Permission to dine: muffins that belie my non-baking heritage
Thursday, January 28 
I come from a long line of non-bakers. When I was little, I remember my hippy-feminist mom taking me to our family’s community garden plot with a salt shaker to pick and gorge ourselves on juicy-ripe Michigan tomatoes from the vine, but I don’t ever recall fresh-baked cookies from the oven. Cookies at our house were called Chips Ahoy and Oreos, and sometimes even Double Stuff. Biscuit dough came from refrigerated tubes that exploded when twisted open.
I married into a baking family, where one of my sister-in-laws MILLS HER OWN FLOUR to bake ultra-fresh-tasting cakes and breads. I try not to hold this bit of baking showiness against her. Her mother, my mother-in-law, is Dutch and can give humble ingredients like flour, butter and water the stink-eye until they ship-shape into amazing pie crusts. Add some yeast, sugar and almond paste and they become sweet rolls. But I don’t ask her for the recipes — the recipes as far as I can tell are based on ratios and how the dough looks and feels to her. (My other sister-in-law unfortunately lives far enough away that I don’t know how the baking gene has expressed itself with her, but surely it’s there.)
All this is to admit that I’m a closet baker. I don’t aspire to bake things and present them at extended family dinners, but I do bake cookies and non-yeast goodies for the boys that I can’t easily mess up. When the weather turns colder, I always get the urge to bake and make soup, which is why I made these muffins this past weekend.
Anyway, I’m trying to figure out how to tell you how much these muffins rock without bragging, but I’m drawing a blank. So forget that and listen up: These muffins are the best I’ve ever tasted. They will win you friends you never wanted. You’ll find yourself fantasizing about these muffins at inappropriate times (whatever that means). They’re the Queen of Muffins. Try them, please.
Best Blueberry Muffins
Lemon-Sugar Topping
1/3 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp. finely grated zest from 1 lemon
Muffins
2 C fresh or frozen blueberries (I used huckleberries, and think you could substitute many types of berries instead)
1 1/8 C plus 1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 C buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1.) For The Topping: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.
2.) For The Muffins: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray, or use paper liners. Bring 1 cup of berries and 1 tsp. sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temp.
3.) Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup berries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
4.) Divide batter equally among muffin cups. Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over top.
5.) Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in tin for 5 minutes, then remove.
*Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
END NOTE: If you wanted to be all uppity I’m sure you could substitute half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. It will change the texture a bit though, as these muffins have a more cake-like texture.
Reader Comments (12)
This sister in law bakes but mostly from storebought mixes and never with yeast. I love to bake but only when in a baking mood and things are as likly not to turn out as to be really good. As far as I can tell the gene skipped me but left me with a desire to bake. I cant do cupcakes but can do muffins and if I find baked goods on sale I am more likely to buy them as to bake them. If I can get my hands on blueberries in this food wasteland I may just try your muffins , they look good . And P. S I dont do banquet which is akin to claiming that I am not really dutch lol
Great! I got FavAuntie baking lessons for Xmas, so this post is timely (in fact, she baked a delicious Guinness Cake last weekend). She gets to enjoy baking and I get to enjoy the results.
Your FaveAuntie is turning into quite the baker as BrotherJohn has already stated. Her chocolate chip cookies this last Christmas were the best EVER. Get a good book on bread, one that takes you step-by-step and has illustrations. It's very satisfying to start with flour, eggs, butter, a little sugar and a spoonful of yeast and have it turn into something sublime. Plus, you get to punch it so if you need to rid yourself of a little aggession, well, so be it.
I'm definitely going to try this recipe. Looks good. And since the pie recipe has worked out well - twice! - I expect these will be good too.
Next time we are in the same state, we'll have to have a baking extravaganza. I find my own burgeoning interest in baking somewhat odd but it seems there are at least 2 people who support my efforts.
SDA: I think you could try whichever berries you can find :)
BrotherJohn: What an awesome gift! No self-interest going on there with that one, right?
BrJohnsSis: I have always thought someday I would attempt bread, but have it in my head that it is incredibly time consuming? I may have to test that theory...
FaveAuntie: I think when you hit on a winning recipe, you should show me some recipe love and send it along to FaveNeice.
Time consuming, yes, in that you have to wait for things to happen, specifically the dough has to rise once or twice. But you don't have to stand there and watch it rise (that would be like watching paint dry). You can be doing other things around the house and just wander by and take a peek every now and then. My go-to book is Beard on Bread by James Beard -- it's falling apart and has dough stuck to the cover -- but there are all kinds of good books on bread.
ooooooohhh I am having muffin envy over here. I don't know about your sis in law but MINE thinks about these things in advance and HIKES up in the hills to kneel in the dirt for hours and pick her own ingredients, then manages not to eat all the huckleberries on the spot and save them for baking with months later. I have never managed to do that. Yeast is way easier than that. I'm with brojohnsis on the punching bread dough business, playing with dough is still really fun.
Mmmmm . . . these look good. Think I know what's for breakfast this morning.
Lemme just say that knowing how to make bread is something every woman should have among her secret goddess powers, so if you want to trade skate skiing lessons for bread baking lessons, name the day. I'm imagining a very lovely day . . .
I could get uppity and say that I was the one who introduced L to her grain mill, but instead, I'll just tell you that grinding your own flour is like running a blender. Don't get too impressed.
BroJohnsSis and Pooknelle: You've convinced me! I will attempt this bread-thing in the next few months and report back : )
Cherilyn: Ooh, I had forgotten where she got that grain mill (I'm smiling). Sounds like a good trade, let me know when you want a skate skiing lesson!
HEY! I want skate lessons too!!! I could trade you for erm.........(I'm sure I could think of something)
Cherilyn is right about the mill thingy, dump it in press a button and POOF you have flour. I think making a good gin and tonic is much more difficult than making bread. I think BOTH should be part of everywoman's secret goddess powers. (just don't ask what the costume should look like)
I'm good with a threesome . . . or does that sound too kinky?
What a dork I am. In my attempt to make grinding your own flour sound accessible, I should also have mentioned that L's baking is divine. I'm thinking lessons in skate skiing, bread baking and cake making might work. Bueller?
Pooknelle and Cherilyn: I think we've got this deal hammered out! Baking and skate skiing...With gin and tonics, Pooknelle? Now the real trick will be aligning the stars and our schedules to all appear together on the same day.