Cooking Lesson #776: Mom’s Basic Blueberry Muffins

…from the Perspectives’ Test Kitchen

How you doin’? One of the best treats for breakfast are yummy, freshly baked blueberry muffins made with fresh or frozen blueberries. 
 
Did you know that blueberry muffins are the official muffins of Minnesota? And, if all the blueberries grown in North America in one year were spread out in a single layer, they would cover a four-lane highway that stretched from Saint Paul to New York!
 
Where did muffins originate? European settlers brought with them a recipe for “Bilberry Muffins”. Bilberries were not found in the New World. Wild blueberries, native to the Americas, were both plentiful and delicious so they were substituted for Bilberries, and the Blueberry Muffin recipe was born.
 
Ingredients 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400⁰ F.
2. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper or foil muffin baking cups.
3. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In a small size bowl, combine the milk, vanilla and almond extracts, oil and egg; blend well.
5. Add the dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (the batter should be a bit lumpy.)
6. Fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.
7. Fill cups only 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center of the muffins comes out clean.
9. Cool the muffins for a minute or so before removing from pan.
10. Serve fresh and warm.

ChefSecrets:  Lightly dust the blueberries with a little flour before adding them to the batter to keep them from sinking to the bottom of muffin cups.
The first 9 ingredients are a standard muffin recipe which will make anything from plain to chocolate yummy muffins.
What are Bilberries? They are wild European blueberries that are red inside, with a strong flavor and have higher levels of antioxidants than blueberries.

Quip of the Day:  Why couldn't the teddy bear finish his muffin? “Because he was already stuffed.”
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