Plain Not Too Sweet Blueberry Muffins

I used to think I couldn’t bake muffins because no one ever ate them in my house when I made them. It turns out we just didn’t have a ton of interest in muffins. But now one girl has an affinity for blueberry muffins.

I’ve tried all sorts of recipes. Some are too sweet. Some the flavor is off. Some call for a crumb topping that turns out rock hard, dry, crumbly, or so sweet and delicious that the rest of the muffin seems dull and you just pick the topping off all of the muffins. Many muffin recipes I’ve tried results in muffins that don’t peel from the paper liners nicely or have chewy sides when I don’t use the liners.

However, this is recipe delivers muffins that are not too sweet, not too cakey and not sticky. The texture is spot on. The flavor is so straight forward you can really appreciate the berries. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make it fancy with cinnamon, however adding in grated lemon would be great. Our berries were pretty sweet, so we used a plain crumb topping (recipe below), but if your berries aren’t super sweet or if you add in lemon, I’d recommend a Turbinado or other coarse sugar topping instead.

Plain Not Too Sweet Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from A Cup Of Jo

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (or a little more or less, based on your preference)
• 1 tsp – 1 tbsp grated lemon (optional)
• Crumb Topping (recipe suggestion below) or Turbinado/coarse sugar for topping

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease the tins.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium size bowl and set aside (I actually did this!)
   
3. In your mixer, mix the eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, optional lemon zest, and melted butter until blended. Add in the dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl. Do not over mix. Fold in the blueberries.
   
4. Fill the muffin tin even with the batter. Top with crumb topping or Turbinado/coarse sugar.
   
5. Bake for 15-17 minutes until toothpick poked into center of a muffin comes out just clean.
6. Take the muffins out of the muffin tin and cool on wire rack.

Crumb Topping – this makes more than necessary for 12 muffins

Mix together:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt