The Best Blueberry Muffin recipe…ever!

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The Best Blueberry Muffin recipe (photos: Pamela Irene for wht)

Last month I discovered a wonderful public television show called America’s Test Kitchen (which I can’t believe I’ve never seen before!) It’s a great concept; three dozen cooks testing recipes until they understand everything there is to know about each dish, including why they work or don’t work, to finally arrive at the what they determine is the absolute best recipe. How’s that for a great concept?

Anyone that knows my hubby and me, understands our immense love of blueberries. So much love that two years ago, we started our first annual blueberry day. No exaggeration, everything we ate or drank had to have blueberries in it! Well I have found what’s going to be on next year’s menu. I am thrilled to share their, “Best Blueberry Muffin” recipe with you, and they really are! Swirled with a mix of blueberries and a jam that you’ll make gives you tons of berry flavor without weighing the muffin down (too many berries or berries only sink to the bottom).  No soggy bottom blueberry muffins, ever again.

Blueberry in a large bowl

Ingredients makes 12 muffins

Lemon-Sugar Topping

  • 1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins

  • 2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
  • 1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
  • 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-teaspoon table salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup buttermilk (If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. For the topping: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

2. For the muffins: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1-cup blueberries and 1-teaspoon 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 to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. (This thick jam concentrates the blueberry flavor and eliminate excess moisture.)

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 and homogeneous, 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 blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix.)

cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter

4. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

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 muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Author

  • irene

    This Jersey Girl, now living in SoCal since 1988, is celebrating 21 yrs of employment at the “happiest place on earth”, South Coast Plaza. She lives in OC with her hubby and enjoys cooking, baking and organic gardening. She loves singing, music, the ocean, and all things living.

21 Comments

  1. I just had breakfast, but this post is making me hungry all over again! Can I lick the beaters? Haha!
    I wonder how this recipe would work being made gluten free. GF recipes tend to be kinda dry by nature (rice flour tends to be too dry, while other flours (tapioca, potato, etc) are too heavy) but I think that the blueberry jam made would help disseminate the moisture a little more evenly. I going to have to try this one! Thanks @Irene !

  2. I’m sitting at my desk drinking my morning coffee and drooling! I wish I could run home and whip up a batch of these gorgeous muffins right now! Thank you, @irene, for a recipe that looks both delicious and do-able.

  3. I just know you’ll enjoy making these baby blues! I usually don’t make the same recipe over again, but have – three times already! They store well and travel well! @mandaleem (Amanda), good question, I’m hoping that maybe if you make a little more jam it will help them stay moist for you. Let me know if you do it and it works. So simple @turboterp (Melissa), make them this weekend- they’ll be a hit for sure! I’m just so happy to find a good recipe for once! You don’t want to know how many times I’ve been disappointed with how they used to come out before this! Let me know if you enjoy them as much as I do!

  4. The topping is so delish! Lemon zest and sugar!! YUM! One of my favorite things is the topping for these!

  5. I can’t wait to try these. But since I am the world’s worst baker, @irene you have to make them for me!

    I love how much berry appears to be in them. I hate when you get a muffin that’s all cake and you have to search for fruit. Not the case here!

  6. I could eat a whole bowl of just the lemon zest and sugar topping!! Another great recipe of yours @irene – everything I’ve ever made from you goes over like hotcakes!!

  7. Wow these look awesome, can’t wait to try them, as I am a huge blueberry fan!

  8. My mom got me their cookbook a couple years ago and it’s hands down the BEST general cookbook ever!

    I love how they test everything out to see what works best and then tell you why.

  9. Yum Yum Yum! These pictures are making my mouth water! I can’t wait to try these!

  10. I hate things that are fake flavored with something and not the real deal. So with fresh ingredients this recipe looks like the bee’s knees. Yummy!!!!!!!! I am so trying these.

  11. These look amazing. I’m so hungry now, but it’s way too late to eat. I think I might dream of these tonight!

  12. If you feel like baking this weekend, please give these a whirl! Try to make these soon, while blueberries are on sale everywhere, and are delish! I just had one along with a huge glass of organic milk! I know I’ll have sweet dreams tonight!

  13. Oh gosh, my stomach just lurched with joy and hunger when I saw this pic!

  14. I’m going to try these out. Hopefully this weekend it will be under 95 in my 3rd floor kitchen that I can bake. I’m going to try a no-sugar added version but only a small batch of those.

  15. There is nothing better than a baked good with fresh blueberries! Sometimes when I am trying to be fancy I will make my muffins/cupcakes in my mini bundt tins.

  16. These look awesome! I just ate dinner but if someone put one of these in front of me i would definitely devour it!

  17. I can not wait to hit the Farmers Market to pick up some summer fresh blueberries and make these muffins. They look so good with that fresh, swirly berry jam!

    @irene – have you tried them with any other type of berry? I would love to try my favorite, raspberries.

  18. @Tyna, I have only made these with fresh blueberries- They are sooo good! Just a burst of blueberry in every bite! Try them the same way with raspberries, I would imagine if you use the same technique but raspberries instead it would be just as amazing! Now you have me wanting to try that way too! Thanks for the great idea!

  19. This recipe is AMAZING! I just made these and I can’t tell you how wonderful these are. Definitely a must try!

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