Best Blueberry Muffins

One advantage to having afternoon church is the time it provides to bake fresh muffins for breakfast. This is what we had this morning. I used fresh blueberries and the streusel topping option. The muffins have a light, cake-like texture with intense bursts of blueberry throughout. They were a hit! This recipe is from the May/June 2009 issue of Cook's Illustrated.

2 cups (10 ounces) fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 ½ cups (12 ½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray standard muffin tin with Baker’s Joy. 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 ¼ cup about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

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 a few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Use an 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 with topping of choice (see below).

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 15 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.

Lemon-Sugar Topping:
Stir together 1/3 cup (2-1/3 ounces) sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon) in small bowl until combined; set aside. Sprinkle evenly over muffins before baking.

Streusel Topping:
Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, pinch salt, and ½ cup plus 3 tablepoons (3 ½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour in small bowl. Drizzle with 5 tablespoons warm, melted unsalted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout. Proceed with recipe as directed, sprinkling streusel topping over muffins before baking.

Orange Glaze:
Follow recipe for muffins, adding 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest to egg mixture. Proceed with recipe as directed, sprinkling 4 teaspoons turbinado sugar over muffins before baking. While muffins cool, whisk together 1 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 ½ tablespoons orange juice until smooth. Drizzle each cooled muffin with 2 teaspoons glaze before serving.

Almond Crunch Topping:
Combine 1/3 cup finely ground almonds and 4 teaspoons turbinado sugar; set aside for topping. When making muffins, add 1/3 cup finely ground almonds to flour mixture and add 1 teaspoon almond extract with vanilla extract. Sprinkle almond topping over muffins before baking.

To use frozen blueberries:
Substitute 2 cups frozen berries for fresh. Cook 1 cup berries as directed. Rinse remaining cup berries under cold water and dry well. Toss dried berries in flour mixture before adding egg mixture.