Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins (22)

 

First, let me say that this recipe methodology was perplexing. Those of you who are familiar with "the muffin method" know that you mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then you mix together the wet ingredients in a second bowl. Lastly, you fold together just until combined. Overmixing is very bad. This recipe is not a muffin recipe. It's a straight up cake. My kids always said that muffins are just cupcakes without frosting. This time, they're right. 

The next thing that surprised me with this recipe was the amount of sugar that goes on top of the batter before cooking. 1 teaspoon may not seem like that much, but as I was pouring it on, I felt like the muffin was well covered after about a half teaspoon. To this end, I did some experimenting. On most of the muffins, I put on the full teaspoon as directed. But some, I put on half a teaspoon. Some I put on large crystal sugar in lieu of the granulated sugar. Some I mixed both crystal and granulated sugar in various ratios. I liked them all, but my favorite was actually the original, full teaspoon of sugar.   Some of the sugar sinks into the top, sweetening the cupcake. I mean muffin. And since it's such a thick layer, some of the sugar does not melt, and instead gives the muffin a bit of texture. 

If you're like me, and you love lots of blueberries in your muffins, which this recipe calls for, then you've run into problems with the muffin falling apart. The little bit of juice released by each berry can cause your muffin to fall into chunks, with the blueberries acting as little fault lines. Though it's not a perfect solution, I've found it helps if you will take 1 Tbs. of flour from your recipe and toss it with the blueberries before adding them to the batter. This light dusting of flour will help offset the juice from the berries. 

As you can see, I did have a little of green batter from the fact that I used frozen blueberries in place of the half cup smashed berries. But I rather like that. It added a strong blueberry flavor throughout the muffin. 

The texture was fantastic. Just like a cake. Tight, very soft, and very moist crumb, with a perfectly crunchy muffin top. 

My go-to blueberry muffin recipe actually has sour cream in it, and I did miss the offset of that slight tang harmonizing with the sweet of this muffin. A bit of lemon juice in these muffins would really kick it up a notch. But really, they were absolutely delicious as written.

Scores (out of 5): Dustin: 4.5 Breanna: 4.5 Michael: 4.5 James: 4.5. Andrew: 4 Total  22/25

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/famous-department-store-blueberry-muffins-recipe