9 blueberry muffin recipes put to the test
with a few tips and tricks, plus my own blueberry muffin recipe
What I’m reading: Good Material by Dolly Alderton. I really enjoyed this: highly relatable, thoroughly engaging, well-paced - but there’s something about it that irked me that I can’t put my finger on. It’s either the narrative (a little trite) or the characterisation (though it’s possible that this is because the characters were realistic to the point that I didn’t like the reflection of myself I saw in them) - but either way, still recommend (and let me know if you’ve read it and can pinpoint the source of my irritation)
What I’m listening to: Little Simz’ new album - perfect for early mornings in the kitchen
What I’m eating: dinner at Ragtag. Really very excellent: highlights include the prawn tostada (exquisite), the sweetcorn quesadilla and the beef nuggets - don’t get me started on the sticky toffee pudding. The sort of meal that is simultaneously simple, perfectly executed and dare I say, inspirational (in the sort of way that makes me want to go and make a sweetcorn quesadilla IMMEDIATELY)
This newsletter heralds the return (I hope) of the 9 recipe tests. When I started doing them (with my friend Mary), 9 seemed like a good number: one short of ten (too intimidating), and more importantly, the 3x3 composition is nice to look at - and suits the square image format on Instagram quite well.
When I started my monthly column for the Irish Times in 2022, we decided to go for 6 recipes per article instead of 9, as the word limit was too short, plus the vertical/portrait layout of the magazine suits 2x3 rather than 3x3.
However, I’ve been missing the 3x3 format, despite the inevitable stress that comes with making 9 recipes in one day (in this case, 100 odd blueberry muffins): buying the ingredients, washing the dishes, finding someone to eat all the leftovers, catching the last of the sunlight to take photos etc. etc.). I put out a call for requests, and blueberry muffins ranked fairly highly - plus it’s still berry season here in NZ, so here we are, several kilos of blueberries and butter later, with another 3x3 recipe test.
In a nutshell, the way I approach these tests is as follows: I ask around/scour the internet for 9 highly rated recipes. I input them into a spreadsheet, converting measurements to metric if they are, inexplicably, in imperial, or worse still, cups. Sometimes I’ll scale recipes down to, say, one egg (i.e., if the recipe makes 20 muffins and uses 2 eggs, I’ll halve it), just to try and limit the impending mountain of leftovers. I gather my ingredients and start baking - usually trying to fit 2-3 recipes’ worth in the oven at a time to save on energy. While one batch is baking, I’ll wash up and start weighing up for the next one. I pick the best looking one of each recipe and put it to the side. When all recipes are baked, I write the labels, display them on a table (or on a photo background - shoot me a message if you’re interested in hearing more of my thoughts on these), and take photos. Finally, I sit down and taste each one, making notes in my spreadsheet on flavour/texture/appearance etc. Once I’ve written down my main thoughts and dispatched as many baked goods as I can to neighbours/friends/cats, I go back and do some calculations on ingredient ratios (in this case, % of blueberries, butter:sugar etc.), and then go to bed, dreaming about muffins and oven temperatures and mixing methods.
I’ve tried to condense my notes as much as possible below: a brief overview of each recipe, followed by some general things I picked up along the way. At the bottom, you’ll find a recipe for blueberry lemon muffins - skip straight there if you like, I won’t judge. Recipes are all linked, if you feel like trying them out for yourself!
BBC Good Food: a bit dry, and not enough blueberry for my liking (16% of total dough). However, they tasted good, had a lovely colour and rose nicely (winning combo of baking powder, soda and yogurt)
Claire Saffitz: lovely lemony flavour. Good texture (I think thanks to the sour cream), nice and moist, the video is a wholesome watch too
Marian Burros (Jordan Marsh): pretty yummy. Good colour, nice depth of flavour, rose nicely, the bluebs taste nice (you crush some and fold them through the batter before adding the rest), and I like the addition of sugar on top
note on the origin of this recipe: Marian Burros is apparently the queen of adapting blueberry muffin recipes, and these ones are adapted from the now-closed department store Jordan Marsh. This recipe appears to have a cult following on NYT Food, and for good reason. If you feel like a deep-dive, click here
Erin Jeanne McDowell: into these - slightly dry but not in a bad way (more in a structurally sound way?), good amount of bluebs, rose beautifully, nice colour, could have done with more salt IMHO
Genevieve Ko: these came out rather pale and heavy, which I’m hoping is due to a mistake in scaling down - I’m going to test this recipe again when I can stomach the thought of another blueberry muffin. They tasted alright but were very dense, and had a peculiar mixing method (whisking sugar with yogurt, oil, eggs and lemon juice, before adding the rest of the ingredients). They were, however, nice and lemony thanks to that trick of rubbing lemon zest into sugar
King Arthur: liked the sugar on top, liked the amount of bluebs (29%). Nice texture on top but a bit dense throughout
Mary Berry: I’m terribly sorry but I was not into these. They didn’t rise particularly well, turned out a bit dense, and were strange colour - seemed to be too much raising agent?
Darina Allen: the mixing method for these was unusual - more like a scone than a muffin, but they baked and rose nicely, and were very tasty
Edd Kimber: I really liked these, but perhaps too many bluebs? Delicious streusel, excellent muffin but I think the blueberries threw off the texture a bit
Ingredients
Non-negotiables for me are butter (not oil), salt, vanilla and lemon zest. I think you get the best rise from a combination of baking powder, baking soda and something sour (like sour cream or yogurt). The sour cream combined with the baking soda (acid and alkaline) help the muffin to rise and also give it a lovely flavour.
Mixing method
Most of the recipes (BBC Good Food, Saffitz, Burros, McDowell, King Arthur, Mary Berry) used the creaming method - like for any cake. You cream the butter and sugar, then add eggs, dry ingredients and often other dairy (sour cream etc.). Ko used an interesting method where eggs are whisked with sugar, yogurt, oil and lemon juice, before the rest of the ingredients are added. I didn’t get the best results from this method, but would be keen to try again with the full recipe instead of scaled down. Darina Allen’s recipe uses the scone method, and Edd Kimber is a “wet into dries” method with melted butter". I think that the creaming method works best, if you’re going for that light, cake-like texture.
Blueberries
Fresh and frozen are both good options, but I’ve gone for frozen in my recipe for three main reasons:
They’re cheaper
It’s easy to get good quality frozen blueberries as they’re usually picked and frozen at peak ripeness
They mix into a batter more easily without breaking down and turning the whole batter a murky purple colour
Topping
Streusel/crumble is a lovely topping and I back it heavily (like in these brown butter brown sugar crumble topped banana muffins), and I’m also into a scatter of sugar on top before baking for a little crunch.
recipe: blueberry lemon muffins
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