[Blueberry muffins]
Every summer, we head into the forest behind our house to pick wild blueberries. The days are long, with a light that lingers well into the night, casting a soft glow – not unlike a never-ending golden hour.
As we fill our hinks with the tiny, inky-blue berries, the forest around us smells like pine and damp earth. If we wasn’t for the mosquitoes, you’d always find us there.
Blueberry muffins
Adapted from Bel.These muffins are a favourite in our home. The batter comes together in minutes, quicker than it takes for my oven to warm up. When baked, their tops cracked just enough to reveal pockets of juicy berries. The crumb is light and soft, a wonderful contrast to the slight crisp of the demerara sugar crust.
Notes
On substituting buttermilk and sour cream:
- buttermilk: I like to replace buttermilk with a mixture of filmjölk or runny narutal yoghurt and water For this recipe, I'm using 175g filmjölk and 50g cold water.
- sour cream: the closest we have in Sweden is gräddfil, in France, I would use crème fraiche or a rich Greek yoghurt instead. If making jumbo muffins, you will have to adjust the baking time - use a skewer to test the doneness. On saving batter for later use:
Sometimes, I will divide the batter without blueberries and save half in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Then fold in half the amount of blueberries into the remaining batter and bake as usual. The recipe can also easily be halved!
- buttermilk: I like to replace buttermilk with a mixture of filmjölk or runny narutal yoghurt and water For this recipe, I'm using 175g filmjölk and 50g cold water.
- sour cream: the closest we have in Sweden is gräddfil, in France, I would use crème fraiche or a rich Greek yoghurt instead. If making jumbo muffins, you will have to adjust the baking time - use a skewer to test the doneness. On saving batter for later use:
Sometimes, I will divide the batter without blueberries and save half in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Then fold in half the amount of blueberries into the remaining batter and bake as usual. The recipe can also easily be halved!
Makes 24 muffins, or 12 jumbo-muffins
Ingredients
- 360 g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 225 g buttermilk read note above
- 80 g sour cream read note above
- 2 eggs
- 300 g caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
- 75 g neutral oil
- 115 g melted butter
- 300 g blueberries
- demerara sugar to sprinkle
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 225°C/fan 200°C. Butter two 12-cup muffin tins and line with paper liners.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda using a whisk. And set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, caster sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and oil until smooth. Add the melted butter and whisk well.
- Now add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients - making sure to reserve 2 tbsp flour mixture to later coat the blueberries.
- Mix using a silicon spatula until barely combined and the batter still has flour spots.
- Add the blueberries to the remaining flour and shake around to coat. Then fold delicately into the batter.
- Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling right to the top. Sprinkle generously with demerara sugar.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 175°C/fan 160°C and bake for a further 15-16 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
- Allow to cool down and store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. Or freeze for up to a month.
1 Comment
Val
September 2, 2024 at 8:40 PMFanny, glad to see you post on the blog. I have been a long time reader. Please do not quit. Also, would you recommend making these with other sorts of fruit like raspberries or strawberries?