the best blueberry muffins.

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The Best Blueberry Muffins from Shauna:

book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Ingredients:

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

zest from one lemon

Muffins:

2 cups frozen blueberries (or two cups fresh)

1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 tsp sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

4 T butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

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 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse one cup frozen berries under cold water and spread on a double layer or 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  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 an 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 or each mound of batter. Using a skewer, gently swirl the berry filling into the better using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over 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.

Recipe via Mels Kitchen Cafe
adapted from Cook's Illustrated