It’s celebration time!
Fasten your seat belts people, because what you’re about to see is proof of my first successful bake in over 3 MONTHS! That’s huge. Because if you know my oven, you know that it’s completely wretched and should be donated to a museum or something. That beast is a million years old…takes over an hour to heat up… and is exactly 120 degrees off. So, let’s just say that it is not the most user friendly appliance in my kitchen especially when you forget to fasten the hook. Oh, yes the hook. You know, the thing that keeps the oven door from shooting open like a jack-in-the-box?
One is conflicted.
Mommy? When are you going to make us muffins again? You don’t bake your bread anymore…
Ah, yes. Leave it to a small child to rope you into the ultimate guilt trip.
On Wednesday, I decided to stop the pity party and to start baking again. For the kids. For me. I knew that if I was going to commit to this cumbersome task, I would do it right and bake more than just one recipe. The plan was to bake several things at once to take advantage of time and electricity. I would be The Clever Bakery. I made these buttermilk blueberry crumb muffins, a zucchini cake, and a lemon poppy seed loaf.
Oh, it’s on now.
Let’s talk about crumbs…
This is your topping. The topping that you will methodically eat first when devouring your muffins. It is also very messy. Do yourself a favor, and find a bigger bowl than I did because you have to mix everything together with your hands. You will need more room than you think. I lightly flavored this one with cinnamon because I love the combination of blueberries and cinnamon.
Once you’re done sprinkling the crumbs over each muffin, gently press a few blueberries into the batter. The heat from the oven will make them burst giving you that quintessential blueberry muffin look. I’m eating using my frozen stash…
If you read this post, you’ll know that I’m very picky about blueberry muffins. Although the blueberry cornmeal recipe is my usual go-to, this version is a wonderful alternative. The addition of buttermilk replaces most of the fat and adds a slight richness to the batter. The cinnamon-crumb topping creates a delicious crunchy texture just begging to be picked at. It’s the perfect amount of tart and sweet.
Tips:
- My secret is to use salted butter for the crumb topping. It adds just the right amount of flavor. Don’t skip this!
- If using store-bought frozen blueberries, your batter will turn slightly blue/purple in color when mixing (it’s from the residual moisture). This is completely normal and will not affect the look and taste of your muffins.
buttermilk blueberry crumb muffins
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 10-12
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 3/4 c. unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. fine grain sea salt
- 1 c. blueberries
Wet ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c. oil
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 3/4 c. buttermilk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Crumb topping
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 tbsp. melted *salted* butter
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Garnish
- 1 c. blueberries
* My secret is to use salted butter for the crumb topping to add extra flavor.
Instructions
- To make the crumb topping, add all of the ingredients to a large bowl. Mix together with your hands until you have chunky crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the blueberries and toss gently with a spoon to coat.
- In another bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients until thoroughly incorporated and the sugar crystals have dissolved.
- Gently combine the dry and wet ingredients. Try not to break up the blueberries or over mix the batter; you will have tough muffins.
- Spoon the batter into your muffin cups, about 2/3’s full. You should be able to get 10-12 muffins. Sprinkle some of the crumb topping over each muffin. Gently press 3-4 blueberries into the batter.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out clean (blueberry juice is ok) when inserted.
- Cool for 10 minutes inside the tin. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Comments
Bethany Curnow says
What kind of oil?
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Bethany! Mild olive oil, sunflower oil, or your favorite vegetable oil that’s not too strong in taste.
Susie Payne says
Made these for a Mother’s Day brunch. Really simple but oh so delicious.
★★★★★
Emilie Raffa says
Glad you liked it Susie! Happy Mother’s Day :)
Melody says
These look delicious. What is the measurement of flour for the crumb typing? It just shows 1/2. Thanks!
Emilie Raffa says
Oh my! Sorry about that. Fixed now. It’s 1/2 cup flour :)
Rachel Woodard says
I made these muffins last night and baked them off this morning and the are to die for!!!! I declare that these are the best blueberry muffins ever!!! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe :)
The Blonde Chef says
These look incredible! And I had to laugh about the “taking advantage of time and electricity part”. Isn’t that how it goes? If I have set aside time to bake I’m going to multi-task, dang it!
Laney (Ortensia Blu) says
Still have that hook on the oven, huh? But these muffins are spectacular so who cares what the oven looks like, right? And I’ll just take a bowl of crumb topping, please…
Pamela Green says
The crumbs are definitely my favorite part! Yummy!
★★★★★
Sandra says
Oh my gosh…that oven! Hey…at least you have figured it out and I give you mad props for being able to successfully bake something in it. You have some crazy skills Ms. Carrot :) LOL
And I agree with Adri…Santa Clause better bring you a nice new oven, especially if he wants some cookies :)
Donna says
I’m in desperate need of a good blueberry muffin recipe! Can’t wait to try these! Thanks for posting! ;)
Adri says
Oh, but i had to laugh. I had an oven like that once – what I had to go through to bake and roast was nothing short of Herculean. The hardest part was keeping that darn door closed! This made me laugh. Then it made me lust for your Blueberry Muffins. They look delightful!
P.S. I am thinking maybe Santa needs to bring you a new oven for the holidays….
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Such gorgeous muffins, I’m in love with that crumb topping!