring remaining one cup berries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the berries that have dried on the paper towels in with the flour mixture. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy with a few dry spots of flour – don’t overmix. This is the key to moist and tender muffins.

Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill the muffin cups until they are about 3/4 full. Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a skewer (or a chopstick), gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the muffins.

Bake until the top of the muffins are golden and just firm, 17-18 minutes. Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!