Blueberry Muffin

always more berries than batter!

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A cold winter wind is howling outside here on the East Coast, and there is a dusting of snow on the ground as January rolls in. I’m imagining breaking open a “fresh from the oven, jammed-packed blueberry muffin as I sit in front of the fireplace! With a hint of lemon and oozy berries, I am transported back to the pastry kitchen of Mary’s Marvelous, making a big recipe of blueberry muffin batter.

By my calculations, we baked at least 15,000 blueberry muffins every year at Mary's Marvelous, and it held the top spot of popularity the entire span of our 20-year lifetime.

This muffin never left our menu (a challenge in “out of season” blueberry months.) In the summer season, we scurried to keep them stocked and would find ourselves skillfully releasing them from their silicone muffin cups straight from the oven to deposit into eagerly awaiting hands.

Our customers clambered for them in “off-season” months, too, and after removing them from our pastry menu because of the lack of availability of fresh berries (there was public outrage), we discovered using frozen berries gave us a very impressive result.

A note I received recently from an amazing customer!

When I was testing recipes for the original Mary’s Marvelous menu, I just knew that as the bulk of our business was in the summer, I had to include a blueberry muffin. I tried dozens of recipes (there were a lot of stinkers!) until I landed on one I could work with to create something special.

In general, muffins are simple to make.

One crucial tip for achieving a tender result is to handle the batter as little as possible, which is why we always prepared this batter by hand. See below for additional tips for success.

We always made the batter by hand in a giant stainless mixing bowl.

The exact mixing bowl we used for mixing blueberry muffin batter!

My Tips For Success:

• Sift the flour before measuring and then scoop it into your measuring cup.

• Always make the batter by hand.

• If you are using frozen berries, use them straight from the freezer (don’t defrost them)

• Add the blueberries after you have filled your baking cups with batter, INTO the batter and use as many berries as possible. This keeps the batter from turning blue! (see photo below)

fill cups with batter, add berries, gently fold in

And a wonderful profile in one of our local magazines, The SouthForker.

Featured in The Southforker magazine. Photos and article by Doug Young

Mary’s Marvelous Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour (measured after sifting)

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup sugar + a bit more for sprinkling over the top of each muffin

• 2 large eggs

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 1 cup milk, room temperature

• Zest from 2 lemons

• 2 to 3 cups fresh blueberries (about 1/4 cup of berries for each muffin)

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix to combine.

2. In another bowl add the milk, melted butter, eggs and lemon zest. With a whisk beat until well blended.

3. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and with a spatula, gently fold the ingredients just until blended. Do not over mix.

4. To prepare your muffin pan, coat each cup with cooking spray (or brush with some melted butter or use paper cupcake liners in the molds.)

5. Fill each cavity with batter to about 1/2 inch from the top. Using a small knife or small spatula, add fresh blueberries to each cup by gently pushing and folding them into the batter. Use as many berries as possible in each muffin, about 1/4 cup per. It is very important not to overwork the batter in this process.

6. Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a light dusting of sugar.

7. Bake at 350 for about 25- 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and they are slightly golden on top.

Yield: 10 - 4 ounce muffins

Bake: 350° for 30 - 35 minutes

Prep time: 20 minutes