Tag: muffins

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

chocolate chip muffins

Thanks to Cooking Light, you can “have  your cake and eat it too.” CL is one of my most favorite websites for finding quick and healthy recipes that actually taste good.

From comfort food to chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, you can still enjoy good food while cutting back on the calories.

If you’re a lover of all things chocolate, especially when it comes to breakfast, you must give these muffins a whirl. Not only are they super easy to whip up, they actually taste pretty good.

The texture reminds me more of a cupcake than a muffin. With that said, they are NOT cupcakes…. they are muffins. So, what’s the difference  between a chocolate cupcake and a chocolate muffin?

CUPCAKES:

  • sweet
  • tender
  • rich with eggs and butter
  • dessert item, not an everyday breakfast
  • always topped with frosting

MUFFINS:

  • not too sweet
  • relatively healthy
  • dryer and slightly more dense in texture than cupcakes
  • breakfast or snack item

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These muffins literally take 12 minutes to prepare. Simply whisk together all the dry ingredients.
IMG_3173 Then whisk together the wet ingredients in a small bowl.

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Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and combine. Don’t forget to add in your chocolate chips.

chocolate chip muffin

Pour the batter in 12 individual muffin liners and throw them in the oven.

chocolate chip muffin

15 minutes later and you can enjoy a nice, pipping hot, extra chocolatey muffin.

chocolate chip muffin

Don’t they look good?

chocolate chip muffin

chocolate chip muffin

Forgive me for taking so many pictures. I just can’t get enough of them!

chocolate chip muffin

chocolate chip muffins

Take a big bite and enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

chocolate chip muffin

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 7.9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 3/4 cups)
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine 1 cup water and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Add oil mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
  3. Place 12 muffin-cup liners in muffin cups, and coat liners with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips evenly over batter. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
Serving size: 1 Calories: 191 Fat: 7.6g Saturated fat: 1.9g Carbohydrates: 29g Sodium: 197mg Fiber: 1.5g Protein: 3.1g Cholesterol: 15mg
Notes
Source: adapted from Cooking Light

Oatmeal Muffins

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Wholesome. Chewy. Delicious. If you like oatmeal, you should love these muffins!

They really do taste like a bowl of oatmeal in muffin form. Filled with dried apricots, craisins and/or dates will add a nice bit of sweetness, but if you’re like Matt you might just want to eat them plain – sans the dried fruit.

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Fun story:  The first time I made these for Matt, he didn’t like them.

He took one bite and made a funny face and said “What’s in these?” I told him the ingredients and said they were “healthy” muffins, not the fat-filled, overly sugary cakey muffins you would normally expect.

He took another bite and LOVE them. I figured he would. Matt loves just about anything with oats in them!

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I don’t want you to get discouraged… these muffins are really really good. However, you know that feeling you get when you bite into something expecting one thing and it’s actually something else? It throws you off!

Case in point… I love Perrier. One time I picked up a glass of water, thinking it was plain ole tap water. After taking a sip I discovered it was Perrier. I wasn’t expecting the fizziness from the sparkling water and it took me for surprise, in a bad way. The same thing happened with Matt and these muffins.

Enjoy your Saturday. Whip up a batch of these oatmeal muffins and let me know what you think!

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Oatmeal Muffins
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup uncooked regular oats
1/2 cup chopped dates (I used chopped dried apricots and dried cranberries)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Oats, optional

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease or line a muffin pan with paper-lined muffin cups.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture.
3. Stir together milk, butter, and egg; add to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened.
4. Spoon batter into muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Sprinkle with oats, if desired.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from pans immediately.

Yield: 8 muffins
Recipe from: Southern Living Comfort Food: A Delicious Trip Down Memory Lane

Paula’s Bran Muffins

For those of you who don’t know Paula, my mother-in-law, you are missing out! She is a hoot! Not only is she extremely outgoing like Matt (her son and my husband), she is also a great cook – that is, if you like down-home southern cooking!

Some of the most popular recipes on my blog come from Paula, and do you know why?

