Recipe: Zesty Blueberry Muffins

I can't tell you how many blueberry muffin recipes I've attempted, trying to find the perfect level of sweetness and the right consistency of batter. Finally, here it is! I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking blogs! One thing I love about this blog is that she is always on the search for the perfect recipe too, testing out and reviewing multiple recipes for one particular dish. For this recipe, I changed some of the flour to whole wheat, substituted candied lemon peel for lemon zest and added some thyme from our garden. I think it turned out some of the most perfect blueberry muffins!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Yield: 12 standard muffins


5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup candied lemon peel, chopped (recipe below)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line or spray muffin tin. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then beat in sour cream. Mix together dry ingredients and then beat into sugar mixture. Fold in candied lemon peel, thyme, and blueberries. As Smitten Kitchen notes, "The dough will be quite thick, closer to a cookie dough..." Fill muffin tin 3/4 full and bake 15-20 minutes.

Candied Lemon Peel

leftover peels from about 5 lemons

2 c. sugar

2 c. water

Cut off as much of the white inner layer of your peels as possible (This is bitter.), and slice your yellow peels into whatever size pieces you'd like. Bring water to a boil in a small pan and add peels. Boil for 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in sugar and return to boil. Boil until peels are transparent. Drain and shake in sugar to coat the peels. Allow to air dry before storing (or dry in a dehydrator to speed up the process).

Reserve your liquid for lemon flavored simple syrup!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

This is my absolute favorite muffin recipe, and I make it every year as soon as the strawberries come in. We pick our strawberries from Lineberger's Maple Springs Farm in Dallas, NC, about a 30-minute drive from Charlotte. You can also make these muffins with any other berries you have on hand. We've substituted blackberries that we picked in the summertime and then froze for later, and those were just as delicious.

lovely photos above courtesy of Kimi Pace

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE MUFFINS

recipe from The Muffin Lady by Linda Fisher, with my own adaptations

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
4 T. butter, melted
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. milk
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 pint strawberries
8 oz. cream cheese


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Blend in the remaining ingredients except the strawberries and cream cheese. Spoon the batter into a paper-lined 12-unit muffin pan. Cut a chunk off the block of cream cheese and stick it in the middle of each muffin. Top with 1-3 strawberries, depending on their size. Bake about 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (minus the cream cheese).