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classic blueberry muffins
Like just about all my muffin recipes, this one comes from my mom and is adapted from the muffin recipe from Baking with Julia. And, as generally happens when recipes get passed along, my mom's adjusted amounts to make the recipe her own; I've tweaked some more to suit my own tastes. This recipe produces a light, fluffy and lusciously blueberry-packed muffin that's not too sweet, and just buttery enough to make your mouth water (if you want to be even healthier, you can use all canola oil instead of butter the way my mom does, but personally, I like the flavor the butter imparts). Feel free to add your own special touch as you see fit … a little more sugar if you have a sweet tooth, a little lemon zest if you want some zing, all butter if you want to go no-holds-barred on the buttery goodness, a dash of cinnamon for some spice.

ingredients
1½ cups + 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 barley flour, brown rice flour or soy flour*
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
¾ cup milk
¼ cup yogurt
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled for 10 minutes
¼ cup canola oil
1 pint of fresh blueberries**
raw or regular sugar for sprinkling (optional)

*You can substitute with regular white all-purpose flour if you like, bringing the total flour amount to 1-3/4 cups; the barley/brown rice/soy flour gives the muffins a little extra shot of good nutritional content, and a nice texture as well
** If you use frozen instead, don't thaw them.

time 15 minutes prep time, plus 15-18 minutes in the oven
yields 12-14 muffins

1 Melt the butter in a small pot on the stove (or in a bowl in the microwave). Let cool. Turn on the oven to 400F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with muffin liners.
2 Sift the flour and baking powder (if you don't have an actual sifter, shake the ingredients through a fine-mesh strainer) into a bowl. Remove a tablespoon or so of the flour mixture, and toss it with the blueberries.
3 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs for a minute or so. Add the sugar and continue beating for another few minutes, until the mixture's a lovely pale yellow and the sugar's starting to dissolve a bit. Add the milk, oil, butter and yogurt and beat some more until the ingredients are more or less mixed together.
4 Fold the flour mixture in by hand. Be very gentle, and work only until the flour is just incorporated (don't worry if there are still a few lumps). Do not beat too hard or for too long, or your muffins will end up leaden instead of all nice and fluffy. Carefully add the blueberries to the batter and fold them in, still working by hand.
5 Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling each cup to the brim (if you want smaller muffins, you can fill the tins 2/3 of the way, in which case you'll need to bake in a couple of batches). Sprinkle the tops with sugar. (I like raw sugar as the coarse granules add a nicer texture than regular sugar, but feel free to use normal white sugar if it's all you have on hand.) Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. When the muffins are baked to a pretty golden brown, and the tops spring back when you press them, pull them out of the oven. Let cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then carefully remove them and arrange on a plate. Serve warm (alternatively, you can let them cool thoroughly, wrap in aluminum foil, slide into a plastic bag, and freeze them for later).

o
more muffins: lemon-poppy | chocolate chip | milk-free

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