  1. Her recipes are simple to make.
  2. Her recipes are “comfort” food.
  3. Her recipes are fattening!!!  (Hey, her name is Paula, and she is just like Paula Deen!)
When Paula first made these muffins for us at the lake this summer, she advertised them as “healthy” bran muffins. I was pretty excited that she made something “good-for-us”, that is, until I saw the recipe. Don’t let the word “bran” trick you into thinking you can eat five of these muffins and not gain weight. That’s what I thought (except I didn’t eat five). With 3 cups of sugar, and one cup of canola oil, these aren’t exactly Cooking Light material.
With that said, I am a firm believer in moderation. I weigh less than 100 pounds and still indulge in sweets and carbs. However, what I do that most people don’t do is exercise regularly (run, do yoga, cross train and lift weights), eat 5-6 small meals a day, and count my calories.
Paula on the other hand, has amazing metabolism, considering how much she eats!! I think she has been blessed genetically. Paula was invited to run the 200m in the 1972 Summer Olympic trials. Pretty cool, right?

As far as taste goes, these bran muffins are out of this world! They are sweet (obviously – with 3 cups of sugar), but not overly sweet. The bran cereal (or granola, if you choose to add) is filling, and the dried fruit is a nice addition. The buttermilk creates a slightly tangy batter. (By the way, I LOVE batter – muffins, brownies, cookie dough, it doesn’t matter – I like all batters, including this one!)

Let me know what you think, I’m sure you will love them!

 

Paula’s Bran Muffins
Serves: 4 dozen
*Baked muffins will keep in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks. You can also refrigerate the dough and bake at your convenience.
Ingredients
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 5 cups flour
  • 1 cup canola oil (for a healthier option use 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil)
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 5 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 quart buttermilk
  • 1 (15 oz) box Raisin Bran cereal (you can substitute granola if you wish)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. almond extract
  • 1 cup dried fruit
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with individual baking cup liners.
  2. Combine the first 5 ingredients. Add in the soda, salt, buttermilk and cereal, in the order listed.
  3. Add almond and vanilla extracts. Stir in dried fruit.
  4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean or with a few crumbs.

Breakfast Bran Muffins

If you’re looking for something healthy for breakfast you’ll have to try these bran muffins. While not extremely sweet, these muffins will satisfy your craving for a delicious muffin. Drizzle with honey or top with a little pat of butter to garnish while pouring yourself a tall glass of orange juice. The best thing about these? If you make a batch ahead of time, they make for an easy, grab-and-go breakfast for those on the run.

My mom and sister made these muffins and brought them over for me to try, so unfortunately I do not have step-by-step photos. Enjoy!

Bran Muffins
Ingredients
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
1/2 cup barely melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup (20g) unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran
1 1/2 cups (115 g) plain, unsweetened bran cereal
1 cup (115 g) whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup (35 g) natural cane sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with a rack in the middle of the oven.  Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan.
2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and maple syrup.  Sprinkle the bran and cereal across the top, stir, and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
3.  In the meantime, in a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the top and stir until just combined.  Immediately fill each muffin cup three-quarters full.
4.  Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until edges of the muffins begin to brown and the tops have set.  Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn the muffins out of the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.
Yield:  12 muffins

Orange-Cranberry Wheat Germ Muffins

I was in a “baking mood” as I like to call it, late last night so I quickly threw together these orange-cranberry muffins as a late night snack….and boy were they good!
When my husband, Matt, asked what I was cooking, I vaguely told him “muffins”. Matt is picky when it comes to fru-fru, “girly” food – or anything that contains dried fruit. I guess it was my lucky day, because he liked them!!! I was so excited because Matt hates craisins and oranges, so it was a big complement to me when he said he enjoyed them.
These orange-cranberry wheat germ muffins are from Cooking Light, and as expected, are quite healthy. The wheat germ provides an excellent source of vitamin E, and the orange juice adds calcium. 
The muffins are best served warm, so either eat them immediately from the pan, or pop one in the microwave to reheat. I like to add a squirt of honey or orange marmalade for that extra citrus punch. Enjoy!
 Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg). 
 
 Combine brown sugar, oil, rind, juice, and eggs.
Make well in center and pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Fold together until just combined.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin pan.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Serve warm with honey, butter, or orange marmalade.

Orange-Cranberry Wheat Germ Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
1 Tbsp. turbinado sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.
3. Combine brown sugar, oil, rind, juice, and eggs; stir with a whisk. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir just until combined. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
4. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake at 375 degrees F for 17 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched in center.

