Muffin Monday: Blueberry Muffins

You might think you have had the best ever blueberry muffins before, but trust me, you have not!! Not yet anyway, until you make these bad boys. America's Test Kitchen has all the best recipes. Yes, there are multiple steps. Yes, sometimes time consuming. Yes, worth every effort!!

Makes 12 muffins

If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.

INGREDIENTS

Lemon-Sugar Topping

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

Muffins

• 2cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
• 1 1/8cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
• 2 1/2cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2teaspoons baking powder
• 1teaspoon table salt
• 2large eggs
• 4tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4cup vegetable oil
• 1cup buttermilk (see note)
• 1 1/2teaspoons 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 ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

• 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 overmix.)

• 4. Following photos below, 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.