This week, I found blueberries in the grocery store. Plump, glossy, beautiful blueberries, on sale! Of course I bought them. Without any hesitation at all, I pulled out butter, eggs, and flour, to make quick and easy blueberry muffins.
When you live in an area that has distinct seasons, as I do, there are definite limits to the ability to eat local produce. I’m not a purist, though: I love it that my grocery stores go out of their way to find high quality fruits and vegetables for me, even when there’s still snow on the ground, and nothing growing within 200 miles except slush piles.
These muffins are seriously quick: you can start with cold butter and be eating muffins within an hour. Go ahead, soften the butter in your microwave, I won’t tell.
And they’re easy! Okay, I use a mixer, but you don’t have to. Cream butter and sugar, beat in dry ingredients, add milk and vanilla, fold in the berries, portion into muffin tins, ta-da. Very easy. Bake until they smell wonderful. The hardest part? You’ll need to let these muffins cool in the tin at least 10 minutes before you turn them out; they are very tender and tear easily.
And they brighten up a gloomy day very nicely. Mmm, quick and easy blueberry muffins.
A note from my kitchen: the only difficult thing about this recipe is keeping the muffins for more than a day, not because the muffins won’t keep – but because my family won’t let them alone. Everybody here loves fresh blueberry muffins.
Preheat oven to 375˚F . Liberally grease 12 muffin cups or a 12-well muffin tin.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.
Mix together the dry ingredients and then add them into the butter/egg mixture, and beat well. Add the vanilla to the milk, then mix that in too, stirring only until smooth. Quickly fold in the berries.
Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar (if desired). Bake the muffins about 30 minutes.
Put them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully loosen them with a thin and flexible (silicone) spatula. These muffins are very tender and will tear easily!
Remove the muffins to a wire cooling rack, and let cool completely – or stand back and let your family tear into them while they’re still warm.
Quick & Easy Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
- ¾ cup granulated sugar 150 g
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 270 g
- 2 tsp baking powder 10 g
- ½ tsp salt 2.5 g
- ½ cup milk 120 ml
- 2 tsp vanilla extract 10 ml
- 2 c fresh blueberries 300 g
- turbinado sugar for sprinkling tops [optional]
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F . Liberally grease 12 muffin cups or a 12-well muffin tin.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and then add them into the butter/egg mixture, and beat well. Add the vanilla to the milk, then mix that in too, stirring only until smooth. Quickly fold in the berries.
- Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with coarse (turbinado) sugar if desired. Bake the muffins about 30 minutes.
- Put them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully loosen them with a thin and flexible (silicone) spatula. These muffins are very tender and will tear easily!
- Remove the muffins to a wire cooling rack, and let cool completely – or stand back and let your family tear into them while they’re still warm.