Perfect Blueberry Muffins.....no, really!

I have found perfection, and it is tasty!! This muffin recipe, found here at Smitten Kitchen met with rave reviews at my house, and I didn't even modify it. Much. Plus, I've fallen in love with baking with yogurt. It gives everything such a nice, moist texture!


The Recipe: 
Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Muffins are really best on the first day (another argument for halved recipes) but I’ve never met one I couldn’t resuscitate split, toasted and patted with salted butter.

My major changes: As always, attempted to rewrite this into a one-bowl recipe (because muffins should just not require a lot of work), halved the recipe and added weights.

Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.

Modifications:

*I did not have an lemon zest, so I just omitted it.

*I mixed with a whisk, not an electric mixer, since muffins that are over-mixed get really hard. 

*I do not own a sifter, so I whisked the dry ingredients before I added it into the batter bowl a little at a time. I'm glad I did-the dough was so thick, it NEVER would have integrated had I dumped it in all at once. 

*I used plain greek yogurt, no sour cream. 

*Before I put them in the oven, I sprinkled a little cinnamon/sugar mixture on top of the muffins. (I actually wanted a streudel topping, but was too lazy to make it.)

*Side note-her recommendation of an ice cream scoop was right on! It made 9 perfect muffins. 

The Verdict:

I had to fight to get two muffins for myself out of the batch. My three year old turned blue in the mouth and fingers, and he cried when I told him we didn't have any more. My husband said, "Those muffins are awesome! Can I take some to work for breakfast, please?" The best part is it only took about 10 min prep time and the ingredients were pretty basic. I love easy recipes!

I couldn't get a picture before someone took a bite out of it!