This morning, because we are practically swimming in blueberries and I was in a mood to bake, I decided to make both recipes and compare, contrast, and crown a winner.
In one corner, we have Andrea’s Blueberry Muffins, which I made first for no particular reason.
Flourishing Mother’s Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:1/2 cup butter1 1/4 cups white sugar2 eggs2 cups of unbleached white flour2 t. baking powder1/2 t. salt1/4 cup milk2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries1/4 cup white sugarDirections:1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour muffin pans, or use paper liners.2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix.3. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk. Fold in berries.4. Fill muffin cups and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Yes. All of it.5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.Serve warm and pretty to your family for breakfast or after-dinner snack.
Lemon Blueberry Muffins2 cups all-purpose flour1 cup sugar3 teaspoons baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt2 large eggs1 cup half and half1/2 cup vegetable oil1 teaspoon lemon extract1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozenIn a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, oil, and extract. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Fill greased jumbo muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Note: 16 regular-size muffin cups may be used; bake for 18-20 minutes.
And here are the results:
And to be fair, here is another shot of these muffins for you to consider:After tasting first Andrea’s, then Lisa’s, and Andrea’s again and then, you know, to be equal and just in my judging, I had another of Lisa’s. And then I started to feel kind of squishy and Pillsbury Doughboy-ish and decided I had enough information to report back to my readers.And then after all the sugar and carbohydrates raced through my system, I crashed and took a short nap in the hammock.Now, groggily but quite content with these dessert-quality treats, I have to say I loved them both. I did. I loved them both in different ways.Lisa’s Lemon Blueberry Muffins seemed a bit fluffier and of course had the subtle taste-zip of the lemon. They seemed almost like something from a bakery. Yum.Andrea’s Blueberry Muffins were slightly less fluffy–in fact, when I mixed the batter, I was surprised at how thick it was…almost more like cookie dough than muffin batter. They were delicious, packed with berries per her measurements.Perhaps Andrea’s would have squeaked past Lisa’s and secured a win in the Blueberry Muffin duel, had I remembered to sprinkle the sugar on top.Or perhaps, had I eaten a Lemon Blueberry Muffin first, Andrea’s would have seemed bland by comparison.I’m not sure.So it’s a tie.If you love blueberry muffins, and want a cake-like, fluffy, dessert-y treat, you can’t go wrong with either recipe. They are both utterly delicious. Mouth-watering. Delectable. I asked for a home-run recipe and ended up with two home runs.Thank you, ladies, for your excellent recommendations!We have enough muffins to host a tea, so I’m going to invite my neighbor over. Blueberry muffins and tea on the back porch with a friend on a summer afternoon.Sounds perfect.(Note: If you want a hearty, healthy, whole-wheat muffin with added flax seed that’s sweetened with honey, um, you’d better try a different recipe search. These white-flour, refined-sugar muffins are not for you.)
Oh, I was just WONDERING how that was going!
You know, for all my health-talk, when it comes to desserts–I am ALL ABOUT that trashy white flour.
And btw, that muffin recipe is equally as good with raspberries.
Hi Ann,
I have just come across your elegant site and congratulate you for your beautiful spirit.
I am writing you from Istanbul and in Turkey, we use metric /kg basis in calculations.
Could you please write here how much grams a cup is equivalent to ?
Because I suspect that I might not catch the precise proportion , a sine qua non in perfect baking.
Thank you.
Mehmet, thank you so much for writing. Baking with metric is based on weight; baking with U.S. system is based on volume. So I’m not sure exactly how to compare the two, because a cup of sugar (which would completely fill the cup) would be different weight from a cup of blueberries (which would leave a lot of gaps and weigh less).
The most important comparisons would be with the main ingredients of the flour, sugar, etc. I found this chart of equivalents that looks to be helpful: http://www.recipegoldmine.com/kitchart/kitchart2.html
That site says that 1 cup sugar = 225 grams
It says 1 cup flour = 110 grams
The blueberries are easier because you just pour in enough so that you can imagine how many might be in each muffin. You can add more or less, whatever you like.
Hope that helps!