Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Blueberry Muffins crossed the Atlantic in the suitcases of British colonists to become true stars in the United States. Here's the recipe!

The Origin of Muffins

Though muffins are a beloved pastry in New York, they actually originated in Wales. Historians have traced the recipe back to the 11th century. This cousin of the French madeleine arrived in the United States with British colonists and has remained popular ever since.
Watch out for confusion: the “English Muffin” is completely different from the American muffin. An English muffin is a small, flat, round bread made from leavened dough. They’re nothing alike.
In New York’s bakeries, diners, and delis, you’ll find muffins in nearly every flavor: chocolate, vanilla, banana, and more. But the original is the blueberry muffin. Here’s the recipe.

450 g (16 oz) flour.
350 g (12.3 oz) blueberries.
250 g (8.8 oz) sugar.
240 ml (1 cup) milk.
120 ml (½ cup) neutral oil, such as sunflower or grapeseed oil.
2 eggs.
1 lemon.
3 teaspoons baking powder.
½ tablespoon vanilla extract. Vanilla extract is available at specialty grocers. If you can’t find it, vanilla flavoring works, but the taste won’t be quite the same.
½ teaspoon salt.
Cinnamon (optional).

1/ Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F).
2/ Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Make a well in the center with your fingers.
3/ In another bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a whisk, then add the oil, milk, and vanilla extract.
4/ Quickly pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. This is the key step: combine the dry and wet ingredients rapidly. Don’t overmix.
5/ Zest the lemon and fold it into the batter.
6/ Fold in the blueberries. To keep them from sinking to the bottom during baking, work quickly and make sure the batter isn’t too wet. Tip: coat the dried blueberries lightly in flour before adding them to the batter.
7/ Take a muffin tin and place lightly oiled paper liners in each cup. Paper liners are small parchment molds you can buy or make yourself.
8/ Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners.
9/ Sprinkle each muffin with 1 teaspoon of sugar. If you like, mix cinnamon into the sugar first.
10/ Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
11/ Cool, then remove the muffins from the tin but leave them in their paper liners. Let them rest overnight before serving. Enjoy!

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Feel free to contact me if you’d like to share a recipe or suggest a cooking challenge.