This Blueberry Muffin recipe is a real winner. Found online at Cook’s Illustrated, these are worth every bit of fuss to make! I made most of my muffins with the Streusel Topping, leaving a few for my Grand kids plain. I prefer them with the topping and these are truly amazing!
If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.
Best Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Streusel Topping:
3 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar
Pinch Salt (I used Kosher)
1/2 Cup plus 3 Tbsp. Unbleached All Purpose Flour (3 1/2 ounces)
5 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, Melted and warm
Muffins:
2 Cups Fresh Blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
1 1/8 Cup Sugar (8 ounces), plus 1 tsp.
2 1/2 Cups unbleached All Purpose Flour (12 1/2 ounces)
2 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt (I used Kosher)
2 Large Eggs
4 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled slightly (1/2 stick)
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
For the topping:
Stir together sugar, brown sugar, salt and flour in small bowl until combined. Drizzle with warm butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout. Set aside.
For the Muffins:
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. (I used cupcake papers.) 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 a small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs until thick and homogeneous, bout 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup of blueberries into flour mixture just until combined. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour, do not overmix.)
Use an Ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using a chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure eight motion. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over muffins.
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 to cool 5 minutes before serving.
Yield: Makes 12 muffins
I got 18 Muffins out of mine. But I used the cupcake liners and did not fill my muffins all the way to the top. I filled them about 2/3 full, then sprinkled them with the streusel topping. If I had baked them without the cupcake liners, and just used the tin as directed, I believe I would have had 12 bakery style muffins. These are absolutely delicious!!
Watch the video (different variation, same concept)