Nutritional Information: 197 Calories | 5.8g Fat | 3.4g Protein | 33.8g Carbohydrate | 1.2g Fiber | 149mg Sodium | 54mg Calcium

Yield: 12 muffins
Recipe from: Cooking Light

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

I love raspberries. They’re tart yet sweet, they are great in desserts, yogurt, or just plain by themselves.  Even though I love raspberries, I’ve never made them in muffins…until now!
These raspberry cream-cheese muffins are wonderful. They’re so good, you’d think you’re eating a muffin with 20 grams of fat, not 4.7 grams. They remind me of a light raspberry cheesecake, and seem to just melt in your mouth.
They are also extremely versatile. You can mix them up by adding blueberries, cherries, and dried cranberries instead of the raspberries. Let me know what you think! Enjoy…
 Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer on high speed. Add the sugar, vanilla, egg whites and egg.
 
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
 
 Pour flour and buttermilk mixture into cream cheese mixture. Gently fold in raspberries and walnuts.
 
 Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
 Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack, then serve with fresh raspberries.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients
2/3 cup (5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites, and egg; beat well.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Gently fold in raspberries and walnuts.
4. Place 24 foil cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter evenly into liners. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.
Recipe from: Cooking Light
Yield: 24 muffins
Nutritional Information: 142 Calories | 4.7g Fat | 1.1g Fiber | 19mg Cholesterol | 31mg Calcium | 138g Sodium | 2.7g Protein

Essence of Orange Muffins

You would think these essence of orange muffins would be overly sweet, but they’re not…they’re rich and delicious au natural, and you won’t need to butter them. The orange juice and zest adds both a tart and sweet flavor simultaneously, while the orange zest makes these cakey muffins delightful.

 

My mom made these orange muffins at the beginning of fall, and I’ve been holding off posting them since they are the perfect spring recipe…light and luscious! Depending on what’s in season, feel free to add a cup of fruit: peaches and raspberries in the spring; cranberries in the fall!

 

We made a combination of Texas-size muffins and mini muffins. I like the look of the Texas ones, but you can eat more with the mini muffins…maybe not technically, but it feels like it!
As quoted by the author of Pastry Queen, Rebecca Rather these “are best when warm and fresh, but can be cooled and then frozen up to two weeks. Defrost them at room temperature. Just before you are ready to eat them, warm them in a 325 degree F. oven for 5-7 minutes.” Enjoy!

 

Essence of Orange Muffins

MUFFINS

1 cup whole milk (if you want to be healthy, use skim or low-fat milk)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange, preferably organic

GLAZE
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. grated orange zest, preferably organic

TO MAKE THE MUFFINS: 
1. Preheat the oven to to 350 degrees F. Grease 8 Texas-size (3 1/2 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep) muffin cups with butter or cooking spray or line them with muffin wrappers.
2. Whisk together the milk, orange juice, sour cream, eggs, and butter in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is incorporated. Gently fold the orange zest into the batter.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filing each cup just to the top. Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes, until they are golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Cool the muffins in the pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack and glaze. (This would be a great time to eat them, too.)

TO MAKE THE GLAZE:
1. Combine the orange juice, powdered sugar, and zest in a medium bowl. Spread the mixture on top of each muffin. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 8 Texas-size muffins
Recipe from: The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman

Good Morning Muffins

My mom discovered this recipe for breakfast muffins from Joanne Chang’s cookbook, “Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe,” and we just love them. They are healthy, sweet, light, and filling. The combination of ingredients are perfect for each other: apples, zucchini, raisins, coconut, pecans, oats…what more could you ask for in a muffin? I love topping each one with a squirt of honey for an added sweetness.
Joanne Chang describes these muffins best in this excerpt from her cookbook: “Morning glory” muffins used to be all the rage. They boasted a fiber-rich assortment of ingredients that was supposed to give you a good start to the day. I always liked the idea of them, but I was often disappointed at how heavy and greasy and overly sweet they could be. When I decided to put a morning glory-type muffin on the breakfast menu at Flour, I wanted it to be filled with wholesome, good-for-me ingredients but still be light, moist, and delicious. So, I adjusted the traditional roster of ingredients and then added a few of my own twists to create an updated version. It’s breakfast-on-the-go and the perfect start to a good morning, indeed.”
Enjoy!

