As it is Summertime, my refrigerator is full of fresh fruits and vegetables. It just so happened that yesterday, I had 4 cups (or 2 pints) of blueberries sitting in my fridge and no thought as to what I wanted to make with them. Found a recipe on Pinterest, but the original was a bit complicated and fussy for me, so I modified it to my lazy cooking style.
I also modified the sugar content and some other things to match what I had available. Thankfully, they still turned out great, even if my oven got turned on halfway through the baking process 😛
If you like to modify recipes and make them healthier or diabetic-friendly, then I would suggest altering the sugar for a sugar substitute; be sure that the substitute is good for baking, otherwise, you will have a nasty mess of muffins on your hands.
The thing I liked most about this recipe was that the batter base for these muffins can be flavored with any variety of fruits and toppings if you so desire. Tomorrow, I will probably try adding bananas, or another fruit that I find lying around my kitchen!
Cook Time
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ready in: 30 min
Yields: Traditionally 12, but somehow I end up with 14
Ingredients
- 2 cups blueberries, fresh
- 1 1/8 cups sugar*
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 eggs, large
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*I used less sugar here than the original recipe and substituted Stevia for half the amount used
** I used margarine in place of butter as that’s all I had at home
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, prepare standard muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners. I also spray my muffin liners. It does make a difference!
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk ingredients to incorporate them.
- Add washed blueberries to the dry mixture. Coat the berries with the dry mix. This will help the blueberries float and not sink to the bottom of the tin.
- In another large bowl, combine sugar and eggs until thick and well combined. I think I remember that this is called creaming the eggs and sugar, but I could be very wrong 😛 Home Eco was not my best course in high school!
- Along with the other wet ingredients, slowly mix in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla.
- Then, using a rubber spatula, fold together the wet and dry mixtures until just moistened. At this point, the batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour however this is okay as you don’t want to over-mix.
- Using a cookie scoop, a large spoon, or if you are like me, anything else that is handy, divide the batter equally among prepared muffin cups. I used a measuring cup and added about ¼ cup of batter to eat the muffin cup. The batter should fill cups. If you decided to add a topping like a streusel or the like, then this would be the step to add it.
- Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes. I check the doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the muffin. If it comes out clean then the muffin is done.
- Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before serving.
- Store extra muffins in an air-tight container. They are great the next day too!
