Saturday, April 7, 2012

Blueberry Muffins w/ Lemon Sugar Topping~Crazy Cooking Challenge

My favorite thing about the Crazy Cooking Challenge is the hunt! Every month we are given a food which we are to find a recipe for, on a blog somewhere on the world wide web, make the food, and then blog about it! It is such fun!! This month the food we were to find a recipe for is one of my favorites, Blueberry Muffins! I found the perfect Blueberry Muffin recipe on a blog called Tracey's Culinary Adventures Blog. Tracey had several Blueberry Muffin recipes posted on her blog,and I had a difficult time deciding which one to go with, but the recipe I picked stood out to me because I love the sweet and tart topping that goes on top of the muffins. Stop by Tracey's blog and check out her posts. She has a Lasagna Roll recipe that is definitely calling my name, along with a Milk and Cookie Smoothie that looks incredible, as I am a lover of all things smoothie, and a recipe for Boston Cream Whoopie Pies that has gone to the top of my "must bake next" list. So, may I present, the best Blueberry Muffins I have ever had!

Blueberry Muffins w/ Lemon Sugar Topping
 Lemon-Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 oz)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

Muffins
2 cups (about 10 oz) frozen blueberries
1 1/8 cups sugar (8 oz) plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Make your topping by mixing the sugar
and the lemon zest together by rubbing them 
together with your fingertips until fragrant.
Set aside for a few minutes. 
Place your oven rack in the top third of the oven.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Place 1 cup of blueberries and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a saucepan.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat, mashing the berries,
and stirring. Let the berries continue to cook until the berries begin
to take on a jam like consistency. The volume should be reduced
to about 1/4 cup. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool at room temp.
Whisk your flour, baking powder, and salt together.
In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar,
and the eggs together. Whisk in the butter and oil until combined.
Add the buttermilk and vanilla.
Add the remaining blueberries to the flour mixture.
Toss the blueberries in the flour.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients~just
until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Be careful 
to not over mix.
Add batter to each muffin tin. The tins should be sprayed
with pan spray before adding the batter. 
Then place a teaspoon of the jam that you made earlier
on top of each muffin batter. 
Use a skewer to swirl the jam into the batter.
Sprinkle each muffin with the sugar lemon mixture.
Bake the muffins until the tops are golden and they
spring back when gently pressed, about 17-19 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes before you remove the muffins from the pan.
 Enjoy!

Thanks Tracey for a wonderful recipe!


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22 comments:

  1. Wow never have seen a recipe that you had to prepare the blueberries, look great. Saying hello from #59

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  2. I think this is the same recipe I used only from a different blog. They are great!

    Jen #35

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  3. I went with a lemon-blueberry recipe too - I LOVED it! :) I'm going to have to make another batch to cure my craving from looking at all these delicious recipes!

    Dropping by from Happy Hour Projects (#39). Thanks for coming by!

    Adrianne

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  4. Beautiful muffins, Teri!! I keep wanting to jump in on one of the challenges...maybe life will slow down soon and I will :)

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  5. Love the lemon-sugar topping! What a great idea!

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  6. You had my heart at lemon sugar! YUM!

    #65

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  7. Love blueberry muffins, I think I may make them again for our Easter. I love baking with buttermilk so sure I would like your chosen muffins. andi

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  8. Oh my word! These look spectacular. You can guarantee I will be trying them out in the near future. :D BTW - i'm loving the revamped look of your blog. Great job!!

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  9. Now I wish I had added lemon to mine, I'll have to try these soon.

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  10. I love the sound of the sugar topping on these muffins too. Great choice.

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  11. These muffins look so good! I really like the lemon and the sugar topping!! Stopping by from CCC#41.

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  12. Muffins can sometimes be the perfect snack. Your recipe looks delicious. I made a similar type jam with my blueberries. It's so easy and worth it, they give the muffins so much more flavor. Please visit me at CCC#96.

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  13. I love Tracey's blog- Everything I've ever made of her's is so yummy! Thanks for stopping by my blog! :)

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  14. I love the jam swirl on top!
    #20

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  15. These look and sounds delish! I like the lemon sugar! yum! CCC#94

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  16. I LOVE that you make jam! They sound so yummy! Happy Treats!

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  17. Ooh, that lemon sugar on top looks divine! Great choice!

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  18. Wow this sounds incredible! I love the blueberry jam that you place on top before cooking - that's a seriously wonderful idea & I cannot wait to try it!!

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  19. Interesting that the blueberries are cooked to make a filling of sorts--yum! And you know I love anything with lemon--these look great!

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