Blueberry Muffins

I love muffin recipes that use yogurt for the dairy component. There's a delicacy to the crumb that is delightful, a thickness to the batter making it easy to work with, an aroma when baking that I find particularly compelling. That said, I do wish this recipe was worked for twelve regular muffins instead of nine to ten, but I'm hesitant to mess with perfection. And, indeed, the original post from Smitten Kitchen is quite right in calling this recipe perfect.

Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t defrost)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Line or grease and flour ten wells in a standard muffin tin

3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy

4. Add egg to creamed butter and mix well

5. Add yogurt and zest to mixture and stir to incorporate

6. In separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

7. Add the dries to the wets in two steps

8. Fold in the blueberries

9. Divide evenly into prepared wells of the muffin tin

10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean

11. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Though lemon poppy seed muffins are not my favorite muffins, I am always amused when I make them because of Chris's inordinately happy response. He certainly enjoys their lemony goodness with his mid-morning tea! I, on the other hand, have to limit myself (which is no bad thing in and of itself, I just get a little jealous when Chrissy grabs three) because I inherited my grandmother's reaction to opiates. That is to say, I can only consume so many poppy seeds before I get shaky and nauseous (and forget anything stronger). Nonetheless, these seem to be the only muffins we ever make around here, and this is one of the best recipes I've found--tweaked only a little to include my homemade limoncello and no fresh lemon zest.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
adapted from Annie's Eats
yields about 12 muffins

Ingredients:
9 ounces (~2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature or softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 medium eggs
1/3 cup limoncello
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)

For the glaze (optional):
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, seeds, b. powder & soda, salt)

3. In a separate bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (~2 min. with electric beater, 3-4 min. by hand)

4. To the sweetened butter, beat in the eggs one at a time

5. Add the limoncello, lemon extract and vanilla to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly

6. To the wet ingredients, add 1/2 of the dry, mix; the cup of yogurt, mix; other 1/2 of dry, mix

7. Into a greased or lined muffin tin, divide up the batter evenly

8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

9. While they are still warm, glaze if desired