BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I’m trying my green thumb out by growing two blueberry bushes in my backyard. I chose two different varieties and only one this year has a handful of berries. I hope when they establish themselves in a few years I’ll be able to harvest enough for making blueberry muffins!

Corriher’s recipe for Blueberry Muffins again incorporates 1/2 cup of whipping cream beaten to the soft peak stage. The muffin was moist, but didn’t have much structure/strength to hold up well. It crumbles easily. She indicated you could beat the batter well (unlike the traditional muffin method) to increase gluten formation and increase structure. I did this, but the muffins were still very soft. That’s okay though. I had them in muffin liners and that helped.

These muffins stayed moist into the second day and I nuked one for 15 seconds to get that warm, freshly baked sensation again. It was very good. My mother really liked them and took a few back to her condo to eat for breakfast and snacks. These were really good, but I don’t think the whipping cream added any more flavour of complexity to this quickbread as it did to the previous recipe I made with the pound cake. I’ve had muffins just as good without the incorporation of this ingredient.

BLUEBERRIES AND CREAM MUFFINS

from S.O. Corriher’s BakeWise: the Hows and Whys of Successful Baking

(makes 12 medium (2 3/4 x 1 1/8 inch/7 x 2.8 cm) muffins)

• 2 cups (8.8 oz/249 g) spooned and leveled bleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (9g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
• 1 1/4 cups (12.3 oz/349 g) sugar
• 1 large egg (1.75 oz/50g)
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) canola oil
• 1/3 cup (79 ml) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon zest (grated peel)
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) orange zest (grated peel)
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups (7.4 oz/208 g) fresh blueberries
• nonstick cooking spray
• 1/4 cup (1.8 oz/52 g) coarse sugar or granulated sugar, for topping

1. Arrange a shelf in the lower third of the oven, place a baking stone on it, and preheat the oven to 425°F/218°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar for a full 30 seconds
3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg with a few strokes, then beat in the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and lemon and orange zests
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Beat together with a hand mixer or by hand. Stir or beat well. This batter is almost too tender, so do not hesitate to stir vigorously.
5. In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form when the beater is lifted. Beat just a little beyond this soft peak stage. Stir about one-quarter of the whipped cream in to lighten the batter. Then, fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter. Fold the blueberries into the batter.
6. Spray two 6-cup medium (2 3/4 x 1 1/8 inch/7 x 2.8 cm) muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.
7. Fill muffin pans almost to the top. Sprinkle the muffins with coarse sugar. Turn the oven down to 400°F/204°C and leave the oven door open for about 10 seconds. Place pans in the oven on the stone and close the oven door. Bake until well-risen and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
8. Cool the muffins in the pans for about 5 minutes. Jar the edges of the pans on the counter to loosen the muffins, and carefully remove them to a cooling rack.