Good Morning Muffins
Ingredients
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup hot water
1 small zucchini, grated (about 1-1/2 cups packed)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped, toasted
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (about 1 cup)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant or quick cooking)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin, cot with nonstick cooking spray, or line with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the wheat bran and hot water until the bran is completely moistened. Add the zucchini, raisins, pecans, coconut, and apple and stir until well mixed.
3. using a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment, beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and lightens. (If you use a handheld mixer, this same step will take 6 to 8 minutes.) On low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil and then the vanilla. Don’t pour the oil in all at once. Add it slowly so it has time to incorporate into the eggs and doesn’t deflate the air you have just beaten into the batter. Adding it should take about 1 minute. When the oil and vanilla are incorporated, remove the bowl from the mixer stand.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until well mixer. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and fold carefully just until the dry and wet ingredients are well combined. Then add the bran mixture and fold again just until well combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it evenly and filling the cups to the rim (almost overflowing.)
5. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly browned on top and spring back when pressed in the middle with a fingertip. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan.
6. The muffins taste best the day you bake them, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you keep them for longer than 1 day, refresh them in a 300 degree F oven for 4 to 5 minutes. Or, you can freeze them, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 1 week, reheat, directly from the freezer, in a 300 degrees F oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Yield: 12 muffins
Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe by Joanne Chang

Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is only the second time I’ve eaten a chocolate and banana combination.  My first experience was at my mom’s house when we made chocolate chip banana bread.  I’m still not completely sure if I like the combination. Honestly, I think I’d opt for the plain-ole banana nut muffins, sans the chocolate.
However, for chocolate lovers out there who could eat chocolate on everything including steak, you will probably love these.  These moist banana chocolate chip muffins fulfill exactly what their name suggests… MOIST!  Trust me, you will not be disappointed with a dried out muffin.  These are very moist, sweet, and have plenty of banana flavor in them.  The recipe calls for chocolate chips, but all I had were chunks, so that is the one substitution I made.  The only complaint I have is the lack of “crunch” in these muffins.  Next time I would definitely add some toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts!
My little nephew Bear, absolutely loved these.  The funny thing is that Bear doesn’t really like sweets.  However, he LOVES my White Chocolate Cranberry Dream cookies and these moist banana chocolate chip muffins.  I guess I’m a pretty good aunt! haha.  Enjoy!
Sift together the flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon.

Mash the bananas.

Add the mashed bananas to the flour mixture.  Next add the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and milk.

Stir in the chocolate chips (and next time I make these…chopped pecans.)

Pour into prepared muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in pan 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1 /4 cups mashed bananas (about 3 large)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
2 small eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used chocolate chunks because it was all I had)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin papers.
2.  Sift first 4 ingredients into a large bowl.
3.  Combine bananas, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl.  Mix into dry ingredients until just combined.  Do not over-mix.  Fold in chocolate chips.
4.  Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, fill it until 3/4 full.
5.  Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, for about 25 minutes (10 to 15 minutes for miniature muffins.)  Cool muffins in tray for 5 minutes before transferring muffins to cooling rack to cool completely.
Yield:  12 muffins
Recipe from: Curious Foodie

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

My sister made these muffins a while back for a cross country runner at Oklahoma State University.  Unfortunately I was in Washington D.C., so I did not get to try these decadent looking muffins, but I heard they were excellent.
These fruit-filled muffins come from one of my new favorite cookbooks called The Sono Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli.  They offer both a crisp top and a tender, buttery inside infused with a hint of lemon.  You can use cranberries instead of blueberries as a substitute.  Serve warm with a drizzle of honey or a pat of butter.  Enjoy!
Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
Ingredients
2 cups plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp coarse salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sour cream
Coarse sanding sugar, for finishing
*Tip: the blueberries in this recipe are tossed with flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom.  The thin flour coating allows the blueberries to “float” throughout the muffin or cake rather than all ending up on the bottom
Directions
1.  Set the oven rack in the middle position.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray, or generously with softened butter; set aside.
2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, and baking soda; set aside. Toss the blueberries in a sieve with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
4.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, beating just until the flour is absorbed.  Add the sour cream, beating until combined.  Gently fold in the blueberries with a rubber spatula.
5.  Use a 2-inch (1/4 cup) ice cream scoop to divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.   Sprinkle with the sanding sugar.
6.  Bake, rotating the pan about two-thirds of the way through the baking time, until the tops of the muffins spring back when touched and a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
7.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.  Use an offset spatula or table knife to gently lift and turn the muffins on their sides in the muffin cups.  Let cool completely in the pan.
Yield:  12 muffins
The Sono Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli