Easy Blueberry Muffins- soft, moist, super fluffy, tender, bursting with fresh blueberries and a crunchy sugary crust; a perfect snack/dessert/breakfast treat!
Fall is here and our garden is blanketed with a lovely and colorful mosaic of autumn leaves in hues of green, yellow, red, pink and brown and I could not be happier and excited!
But this also brings with it cold, breezy winds and sometimes bone chilling cold and rain. That is the time I crave for something warm, decadent and fresh and just-baked, hot from the oven muffins always sound good especially early in the morning with a cuppa of coffee!
I do love my chocolate chip muffins but fruits always sound good in anything! The last batch of fresh blueberries from the market did not turn out so sweet and actually were a tad bit sour and no one was ready to eat it!
The 2 boxes of blueberries languishing in my fridge were now ready to be encased in a warm, fluffy, tender and mildly sweet home baked muffin. Sounds heavenly, doesn’t it?
I reached out to my bookmarked recipes and this one stood out (tried and tested by me a couple of months back!); easy, no-blender, no butter needed, one-bowl blueberry muffins from the magazine Southern Living.
You can make the whole batch to make large, sumptuous 12 to 13 muffins or halve the recipe and make just 6 to 8. It is so easy to make, even a beginner baker will be thrilled with the sumptuous muffins!
If you do make a large batch, feel free to freeze half of it in an airtight container or Ziploc bag to enjoy later; lasts for at least a couple of months. Thaw, warm it up and enjoy.
Blueberries in season? Then you must try this Eggless Blueberry Lime Yogurt Cake too!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THE BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS:
Basics for any muffin or cake are the same and these muffins too need some flour (I have used all-purpose here for a tender and light bite; you could substitute half of the flour with whole wheat if you like), sugar, oil (yes, no butter needed for this muffin), eggs (you could use flax meal "eggs" instead but I have not yet tried that version), blueberries (fresh or frozen) and milk.
If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw. If using fresh blueberries, just wash, drain and dust with the dry flour to prevent it from sinking at the bottom of the muffin!
For a lovely aroma, I have stirred in some pure Vanilla extract, but this is optional. You could use cinnamon powder instead too.
Of course, you will need a muffin pan and if you want an easy to remove bake, use cupcake liners easily available in any store or online.
BAKING THE MUFFINS:
It is an absolutely easy, peasy recipe! It involves only a few steps; no blender needed here:
- If you are using fresh blueberries, wash and set aside. In case you cannot find fresh ones, feel free to use frozen too, but do not thaw.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. I usually use a whisk to thoroughly incorporate all the dry ingredients.
- Next step is very important. To ensure that the fresh fruit does not sink to the bottom of your muffin as most add ins tend to in any cake or muffin, just spoon a few tablespoons of the dry mixture onto the blueberries and toss to coat evenly before folding into muffin/cake batter. If using frozen, just use in a such in the batter; just make sure to add it last so that the blueberries do not "bleed" or spread color in the batter!
- In another small bowl or large glass measuring jar, stir the liquid ingredients - milk, eggs and oil and if using vanilla essence, stir that in too.
- Now, pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and GENTLY stir until just mixed; even if you see some dry spots, it is okay. Over mixing leads to DENSE AND TOUGH MUFFINS! The batter will be thick.
- At this stage, fold in the flour coated blueberries; again gently until sort of evenly distributed into the thick batter.
- Spoon muffin batter into cupcake/muffin pans, lined with paper cupcake liners; mounding them till the top if you want that mushrooming effect of muffins! For smaller muffins, fill only 2/3rds of the pan; you will get more number of blueberry muffins this way.
- Now, is the best part; sprinkle and top each with a shower of whole granulated sugar (with large crystals/turbinado sugar/raw sugar). Once the muffins are golden brown and fluffy, these end up becoming the crunch, caramely part of the muffin! If you are wary of eating more sugar, feel free to omit this.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean and you have a golden brown, well risen and super fluffy blueberry treat!
CAN I SUBSTITUTE ANY OTHER FRUIT OR INGREDIENT?
Of course, this batter is a basic canvas for any muffin. Instead of blueberries, you can use any other fruit like chopped apples, raisins, dried cranberries, dates or even nuts.
Stir in some grated carrot or even zucchini if you are fond of these veggies!
If you are lover of chocolate, then chocolate chips it is! Just stir in as much of the chocolate chips in the batter before baking. Mmmmm! Must make this sometime soon.
Once you make these super soft, and super moist blueberry muffins, you will make them more often!
UPDATED NOVEMBER 21, 2020:
Tried making this delicious, scrumptious muffins totally vegan and with a bit of tweaking, got amazing results!
I used only whole wheat flour to make the batter (healthier); you can say my all-purpose flour nowadays lasts me a looong, looong time!
For the eggs, I used flax meal "egg"! This is just flax seeds powdered and called "flax meal". To substitute 1 egg, just mix 1 tbsp flax meal in 3 tbsp water and set aside for 5 minutes; that is it! It will turn into this thick mixture which mimics the part of eggs in the batter. I planned to make only 6 muffins so used only 1 tbsp flaxmeal.
We always have Almond Milk in the fridge, so used that instead of regular milk to make it vegan. The muffins turned out a bit less brown (as almond milk would in any bake) but next time it will be oat milk which I heard gives a brown crust to any bake! Nevertheless, the muffins were superb!!! Moist, soft, fluffy and oh-so delicious!
VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL (Updated February 14, 2022):
Did not plan on making anything special on this day but could not resist making these blueberry muffins again!
It being Valentine's Day, you need something chocolaty too, so used half the batter to make chocolate chip muffins.
Recipe is the same but used multigrain flour (will need more of the liquid - milk or any plant based milk) and used almond milk instead of plain milk.
Came out super delicious, fluffy, moist and irresistible!
Enjoy and Happy Baking/Eating!
More Muffin/Cupcake recipes you will like:
- Super Moist Cocoa Cupcakes (without eggs/vegan)
- Ice Cream Muffins (without eggs)
- Healthy Muesli/Oat Banana Muffins (without eggs)
- Super Moist Carrot Cupcakes
Lets bake us some super moist and easy Blueberry Muffins:
Soft, moist and super fluffy Blueberry Muffins bursting with fresh blueberries and a crunchy sugary crust; a perfect snack/dessert/breakfast treat!
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk
- 2/3 cup oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract/essence
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- Granulated sugar with large crystals; I have used raw sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Centigrade
- Line a 12-cup cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- If using fresh fruit, wash and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) well, either using a large spoon, spatula or whisk.
- Take a couple of spoons of this dry mixture and toss the blueberries with this thoroughly using a spoon or tossing to coat evenly.
- In another mixing bowl, mix milk, oil and eggs with a fork or spoon.
- Gently add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and mix gently with a spatula or even fork until just mixed; DO NOT OVERMIX; even if you see a few dry spots, it is okay. The batter will be thick.
- Stir in the flour coated blueberries (along with any flour leftover in the bowl) into the batter; again do not over mix!
- Now, using a scoop, fill the cupcake liners with the batter until almost full. If you want smaller muffins, fill 2/3rds full only; this will make more number of muffins.
- Sprinkle coarse sugar over all the muffin batters evenly.
- Bake in hot, preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
- Remove and when easy to handle, transfer to wire rack until cool completely.
- This muffin can be enjoyed warm as a snack, for breakfast or dessert!
- Enjoy and Happy Baking!
Notes
Make sure not to over mix the batter; this would make for a tough and dense muffin!
You can halve the recipe to make 6 large muffins.
Instead of blueberries, feel free to mix in any other fruit you like; could be chopped peaches, grated carrots, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, nuts, chopped dates etc. But make sure to coat with the dry flour before mixing into the batter.
Instead of plain flour, you can use whole wheat flour or even multigrain flour. But make sure you adjust the amount of liquid (milk or plant based milk) to make for a flowy yet thick batter.
Whole wheat or multigrain flour tends to drink in more of the liquid, so use accordingly.
To sweeten the muffins, instead of plain sugar, you can use raw sugar, coconut sugar or even monk fruit sweetener instead too.
These muffins freeze well, so feel free to wrap well and freeze. Thaw before serving.
For an egg free version, use flax eggs instead; 1 tbsp flax meal in 3 tbsp of water for 1 egg.
If vegan, use any non-dairy milk instead.
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