Blueberry Muffins

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

My mom, whose like the best supporter of my baking dreams, bought me a new cookbook and I decided I'd test it out this weekend. It's called Bake! Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking by Nick Malgieri, and I have to say it looks pretty awesome. It goes into every category, from yeast breads to quick breads, puff pastry to butter and sponge cakes.

And wouldn't you know it, there was a recipe for all purpose muffins that could be adapted for blueberry muffins! Which is a good thing, since I bought these lovelies a few days ago and had plenty for muffins. I never knew I liked blueberries until a few months ago actually, I always expected them to taste (now don't laugh) somewhat bluer than they do. Instead they're actually pretty mild and go really well in desserts.

So the recipe kept stressing the importance to not over mix the batter (or you end up getting muffins that have the density of hockey pucks) so naturally I was the gentlest mixer possible (for me anyway). I always thought though, that you mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, but this recipe called for the oppsite. It didn't seem to make much of a difference so in the grand scheme of things I'm sure you could mix it either way, as long as you stick to mixing until JUST combined.

Here's me pretending to be another one of my dream occupations, a food photographer. Seriously, how much fun does that sound? We want you to take photographs of delicious, mouthwatering food, oh and we want to pay you to do so. Um yes? When can I start?

But back to the muffins. My daydreams can wait until they are in the oven. Naturally I did not read the little tip about coating the blueberries in flour before mixing, so they don't sink to the bottom, until after the muffins were in the oven. Luckily the berries didn't seem to sink completely.

I think I will try that little flour-coating trick next time; I like it when there are more blueberries peeking through the tops of the muffins.

But the muffins are AMAZING. Seriously, if you're into muffins feel free to turn this recipe into your default (since I know I will). The base recipe is so easy to customize; I think I'll be making chocolate chip muffins for my little brother next week.

Recipe following the rest of the muffin photo shoot:

All Purpose Muffin Recipe Via Bake!

makes 12 regular muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups blueberries (or whatever else you'd like to add)

1. Whisk together dry ingredients in one large bowl.

2. Whisk liquid ingredients together with melted butter.

3. Combine liquid and dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.

4. Stir in (gently) any mix-ins, in this case blueberries.

5. Bake at 375 degrees F for roughly 20minutes, until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let cool completely in pan (or they run the risk of falling apart!).